Jude watched Jorgan and Morcheron continue to argue before leaving them alone. He had no interest in seeing who would win their rivalry. But Morcheron seemed to take notice of Jude as he was trying to make his getaway.

“Jorgan, who is this… commoner,” Morcheron said with clear disdain in his voice.

Jorgan replied, “He is someone I met on the road. Jude here was impressive enough to get all the way here from the outer city.”

“Isn’t he a little young?” Morcheron asked. “I will never understand your interest in the mundane. I bet this fellow doesn’t even have his Advanced class yet and only just passed the tests by the skin of his teeth.”

Jude showed a small smile, he wasn’t disturbed by people with such a petty view of life, “You are right, I don’t have an Advanced class yet.”

Morcheron didn’t think much of Jude and continued his haughty attitude, “I’m surprised that a level 30 wizard was able to get through all the tests. The tests this year must have been set to easy to let rift-raft like you come in. Did you really get enough points to get passed the gates?”

Jude and Jorgan both gave Morcheron a strange look. Even the people nearby who picked up on the conversation thought it was weird. Because of the Mortis Device and the great multitude of people gathering for this competition, the tests this year had been much harder than the previous Elitest Competitions. Only a fool would say otherwise.

“Actually, Jude has a unique class,” Jorgan mentioned. “It was Spell Analyst, right?”

Morcheron disdained Jude even more now. The Core city was no place for unusual classes in his mind. Over the years, there had been more than one unique class show up, so it wasn’t unheard of, but most of these classes proved not to be as good as one of the standard ones. Because of that, people like Morcheron though that the original line of classes was the best and the rest were just trash.

“Spell Analyst? Now I’m amazed that you made it this far. Your points must be so low! HA! I bet you will be too embarrassed to show your face when all the scores are announced!”

Jude sighed, he was starting to lose his patience for this person. He asked, “What is your obsession with points? Aren’t people from the core city just given points? Did you even earn any?”

Jorgan laughed, “He’s right, Morcheron, what is your obsession with points?”

“Just being in the core city, gives me the right to full points,” Morcheron said pridefully. “Someone like this miscreant can’t understand that. However, Jorgan, you should. But since you have lost all pride yourself and took up the commoner’s cause, you’ve lost your sight on actual nobility.”

“So you got the full 4,500 points then?” Jude clarified. He was curious since he had gotten a few bonus points. He didn’t like this fellow’s attitude, and if he could take him down a few pegs, it would be all the better.

“Of course not, I will also get bonus points for my recent accomplishments,” Morcheron said with evident pride.

“And what accomplishments are you talking about?” Jorgan asked. “From what I hear, your research in the Fors Expanse has turned up little, and all you’ve done is run away from the sea beasts.”

Morcheron smirked and pulled out two large scales the size of a fist. They were pure blue and had a pearl like luster. “Do you know what these are?”

“Dragon scales?!” Jorgan was surprised.

“That’s right. These are sea dragon scales. I happened upon two sea beasts fighting and was able to take these two scales after they fought. This alone should give me an extra 200 points.”

Jorgan’s expression soured, “Your luck really knows no bounds.”

Morcheron laughed, “Not only will I smash your face in the tournament, but I will win the pre-competition as well. I hear that the rewards this year are quite good, even for us core city citizens.”

Jude suppressed his own laughter if Morcheron only had 200 bonus points he would be in for a surprise. But he didn’t say anything. Instead, he decided to investigate further and do a little play acting.

“4,700 points is quite a lot!” Jude said with a surprised expression, “Would that put you as the highest in history? Or perhaps this is a cap to how many points one can get.”

Jorgan looked at Jude with a strange expression. He hadn’t known Jude long, but he didn’t think that Jude would have this kind of personality.

Jorgan said, “The cap is 5,000, and it has only been reached twice in history.”

Jude expression quickly turned to pity, “So 4,700 is only so much? Morcheron, how can you have such a haughty attitude when you didn’t even get to 5,000?”

At first, Morcheron was thrilled that Jude began exhibiting a respectful attitude towards him, but seeing that it was a feign only made him even madder than he was before.

“Didn’t Jorgan just say that it has only happened twice before? Someone who barley passed the two gate tests doesn’t have the right to talk like this to me.”

Morcheron apparently had enough and stomped off to visit his friends.

Jorgan warned, “As much as I like seeing Morcheron done in, you need to be careful. It is one thing if I do something like that, but for someone like you, it could be dangerous.”

“Oh, how so?” Jude asked.

