"He overcame the maze by breaking the walls," Josh murmured in disbelief.
Herman, who stood beside him, stared at the screen with a flabbergasted look.
"Vice-Principal, is this even legal?"Herman asked with a stuttering voice.
"Damn! How can I know this? I am sure many might have thought about this previously but gave up after thinking that they might be disqualified."Josh assessed and then rubbed his chin.
"Moreover, even if they wanted to do this they wouldn't."
"Huh! Why?"Herman tilted his head in confusion.
"Tsk! You are still wet behind the ears. You don't even know such a simple thing, idiot"Josh clicked his tongue in annoyance seeing Herman's confused look, and started to explain.
"First thing, breaking through walls of a maze would only help if the way to get out is on the other end but this tactic fails if the way to get out is in the center."
"Second thing, a maze may be of various shapes so this tactic is only good if the maze is in the shape of a circle. This maze is a huge circle and 4000 participants are put at the periphery like tiny dots at the outer area of the circle. Many passages confuse the sense of directions leading one to another and only if you start breaking from the beginning, you will follow the line of radius to reach the center."
Herman's eyes widened and his back was drenched in sweat hearing this if you didn't start breaking from the beginning, and start breaking after walking into the lanes then instead of getting to the centre, you may end up towards the other side.
"Does that mean he knew all this and took advantage? That means someone might have leaked the information."Herman concluded.
BAAM!
Josh slapped Herman on his head.
"Idiot! Do you mean I leaked this? Did you forget, only The Principal and Emperor know about the things in the Tower? It's because that old cow had gone somewhere to graze, I was allowed to know all this."Josh shouted at Herman who just lowered his head.
"And did you see the peculiarity in his sword art? He seems to be absorbing mana and gathering at his sword which is lessening his mana expenditure. And about his sword, I don't know the grade but it is exceptionally hard. On top of that, he is also using those damned explosives. For God's sake, from where did this guy get this kind of bizarre idea."
"If there was anyone else, he would be exhausted before reaching the end."
Though Josh grumbled, there was a faint smile on his lips.
"However, now that this method has been seen, isn't this stage becoming quite easy, "Herman spoke with a sigh.
"Yeah, we have to change the first trial next year." Josh rubbed his forehead.
"Another headache is coming our way. Since the second trial cannot be seen. Ask everyone to be on guard. Those assholes may pounce on us at any moment. Play clips of the first trial. Take out the clips of children of the noble present here and send that video for them to watch."
"Meanwhile, ask the guards to be careful and don't let any person with an unclear identity roam around.
"Okay, I will act immediately. "Herman nodded.
Josh's eyes glowed as he turned his attention toward the other screen displaying a few noteworthy individuals.
...
Witnessing the stupified scene, a huge commotion broke out in the stadium.
The people witnessing the scene happening inside the screen screamed in shock.
"What the hell?"
"Is that even legal?"
"It's cheating."
"No, my money. I bet that this guy wouldn't come in the top 100."
"Me too.."
Betting was a normal occurrence and each year nobles bet on the student to make some money. Though it was for fun, sometimes things become serious.
Lucas also took part in gambling with Julian's help however instead of betting on himself this time he bet on Frederick coming second on the first trial.
Lucas's odds were quite high however if he bet on his name, things may become suspicious so he put the pot on Frederick.
Naturally, nobles were dissatisfied seeing an unknown name betting 30 Million R and getting 120 million.
The somber atmosphere leads to an outburst among them.
"Damn, why didn't I think of this when I was there."
"I don't like this. His mindset is not proper. I refuse to agree that he is normal. He may turn out to be a huge threat to society with such a destructive mindset."
"Yeah, I agree with you. Last time he blew up the scene and this type he destroyed the wall. This type of mindset is detrimental to society."
The noble's voices became louder and louder and the discussion went on to the point that it was absurd and unbearable.
From the moment Lucas broke the third wall, all the focus was shifted to him. As they watched him dismantle everything on his way to the end, a fire of jealousy and envy arose in their heart.
If this was done by any other person besides him who belongs to a noble background, it was still acceptable but seeing a commoner clearing the hurdle in such a simple way that they hadn't even thought about it was like rubbing salt in their wounds.
It was unacceptable for them and secondly, most of their children already had a grievance about him as he took the first position in the Inter Class Battle.
"Silence!"
A cold piercing sound echoed from the magnificent VIP room situated at the top of the stadium.
The seat and positions of the nobles were designated according to their ranks. Since the Emperor was absent the highest presence was that of a Duke.
And knowing the person reprimanding them, they just bowed their heads.
"Stop creating commotion and being a nuisance."
"The method that we saw isn't forbidden, otherwise the trial would have disqualified him."
