143 Selection Part 2

Did he attract attention because of his age? Nodding to himself, Greyson thought this was plausible. After all, he did not look like he could not be more than 16 years old as he had not completely shed his youthful looks. With the slowing of his aging, Greyson could even pass for younger. In the entire Human Empire, it was difficult to find someone with his talent.

As Greyson was lost in thought, the leader had met his eyes. Albeit looking slightly embarrassed for getting so blatantly caught, the man still gave a small smile and nodded his head in greeting. Others in the crowd were too distracted trying to observe the competition and get into their respective lines, so they did not notice this small interlude. Blinking in surprise, Greyson did not respond at first before also nodding his head back. Scratching the side of his face, he awkwardly turned his head away to avoid making eye contact with the rest of the group standing on the stage. No matter what they were thinking, it was not his business to know. He would just do what he came here to do and get through to the actual competition between the other outer region countries.

Of course, he stood in the first line for those below 25 years of age. Not in any particular rush, he ended up being in the far back of the line. There were actually a lot more participants than he expected. Even in his line, there were at least 30 or so people lined up. Bar any rare circumstances, most of those people should all be at the beginning stages of the magister level. Each country could only send 10 representatives which meant these magicians would be the top tier of all the talents at the magister level. All of them would be at the magister level stage five and some could possibly put up a fight against great magister level stage one magicians. None of these participants stood a chance at making it to the final competition, so Greyson could not really fathom why they would show up. It seemed like a humongous waste of time. Little did he realize that there was a hidden meaning to this selection.

After the original Yce family conquered the land of the Snow Country, they replaced all their subordinate Tier One kingdoms' royalty with a member of the Yce family. At first, these people were the First Emperor's trusted relatives like his remaining blood brothers and sisters or uncles and aunts. However, as time continued to pass and the royal succession caused bloody infighting and insurgences, these royal families became more and more distant relatives of the current emperor. If not for the identical hair and eye colors, some might even call them strangers. The remaining Tier One Kingdoms started using this selection as a chance to send the younger generation to show off their talents. The more talented the person, the more support the kingdom would receive from the empire.

For the others, they wished to catch the attention of the Moon Empire's higher-ups. If their talent was recognized, they could possibly receive the support and resources of the empire. Even if this meant selling their souls in service to the imperial family, lots of those from poorer backgrounds would do so in a heartbeat. This competition was a chance for them to become more powerful and gain the means to support their families. Usually, there were also a multitude of marriage alliances that come into being through this selection. The young ones who shine the most are very desirable engagement partners. Who would not want to grab onto potential powerhouses? Perhaps, these talents could strengthen their kingdom or even the empire itself. More than the royal participants, the females and males of poor backgrounds were popular. The thought behind this is if these poor geniuses are supported by their resources and backing then they will be that much more appreciative and wish to repay the favor by working hard for the kingdom. There would be less questions about loyalty.

The imperial family was, of course, aware of the thoughts of these participants. They also wished to pick out able subordinates who could serve them. Plus, it was not like they were so generous as to provide unending support to all the kingdoms in their charge. This selection was also an important occasion for them to oversee the status of their empire's talents. Everyone benefitted in the end, while the empire also reserved the representative spots for their own younger generation. It had been decades since the last time a dark horse appeared and stole one of the representative spots. Ironically, most of the people participating do so with every intention except getting a representative spot. Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting.

Crawling his way towards the front, Greyson took this chance to watch the results. As expected, there were still a bunch of people who tried their luck only to be repelled by the barrier. Met with the disdainful looks of the other participants and the audience, those people could only run away with their heads down in shame. Inwardly shaking his head, Greyson did not pity those people one bit as they put themselves in that situation. Other than these random occurrences, he watched the stages of each person who went up and put their hand on the stone. No one particularly stood out yet, as all the stage one and two magicians were in Greyson's lines while there was a random assortment of stage three, four, and five magicians spread throughout the other two lines. A hint of disappointment became clear in Greyson's expression, while he could tell that the 10 onstage were also not pleased by the turnout.

On the stage, the group were actually quietly communicating with each other the entire time as they watched...

"Brother, is our empire doomed to always be last place? How is their talent only this much? It feels like the overall level keeps dropping to become more mediocre over time." One of the girls pouted as she looked towards the leader.

"Princess Aphina is right. These people ignorantly believe that every country is like ours and only sends out representatives from the ruling empire. We are the only ones! Every other country has at least a couple spots taken by talents from the subordinate kingdoms that are equal to the representatives from the empire. And it's not like we hog all the resources, either. If anything, I have yet to see an empire as generous as us." A young man next to Aphina agreed wholeheartedly.

"Yeah..."

"Exactly!"

"It's like they don't realize how trash they are!"

"Our country is like a drying well while our talents are the water."

A bunch of the others echoed these sentiments. They did not realize the eyebrows of their leader furrowing deeper and deeper in anger.

