Heaven's Greatest Professor

"Young Lord Valerius," Cassandra said with a sweet smile, "how about you show us how it's done?"

Marcus narrowed his eyes. "If Lady Cassandra asks, how can I ignore..."

Saying that, he crept towards the barrier, unsheathing his sword on the way. Fire alighted in his weapon as the noble son braced himself for the attack. He built up the power, taking several seconds, sword intent rising to the surface, causing several people to raise their eyebrows.

"Ember sword, Second form: Endearing Heart."

Crimson fiery flames ablaze the sword as Marcus struck the barrier. His firepower weakened the barrier, while Sword intent did the rest in clearing a small hole into the formation.

"You know, it always rubs me the wrong way when someone shouts the name of their moves," Warden mumbled.

"Good stance," Caleb praised, while Agnes watched with mild interest. The alarm blared, but the guy wasn't done yet. He forced out more firepower and his piercing intent, but the formation reinforced its restoration as well. Marcus tried to force his way for two full minutes; unfortunately, he didn't even come close.

Still, Warden would rank his power to be at least A-grade.

"Looks like I fell short," Marcus said as he came back, his expression turning weary and ugly. Well, with his handsome appearance, it was really impossible for him to look ugly. He was arguably the second most handsome fella Warden had encountered, the first being June's elven cousin, whose name Warden already forgotten.

"A valiant display, young lad," Caleb said as he moved forward, his spear in tow.

Now Caleb did not have such firepower as Marcus. Hell, his power fell short of most Iron rankers. However, Caleb had mastered his Intent completely, and through that fact only, he plunged his spear and created a hole. He tried to force his way easily; unfortunately, the restoration runes didn't let him.

"Hmm, the formation is particularly weak against intent," Warden mumbled.

"It is only natural," Aki said. "Other than the few runesmiths and spell casters, most who made it had some grasp in Intent."

"Looks like I won't be cleaning toilets, after all," Caleb returned with a smile. He honestly hadn't expected anything more than this.

"Pierce, won't you try?" Marcus asked.

"I probably would have," the man in question answered, "but now I don't want to embarrass myself."

"Come on, don't underplay yourself," Marcus snorted. "I wish Cole were here; his runesmithing skills might have helped him gain something out of this."

"Oh, I already called him," Pierce said as he moved up for his turn. "Don't know if he'll be here though."

He didn't wait ceremoniously, preparing for his attack like Marcus did. He cast strong spells of kinetic energy and plunged them into the wall.

The first did nothing but light up the formation in a brighter colour. His next few attacks did the same until finally, the horn blared, even though he did not manage to make a hole in it. The damage he had done was good enough to put the barrier under stress.

"I guess this is satisfactory enough," Pierce said, his voice somewhat hard. Marcus slapped him on the shoulder and turned to the group of women.

"It appears we have failed to claim the grand prize," he said. "How about you, Lady Cassandra? Won't you give it a try?"

"If young Lord Valerius fails in claiming the grand prize, how can this poor woman claim to do any better?" she said. "Still, since we came here, it will be a loss if I do not participate."

A woman in her group helped her out of her velvet coat as she approached under the gaze of everyone. A few whistles were blown in her direction, but Cassandra was unfazed. She was ready to attack but stopped midway and turned to everyone.

"I think you all should close your ears with your energy." Her group of women was already doing it, but Warden did not think it was necessary since the attack on the barrier. Besides, someone needed to hear the alarm if she managed to—

"AHHHHHHH!" A supersonic wave crashed into the barrier as the woman shrieked. Warden winced, using a slight energy close to his eardrums to resist her obstruction. Her shriek only lasted for a few seconds, and when she was done, finally the alarm could be heard. Compared to her cry, it was minuscule.

"Looks like I embarrassed myself," Cassandra said, bowing. "Apologies if I inconvenienced anyone." There were more than a dozen soldiers and young men who congratulated her on this small victory. Honestly, her attack was nothing to scoff at; it was just that it wasn't concentrated completely on the wall. If she managed that, perhaps she could even... but it was probably difficult with a sound wave.

