Ellie sat in a small abandoned hobble far outside of Geonar. Night had already set in, and as she looked out the window, she could see the aura of light coming off of the large city.

Any large town would be visible from a distance, but Geonar gave off the most impressive glow of them all. It reached out over the horizon, and if you didn’t know that the city was there, you would wonder what strange thing caused such a scene.

Not only was Geonar a big city, but it was also lit up with a unique light called Mage Lights. Not that anyone called them Mage Lights, instead the populous called them canister lights because of how they looked. They were brass cylinder looking objects with rune inscriptions carved along its surface.

Ellie was fascinated with them and had attempted to reproduce them with glyphs but had been unsuccessful. Her skill with glyphs recently had reached an incredible point, even without Jude altering them with his skills, she could create combinations that created amazing effects.

The three buttons that she put on Jude’s clothes by themselves, they added a passive boost to his stats, but once combined they would create a marvelous effect. Hopefully, it would be enough for him to escape if it became necessary.

Ellie used her class skills and quick-crafted a cylinder similar to a canister light. She was still frustrated by her inability to create such a simple item with glyphs. Why couldn’t crafters use runes? Why was it only Wizards who get to use them?

Then it hit her, why couldn’t she use runes? Besides the obvious class restrictions, they weren’t that much different than glyphs. The inscription process wasn’t that much different either. Besides, she had studied the runes alongside Jude and knew them almost as well as he did.

Taking out her tools, Ellie began the process of inscribing runes onto the canister. The canisters only had four simple runes on it, so it was not a problem for her to copy them down. Nor did it take long to inscribe them.

Just as she finished the last line of the final rune, BAM! The canister light ruptured.

Error!

Unknown error!

Class error: You do not meet the requirements for this task.

The notification did not upset Ellie. She expected something like this after all. But what did surprise her were the two errors before the class error. Perhaps there was some wiggle room in this process after all. It was a long shot, but maybe she could create runes if she figured out the first two errors. Perhaps there was a way around the class restriction.

***

Jude sat in the healer’s tent that was set up on the ground level inside the arena. He was surprised by the reaction of the Priests there. He expected to get the cold shoulder from these people after killing one of their own, but their attitudes were the complete opposite.

“That was the most amazing magic fight I’ve ever seen!” Commented the Priest while he was working on the large hole in Jude’s side.

“Serena’s magic was amazing, and her skill in Foundations really surprised me,” said another. “But Mr. Jude, you gave us a pleasant surprise.”

The first Priest then said, “Yeah, I have never seen someone so flexible with their magic. The Wizards of Geonar only focus on one element. But you’ve seemed to mastered several already, how long do you think it will be until you become an Archmage?”

“I’m not sure,” Jude replied unsure of why he was asked.

Another priest walked in at that moment, she said, “I’m so jealous of Serena! She will now be immortalized in the Vanguard Hall. Usually, that honor is only reserved for the final championship.”

“It’s so true,” the second priest said, “usually only war hero’s get entered into it.”

Jude paid little attention to the conversation as it did not make sense to him. How could dying in a competition be a good thing or something others would be jealous of? This was the first time Jude felt so out of touch with this culture. Longdale had a few oddities, but they were all within his expectations for a medieval society.

Jude's attention wandered as the next match started to play out. It was between two different elite class warriors, but Jude didn’t recognize either of them. Apparently Kohan the Barbarian did not make it this far.

Soon his gaze shifted from the match to the king. The king was dressed in his royal robes and had a youthful and vibrant appearance which was in stark contrast to his white hair and a wispy beard. For someone who had been sick for so long, he looked surprisingly healthy.

Next to the king were the four dukes. Out of them all, one was staring daggers at Jude.

***

Duke Ganish heart was bleeding in misery. He held no love for his niece Serena, but she was an outstanding chess piece of his. She had been the most skilled wizard in the Ganish family in the past two generations. Her future would have been remarkable. While her skill in inscriptions was lacking, it would have sorted itself out in time. After all, Foundations and inscriptions went together hand-in-hand. But even if it didn’t, her work in Foundations could not be underestimated.

And yet she still died.

Duke Ganish had to be careful. In his anger, he wanted to squash this little mite named Jude. But if he did, he would leave himself open to the other three dukes.

Not that the struggle of the four dukes mattered anymore.

The king was back.

His health miraculously restored.

All the machinations of the four dukes were now in ruins. Each was trying to come up with new plans, but none had the time to work anything out. It had been too sudden, and they had yet to have enough time to adjust.

The king being back also made it hard for the duke to take revenge on Jude. When contestants agree to the Blood Will Flow rules, no one is allowed to take vengeance. The king himself would severely punish the breaking of such an old and sacred law. He didn’t want to lose his duchy; it wasn’t worth it for a chess piece of a niece.

However, if the opportunity did present itself, he would take advantage of it.

“Congratulations Ruthope,” Duke Jermal said, “your territory had produced a fine wizard.”

Duke Ruthope laughed, “Thank you Jermal. Even I am surprised by this turn of events. To think an unclaimed wizard was wandering around my territory and he was this powerful. I will have to ask the other dukes not to make any moves on him before I can make my own offer.”

Ruthope wasn’t worried that the other dukes would steal this talented individual, after all, there was still at least some civility between them. However, he still needed to make it known that he had first claim over him.

