"Look! The masked beta is going to the Pavilion!" A disciple murmured loudly.
"H-he grew a bit after the Interacademic Tournament!" The other replied.
"If not for Theo hitting saint before their match, I bet, Yulrir would not be the fucking winner." A tall alpha intentionally sneered.
Yulrir can obviously hear these conversations behind him but as what he always does, he doesn't mind a thing about it. He was pretty much the center of attention ever since he went out of his seclusion.
They also knew that the mysterious beta's master is currently away due to the king's decree. The disciples who have been keeping an eye on Yulrir had their self-esteem boosted and even not afraid to provoke Yulrir anymore. They all thought that a core disciple without his master is someone that wasn't that special at all. Some openly sneer at him and even tell him in an indirect manner that he doesn't deserve the rank 1 position in the tournament.
Yulrir can't help but frown behind his mask but still maintained his aloof demeanor. He knew how arrogant and prideful in nature the alphas are. They, after all, can't still accept how a beta seized the 1st rank in the tournament.
"How can I help you?" A middle-aged man looked confusingly onto Yulrir.
"Senior, I'm here to claim my reward to enter the Dragon Pavilion." Yulrir politely bowed and replied.
The middle-aged man gaped his mouth for a while then afterward his eyes widened.
"Oh right!!! You are the champion of the Interacademic Tournament!" The man exclaimed.
"Yes senior, I came here under the instructions of my master and for my reward." Yulrir calmly replied.
The middle-aged man nodded then smiled at Yulrir.
"Sure sure you can! By the way, my name is Decima, I'm in charge of the Dragon Pavilion." The middle-aged man smilingly introduced himself.
"Greetings Senior Decima! This junior name is Yulrir." Yulrir responded equally respectful.
"Good good! You sure have a nice temperament, unlike those silly alphas who act so arrogantly and check in some skills as they please!" Decima laughed.
"Oi! Don't get me wrong, I'm an alpha myself." Decima added.
Yulrir looked at the middle-aged man and smiled.
Looking at the smiling junior, Decima can't help but to gape for a while then forcibly cough to change attention.
"Okay let's get back to business... I need the badge that was given to you by the Headmaster back then." Decima started.
"Mhhm" Yulrir nodded and extended his hand and a golden badge as big as his palm had appeared. It was the same badge that the Headmaster gave him during the awarding ceremony from the Interacademic Tournament.
Decima collected the badge and nodded. He then motioned Yulrir to follow after him.
"The Dragon Pavilion consists of 3 floors. The first floor contains the mortal grade skills which are accessible by all of our inner disciples. The second floor contains the earth grade skills which are only open to those disciples who had enough contribution points. The last floor contains heaven grade skills which are accessible only by those who are on the top 20 rank of inner disciples and have enough contribution points." Decima explained calmly.
"Contribution points?" Yulrir curiously asked.
"Contribution points are obtained by doing missions and these missions are only available to those who stepped into the ranks of inner disciples. The missions vary from ranks and difficulty as well. You can check those out once you reach Sainthood and visit the 'Contribution Hub'. Using contributions not only lets you buy skills but also weapons or even rare herbs, depending on how high your contributions are." Decima continued patiently.
Yulrir nodded and thought of it a bit. This made Yulrir more excited about stepping into Saint rank and have a status of an inner disciple.
"We are going to the 3rd floor of the pavilion, you are really lucky to be able to. A disciple who wanted to obtain a heaven grade skill on this floor needs at least 5000 contribution points to enter." The middle-aged man sighed.
"You have at most an hour to select skills and you are only limited to select 2. You can bring those skills later to me so I can check them out under your name. The moment you reach the 3rd floor, the timer will automatically start. If you exceeded the 1-hour time, you'll be automatically be teleported out. " Decima added.
"Okay! Thank you senior for your guidance! " Yulrir cupped his fist and turned around to enter the 3rd floor of the pavilion.
The middle-aged man smiled and with a blink of an eye disappeared as if there was nothing.
Yulrir carefully trod towards the 3rd floor. The moment he stepped in, a strange force had pressed on him.
"The defensive array here is really strong. " Yulrir mumbled to himself.
Yulrir looked around and was astonished at how big the 3rd floor was. It contains rows of shelves which are as tall as 4 people altogether. He can't help but get excited with the thought that all of these skill books from the shelves are all heaven-grade warrior skills. It's definitely not easy to obtain one as these are rare but the academy actually had a collection of it. Just how prominent is the Golden Dragon Academy that it was able to accumulate these stock of heaven-grade skills throughout the centuries.
Yulrir started to walk around and check out the skill books at one glance. There were a lot of skill books but of course, not all of them are suitable for him to cultivate. He only had an hour to spend and check the books so he wanted to do so in a haste.
"According to Elder sister, if I am to pick skills... a movement skill is great as it can compliment my wind affinity and the other one should be an offensive skill. " Yulrir sighed as he helplessly looks around.
The pavilion is really big as the one-hour time limit is barely enough to possibly check the skills one by one. He stumbled to a couple of movement and offensive skill books but he knew that they aren't compatible with his cultivation.
Yulrir continued looking around as he already used up the first 15 minutes of his time. He went to the rightmost corner of the floor and frowned as he found that the defensive array at this part is much higher. This discovery piqued his interest so he started looking around on the corner.
"T-this! " Yulrir eyes widened as he saw something very interesting.
Yulrir reached out and retrieved a thin-looking old book from the shelf.
"Lightning God Steps" Yulrir mumbled to himself.
