After Jason was lectured by Shane, he manifested a spatial portal behind him through which he walked to disappear from Jason's sight.
Taking a deep breath, Jason was sure that entering the Mythic Garden was something he had to do!
It might be a four-star rift like the one he entered in Cyro-City with lots of cursed and blessed beasts, but this time, he was better prepared.
Furthermore, he had his three soulbonds by his side and became much stronger!
As such, Jason was confident that his chances to survive were not worse compared to other prodigies!
In the worst-case scenario, he would have to manifest Scorpio's exoskeleton to defend himself or Artemis' wings to run away at a faster pace!
If that was not enough, he told himself that exceeding his body's limits for a short while would be okay.
This would allow him to reach the strength and speed of a peak Master rank by allowing of his soulbond to enter his mana core to use their whole strength to amplify his own!
Right now, he had to suppress the amplification he received when Artemis or Scorpio entered his mana core because his body would tear apart otherwise.
A few seconds might be okay and not life-threatening but enduring the whole amplification of a peak Unblemished beast longer than a minute would definitely cause major injuries!
Following the guide which he received from the AI, to find the exact position to the meeting point, Jason required only half an hour before he entered a small, unimpressive-looking building.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})From the outside, it looked as if it would fall apart any moment but Jason knew better than anyone else that this would never happen.
His mana eyes were continuously activated for a few months and he could easily detect that the building's structure was firmer than every Artisan tower he saw before.
The materials used to build the small house in front of him were imbued with mana and extremely expensive which caused Jason to hesitate for a short moment before he opened the door to enter it.
There were also several other things Jason noticed, like the large number of participants that already seemed to wait for something in the basement.
However, that was not important for him because he could see something else that shocked him greatly.
Below the small crowd of people, there was a huge magic circle that was probably made out of inscription mixtures that had milled spatial affinity transmuted mana cores in them.
At least that was what Jason assumed when he saw the faint golden color within the magic circle.
It was incomparable to the gigantic, majestic rune that manifested the four-star rift in Cyro-City that was made out of pure transmuted mana or something similar to that.
Nevertheless, the magic circle was still extremely complex and caused Jason to be interested in it.
Yet, after he entered the building, he was stopped by a tall, bulky man who seemed to be the guardian of the place he was about to enter.
Inspecting his mana core, Jason couldn't help but exclaim quietly because the guard was a sovereign rank with one solidified prismarine crystal inside his mana core.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})'The Mythic Garden should be more important than we assumed it to be' Jason concluded without any other reason than the guard he saw in front of him.
Showing the guardian his ID and the certificate that he passed the Hidden-Prodigy assessment which Jason received from the AI a few days before, he was let through without any further questions.
There was no elevator that brought him to the basement but stairs leading downwards.
While walking down the stairs slowly, Jason carefully investigated every single mana core he could see in the basement and the amplification they received.
Additionally, he could look at their transmuted mana and roughly estimate their soulbonds' strength which was definitely advantageous for Jason who would meet other, real prodigies for the first time.
However, Jason felt that everything he perceived right now was weird, because only a few individuals out of the small crowd he perceived could be considered powerful and real prodigies, considering that they were below 20 years old.
There was nobody with a Grandmagus ranked mana core which indicated to Jason that everyone in the basement was below 20 years old and that there was currently no supervisor taking care of the young men and women.
'Doesn't that mean that the influential clans and families sent their descendants to the Mythic Garden, even if they're not prodigies? Is that not a little bit too dangerous?' He estimated but it was not like Jason would mind it if that was really the case because it was their own choice.
It was already dangerous enough for prodigies to enter the Mythic Garden, but it should be suicidal for others.
Thanks to his preparations, Jason was at least confident in running away from a low-magical ranked beast while he should be able to avoid everything else with his mana eyes.
Over the last few months, his eyesight increased by a large margin and it was not even difficult for him to sense stronger mana fluctuations over a distance up to 1,000 meters!
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})As such, he would perceive everything dangerous early enough as long as it wasn't in his blind spot!
After he investigated the average strength of all young prodigies inside the basement which he entered at this movement, Jason concluded that the average strength should be around the peak of the Master rank!
There were a few exceptions with the strength of a low-Magus and also a few that were at the mid-Master rank, but other than that, there was nothing special.
He perceived a few unique affinities but unfortunately, there was nobody with a unique constitution, which he had hoped for.
Since he met Dalia and Max Drake, Jason always wanted to see what factors were similar and different in the corresponding constitution.
Unfortunately, that was not possible and he had yet to find a third person with a unique constitution!
Nothing of that was important right now because Jason entered the large hall in the basement in which the large crowd of young prodigies was currently inside.
However, what he saw there made him wonder if he was in the wrong place or not.
As such he took a glance at his quantum bracelet's holographic screen which pointed at the place he was currently inside and Jason could only frown.
The basement he had entered looked like a small event hall used for higher authorities to celebrate something.
It was decorated glamorously and there were several tables filled with food.
"Is that a banquet?" He subconsciously blurted out before his attention was drawn to the young men and women that wore Suits, Dresses, and similar clothes one would wear for a formal event.
'Are we here to enter the Mythic Garden or to hold a banquet?' Jason was utterly dumbfounded, not knowing what the hell was going on.
His arrival began to attract the formerly dressed, young women's attention because he was handsome and had a toned physique.
Yet, rather than feeling good, Jason could only curse inwardly because he wore everything to enter the Mythic Garden, which included his mana-grade-2 leather armor and the fact that his pseudo-grade-2 light longsword was sheathed in the scabbard which Shane made for him a while ago.
Jason knew that he was not bad-looking right now but the large contrast between wearing combat armors and formal clothes for a banquet was still apparent.
He was pondering what to do right now when he noticed one of the young men who were in the center of their group staring at him intently before he approached him.
The young man had broad shoulders and an athletic physique, while his blond hair and blue eyes highlighted his mature facial features.
However, his gaze was cold as he asked arrogantly.
"What the hell do you think you're doing here? If you want to hunt beasts go to the Wild zones, but don't interfere in our banquet!"
"This is really a banquet?!?" Jason thought in shock, ignoring the young man's arrogant tone, only to notice that he blurted it out loud.
Scratching the head of his back, Jason couldn't help but feel that he was truly at the wrong place.
However, recalling the exact position of the place he had to go, the spatial transmuted magic circle and the sovereign ranked guardian, Jason was confident to be at the right place!
