23 Grand Entrance

"Let's think up of a plan and choose which entrance to target, while its possible for me to just brute force our way in, i'd it if we took advantage of the long registration period so save my Vaes" Al told them, while he still had over 70% over his remaining Vaes, he wanted to make sure he has enough excess during the first trial, especially since he was helping these three go through it as well.

"Choose an entrance? Wouldn't any entrance be the same? And even if they are different it'll only be slightly" Zeena asked, from where she was she didn't feel as if any of the 20 entrances were any different from each other.

"That's not the case, if you look carefully at the entrances in the middle, they are slightly bigger than the other entrances, as it allows more people to enter and thus a higher chance to become registered."

"a lot of people have already noticed this and thus made these entrances their target since they think it's easier to get through, what they don't know is that since a large amount of people also noticed this, that their "easier" entrance actually is much harder to enter compared to the normal sized entrances which would have lesser people.

Looking towards the front entrances, they did notice that they were just a smidge wider than the rest, allowing a third person to be able to squeeze through, and the "battle" over there was also much more intense.

Before anyone could suggest just to pick a normal size entrance, Al had pointed at another location and started speaking again.

"I'm not finished, look closely at that entrance there, what do you notice?" Al asked them.

"They… are not fighting amongst themselves? Those that are airborne are working together to repel anyone from getting close, not even attempting to head for the entrance! And the people on the ground aren't pushing each other as much and are actually working together to go through the entrance!!" Gin had noticed first, a look of surprise on his face.

"Those people are from a group, working together to let their own people register by claiming an entrance, not only that, what else do you notice about the airborne people?"

"They're all middle-aged! As in they look way past the maximum requirement to register for the exam!" This time, Harry had noticed first and had exclaimed his answer in surprise.

"Is that even allowed?..." Zeena asked.

"This isn't even considered a trial and is actually just seen as a public place, meaning that anyone is allowed to be here, and those who want to use underhanded methods to reduce the number of competitors don't bother use effort here, usually doing it during the first trial in the wild where there are no laws." Al explained.

"That's not the only group right?" Gin asked.

"I've counted around five more entrances being claimed by an organized force, but there are way more groups than that, most of them failed to claim an entrance and the majority of their members would in the crowd of people just being pushed around and scattered due to a lack of support from above" Al said.

"Okay, so choose the entrances that aren't the middle ones and aren't claimed by an organized group, thats all we have to do right?" Harry asked.

"Right, take your time to evaluate each of the entrances, find one that looks the least crowded, especially in the air" Al gave out instructions, the three nodding and setting about their task, their high vantage point gave them all a perfect point of view, all the entrances being visible.

Zeena had cast a spell on Gin and Harry that would increase their range of vision, to make it easier to evaluate the entrances, casting it on herself as well.

She didn't cast it on Al as he had informed her that he had a similar spell and had already cast it on himself.

They didn't take long to find out which entrance to choose, with Harry being first to speak out.

Hey guys, that one over there loo-" pointing towards an entrance he had deemed as suitable, before shouts and screams coming from the same direction drowned out his next words.

The four looked over, confused on what was causing the panic in the crowd, they noticed that the crowd that surrounded the entrance Harry had mentioned started to split in the middle, as if making way for someone's grand entrance.

"No… they aren't parting on their own, they're being pushed apart by a spell!" Al noted, upon looking closer, he saw noticed that the area was being affected by a spell that pushed away anything within a certain area, as even those who attempted to enter the clearing were blocked, as if they had hit an invisible roof.

At the end of the clearing, they saw that a group of around fifty people were walking through it, heading straight for the entrance that they had cleared a path to.

Though all of them wore modern clothing, one could tell of their exquisitely subtel design and superior materials, as well the general demeanor of the group.

Some members of the group looked too old to be able ro register for the examination and were walking in the front, back and sides of the group like bodyguards of some sort.

Inside these group of bodyguards were youths that had looks and bodies way above the average person, theirs expressions were all very similar, being quite neutral and expressionless, as if splitting a sea of people wasn't worthy of their notice.

The screams and shouts slowly died down as people in that area held their breaths and those in the air refuse to move.

"Nobles… and high ranking ones at that…" Al muttered, this was the first he had personally encountered any nobles, besides the time he had been fubg across the mall by one. He was able to recognize their ranking due to the insignias they all wore, showing a golden fiery lion.

The golden fiery lion was the insignia of the Foranion family, famous for their expertise in bringing up renowned melee offensive fire mages. Though they were not one the very top noble families, they still trumped over a majority of other noble families in the city.

Though the spell used to part the sea of people was not a fire attribute spell, it didn't mean that the Foranion family were unable to cast it at a high mastery, just because they their speciality is on fire magic didn't mean that they were weak at other things.

Al assumed that an elder of theirs had cast the spell for them, and body guard were assigned in case of anyone attempted to attack the youths.

At the front of the group behind some bodyguards was a young girl looking around 15-16 years old, with golden hair going down her back and a petite body and face that held a bit of baby fat, the baby fat didn't reduce the beauty of her symmetrical face and body but actually added an air of youthfulness and cuteness to her.

Her eyes were far from cute as they looked stern and sharp, her small pink lips were beinf pursed into a slight frown, as if that was her natural expression.

Al had noticed all of these things when he had looked over, his spell that increased his range of vision was still active. When he first saw this girl, the first thing he thought to describe her was "tsundere" followed by "oujo-sama".

That was not the onlt thing that he noticed as a quick scan had informed him that she had over 4 to 5 times Vaes capacity than his own natural capacity, which confirmed to him that she wasn't just a weak little heroine.

He still had over double the Vaes capacity compared to her if he included his Vaes bar, but he knew that that was an improper way to compare themselves since his canvas was a totally foreign factor, even though it was almost completely thanks to his canvas that he even had his current capabilities and was able to efficiently train and learn magic in the first place.

"Quite an entrance isn't it?" Al said to the three who were once again stumped at such an unbelievable sight, though the three knew of the power and strengths of nobles, this was the first time they had experienced it so close, and as such a grand level as well.

If splitting a sea of people apart wasn't considered grand, what else would be?