Runemaster in the Last Days

"I'll stay outside… I guess the small formation around should be your handiwork." Samuel couldn't sense these formations, but he guessed that Riya should have put up some guards around the gym.

The reason why he didn't trigger it might be because Riya added some special rules.

She still allowed him to come close to the main venue.

But she would not let him participate in the core part.

"Yes," Riya replied calmly and with a stroke of her hand, the formation under her was done. She looked at it a few more times before she was satisfied and turned to look at Samuel who was still standing by the door.

"Do you want to watch?"

There was nothing interesting from their advancement ceremony. It was nothing more than the process of integrating their heart, mind, and body with mana, reaching a completely new realm.

The lifespan would also be greatly extended.

People who have reached rank 7 would live much longer than ordinary people and could see several generations of people.

That is if there was no accident in the process.

"Yes," Samuel replied. "I guess it'll be very different from magic warrior's ceremony and I'm interested."

He couldn't see many people's advancement ceremony because these people would always be secretive of that. In that world, competition was even harsher and there might be people who backstab others for various reasons. The laws and regulations were not that strict and many people were willing to bet everything for the sake of a chance to advance to higher rank.

Because in their eyes, power is everything.

Samuel had seen so much people like that in his previous life that he was no longer surprised when he saw the depravity of human beings after the world had changed. How many of them could keep their moral grounds after being tempted so much?

Not everyone has such a firm mind.

Yet at the same time, only those who had firm mind in their ideals, be it crooked, righteous, or even eccentric, could possibly reach the top.

Because the process to reach the top will definitely take a long time and each and every single one of them definitely had to experience many things. If they didn't have something that could keep their mind stable and firm, they would never be able to reach that step.

There were two ceremonies that every profession had to undergo if they wanted to reach the top.

From rank 6 to rank 7 there would be an advancement ceremony.

And from rank 9 to rank 10, there would be another ceremony.

But that was not something for Samuel to concern himself about. After all, it would definitely take a long time for him to reach that rank.

"No one would allow you to get close to their advancement ceremony in normal times," Riya said quietly and then added, "But you should lower your presence and stay quiet."

"I know," Samuel replied with a smile.

He had watched one advancement ceremony, one that was done by his cousin in that world. Even though there were some competition between the family members in that world, but their relationship with each other was relatively harmonious.

To be honest, it might be a bit hard to imagine considering that there were some interest involved.

But that was how it is.

There were some internal conflicts but there were also many of them who have good relationship with each other. This one cousin was one of them who had good relationship with Samuel and they watched each other's advancement ceremony.

Of course, there were still formation that separated them.

After all, they didn't want to tempt the other party to make a move no matter how good their relationship were.

"Good."

After getting Samuel's confirmation, Riya stopped paying attention to him.

The mana around the place had surged and she could guess that it would soon be the most ideal place for her advancement ceremony.

As a rune master, her advancement ceremony naturally had to be accompanied by the runes.

But before that…

"Rise."

With a flick of her hand, several magic cores came out from her storage scrolls and Riya activate the defensive formation. She would be focusing on her breakthrough for the next few hours. Considering that the amount of mana she has in this life was much more than her previous life, Riya guessed that her breakthrough would definitely take a long time.

The special magic cores that she used had increased her mana quantity and quality to a certain degree. It was a good thing yet at the same time, it also made things troublesome for her.

After all, Riya would have to stay longer to fully put herself to the peak state and then started the process.

The defensive formation is a necessity.

And it had to be able to block up to peak rank 6 attack.

'Let's hope there's truly no rank 7 magic beasts nearby.'

Other returnees wouldn't be able to stop Riya even if they wanted to as the formation would stop them completely.

And the formation that she had just drawn would be the key for her advancement.

The first step for magician to advance to rank 7 was to meditate and compress their mana to the purest form. So much that it would even squeeze their heart to a certain degree.

There would be pain.

But it was a necessity.

Riya took a deep breath and sat down in the middle. Several mana stones appeared in her hand and flew towards the corner of the room. It was placed at the marked place and the next moment, light shone from the blood colored formation.

The eerie atmosphere was instantly turned into a magnificent view from the formation as beautiful light intertwined around.

Dense runes were dancing around Riya, tightly protecting her as mana surged up.

The blood color had completely disappeared, turning into gold and silver color. The entire formation seemed to be a beautiful golden house, protecting their princess inside.