"Leader, there's people in sight."

Elias opened his eyes, loosening his tight grip over his hands. He took a deep breath as he temporarily shoved away his thoughts to the recesses of his mind.

Let's not think about it right now.

Hearing Celestia's words, he furrowed his brows. It was not like it was out of his expectations to meet other people, but it was still too early.

If he remembered correctly, there were indeed some participants who managed to reach the inner circle earlier today, but they should still be wandering at the borders.

That meant that these people approaching them on their sight were prodigies who were more or less important characters in the novel since they were near the center dimension.

But who could they be?

'It can't be Rain and his group, right? That would be too troublesome.'

While thinking about this, Elias turned to look in the direction where she was pointing towards. 

From the north, they could see two eye-catching figures slowly sauntering forward. One of them had blonde hair, while the other had scarlet red hair.

To Elias' surprise, he knew the duo. He was certainly not expecting to cross paths with them today, they were equally as troublesome as meeting Rain and his group.

He didn't expect to meet the two of them this soon, did he perhaps jinx himself earlier? It was Lance Schultz and another person.

Would meeting them like this affect the plot?

Elias suddenly narrowed his eyes. Considering their identity, there was a large chance that the current plot would have some ramifications if he met them like this.

But at the same time, if he met them like this and made full use of this opportunity, he could gain a large advantage later on in the climax.

After considering the benefits and losses, Elias promptly decided to meet them. As for the plot potentially going haywire… well, he'll handle it when it does.

There was little room for the plot to go haywire at this point of the story, so it wasn't something to be afraid of. The consequences were minute.

"Wait for them here,"

Elias thought for a moment before speaking. Since they were able to see the two of them, the duo most likely already saw their group as well.

It might be the reason they were approaching in the first place.

Whoosh!

However, ignoring his words—Ragna suddenly flew up as wind gathered on his body. Without a word, he abruptly shot towards the direction of the duo.

Before they knew it, Ragna was already flying away in the sky with a wide grin on his face. He dashed towards the north with unmatched speed.

Elias and the rest were stunned. 

Quickly recovering, Elias shook his head as he pursed his lips. Prior to inviting the man to the group, he knew Ragna wouldn't follow his words unconditionally—there was no trust between them yet.

Ragna followed them because of the requirements of the test, not because of trust or friendship. Due to that, he didn't have any high hopes of ordering the man as he wished.

Perhaps if he fought Ragna in a fight and made the man acknowledge his strength, then his words would have had an effect on the savage man, but now was not the time for it to happen.

Although he knew that, he still couldn't help but feel some annoyance. 

'Hm, Ragna is getting bored for a while now… then I suppose I can let him have his fun for the moment, there's nothing to do anyway. This would also help in what I plan to do.'

'As for Lance… he should be okay. Lance Schultz is strong enough to contend against Ragna, he is not the rival of the main character for no reason. If we're going by overall ability, they are roughly equal.'

'Still, extra insurance is needed. Considering both of their personalities, they might kill themselves from stubbornness before giving up.'

Thinking for a moment, Elias commanded.

"Hajin, go with Ragna. Stop the fight after he had his fun,"

Hearing his words, Hajin was surprised a little. But he didn't reject the suggestion, in fact, he was curious about the new people as well.

But… he didn't want to be ordered around like a subordinate. He had his pride, he only followed Elias because he was his cousin.

Hajin narrowed his eyes.

"Don't order me around willy-nilly. Don't think I've forgotten about you forcing me to fight that beast king. I've almost died."

"I'll introduce you to some girls in the academy."

"You're ignoring the point."

"Uncle Sanchez didn't give you an allowance, right? I'll give you some money to spend in the academy, as much as you need."

"...Damn it. Aye, aye, captain,"

Hajin rubbed his nose. Well, might as well have fun. He activated his movement technique and dashed towards the north and the duo.

***

In the north.

Lance stopped walking as he frowned. He turned up and looked at the sky, taking sudden notice of a huge figure suddenly flying towards them like a wind dragon.

Behind him, there was a scarlet red-haired man with a calm and smiling expression, letting out a creepy vibe. He stared at Ragna with some confusion.

"Do you know who they are?"

"...No."

Lance searched through his memories, however, he didn't find any records or information about a white-haired burly man.

That meant it's either the man was nothing to worry about, or the man was everything to worry about. His premonition told him that it was the latter.

Thinking for a moment, Lance took the spear behind his back and skillfully handled it. 

"I'll take care of this."

"Alright if you say so,"

The red-haired man seemed surprised. He nodded and activated a skill. Below his feet, his shadow wriggled and stretched. 

Then, with a blink, he retreated to a short distance.

Lance nodded with appreciation. There were very few people he would acknowledge like this, and that spoke volumes about the scarlet red-haired man's strength.

The red-haired man's name was Yoru, he met him yesterday at the borders of the dimension.

After distancing himself from Rain and Sumi, he quickly realized that there was no chance he could do the test alone, due to its requirements.

Thankfully, while he was wandering around, he met Yoru and abruptly fought against the red-haired man, with the end result of him winning at the end.

But Lance didn't look down on Yoru for losing, not at all, in fact, he acknowledged the man's strength for fighting even with him for quite some time before losing.

Yoru was sufficient as an ally. He would do good as his subordinate later on in the academy.

At this moment, the white-haired figure finally arrived above him. 

He was large, like a giant. Lance thought while staring at the figure above. He couldn't properly assess the man from a distance, but up close, he could sense that the man was strong.

With a towering physique, the man abruptly fell to the ground. 

Whoosh!

Then, Lance slightly lifted his gaze and finally saw the full appearance of the man. 

It was a white-haired man with a towering body. Totems, or abstract symbols, danced around his waist to his chest like tattoos. Aside from that, the most notable detail of his skin was his scars, scattered around his body randomly, as though he experienced hundreds of gruesome battles.

As though a mad giant, the man's eyes were narrowed while his lips curled a wide grin.

"What's your name?"

"It's polite to introduce yourself first before asking others, savage baboon."

With derision in his tone, Lance waved his spear in an arc emotionlessly. He manipulated his mana and transformed the edge of his spear with sharp water, making it extremely potent and sharp.

Using the opportunity, he immediately went for the attack. He slashed his spear diagonally while looking at the man with surprise and mixed disdain.

Whoosh!

Ragna merely stood still, watching the spear close into him. He wasn't dodging or preparing any defensive measures, in fact, he was waiting for the attack instead.

Bam!

After the attack connected, Lance's face suddenly scrunched up into a heavy frown. Then, his eyes turned serious, no longer containing any disdain or arrogance, replaced with wariness.

"Oh?"

Ragna looked at where the spear landed. On his shoulder, a small wound opened as blood seeped on the silver spear. 

As soon as he was damaged, the wound immediately healed thereafter as if there was no damage that occurred in the first place.

Ragna smiled, faintly impressed. 

"That was a nice try. But now… is that all?"

Hearing his words, Lance narrowed his eyes. The silver spear, invigorated with the sharpness of water, could only create an incision wound that immediately healed.

I have to go all out.

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