Ganish scowl turned even deeper after hearing this. He had forgotten about the matter of Jude’s origins. Making a move on him really was not worth it. Not only did Ruthope want him for his skill, but he would also want him for the status of his duchy and information of the demon invasion.

Even the king would want to know about the demon invasion.

How the heck did this person become the crux of so many different things? Ganish thought.

***

King Darion Richard Val’mar III, looked down upon the two warrior contestants below. At one time, the contest between warriors of this level would have stirred his blood, but now things were different. His sickness which had lasted for years had now been cured, and to think it was all due to a curse. But after he had transcended his mortality, the curse could no longer bind him.

Some would think this transformation a bane, but the king could only see the potential in it. Now his life took on a different meaning, and it invigorated him even more than the transformation itself.

But if Guudnash thought he could control him, he was going to be in for a surprise. The highest class a warrior could attain was the titled class King. And when Guudnash was still mortal, he was barely into his Advance classes, not to mention Elite class or Titled class. How could Darion serve someone who was inferior to himself?

Besides, the king thought, This Guudnash only has the aspiration to be a Demon Lord. Well if there are Demon Lords then there are Demon Kings. And if there are Demon Kings, then there ought to be Demon Emperors!

Darion always had a healthy sense of ambition, but due to his condition and the state of the races south of the Beast Lands, there was little room for it to grow. However, now it was different. No longer was he being held back by the curse and through the path of demons, he could strike back against the other races and the land north.

“Soon it will be all mine,” he whispered under his breath.

***

The warriors finished their fight, and Jorgan and Morcheron were next up to the stage. The winner of this match would determine who would fight Jude over the championship for the magical side of the competition. Then, the final showdown between warriors and wizards would end the tournament.

Jude hoped that Jorgan would win, but at the same time, he didn’t want to have to fight Jorgan. Fighting Morcheron would be much easier as Jude wouldn’t have to pull his punches. Jude felt an odd sense of turmoil. But it quickly cleared, and he knew that it would be better for Jorgan to win. A match between friends could be a good thing too.

As the fight went underway, Jude took a close inspection on how both Jorgan and Morcheron used their magic. After fighting Serena, he realized that the approach Geonar took to magic was much different from his own. Watching Jorgan and Morcheron proved the point further. While neither of them was able to use Foundations as well as Serena they still had elements of foundations incorporated into their spells, boosting their effects. What was more impressive was their mastery over their spells and using them in ways Jude hadn’t thought possible.

Morcheron continued his style of filling the whole place with water, though now that the stage was so big, he had to limit himself somewhat as it was not as effective as it had been.

Jorgan was proficient enough not to get caught up in all the water and took to the sky with his fire magic and bombarded Morcheron below. But Jorgan could only stay up in the air for a short time, after which was when Morcheron would make his counter-attack.

Seeing Jorgan having to flee from the wild waves of Morcheron made Jude think of his own escape plan. Now that they were floating up in the sky, his original escape plan didn’t mean much. Ellie had crafted him three amazing glyphs in the shape of buttons. Then she placed them on his pants, shirt, and outer robe. The three lined and when combined with an ingenious slotting method, would render Jude entirely invisible for magic and the naked eye. This would have been great if the coliseum was still on the ground. Now he wasn’t sure what he would do.

As far as completing the tournament and winning the Grand Prize, Jude hadn't planned on going for it. As tempting as the Mortis Device sounded to be, he still didn’t know what it was. But for it to be the reward for the entire contest proved it to be something special. Jude’s first plan was to escape with the Stone Shard after he received it. He had no plans on joining the Court of Wizards and could only guess what they would do to get the shard.

Now that he thought about it, they now had the perfect patsy. Since he had killed Serena, if they did do anything to him, they could easily frame Duke Ganish.

Jude was getting a little nervous now. He had no escape plan.

All he could do now was do his best to win the Stone Shard and hope he didn’t run into Yarik before the last fight. If he was able to win the whole tournament, then he should have enough clout to buy him some time to get out of town before Yarik pressed him for the stone.

It wasn’t much of a plan, but it was the best Jude could think of for the time being

BAM!

A wall of water smashed into the foundation barrier that Jude had set up after he got out of the healing tent.

“Morcheron wins!” the announcer said.

The water evaporated strangely quick, but that was to be expected as it was made from magic. Jude could then see Jorgan outside the stage near him.

Jorgan was soaking wet and had a scowl on his face. He muttered a quick spell and was dry almost instantly. However, his sour mood stayed with him.

"Jorgan are you okay?" Jude asked.

Jorgan gave Jude a dark look as he was upset over losing, "Nothing major, only a wounded pride. I really messed up there at the end. I have been keeping track of how much mana Morcheron uses and recovers each match, but I had assumed wrong. Sneaky mongrel."

"So you planned to battle him out with attrition?" Jude asked.

"In the past, when we fought I've found that Morcheron favors to over-extend his mana to push up his damage. However, this time was different. I'm not sure if he found a way to regen mana faster or if the majority of his attacks were all bluster with no substance to fool me."

"For such an arrogant person, I thought he was somewhat a moron. But now I see that he is more cunning than I realized. I'm sorry you lost my friend." Jude said sincerely.

Being called a friend instantly put a smile on Jorgan's face, even if he didn't win the tournament, making Jude a friend was top on Jorgans priority list. This truly made him happy.

"Just make sure you smash his face in real good for me when you go up there."

"I'll give it my best," Jude said returning the smile.