Stepping Stone for the Legend

"That girl's magic… It had... the colors of the rainbow…" Iledoya said full of interest. If everyone who knew Iledoya was to see him right now, they would notice that Iledoya is showing a strange look of interest.

"What? What could that possibly mean?" Going by logic that each color represented an attribute for magic, a thought came to mind. But Nicholas finds it hard to believe "Could it possibly mean?"

"I know a case. If my guess is correct, then it won't be a surprise that she's here. Though not many may know though, since you could say it became a buried history I guess." Iledoya said. If his guess was correct, Iledoya would actually want ask a few favor from the girl. "Oh the registration. Of course. Let's continue, it should be… this way…"

As they approach the area designated for the tournament registration, they can't help but frown seeing how crowded the place is. 'It's just like what the receptionist said. So many people wanting to participate' at this point Iledoya can't help but wanting to curse. 'That damn potion. Holding me back from getting my engraver.'

But with the long queue in front of them, they're pretty sure that Iledoya has no choice but to wait if he wants to participate. "Hmm… Since this is going to be a long wait anyway, how about telling that 'buried history' you just mentioned earlier?" Nicholas was feeling bored, so he thought he might as well ask Iledoya a few things.

"Well… Sure I guess? I don't know much since I only found it in a suspicious looking book" THAT WAS A LIE. Of course Iledoya got his knowledge from certain normal soul. "THAT WAS A LIE. this is second narrator, as a matter of fact, it wasn't just any soul but the soul of Ruteshia's Founder… 's friend" "THAT WAS A LIE this is THIRD narrator, as a matter of fact, THE FOUNDER HAD NO FRIEND AND IS LIVING IN SECLUSION" Actually, ignoring the second and third narrator, in a certain way the soul was normal, as it was but just the soul of a human.

"Do you know Nyikelaos, why the city is called Ruteshia?" Iledoya asked. As this isn't a small matter, Iledoya used Soul magic to communicate directly to Nicholas' soul to prevent anyone from hearing them. It was quite shocking for Nicholas at first but he got use to it during the trip to Ruteshia.

Nicholas pondered about it for a while. "Is it because… The tournament? They took the name from the tournament? Or maybe from the name of a nearby mountain or forest or river?"

"Well you're not wrong that they took the name from somewhere. Actually it's 'someone' instead of somewhere. This someone is also the one responsible for why Ruteshia looks like a city straight out of a painting. Rutehom Furshia, the founding father of Ruteshia"

"Rutehom Furshia? Why does his name sounds kind of…"

"It's very simple actually, what they did. They simply combine the first part of his first name and the last part of his last name. Which is Rute and Shia, Ruteshia. You can say it's a tribute to the man without letting outsiders know. This way, only those who knew the story would know of the tribute." continued his explanation.

"Okay sounds cool, but what did he actually do?" Despite it sounding like Nicholas not being fascinated, he was actually intrigued already by the story of this Rutehom Furshia.

"Hehehe... I think… I'll tell you later" Iledoya said while smirking at Nicholas.

Nicholas could feel that a blood vein almost popped on his head when he heard Iledoya's reply. "If you're not going to tell a story, then do you have any other ideas on what to do while we wait?"

"How about you tell me a story? You know, something from your world I guess?" Iledoya suggested. After confirming that Nicholas has indeed from another world, it would be obvious that Iledoya's thirst of knowledge would make him ask some things about Nicholas' world.

Nicholas made a shocked and conflicted expression. After thinking about it for a while, he decided "Well I guess there are a few stories I can tell you… There's this story about a dog called Hachiko..."

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"*sob* *sob* Why can't Hachi just breakthrough to the Magical rank so Hachi could understand though *sob*" Iledoya was crying madly. Though he wasn't the only one.

"*hiks* mama, can we get a dog?" a nearby young boy said to his mom. "*sniff* Sure darling, Let's go after dad finish registering okay?" the mom replied while sniffing.

"Bro, we too should go get a dog" a man said to his friend while smiling with tears in his eyes "Sure bro, and we would call him boi" said his friend who was bald, had a beard, a tattoo across his face, and had a big stature

Since it wasn't a life-turning secret or anything of the sorts, Nicholas just told it normally without Iledoya using Soul magic to communicate from soul to soul. Despite him only telling the story to Iledoya, because how crowded the place was some people ended up listening to his story too.