"Enough! You speak as if we are not included in the lowering of talent. We are no better than the rest as we are provided with such amazing resources and the aiding environment of Lunar City to train. Yet, we still go out every ten years and embarrass the Moon Empire and the Snow Country." He finally snarled after having enough. Running his eyes through the others, his icy gaze silenced the rest as they blushed red in chagrin. Exactly. The leader's words stabbed them right where it hurts. It was still the Moon Empire's representatives that went every time and lost terribly. Lowering their heads, they no longer complained about the others. They really did not have the right to mock others' weakness. "Anyways, we are not completely without hope. Do you not remember Uncle had claimed that there was a pleasant surprise this time? That young boy over there. He said to look forward to the results."

"Hmm... That white-haired boy, right? I don't know why Uncle would be so mysterious and vague about it, though. Can't he just directly tell us how strong that boy is? Looking at his age, he should not be more than magister level stage three. But even that is still extremely impressive for someone of his age. I was not even a magister at 15." Princess Aphina's face lit up at the reminder and once again looked over in Greyson's direction.

"He's 15?! Wait, how are you so sure?"

"Hmph! Of course, we had our sources look into him after Uncle specifically mentioned that he was special. His name is Greyson, he is 15 years old, and is originally an orphan from a lowly town in a Tier Three Kingdom. Not much more is known about him. His path was fairly straightforward. He went to an academy in the Tier Two Dalia Kingdom, before taking the entrance exam to the Aurora Academy and passing. He spent five years in the academy, then he went adventuring in the Beast Empire for the next two. A little before coming to this selection, he returned and seemed to have broken through to the magister level. Current stage unknown." Aphina slowly listed off the information she received recently about Greyson.

"Just him getting to this position after starting as a poor orphan in a Tier Three Kingdom is the most impressive." The leader confirmed her information by nodding and also making his own comments. Greyson had truly impressed him. He was fairly certain something important must have occurred in the Beast Empire, but the Moon Empire had no power whatsoever in that area. Any information on Greyson's activities during those two years would be extremely hard for them to acquire. Plus, the accuracy would also be questionable.

Once the leader spoke, the rest of the people just obediently nodded without saying a word. It was clear that the rest of the group feared this man deeply. They did not dare to say a word against Greyson since their leader already approved of him. Instead, they all keenly observed Greyson hoping to glean a hint of his level of strength. Anticipation rose within them as they saw the small body inching closer and closer to the front of his line. Just how strong could he be?

...

Actually, Greyson kind of dreaded taking this test. He did know of any way to suppress his strength, so the reading will definitely show that he is at the fifth stage. Well, even if he knew of a method, Greyson did not think he would hide his strength. In the end, everyone would find out. He would not do anything like purposefully lose against those weaker than him to avoid the attention. After all, his goal was to become a representative. Anyone weaker than the magister level fifth stage was not qualified to participate. It seemed they were all just going to find out sooner rather than later. Unlike his teacher, Greyson was not a super high-profile person. Being the center of attention did not bring him any particular thrill or happiness. He was happy just being himself and when others treated him like a normal person. After experiencing the change in attitude of Sebastien and Palmira, Greyson was also aware that the more strength he showcased, the more those fake people would approach him.

At this point, there was only one person remaining in front of him. The test itself did not take more than a moment if the person did not try to lie about his/her age. That person finished his test and it was now Greyson's turn to step up. Hand sweating, he frowned a little before walking forward quickly. Other than the 10 people on stage who were holding their breath in anticipation, the rest of the people did not pay any extra attention to Greyson. He was not met with any resistance from the barrier and made it to the stone in just a couple steps. Taking one last glance at the preoccupied crowd, he sighed deeply before placing his hand on the stone and inserting a string of his mana. At once, it lit up and a deep purple color lit up around him. The stone would shine different shades of purple depending on your stage. The darker the color, the higher the stage. Glimpsing at the dark purple glow from their peripheral vision, the rest of the crowd all turned to look at the origin. Rubbing their eyes a couple times, it took a long minute for everyone to accept that this color was arising from the 25 and under line. One could hear a pin drop in the silence before the arena exploded with noise from every direction. The purple light fading away, Greyson's figure was soon visible to everyone. All the people looked at him with mixed expressions. From his vantage point, Greyson could clearly see that not every pair of eyes looked at him with pure shock. There was a hint of envy and even hatred in most of the male participants' eyes. There was also the intent to battle that clearly burned in the eager eyes of others.  Some female participants looked lovestruck while others' eyes shone with calculations. Analyzing all those thoughts surrounding him, Greyson felt nothing but a wave of exhaustion. The amount of truly guileless people in this crowd could be counted on one hand.

The two pairs of eyes that caught his attention the most were of the ten people onstage. One was the leader and another was a girl standing next to him. From their outer appearance, Greyson assumed they were siblings. The leader had gratification and relief written all over his face while his sister stared at Greyson with pure curiosity.

Relief? Just what story was behind that expression...