74. Gathering
Three luxurious carriages moved in the direction of Mossgrove city surrounded by thirty or so guards in red armor.
The red emblem of the Balvan family was drawn on the sides of the carriages giving them some traces of solemnity.
Noah was on foot among the guards, his eyes were focused as he studied carefully the composition of the caravan.
'Twenty guards are below twenty years of age, so they will enter the inheritance ground, the other ten are all elites that will stand on the entrance. I feel the same sense of danger I felt with Kevin when I inspect them, they must be on his same level or a bit lower than that. In conclusion, I must avoid those ten.'
His focus shifted to the twenty young guards.
'They should all be rank 1 cultivators around my level, with Assea on my side I'm sure to win against each one of them but together they are a problem. There is also the issue of the appointed captain.'
The appointed captain for the mission in the inheritance ground was a nineteen years old man with short black hair and a big figure.
His name was Trevor and he was the son of one of the elite guards in the inner circle.
His position was quite privileged between the guards due to his father's position and his loyalty to the family was unquestioned so he received a better treatment than Noah.
'I'm sure that I can beat him if he doesn't have a spell, but if he does...'
Then Noah's attention went to the three carriages.
'Neil, Lena, and Fabian occupy each one carriage and will enter the inheritance ground. Neil and Fabian are not strong but I have to be careful about some special items that the family could have given them. As for Lena...'
Lena was nearing the age of nineteen and with all the nurturing from the family and her constant training on Noah, her strength had become something that Noah had to be careful of.
'Summarizing: the ten elite guards are to avoid at all cost; Trevor and Lena are to fight only if necessary; the others are to fight two at the time at most and I have to be careful of the precautions the family gave on their
Noah sorted everything in his mind while continuing his march with the other soldiers.
'It would be easier to plan things if the inheritance ground wasn't so unpredictable though.'
The inheritance ground was divided into two stages.
The first one was fixed and it was a barren land full of magical beasts.
Each group had to defeat a pack of beasts and kill their leader to obtain the coordinates of the entrance for the second stage.
Each ingress led to a trial different from the others.
During the many attempts to explore the separate dimension, the types of trials that were recorded were countless.
'Retrieving of an item in a dangerous zone, escaping from a threat under a time limit, solo fights against puppets, tournament against a different family. How can a human set something so massive?'
Noah reviewed the information on the separate dimension and felt amazed.
'My knowledge of the cultivation world is only about fighting styles, for things like formations and similar I'm really ignorant.'
His resolve to escape increased even more.
'That's why I have to reach the academy, my foundation will only stagnate in the Balvan family.'
The caravan continued on its road until they reached the external walls of Mossgrove city.
There a banner with the emblem of the Shosti family was planted on the ground and was fluttering in the air.
As per their tradition, the Shosti family would gather all the medium and small size noble families and then lead them to the entrance.
The Balvan family was one of the first to reach the gathering point with only a couple of other small caravans waiting there.
When they arrived, one of the elite guards gestured to the group to rest in order to wait for everyone to gather.
Noah saw many caravans arrive with colorful emblems on their carriages and had a better understanding of the effective power of a large-size noble family.
He saw the familiar emblems of the Merger and Lansay families, but on the latter, there were no signs of Kevin or Basil.
'I guess they really died back then.'
He slightly shook his head.
He didn't care about Basil, but he remembered the transformation that Kevin went through when he used his full strength.
'He was so strong and yet he died against a couple of mages. If I really want to kill Rhys, how powerful do I have to be?'
He didn't know the precise answer to that question but he knew that it would take a long time to reach that level.
When fifteen or so caravans gathered under the banner, a figure jumped down from the walls of the city and lightly landed on the top of the banner's staff.
Many young guards opened their mouth in surprise seeing how gracefully she managed to alight from a fall of over twenty meters.
"I am Virginia Shosti and it's my duty to accompany you all on the inheritance ground of my family.
As you all are aware, my family's descendants have already attempted in the task in the previous days so they won't greet you. I hope that my presence is enough to represent my family in front of you all."
Virginia Shosti was one of the most beautiful women that Noah had ever seen.
She was around 20 years old, with golden hair and shining green eyes.
Her figure was graceful with small curves tightened by a luxurious white dress.
She lightly bowed in sign of respect to the group below her while all the soldiers and descendants bowed almost to ninety degrees to symbolize submission.
Virginia nodded at that sight and showed a brilliant smile that mesmerized everyone that saw it.
"Since everyone is here, we can move. Follow me, we will arrive at the ingress in half a day."