With Astra taking care of the backline, Anton and the rest were able to focus on the mobs in front of them. Their party quickly swept past the monsters as they went deeper into the palace.

Isabella looked at her and frowned. Clara was engaging in some idle chatter with Astra. Now that Astra had proven himself to be competent, Clara was trying to flirt with him.

“We’re here,” Anton said.

As they exited the corridor, a huge platform appeared in front of them. Numerous passages were leading to the same place that they were in.

Astra was baffled by the amount of people standing on top of the platform.

“How come there are so many people here?” Astra inquired.

Isabella replied, “You didn’t think we were the only group here, did you? We used different entrances to avoid congestion.”

Astra nodded.

Clara looked up at the ceiling, “It’s almost time.”

A beam of sunlight was inching closer to a crystal gem.

“Time for what?” Astra asked.

Clara pointed at the gem, “You see that crystal? When the beam of sunlight hits it, the platform will teleport everyone to Sloveus’ trials.”

Astra now understood why everyone was standing on the platform.

“No reason not to get on now,” Joseph said as he walked towards the platform. Everyone else did the same.

A few moments later, the platform shone brightly, and everyone turned into pillars of light.

…

..

.

Astra opened his eyes.

There was a wooden sword, a copper chest plate, and a bronze bow on the table in front of him.

Astra looked around him; no one else was there.

An elderly voice resounded within his head, “Welcome everyone. I am Sloveus; I will be testing you all on enchantments.There will be three trials. First, enchant the equipment in front of you.”

Astra inspected the equipment. Their grades ascended with each piece of equipment from 1st, 2nd, and 3rd.

A few moments later, Astra had completed his enchantments. The wooden sword came out to be high 2nd grade since his experience with swords were extremely proficient. The copper chest plate was also high 2nd grade, but the bronze bow was only low 3rd grade. Even with all the papers that Gradrel gave him, Astra didn’t have enough experience enchanting chest plates and bows.

During this enchantment session, Astra noticed that there were significant similarities between the three different types of inscriptions. Even though the inscriptions were fitted to be enchanted on various types of equipment, since the core of the inscription was about increasing the material’s durability and strength, Astra saw through the parts of the inscriptions that allowed it to be fitted onto a different piece of equipment.

“Pass.” The voice echoed. “Second trial. Mana control.”

An unfamiliar inscription began to appear in front of Astra. The inscription was drawing itself in front of Astra.

“Replicate,” The voice said.

With Astra’s insight and trained mana control, he easily saw through the parts where he needed to vary his speed and the amount of mana.

“Pass. Third trial. Finish the inscriptions.”

Three parchments appeared and levitated in front of Astra.

Astra carefully inspected the three inscriptions. It was evident that all of them had missing parts.

“Interesting…” Astra murmured. This was actually a piece of cake for Astra thanks to Gradrel’s papers that he had meticulously studied the day before. The papers had taught him the function of each part of the inscription, by deducing the remaining parts of the inscriptions in front of him, Astra was easily able to fill in the blanks.

This made Astra wonder even more about Gradrel’s identity. Was he really just a regular training instructor?

“Pass. You have completed all of the trials.”

Astra turned into a beam of light and appeared in a luscious garden with a fountain in the middle that was spewing glittering water everywhere. Above him was a clear, blue sky without a single cloud in sight.

“Hello? Anyone here?” Astra’s voice echoed throughout the garden.

No response.

Astra sat down and meditated while using the basic technique.

Half an hour later, three pillars of light appeared in front of Astra. He immediately stood up.

The lights faded away. The three people looked around.

Isabella was baffled when she saw Astra, “I’m surprised you made it.”

“Astra Gale…” A handsome young man murmured.

A tall, mature girl wearing a revealing red robe spoke up, “Who knew you would be here as well, Heath Nightbend?” Her white, pale thighs could be seen through her black stockings. Her long, silky hair drooped down to her waist.

Heath glanced at the red robed lady, “Ivona Roseshade, what brings you here?”

Suddenly, an old voice echoed throughout the garden.

“Congratulations to all of you.”

A bag appeared in front of each of them.

“To Heath Nightbend, five hundred silver coins, and three intermediate inscriptions.”

Heath smiled happily, five hundred coins was equivalent to fifty thousand merit points. But what he was most ecstatic about was the intermediate inscriptions. These inscriptions were a rarity even in Ascelyn Academy. If he donated these inscriptions to the library, who knows how many points he would receive?

“To Isabella Phoenixvale, one thousand silver coins, four intermediate inscriptions, and an ice elemental spell book.”

Isabella quivered with excitement. Her family hailed from a lineage that specialized in fire arts. They didn’t have many spell books for water techniques let alone ice. The ice elemental spell book was more precious to her than the inscriptions and silver coins combined.

“To Ivona Roseshade, three thousand silver coins, five intermediate inscriptions, a fire elemental book, and an amethyst gem.”

Heath was surprised that Isabella received an additional intermediate inscription and even a spell book. But he was furious that Ivona had received an amethyst gem. One had to know that gems were able to enchant weapons to strengthen them easily. An amethyst gem could potentially enhance a 3rd-grade weapon to rival a 4th-grade weapon easily.

“To Astra Gale, five thousand silver coins, one advanced inscription, and a topaz gem.

Isabella raised an eyebrow, Astra’s rewards were so much better than theirs. Why was he the only one that didn’t receive any spell books?

“WHAT?!” Heath grew frantic. He didn’t expect Astra to receive so many things. This must mean that Astra had done the best out of all of them. This wasn’t good. If Astra were given more time, Heath would no longer be able to contend against him. Thank god Astra was about to disappear soon.

The old man was not finished.

“To Astra Gale, I pass behind my legacy and also Reach’s token.”

Heath bit his lips. Astra did receive Sloveus’ legacy after all...but what was that about Reach’s token? Could it be…?

Astra took the floating bag in front of him and stored it inside his space ring. He began to wonder about Reach’s token.

A moment later, the four of them were teleported outside of the palace.

Heath looked around. Sure enough, people were waiting for Heath to come out.

Everyone crowded in front of the four of them.

“Did anyone get Sloveus’ legacy this year?”

“Did you get any rewards?”

“I got kicked out after the first trial; I thought I did well.”

“I wish I had gotten something at least.”

Heath looked at the crowd in front of him and smirked. This was going to work better than he thought.

“Everyone! Everyone! Settle down. The four of us received many rewards. Especially Astra Gale,” Heath spoke loudly.

Isabella looked at Heath with a furrowed brow, “Heath, what are you doing?” She whispered.

Heath ignored her, “Do you guys want to know what he got? I’ll tell you what he got. Sloveus gave him his legacy! A mere commoner! Who would’ve thought! Let’s give up a round of applause!”

Heath began to clap on his own. A couple of nobles began to clap as well.

“You know what else he got? Reach’s legacy!”

The clapping stopped.

The crowd began to clamor with whispers.

“Reach…? The legendary mage?”

“Could it be? The mage that our continent was named after?”

“It has to be! It’s because of him that our continent is named The Great Reach continent!”

The crowd began to stare at Astra like a savory piece of meat. They didn’t think much of his resistance since there was a whole crowd of nobles against him.

The crowd was still hesitating to take action, but it wouldn’t be long before they figured out what they should be doing.

Seeing the faltering crowd, Heath gave them one more push.

“Astra, why don’t you take it out and let us see it? I would very much love to see what it looks like,” Heath grinned madly.

Astra looked around him. Crazy glints appeared in everyone's’ eyes.