Antonia Clifford's POV:
I sat into the first and best carriage. It was red inside and very spacious.
Three of my father's servants came with me. They had to follow me to the tournament, since my parents had no time. I also insisted on taking Lara Mitford, my only friend, with me into the carriage.
She was the daughter of an earl. Her family was highly regarded by the townsfolk. Even though they weren't as wealthy as other earls, they shared their money with the poor. It was also in my interest, since I liked such people.
When we started to move, the servant in the middle, all three of them sat opposite to me, asked: "Pincess, do you need something for us to give you?"
My belly had growled just now. That was probably the reason for the question.
"No thanks, I'm fine." I replied quickly with a forced smile.
Everyone went silent again, diving into their own thoughts. After a while Lara was the one to speak: "Come to think of it, Toni, what layer are you currently on?"
She always called me Toni. I quite liked it and had told her to call me that a few weeks back. It was also how my family addressed me, so it gave me a warm feeling hearing it.
I looked at her innocent face and say: "I'm at the advanced stage of the fourth layer Body Tempering Realm. I might even brakethrough in the next few days. I hope I'll reach the fifth layer before the tournament starts. What about you?"
"Amazing! You're already so strong. I'm just at the beginner stage of the fourth layer. But I hope I'm not going to lose directly in the first round." She answered with a disappointed expression.
I tried to cheer her up: "That's really not bad. I heard that most of the students in our class and in the other schools are still at the third layer."
Lara gently smiled and retorted: "Thanks for cheering me up. What about the others? Do you know their cultivation levels?"
I think for a bit before answering: "No, unfortunately I do not know the layer their on. But just as I said, most of them are probably in the 3rd layer. Yakov may be in the fifth or even sixth layer by now."
"What about Idris? He had a high result in the examination, hadn't he?" she inquired.
Again I got lost in my thoughts. I don't know about Idris. For me, he had been a complete mystery until now. Every week he was at least two times absent. He was also alone every time we looked at him.
He had no friends whatsoever. Only servants. Even though he had a good result in the mana core examination, I couldn't keep track with his cultivation. He was just always alone and seemed to be lost in his thoughts.
It was the same in class. He never paid attention, but got the answer right, when he was called. That meant that he had thorough knowledge about the things we learned.
I had first heard about him, before the school started. My father had told me about him and his unfortunate experiences. He had also meant that he would be handsome. There's no doubt he isn't, but his cold gaze and his mask just ruined him completely. I somehow pitied him ever since hearing his story.
But I have no more information about him.
"I'm sorry, but I can't help you with him. I know as little as you. But his cultivation should be higher than Yakov's." I shook my head and answered her.
I got suspicious and wanted to ask her why she asked for him. But on second thought I didn't want to dig too deep into her own affairs.
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After the whole day of riding the carriage, we were told to exit them. We hadn't reached a city yet and needed to make a camp inside the forest. Our teachers just said we should take it as an experience.
We made several teams and split the work between them. I landed in the group for gathering something to eat, like rabbits and other animals or edible plants.
The other people in my team were Lara, Amy and Idris.
Directly after the groups were divided, Idris ran into the forest. The rest of us just shook our heads and began strolling behind him.
We quickly lost him and started our own search. We found some lizards and more animals. In the end, our bag was full.
We just wanted to return, as we heard a roar. It came from deep inside the forest. We shivered a bit, but followed the strange noise.
The sounds became clearer and louder. The ground began to rumble. Our fear rose quickly the nearer we came. Soon we saw smoke and dust rising into the sky.
As we arrived, an unbelievable scene unfolded before us. On the right side layed a mountain of dead animals, not only small ones, but a monkey too. Besides it was someone surrounded by several animals.
When I looked closer, I noticed that it were rank three beasts. And it wasn't just anyone standing in the middle, but Idris. Had he slain all the animals laying there?
A smile appeared on Idris' face. Was he completely crazy? He took out a knife. Lightning began to cover the blade and sparks sprayed around, lighting the ground on fire. He swung the dagger. Lightning flew towards one of the beasts. Its head got cut off.
Next, a panda-like creature attacked him. Idris disappeared from my sight. I only found him, when the beast fell dead to the ground.
He began to kill the other monsters just as easy. While watching him, Lara, Amy and I suddenly heard a grunt from behind. We slowly turned around. Behind us stood a rhino, its mouth wide open, showing us five rows of very sharp teeth. Out of it dropped saliva making it stink.
I was about to scream, as a ray shot at the beast. An explosion followed, throwing us a few metres backwards. My ears rang, while a person slowly walked towards the dead rhino. It was Idris. He took the beast spirit the monster had dropped.
Suddenly the beast appeared again, this time clad in black armor. Unfortunately, I couldn't examine it further, since it disappeared right after materializing.
"You shouldn't stand around watching people like that." Idris' tone was obviously cold.
A pressure pushed me down. I couldn't move anymore.
Idris took the animals he had hunted and put them in a bag. It had to be a spatial bag, since it didn't stretch at the overflow of material.
"If you do this again, I won't be so merciful. Now we have to move and get back to the camp." Idris was staring at them coldly.
The pressure disappeared and we could move again. We returned ro the camp as if nothing happened.
For me though, something became clear. Idris must be above the 9th layer. Otherwise he wouldn't be able to kill those beasts. I didn't know how to feel about him. And I couldn't have anticipated what he would do in the future.