Jorgan explained, “Everyone here in the Core city has an incredible background. Morcheron’s uncle is the Duke of Berkry, the northern territory. It wouldn’t be hard for him to trump up some evidence to get you put in jail or worse, killed.”

Jude appreciated Jorgan’s concern and reassured him, “Don’t worry. I can take care of myself.”

Jorgan didn’t look convinced, but Jude wasn’t about to explain how he already survived a Demon Lord. How much could a nephew of a Duke do?

***

One of Duke Ruthope’s aides came running into the Artemer Court with an excited expression on his face.

“My lord,” the aide said as he knelt down before the gilded raised desk that looked like a throne.

“Speak,” the duke said.

“Reports from the Arkess Desert say that the storm is abating. The wizards stationed there to monitor the progress say that it won’t take more than a month for the area to be passible once again!”

The duke's eyes lit up at this. Finally, he would be able to take control over his territory once again. It had been well over half a year, and he would need to collect the taxes and solidify his territory after such a great disaster. Not only had there been the storm in Arkess, but also the damage done by a demon invasion.

It would probably take him years to repair all the damage, but he couldn’t even get started until the storm was gone.

Besides, if he didn’t have his duchy, he wasn’t much of a duke. His power base had been volatile and his position in the Artemer Court insecure. This was exactly the news that he needed.

Duke Ruthope activated a few runes on his desk to limit the sounds in his area so the other dukes of the Artemer Court would not hear, “I need you to set up a direct line of communication. To stabilize the situation, we will raise the taxes to 75% and annex all the armor and weapons across the land. Then start a soldier recruitment drive.”

The orders were simple, but the plan was grand. By taking the majority of the food, he would be putting many people in a desperate situation. The recruitment of soldiers would give them a way out, and since he would have the majority of the food, he could easily feed them. Then he could equip them with all the armor and weapons he took from the crafters.

The only problem would be that his territory would lose many of its NPC’s as they would have to give up that status to join his army. But for now, Ruthope wasn’t worried about it. Those problems could be taken care of later.

“Call my other aides, we will need to start planning the new newbie town,” he issued an order to someone else.

After a demon invasion, the duke didn’t believe that there would be anything to salvage in Longdale. Instead, he would need to plan out a new newbie town to support his domain. If he didn’t, then his people would have to travel to another duchy to get their newbie training. This would mean that he would lose out on trained people in his own territory.

***

Night fell, but the White Square arena stayed brightly lit. The descent of night indicated that the gate tests were now over and the final evaluation would commence.

An orderly group of people came up to the stage. The white blocks raised in the center creating an even higher platform so that everyone could easily see.

An elderly man in a white robe trimmed in gold stood at the forefront and spoke, “Welcome contestants to the decennial Elitist Competition. The purpose of this contest is to find the next upcoming Elite Class individuals. These people might come from our own Geonar city or even from the country side. But this year we have opened up the competition to all those of our surrounding neighbors.”

After a bit of a speech about the glory of Riwa and the competition the old man who was now known to Jude as Yorik. Yorik had organized this competition the last two times as well. It was hard to tell just how old Yorik was.

“Due to the overwhelming amount of contestants,” Yorik continued, “we will have to add an additional layer of competitions. Right now there are over three hundred people who have made it to our White Square arena alone. The final competition will be between 32 people tomorrow. To find the thirty-two people competition, we will hold a white block dueling tournament.

“To find the best competitors, we will seed the top scorers based on their points thus far. Take your tokens to the board on the west or east end to register your name and current points. Those who make it to the final competition will be rewarded an extra 100 points. And after all the fights are over we will tally the winners of the pre-competition and hand out rewards.”

The crowd quickly parted with everyone heading towards the nearest score board to register their tokens. Jorgan continued to keep in step with Jude like they were the best of buddies.

Doesn’t this guy have any other friends? Jude thought. But he didn’t mind. It was good to have someone who already knew the social landscape to come along with him. Besides, Jorgan seemed to be a good guy.

What Jude didn’t know was that Jorgan wouldn’t let someone who could create Legendary weapons go away without first becoming great friends. But even if Jude couldn’t create such weapons, Jorgan would help Jude out regardless. It was just the kind of person he was.

To Jude’s distaste, Morcheron also followed. But this fellow had an entirely different reason for doing so. Morcheron was accompanied by a few of his cronies, and they quickly pushed a head of Jude and the rest of the crowd.

Jorgan sighed, “This guy has always been like this.”