"TSK!
"You all, who passed out from Horizons, don't even know such a simple thing. Shame on you."
"Don't blame others for your incompetence."
A hush silence prevailed after the voice ceased and the noble's expression flustered with embarrassment.
In the VIP lounge, Frank who just voiced out his opinions sneered at the fools creating trouble just for the kid.
"Useless, incompetent idiots."
"Pal, calm down."
"Take this! Have a puff and get a buff."
Frank stared at the Rosewood cigar and then stared at Duke Kai sitting leisurely while handing him a cigar.
"No, thanks. It's more suitable for a hoodlum like you."
"Hoodlum...If I am a hoodlum, then what is he?"Kai spoke with a grin pointing at the white-haired man covered in dark robes surrounded by a layer of haze, however, he wasn't smoking.
Frank's lips twitched as he saw a dozen incense on the ground.
Instead of cigars, this guy takes a puff of mint incense smoke and blows it out.
'Duke Holmes and Duke White are lucky that they aren't friendly with them.'
'Why do I have to stick with these smoking addicts?
"Are you two competing with one another blowing cigars?"
"Your Highness, please mind your image. Everyone knows you are absent. If they now find you like this, what face will be left."Frank pleaded.
"Face, just what face are you talking about? Because of you, my wives hit me and warned me to give a divorce if I smoke cigars again."Kevin, who hid his face with a cloak sneered.
Frank for a moment wanted to hit him. Just because he was forbidden to smoke cigars, he is smoking incense.
"I wish he was here," Frank spoke with a sigh thinking about the man who can confront the Emperor's head-on.
At that time, a hoarse voice drew everyone's attention.
Opening a door, making a faint sound, a wrinkled-faced man wearing a dark robe emerged.
The entire atmosphere turned solemn seeing the man and everyone got up from their seats.
"You..."Kai choked and coughed violently seeing the man's wrinkled face.
Frank and Kevin's eyes popped out with a startled look.
Kevin shook his bewildered expression and walked towards him with a grin.
"So, you finally gave up on hiding in a shell."
"I don't have a choice."The wrinkled man spoke coldly.
"Come here! I have something to discuss with you."Kevin immediately jolted up from his seat.
Frank could see a spark flying around the room as the two stood facing each other.
'Thank god! I just thought about him and he appeared here.' Frank smiled, shaking his head.
"I hope things turned out well."
...
Lucas was suddenly transported to the dark floating place. He didn't panic as it was the precursor of the second.
The ordeal helper would scan you for a moment and would take a look at your memories. If you have certain trauma or other disabilities, it would create a scenario to overcome your trauma or create a scenario from scratch.
Frederick got the event of his childhood bullying days when he was weak and his task was to subdue the servants and gather everyone's respect. The task wasn't too difficult however Frederick would have to do this at the age of 5 instead of 9, when he started showing his talent.
Parth trauma was way brutal and for god sake, no human would want to go through that. After he was kidnapped, by a member of some dark forces, he was tortured until he broke, devoid of life until his grandfather saved him.
The only reason he was sane was because of a cute blonde girl beside his room who had such a high status that people didn't dare to be too rough with her.
Parth task was to get out of the place alive.
Rose's task was to win a shooting competition.
Charles's task was quite easy. That was to win in The Dungeon Trial of this year without using shady tricks.
And about Ezekiel and others, Lucas didn't remember or might have skipped that part.
Thinking about this, his heartbeat faster thinking about what task he would get.
At that, the mechanical voice resounded.
[Scanning participant body.]
[Scanning completely.]
[Scanning for participant memories..]
[Looking for distorting scenes...]
[....]
[Error]
[Unable to scan due to external interference.
"What?"Lucas screamed in panic, seeing the space turning red and a screeching noise echoed in his ear drums.
[Error.]
[Unable to scan participant memories.]
[A third party is interfering….]
"What's going on?"
Lucas, who had a bewildered look, thought for a moment.
'Is the system interfering?'
[Looking for another solution.]
[Abnormal mental strength is found.]
[Strong mentality of the host is resisting the scan.]
"Wait! What is going on? Strong mentality?"
"What's that?"
[The trial difficulty is changing according to the host's mental strength.]
[The trial difficulty level is upgraded.]
[The trial difficulty level is upgraded.]
"No, what the fuck..Stop!"
"Stop! Don't do this."Lucas screamed in panic.
[You have met the condition of the secret trail.][
[Processing the scenario]
[The uncleared scenario 'Resisting The Path of Destruction.' is selected.]
"What do you mean by I cleared?"
"Nooooooooo!"
"Damnnnnnn!"
Turning a blind eye to Lucas's screams, a bright light completely different from the previous darkness covers the whole body.
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