"A siren," Agnes whispered to him. "I think I have heard of her. And let me tell you, this is not her actual power at all."

Warden narrowed his eyes at her words but didn't think too much of it. The women from Cassandra's group joined the fray. She had a swordmaster in her group who managed to perform as well as Caleb, but other than her, none found purchase in the challenge. There were two archers who seemed to fail tremendously.

"We are delighted to be a part of this competition," Cassandra said towards their group as she and her retinue bowed with respect. She turned to Jenni for a moment and thought better of it, finding Aki. "Please carry our message to the Master Runesmith that we do not require any prize for our selfish participation."

"You can tell that to his face," Jenni snorted. It seemed they had failed to notice that Warden was the Master Runesmith. Well, it was common sense, really; with his Iron rank, it was even hard for others to imagine him to be Adept rank, much less a Master. Moreover, Elder Ming's presence only deepened their impression. Cassandra was unfazed with her temperament.

"However, we do have a couple of pieces of equipment that would need tending. We'll pay a fair price to repair them." The adepts and even Agnes shot him a weird gaze, waiting for him to reply. But he simply waved his palm.

"As far as I know, the Artificer department is fair with their pricing; you can get your equipment repaired without a hitch," he said. Warden thought they would leave after this, but instead, they waited for the last few participants to join the fray.

"Luis, are you going to join?" Agnes asked her sergeant. Luis shook his head. "I'm a defensive warrior, Captain." She nodded. "I guess I should get this over with now."

She moved to the spot and raised her palm against the barrier, instead of using her sword. Darkness crawled out of her palm like liquid black water as it resonated with the power of the barrier. The tangible darkness enveloped more space in the barrier, and Agnes began devouring the power. The horn rang almost instantly.

"Oh, Agnes... Agnes... how could I have forgotten," Marcus muttered from his spot. "She's that Agnes."

Cassandra raised an eyebrow. A couple of women in her group muttered the name, Agnes Arnaid, the woman who made a name for herself after winning the Inter-academy tournament.

"Oh, I forgot how famous she is," Warden mumbled.

Agnes was unperturbed by the attention she was getting. She poured in her intent, reinforcing her essence of darkness. Within a minute or two, it began to eat through the barrier, while she cast wards to isolate the restoration runes from reinforcing the shell's integrity.

A frown crept up on Warden's brow. So this was the reason behind her confidence. Warden felt stupid not to have noticed before. Of course, her power ate through the runes of her equipment; this was to be expected of her. Warden was just so tired that the thought hadn't dawned on him, even if it was in plain sight.

Minutes passed as cheers rang through the crowd. Agnes disappeared into the darkness and reappeared on the other side of the barrier. With a mesmerising smile on her lips, she shot him a sardonic look and came back.

"There we have the ninth person who manages to cross the barrier," Aki announced.

"I expect nothing less in front of the Captain," Caleb said.

"Well done!" the others cheered.

Agnes came back to stand next to him, still grinning. "I could have done it with just one finger, but I decided to give you some face."

Both of them knew it took her more than just a palm, yet Warden chuckled at her playful arrogance.

"Well, with that skill gem you gave me already worth enough to hire a master runesmith a few times," Warden said. "I don't think you need more than that. How about you ask for something else instead?"

"Something like?"

"I don't know," Warden shrugged. He whispered only to her, "Maybe help for some secret job that you've been working hard on."

Agnes's eyes narrowed in a cold light.

"Anyway, you're asking for me to participate, right?" Warden walked forward towards the barrier. "Watching you succeed seems to have convinced me. Just watch me…"

"Are you going to use runes?" Jenni booed from behind. "That's cheating…"

"Nah, I don't know Warden for too long," Agnes said. "But one thing I'm sure of: he likes to make a spectacle of himself."

Warden bringing out his sword only proved her words right.

"Is he serious?" Jenni snickered. "Man, it'll be tragic if he sucks hard…"

"Nah, I'd win."

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