33 Banquet

As Drrak warned me the old man looked at me, his gaze scrutinizing my very existence. My will felt suppressed as I couldn't resist his gaze. He looked calm until he realized something, my heart froze and my brain went through a bunch of scenario on dealing with this old man. But then something strange happened he smiled, lowered his head in apology as he turned away.

Teacher Elton kept watch the whole time, but he never acted for a moment like this was unexpected. For a moment I had thought that they were scheming with each other against me.

"Don't worry he was just testing you, they do that to all their disciple's competitors. You handled it well though, keep it up." Teacher Elton said appreciatively

"Thank you, master," I said sincerely though I bought his excuse.

'Drrak what just happened?' I said nervously

'Calm down kid, keep your calm if you seem scared they will capitalize on that.'

I took a deep breath and ironed my will as I calmed myself.

'Alright explain.' I said with a cold voice

'You were without a doubt found out. But its not necessarily a bad thing.' Drrak said carefully

'Are they assuming I am related to a demon?' I said anxiously

'It seems so, you are fine they won't out you. The only way to out you would out them as well.'

'They made deals with demons, that is useful to know.' I thought as I stared at Brian, like usual he smiled but this time it seemed genuine.

'Demons in the capital, are they planning something?' I thought to myself

Drrak introjected on my thoughts with 'Demons don't often plan, they just do deals.'

'Still, the Rain nobles are dabbling in demonic deals, they even accepted the death Qi of the demons. This is nothing short of heretical behavior.' I thought gleefully, it is always nice to have some else's weakness.

The only problem is in finding their weakness, I had to reveal my own. But luckily my weakness is false and theirs is true. I put the rest in the back of my mind, I had little information and can't show any interest right now. After all, curiosity did indeed kill the cat, and it was gruesome.

I looked around the room and locked eyes with a crimson beauty. She had a lithe, immaculate figure but contrary to her crimson hair, she had icy eyes. She looked at me I felt like I was in a frozen abyss, I let my sword intent overflow as I cut through her illusions.

The sword Qis rested in my eyes, as they cut down the illusion leaving her stone-faced. She peered at me a little longer before looking away. Teacher Elton watched the whole thing and shook his head appreciatively. But I wasn't happy at all with my situation.

'Is everybody trying to suppress if I look at them today.' I cursed in my mind if there is anything I hate more its being hindered.

"She is the flame princess, one of the top mages of the magic school. I assume you've met Brian?" Teacher Elton said to me.

"Yes, we met at the library," I said respectfully

"He's also a top mage, but not as strong as her though. These are your competitors, not the rabble outside." Teacher Elton stressed to me

'He doesn't seem to like my involvement with Carol and Raynard it seems.' I thought

'Well if he doesn't want me to bother with them, then I'll try my best. But only for now, because he is stronger than I am.'

"I understand Teacher," I said with a gleaming smile.

I looked around the rest of the room, and my gaze landed on a dark-haired youth in a white uniform. He had formless sword Qi all around him, it wasn't noticeable to most but I was sensitive to Qi. I greeted his sword Qi with my own sword Qi.

He looked over and smiled at me as our Qi meet. His Qi was heavy but very dispersed, it had long since substantialized and was bordering on formlessness. Our Qis intertwined, as I followed his flow I gained insights into my sword code. As my bar for one with the sword rapidly increased 1%.

The Qi quietly clashed, he made a careful effort not defeat me to quickly. I kept following and clashing as the bar kept increasing and finally stopped at 15%. My sword intent substantialized even more as I felt the power increase a large amount, and my understanding of the Lightning Sword Style increased.

My sword intent receded quietly since the bar had stopped. The young man's Qi returned as well, as he continued to smile at me. For once I smiled back and bowed slightly in thanks.

'I am always thankful for any help received, if it isn't inconvenient to me I will help him.' I marked in my heart.

Teacher Elton kept watching the entire time, as he sent something to the youth. I looked at him curiously as to what happened.

"That is the sword king, the most skilled knight among the younger generation at this school. He's a half step level 24, he will soon do a job transition." He said solemnly

'He answered one of my questions but not what just happened. Did teacher Elton thank him or something?'

Before I could ask about it, a middle-aged person walked up to the stand in the center of the room. His presence was imposing and dignified but it lacked power as though he was a mortal. But no one believed a mortal would be at the center stage, so that meant only one thing. I was even qualified to feel his power, I was just that weak.

"Welcome I am headmaster James, I am the host of this banquet." The middle-aged man said

In return for the Headmaster's greeting, everyone bowed lightly, except me who was unaware. But it passed quickly so I didn't look stupid for long.

"I am here to tell you about one thing only, you are the top talents of Rain. So you will all represent Rain in the future, we want you to be prepared."

"So we will be having a tournament, an in-school tournament for all level 9 below. Then a national tournament for those 19 and lower and lastly we will be having a continental tournament for 29 and lower. To prepare all of you, we will be allowing access to more resources. Most importantly, we will open the ancestral treasury. Access will depend on your scores in the dream formation."

As he said that a lot of faces became solemn but excited. Some wanted to show their excitement but now was not the time. I just stood there quietly contemplating what that meant. I wanted to ask Teacher Elton but I decided to wait until later. In the meantime, I looked around to see the other people here.

I then saw Gavyn but he didn't look at me. Next to Gavyn was a man in a dark cloak, he had an icy and powerful aura. But not on the level of Teacher Elton. It was closer to the aura the sword king had if anything but it was a little feeble. He looked at me his gaze piercing, but I wasn't very afraid. I greeted his gaze, he smiled with his yellow teeth and looked away.

I hadn't noticed earlier but near the sword king was 4 people. 2 girls and 2 guys all similar to the sword king with sharp auras. But significantly weaker and they seemed subordinate to the sword king. Near the flame, princess were two men, one in a white uniform with a spear on his back and a domineering aura and a black-robed man with a vaporous and liquid aura.

A small distance from the sword king was a large man, with huge bruised knuckles. His vitality was extremely exuberant similar to mine as though he was a giant. He fists had a raging aura to them like they could smash buildings. Next to him was a boy with a bow on his back along with arrows.

He looked at me in his peripheral vision and I felt like I was being watched by a hawk. Like I had been marked and an arrow was looking at me, I felt like running when finally he looked away.

'My greatest weakness would probably be range....'

I could have handled the goblins better if they didn't have archers, but sadly they did. At the moment I felt the danger of my weakness and marked it in my heart. As I was busy looking around Teacher Elton looked at me. The headmaster had finished and went from the stand as people clapped.

"You really should pay attention." Teacher Elton said.

"I was confused, sorry master," I said embarrassingly

"It's no problem if you are wondering about the people you saw. The 4 near the sword king are his sword dukes, and duchesses. Near the flame princess, are her guardian knight and mage."

"The large boy you see there is the Fist sovereign, and the last is Hawkeye. I think you figured out their specialties for the most part." Elton said as he pointed out each person.

"Indeed Master," I responded