Jude didn’t dawdle and made his way through the next gate. As he moved, he pulled out his red token and inspected the scores he had just earned. He scored full marks on each test, so he wasn’t surprised by getting 750 points for each one. What did surprise him was the bonus he had received for the last test, 500 points. Now his total score was up to 5000.

Jude didn’t think anyone else could have scored this high. Unless there were other bonus points that he wasn’t aware of and hadn’t been told about. So he was curious how he would rank up against those who started in the Inner City and even more about those who began in the Core City. Or maybe the ones from the Core City wouldn’t be Judged on points since they didn’t get tested at all. He would just have to find out.

At first, the entrance to the Core City seemed like any other gate, but once he entered he found himself in a long corridor. Surely the wall wasn’t this thick? It had to be at least thirty meters (100 feet). The wall was already four stories high. Just imagine the amount of work that had to be done to make this wall, it seemed incredible. But Jude’s thoughts about the wall quickly vanished as he exited.

The Core City now laid before him. He was expecting an even fancier and more compact version of the Inner city, bustling with people, but his expectation were shattered. This was more like the exclusive neighborhood of the wealthy. There were large mansions and grassy lawns. Tree’s dotted here and there, and they were perfectly manicured. The road was no longer made of square blocks, but out of all sorts of angles, curves, and colors. It was more akin to a modern painting than a road way.

He continued walking down the main road as it led to the castle that was the center of the city and the kingdom.

More amazing sights filled his eyes. The Core City was like a flower garden mixed with an affluent neighborhood, all arranged by a master artist to make every direction you looked to seem like a painting.

Off to the side, Jude saw a partially concealed gazebo like structure. After a bit of hesitation, he walked off the main road and over to the gazebo, seeing no one there he pulled out his staff. Jude could only sigh seeing the staff that both he and Ellie made. The black wood was now perfectly smoothed and the resplendent peril-like orb sat at the top shining brightly. Then the most amazing part was the five elements orbiting the peril as if it was the sun and they were planets.

It was a shame that he had to hide its magnificent beauty behind a water illusion. But it would raise too many questions. It was soul bound, so he didn’t have to worry about someone stealing it. But even if it didn’t put him in a difficult situation, he didn’t want the hassle of people asking how he did it or wanting him to do it for them. But Jude knew people well enough, and there were too many who would be jealous. And those kinds of emotions only lead to trouble, especially if they can’t have it. To those people, if they couldn’t have it, neither could you.

At the moment, Jude was essentially a nameless nobody in a wild world where justice was determined more by a judge rather than the law. He was already in enough trouble with the Kingdom; they just didn’t know it yet. If he drew too much attention to himself, they might just find out.

Then there really would be too many questions that Jude couldn’t answer.

Jude connected his mana to the staff, inserting it into the spell circuitry. He marveled every time he looked at the structure of this mana processor. It was simple, yet complex. And it just looked pretty.

By using the magic processor, it didn’t take long for the spell to form and be cast. All the elements, except water, shrunk down to a smaller size and their orbit shrank too. The water element, however, became large and mist-like enveloping the entire head of the staff. It was now a black staff with dark blue water and mist swirling around the top. If Jude hadn’t known what the staff looked like before its transformation, he would have thought that it came from the depths of the sea.

Jude had a smile plastered across his face as he held up the staff. He didn’t like the idea of hiding his great work of art, but he was still pleased that its functions worked tremendously.

“Ahem,” a female cleared her throat.

A cold sweat ran down Jude’s back. Had someone seen?! Had someone been here the entire time?!

Jude turned around to see a beautiful woman dressed in a blue dress. It reminded him of an old English dress that women wore with a tight corset, and the bottom was large and puffy. Flowers were embroidered across the whole dress, and white lace made a shawl that covered her shoulders. He guessed that she must be a resident of the Core City as he had not seen anyone dressed as finely as she was.

Her voice was like honey as she spoke, but there was a hint of scorn to it, “Petty tricks like casting an illusion on your staff won’t fool others.”

She had seen! Jude didn’t answer and instead gulped.

“Making your staff look great and mighty won’t change your actual skill,” She continued, “Only by continual practice and a great mind can you become a truly great Wizard.”

Wait, she didn’t see? Jude continued not to speak as he was still a little put off by the girl.

The young lady had seen many speechless young men be this way in her presence. She was beautiful and almost expected it out of commoners and lowly people like the young Wizard before her.

“How did you get here?” She realized that he was a little too young to have passed all the trials to get here. “You aren’t thinking of sneaking into the competition?”

“Sneaking into the competition?” Jude asked. He had no idea what she was thinking.

“That is what I thought,” she took Jude’s confusion as a confession. “Guards, over here! Someone snuck in to join the competition!”

Before Jude could make a rebuttal, she continued to berate him, “No wonder you were casting some illusion on your staff. It wasn’t because you weren’t confident in yourself, it was because you weren’t competent. To think someone like you thought you could sneak in.”

“Wait-“ Jude tried to defend himself, but she continued talking over him.

“How did you sneak in any way?” She asked, but didn’t give him time to answer. “I bet you bribed a servant. I will have to find out who your accomplish was and punish them for their crimes as well.”

“Wha-?” Jude was cut off once again.

Now it was the guards who came over, “Miss Serena, are you okay?”

“No! This boy is trying to sneak into the competition.”

“I’m no-“ yet again he was cut off. This was getting old.

“Don’t speak to me! Who do you think you are?” Serena nearly screamed at Jude.

The four guards all held halberds and quickly pointed them at Jude.

“Take him away!” She yelled.

Jude took out his red token and spoke loudly, “I’m a contestant!”

He only wanted to clear up this misunderstanding.

The guards were about to jump him, but they hesitated for a second, waiting on their miss.

Serena looked over at the token and nearly laughed, “If you are going to counterfeit a token, at least get the color right!”

Jude looked at her confused, “This is the token they gave me, it’s not a fake.”

“You don’t even know this much? I’ve seen a few of the contestants already, they all had black gold tokens.” Serena said proudly. “Do you really think that the Riwa Kingdom would hand out the trash you are holding?”

Jude sighed, “I don’t have time for this.”

If he continued to stay here and argue, he would never get to the competition on time. This girl was way too thick headed.

He waved his staff instantly connecting to the spell processor and casting a spell.

“Watch out!” The guards cried as they leaped forward thrusting their halberds.

But Jude was no longer there. They looked around but didn’t see him. They were rather nervous, a Wizard that could cast a spell without a chant, keyword or barely any warning at all frightened them. Was this kid really a fraught?

Not far away, Jude continued to walk down the road way towards the competition. He was rather annoyed at this Serena character and couldn’t help but ponder over her. His choice to escape was the correct one. Someone with that kind of disposition could only be a person with a grand background. If Jude had to guess, she was either the daughter of the king or some duke. If not, then some sort of hero that garnered the fear of others and doted on their daughter. After all, how else could such a bad personality be created?

Jude put away his staff, even after the enchantment it was still too flashy. And to think that the crazy girl thought he was trying to make it look flashier! Ha! If only she knew!

But why did other people have different colored tokens? Was it because he started in the Outer City?