“…Idiot…” Iliantara muttered under her breath as she folded her hands, her eyes narrowing as she observed Lucas, who smiled in her direction, indicating that he was waiting for her to complete the mess he had created by half-breaking the stone.
She was interested in knowing how the mechanism and working principle of that particular pillar or stone framework worked to detect someone’s bloodline, physique, bone age, etc., just by their body touching it.
“It appears to be working on runes.” Ryuk calmly stood beside Iliantara, adopting the same posture as her with his hands folded, while looking towards Lucas. He observed that he currently had two flag bearers in his presence. However, instead of directly engaging in battle, he prioritized the matters at hand.
According to that sequence, searching for information about the family to which Jenny belonged came first.
However, after observing all the candidates in the upper town, he deduced that the chances of her presence here were unlikely, making it clear that she was either in the upper hierarchy or inside the main palace of the Phoenix Order.
“Yes, I also guessed that,” Iliantara said, nodding with closed eyes before opening them again as she continued looking in the direction of Lucas, who had just made his way out of the outer pavilion and entered the second portal in a nonchalant manner, with his hands resting in his pockets.
“You are not surprised,” Ryuk inquired, keeping his gaze ahead. Unlike the typical reaction he had been getting from several individuals who were unable to detect his presence and acted surprised the moment their eyes fell upon him, she appeared calm as if she sensed him.
Naturally, due to his ability to nullify everything, making his body invisible to other gazes, he had kept everyone around him from paying attention to him.
Given that if he hadn’t done this, then most likely, due to his attire, mask, and visible physique, at least a few of the women would have definitely looked in his direction.
However, there were only those who had noticed Yao Lian or Esme looking in his direction.
“I am surprised, but I can hear when air brushes against your clothes or flutters your hair,” Iliantara admitted. Although she was unable to sense this unknown man standing beside her, it felt as if there was no one beside her. However, due to her hearing, she was able to pinpoint his exact location.
‘Hear?’ Ryuk’s gaze narrowed as he listened to how casually she mentioned her ability to hear the sounds created by his presence. In truth, he himself, if focused on his hearing, could hear murmurs and whispers from around 10 miles away, relying on his physically enhanced hearing without using his energy.
But even with that, hearing various sounds and exactly pinpointing their location was challenging, especially if the sounds were just about air brushing against someone’s clothes or hair. This led Ryuk to add, “So it seems those ears are not just for decoration.”
“Isn’t it obvious? There is a reason why they are big,” Iliantara replied, folding her hands as she nodded, seeing that he was referring to her fox ears on her head. She felt no awkwardness, as she appreciated others being curious and wanting to learn something.
“Hm, then what is the use of your other two human ears?” Ryuk inquired without turning his gaze, keeping it ahead. He remembered that in his past world, whenever there was a depiction of beast kin, all the illustrations showed four ears—two were human ears beneath cascading hair, and the other two were on their heads belonging to their race.
It was the same with Bella, but due to her age, he never inquired with her, knowing she would hardly be aware of the reason.
“Typically, my fox ears hear sounds that are inaudible to human ears,” Iliantara replied with a composed and calm voice, observing as individuals from the upper town slowly moved forward towards the platform.
“So, that’s how it is,” Ryuk said in the same tone as hers, understanding that those fox ears were most likely there like antennas to detect ultrasound, infrasonic, and other sounds that even his enhanced hearing could never pick up.
Naturally, human ears are made to hear sounds of a particular frequency. No matter how sharp their hearing is, they could only increase the range of the area but could never hear sounds not meant for them to hear, even with enhanced hearing.
But it seemed that having those fox ears was not just a part of looking attractive or decorative.
“And what is the use of nine tails?” Ryuk further inquired, knowing that she was calmly answering his questions without overreacting, which prompted him to ask more.
“Normally, for a pure fox-kin, it shows as evidence of their strength, but for me, as a half-breed, it just signifies my potential and inherent genes from a nine-tailed fox,” Iliantara replied without hesitation. She respected the man’s strength; it was clearly evident from the fact that when she arrived in the Outer Pavilion, she had already noticed everyone’s presence but never found someone like him until he himself arrived near her, proving that he was remarkably strong.
Respecting someone stronger than you is a proof of your upbringing—this was something her grandfather had always told her.
“I see…” Ryuk nodded with his eyes closed, feeling the way she answered, even revealing that she was a half-breed, not a complete nine-tailed fox.
He grasped the meaning behind her words, which were particularly insightful about how the greater the number of tails a fox has, the stronger it is. Her having nine tails indicated that her mother possessed nine tails as well and that she had inherently been given those nine tails—not as proof of her strength, but as proof of her potential to become as strong as her mother.
He appreciated this before turning his attention back to the broken slab.
“Wh-what to do now, Elder?!” One of the individuals finally broke out of his thoughts, as all of them were in a trance, staring at Lucas, the man who had just broken the slab, which was meant for them to punch, as he made his way out of the outer pavilion.
“Uh-huh? Th-that’s,” the Elder exclaimed, himself in shock after witnessing how the stone, present for all those years inside the first trial of the Celestial Phoenix Order, had just formed several cracks due to that man’s punch. He felt himself falling into a dilemma upon witnessing the emergence of a monster who possessed such strength.
Naturally, even he had not sensed any presence of Qi from that individual. He hardly thought that someone at that age could be stronger than him to the extent of suppressing his Qi. Thus, the Elder thought that the young man was some ancient monster who would be disqualified once he touched the slab since it would be able to detect his bone age.
But now, it was proven that this young man really possessed unfathomable strength.
“Ahem, cough,” the Elder suddenly said, noticing the gazes of his disciples from the corridors standing near the wooden houses and other candidates. He felt he should not lose his composure and show a bad image of himself in front of them, so he coughed and adjusted his throat before announcing,”Everyone, there’s no need to act surprised or focus on passing the first trial, since everyone is unique in some way. Please come forward and continue the trial.”