“How many from the Core city will be competing this year?” Jude asked.

“There is only about twelve of us who would consider ourselves qualified,” Jorgan said. “But they aren’t all like Morcheron. But he is the worst of them.”

“Just as long as Serena isn’t one of them,” Jude commented.

“Actually….”

“No.”

“Yeah.”

“Please, no.”

“Sorry, but yeah.”

“Ugh.”

Jude could stand Morcheron better than he could that Serena. At least Morcheron lets him speak. Serena wouldn’t even listen to him long enough and accused him of sneaking into the competition.

As people registered their tokens, their names and points began to show up on the boards at each end. Jude analyzed both the coin and boards and found many runes embedded inside them. Everything was linked together by large foundation magic’s that seemed to be interlocked and extended outside of the arena. Jude could only guess that the entire core city was covered in a multitude of foundations, creating a network of sorts. He wondered just how long it took to implement all of it.

Already there were a few names at the top of the list that ranged from 4,500 to 4,600 points. Jude guessed that they belonged to the members of the core city. It was just too hard to get a perfect score in the gate tests. But even with that difficulty, there were a few others above 4,000.

Morcheron was finally up to the board as he bullied his way straight there. There were many looks of anger, but no one dared say anything out loud. Morcheron was related to the Duke of Berkry. Berkry was the territory that met up with the Beast Lands and was constantly at war. This was the strongest region in all the kingdoms of man, and the only reason why it didn’t head south to conquer was because of the constant threat to the north.

No one wanted to offend Morcheron, so they silently grumbled about it and glared at him. This was the most that they could do.

Morcheron registered his black gold token, and his name lit up with the highest amount of points, 4,763.

Jorgan clicked his tongue, “I hate losing out to this arrogant fellow.”

“How many points do you have?” Jude asked.

“My bonus points won’t be more than a hundred. The things that I’ve been working on aren’t as flashy as the ones Morcheron has been doing.”

Registering didn’t take long, so Jude and Jorgan arrived before the board soon after.

Jorgan went first by slapping his token against the board.

The board was a pitch black block, made of something solid, it was similar to stone, but was didn't quite feel like it. The board wasn’t more than a foot deep, and it towered upwards about 6 meters (20ft) and two meters wide. Its surface was black, and the names that showed up on it were a bright golden yellow, almost like a light shining from the depths of darkness.

When Jorgan’s coin touch the surface, his name was slowly written out with his points. Jorgan scored a total of 4,596 points. After the name and points had appeared above the coin, it moved up the board and arranged itself between two others gaining a ranking. This earned him a laugh from the distance that was clearly Morcheron.

Jorgan wasn’t surprised at this result. He was able to check the coin and see how many points were there, so he already knew.

Jude pointed up to the top of the board, “At least you did better than Serena. She only got 4,500.”

“She has never been one to work, so that is not surprising,” Jorgan said. Then he turned to Jude, “Your turn. Don’t worry about Morcheron. He isn't someone to remember a commoners name, so he can’t make fun of you for your score.”

Why do these guys keep calling me a commoner? Jude thought

“Ah, sure,” Jude said. He felt a little bad since his points were much better than Jorgan's. But not too bad as Jorgan hadn’t bothered to ask. What was it about these people from the core city assuming that he would do bad simply because he was not from the same place. The system overtly favored the people of Geonar’s core city, but since they were the ones hosting it, there was really nothing he could complain about. Besides he had done better than anyone else yet to score.

Jude placed the coin on the black slab of a board. Above the coin displayed, Jude: 5,000.

Jude wasn’t the only one placing his coin on the slab so he quickly pocketed the coin and turned away. Jorgan saw it and was shocked. Didn’t he just say that only two other people had gotten up to 5,000 points before? But he knew those stories well, and they were both people from the core city.

He didn’t stay there long and quickly followed after the retreating Jude. Behind him a collective gasp was rising out of the crowd as Jude’s name reached the top of the list, dethroning Morcheron.

Morcheron was still enjoying his victory over Jorgan when he heard the murmuring of the crowd. It didn’t take long for him to notice that he was now second place. But what surprised him the most was the name. Only someone from the core could get a score that high. But the name Jude didn’t ring any bells in Morcheron’s memory. If there were a new up and coming wizard, he would have heard about it, plus whatever deeds they accomplished would have been very noteworthy to get 500 bonus points.

Of course, Morcheron never thought that it could be someone outside of the core city, even less than the person he just scored.