"A skill which allows the user to move as light as a lightning. Requires one to gain nomological insight in Lightning in order to cultivate." Yulrir eyes twinkled upon reading it. It was like one of those 'Love-at-first-sight' encounters. He had an affinity with lightning so picking this book will be really a match for him. Yulrir spent no time and tucked the book to himself.
He then went the other way around to check the skills on it. He had barely 40 minutes to check a suitable offensive skill for himself.
Yulrir had never wielded a weapon before but his father and his Aunt Reiya are sword users. His brother Mikhael is a saber user and his mother Yulier is a spear user. He hasn't cultivated any warrior skills before nor even considered getting a weapon so picking an offensive skill was a lot harder than picking a movement skill. Yulrir had been bothered for a while as he currently had no idea what to pick. He was currently looking out of instinct. His master, Terra had told the same. As a warrior, one should not wield a weapon just because he was told so. Terra wanted Yulrir to figure out his heart weapon himself so she had never exactly given Yulrir which type of skill he would get and Yulrir naturally understood what Terra meant.
Minutes after minutes had passed and Yulrir's time limit was down to 15 minutes. Yulrir can't help but frown a bit.
It was then he had felt an inkling pressure once again coming from a certain direction. Yulrir turned his head around and instinctively narrowed his eyes. He then turned his body around and haste towards that direction.
The feeling was like somebody was calling out for him. It was a strange feeling but Yulrir spent no time to go in the direction.
Yulrir arrived at a lone shelf on the farthest north of the floor. The shelf gave off an ancient feeling, unlike the other shelves in the pavilion. There are only a couple of books on this shelf, unlike the other shelves who are packed with skill books. Yulrir curiously went near and checked each of the books on the shelf. Yulrir found it intriguing as the defensive array in this section of the pavilion is of a higher concentration similarly to his first encounter on the 'Lightning God Steps' but stronger.
Yulrir's heart almost jumped out as he spotted a strangely familiar feeling from a book. Yulrir extended his hand and reached out to the skill book. The moment his hands touched the book, a tickling current run onto his whole body. Yulrir eyes twinkled as he brought the book in front of him.
"The Dragon Slashes Through the Firmament. " Yulrir mumbled enthusiastically.
"This is a sword-related skill." Yulrir thought to himself.
Yulrir immediately opened the book and the familial feeling rushed out. It was as if the skill book had its consciousness and happily greeting Yulrir. The moment Yulrir read the first page of the book, he was stupefied.
"This book contains an incomplete sword insights of an ancient dragon. It will help you gain insights but that depends on your capabilities. A sword with a heart of a dragon. " Yulrir's eyes softened and smiled.
He then pressed the book onto his chest and the familiar feeling came over him. It was a feeling exactly coming from the Azure Dragon, Azazel. Up to now, even if he awakened from his baptism, the Dragon blood essence from his body still helped him on picking a skill for himself.
"I'll not let Senior Azazel down! " Yulrir made up his mind and picked the book for himself. Although it was an incomplete volume unlike the other skill books they have in the Pavilion, Yulrir's decision still didn't waver.
Yulrir then rushed out and went to check the books out with Decima.
The middle-aged man was actually surprised how fast did Yulrir was able to pick the books. Normally, a disciple who goes inside the pavilion waits for their time to run out before going out.
"Senior Decima, I wanted to check these books out. " Yulrir happily placed the books in front of Decima.
Decima nodded and picked the books up.
"Lightning God Steps! " Decima exclaimed.
"Do you really want to get this skill? This skill is a bit dangerous as it will need you to be tampered by lightning throughout the process. " Decima spoke out with concern.
Yulrir nodded resolutely and smiled. "Thanks for the concern Senior but I had already made up my mind on picking this book. "
Decima deeply sighed and waved his hand to release the bind from the book. He then handed it over to Yulrir.
Decima then picked up the second book and gave out a dumbfounded look. He then turned to look abruptly at the delicate looking youth.
"T-This is an incomplete skill. It was placed on the 3rd floor of the pavilion because it was found in the Underground cave that an ancient dragon once resides in. Apart from it being a possible remnant of an ancient dragon, no one had ever succeeded in gaining insights from this book. Also, this book contains nothing but an incomplete insight of sword intent. Even the headmaster wasn't able to gain an enlightenment from this. If you would wish to change this book, I can at the most extend your time limit to half an hour." Decima said in a solemn tone.
Yulrir once again smiled and shook his head no. "Senior Decima is sure kind but you don't have to worry. I have a feeling that I can gain something from it. Thank you for your kind offer but I would politely decline it."
Seeing how calm and resolute Yulrir's answer is, Decima had no choice but to exhale deeply and remove the binds from the book. He then handed it over to Yulrir once again.
"Okay... Remember that you are not allowed to create copies of these books especially outside the academy. This book copy is already yours so make sure to keep it wisely. " Decima reprimanded.
"I understand Senior! Thanks a lot for the help!" Yulrir excitedly tucked the books onto his interspatial ring and bowed to Decima. He then excused himself and went out of the pavilion.
Decima who was looking at Yulrir's disappearing silhouette can't help but sigh.
"A dangerous skill book and an incomplete skill book... What is this young man thinking? To throw away his opportunity to get a heaven grade skill like that... aishhhh! -- " The middle-aged man sighed regretfully to himself. He then went back slumping to his chair and closed his eyes.
Yulrir on the other hand satisfyingly trotted out to the direction of the headmaster's quarters.