"Well Iledoya, because the world in the story doesn't have any magic, so Hachi can't rank up to gain a much higher level of intelligence" Nicholas answered while shaking his head.

By the time Nicholas finished telling his story, he was surprised to find out that they were already so close to the registration booth. They didn't have to wait for long before they finally reached the registration booth.

"Name and age" Arriving at the registration booth, Iledoya was surprised a little by how straightforward the registration is. 'Must be because the huge amount of people' Iledoya thought to himself.

The man at the registration booth didn't even lift up his head to see the face of those who wants to register. Iledoya was about to give his name when he suddenly thought up something.

As he gathered his magic on his hand, he formed to create a grey blank mask which he wear afterwards. After that, he said to the man handling the registration "Can I enter the tournament with the nickname… Immortal Mage?"

The man was stunned for a moment. He lifted up his head only to see a short boy wearing a grey mask. "Hahaha. Kid, this isn't a place to play around. You might get Hu-- urgg" as the man was about to continue, he suddenly felt like he was being choked. Even though he can't see the boy's face in front of him due to the mask, but for some reason just looking at the mask now fills him with so much dread, his back was already drenched.

When the feeling of being choked vanished, the boy in front of him asked again "So can I enter tournament as the 'Immortal Mage'?" he asked with a sweet tone, that one could just imagine the smile along with it.

But having felt that suffocating dread from earlier, the man didn't want to try his luck again "Y-yes, yes you can. But about the age… " The man asked nervously.

"I'm a 10,000 years old Immortal. Can you put that in?"

"This…" The man smiled bitterly. While there is only a minimum age limit to enter the tournament, but would his higher ups believe if he listed one of the contestants to be 10,000 years old? That is even older than the city. Heck, that is even older than most countries that are standing!

"What, is there a problem with that? Am i not allowed to?" this time the boy in front of him didn't ask with his previous sweet tone but just flat.

While the man is afraid of his higher ups, but he would prefer to lost his job than his life. "N-No… N-None at all." writing it down, the man then handed over a token "Please bring this token during the tournament. The arena where the tournament is held has a special barrier and you need to have that token to enter the arena. That's all, please have a nice day"

"Un. Thank you"

At the side, Nicholas had strange look the whole time. As Iledoya approached him, he asked "Why did you sign up as 'Immortal Mage' instead of Iledoya?"

"Because. I am going to make this tournament the stepping stone for my legend. My legend as the Immortal Mage!" Iledoya proudly said as he took off his mask. He was quite satisfied with this line as he thinks it sounds quite cool.

But not long after, they heard someone shout "I AM GOING TO MAKE THIS TOURNAMENT, THE STEPPING STONE FOR MY LEGEND, THE LEGEND OF I, CRUDONZ"

Nicholas' mouth instantly twitched when he heard that. "... Is that line popular?" he muttered. Then he turned to look towards Iledoya.

Iledoya only nodded once and said "Crudonz. Noted."

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"So... Spatia…" Chronotia called out while frowning.

Spatia was kneeling with both his knees bent. "Me?" he asked with an innocent look while pointing at himself.

"Or me?" Said another Spatia that was kneeling right beside the Spatia that just spoke. While they do look very similar, if one were to observe closely, one would notice that the second one to speak was slightly smaller, and sounded less 'powerful' than the second.

"Cih. I'll let you off since you were just dragged in. Go." Chronotia said to the Spatia that spoke second.

"Thank you, thank you, Senior Chronotia" the Spatia said as he hastily leave without a moment of hesitation, leaving behind the Spatia that spoke first.

If Spatia, the Avatar of Space had sweat glands, then he would be having cold sweats right now. "So… haha… Chronotia… What's up?"

"Did you have fun playing narrator?" Chronotia asked. While her tone sounded quite relaxed, Spatia could still see a cold glint in her eyes.

"Y-Yes?" Spatia stuttered as he said that.

Chronotia was about to say more but… She just shook her head and sighed. "Haaa… Fine then. Just don't drag the other Spatia. Remember, he's not like you. He might get erased if he keeps doing what you do"

Seeing that Chronotia wasn't going to punish him, Spatia felt a huge sense of relief. "Okay, I'll keep that in mind. I won't drag him around again next time"