Even genius from other lands would have to go through all the trials of the two gates. There was no way to get through them perfectly, not to mention earning enough bonus points as well.

“Boss,” one of Morcheron’s cronies from the inner city spoke up. “I heard that there was a particularly talented person coming from the outer city. If rumors are true, he scored flawlessly at the first gate. Could this be the same person?”

Morcheron was filled with distain, “Don’t bring up such false rumors. Only someone from the core city could get 5,000 points. He must be a hidden talent. If my guess is correct, he must have come from the king's palace.”

“The king's palace?!” the cronies all said together.

Pride filled Morcheron from his astute guess, “That’s right. It isn’t unusual for the king to train up a talented genius, only to display him in places like the Elitist Competition.”

“But recently I heard that the king…” one crony said.

“Don’t spout random rumors about the king,” Morcheron warned. “Who are we to criticize the descendants of the great hero?”

“Everyone, listen up,” Yorik said in a soft voice, but it was easily heard everywhere.

The stone blocks Yorik and the other elders stood on raised up higher and moved to the norther side of the arena where it merged into the wall creating a dais and podium for announcements to those below.

“Everyone’s score has been recorded. Now pick a stone block below to stand on and place your token on it. The top thirty-two will be separated into seed districts, and everyone else will have to rely on luck for their placement.

“But just because someone is a seed, doesn’t mean that they will advance. Everyone should try their best. Your future will only be determined when it becomes the past.”

Before Jude picked a stone Jorgan caught up to him, at this point, Jorgan was wondering if Serena was right. How could this fellow get the perfect score? Was getting bonus points easy?

He asked, “How did you get 5,000 points?!”

“Simple, I got perfect scores and then earned some bonus points,” Jude ignored Jorgan shock and looked at the score board. Now that everyone had been listed he wanted to see if he could find Valice, the shaman's, score. A month ago he had fought that barbarian and it wasn’t an easy battle. But from her, he felt an even greater pressure. He wanted to know how she fared on the list.

It didn’t take long to find her. Valice scored a 4,254, that placed her at the 18th place. If Jude ignored the twelve from the core city, that meant five other people might be even stronger than her.

Oddly enough, this didn’t cause Jude to be worried or concerned. Instead, he started to feel a little excited. He wasn’t sure how strong people like Jorgan or Morcheron were. But so far Morcheron only seemed to be strong with his mouth and pride. People like Valice, on the other hand, were strong all by themselves and didn’t rely on their free ticket to get into the competition. The core city twelve might be strong, but if that strength wasn’t tempered, it could be very brittle, likely to shatter.

Jude's answer clearly dissatisfied Jorgan, so he said, “After we compete I’ll tell you all about it. But right now we need to pick one of these stones.”

The large white blocks that had made up the center stage started to break apart from each other. Each time someone climbed onto the block and placed their coin on it, the coin would enter the block, and it would separate from the rest. Jude followed suit, putting his coin on a block and jumping up on it.

Soon all the blocks were arranged so that each person only had another placed directly in front of them.

Yorik now explained the next part, “The rules are simple. Issue the opponent in front of you a duel. The first person to be knocked off or lose the fight will be the loser, and the winner will advance to the next round. There will only be three rounds. Begin!”

Not many people at this point knew who Jude was. Most of the individuals who had seen his great performances thus far hadn’t made it to the final competition. And since Jude started from the outer city, there weren’t many who arrived after him.

The wizard in front of him did not recognize him and believed that because he didn’t know Jude, that Jude couldn’t possibly be one of the seeded players. He had a smirk on his face as he issued Jude a challenge.

Jude could not care less how this other wizard acted or thought. He was more interested in how these other wizards and advanced classes fought.

As soon as the duel started, Jude launched his . It was already at Rank VIII, which gave it the strength of 80% of Jude’s spirit stat. It wouldn't do a lot of damage, but the sheer force of it was quite amazing. Jude could see that at this level, everyone already had , even the wizard in front of Jude had to have at least Rank III .

But against the monstrous strength of Jude’s , it was torn through like paper, instantly knocking his opponent off the block and knocked unconscious. He probably wouldn’t know what happened even after he woke up.

Jude began to look at the other fights and noticed that no matter how flashy they looked, the duels kept the damage limited to only the contestants who were dueling each other.

“What a good system,” He praised, “not only can they keep casualties down, but they can also squeeze this many people into one area to fight at once.”

Seeing the magic all around him made him wish he could contend against it himself. Then he realized his mistake! He should have let his opponent at least make one strike.