Chapter 438: The Battle for the Seals II

After hearing his voice, the talking stopped and everyone got ready.

A few minutes later, a new notification appeared in front of all the participants.

[Each Royal Seal represents one Primary Stat.]

[Upon entering a Royal Seal Guardian’s combat zone, the corresponding Stat will be completely sealed.]

[The sealed Stat cannot be accessed, enhanced, recovered, borrowed or substituted until the Trial ends.]

[Strength Seal — Physical Strength Stat sealed.]

[Spirit Seal — Spirit Stat sealed.]

[Speed Seal — Speed Stat sealed.]

[Resistance Seal — Resistance Stat sealed.]

[Mana Seal — Mana Stat sealed.]

Lian looked at the notifications for a few moments, his guess was correct, each Seal represented one of the five Stats and fighting its Guardian meant that Stat would be sealed.

Then his eyes fell on the last line.

Mana Seal.

This one was truly cruel, if Mana was completely locked, all Skills would basically become unusable.

Another notification appeared.

[Skills, Talents and Equipment remain usable unless their activation directly requires the sealed Stat.]

[Registered Summons and Companions entering the Trial Zone will be subject to the same restriction.]

"Even summons?" Liana immediately looked at the Silvercrest Gryphon and her eyes showed tension and worry.

Maintaining a summon required Mana and without Mana she might not even be able to keep it for a few seconds and she could use those few seconds only to run away.

"Seems like it." Rindo nodded.

"This got much better." Ethan smiled widely.

"Which part of having one of your five Primary Stats locked became better?" Marcus looked at him.

"I mean Mana, this way we can see which of us is stronger without Skills...of course the other Stats aren’t bad either, this way we can understand your weaknesses and strengths, and see which ones you depend on more."

"Without Mana? Then mages have no chance." Selina said and the color of her face changed slightly.

For a Water Element user like her, having her Mana completely locked was the worst possible situation, she would completely lose her ability to fight.

"Then it is better if we don’t go toward that one for now." Lian gave her a short look and added, he would definitely lose part of his power without Mana, but it was not as bad for him as it was for the others.

Seris was probably one of the few people who would have no problem without Mana, or at least the person who would have the least problem, that girl got a large part of her power from her swordsmanship which required Speed and Strength.

"I completely agree."

"Resistance is the closest one and from this, it seems like the best choice too." Rindo pointed toward the white pillar.

"And apparently one of us decided to wear a castle today, even without Resistance you shouldn’t have any problem." Kain looked at the World-Devourer Bastion.

Lian looked at his armor, his Resistance Stat would be sealed.

This meant his body’s natural resistance, his ability to withstand attacks and many of the advantages he directly gained from that Stat would become unavailable.

But the World-Devourer Bastion was not part of the Resistance Stat.

Mountain Frame would still distribute the impact through the entire structure of the armor, World-Bearing Frame would still control the armor’s weight and Mountain Anchor would still exist.

"That’s right, this Seal might be the best choice." A smirk appeared on his face.

"Can you take the front line?" Rindo looked at him.

"Yeah, you can leave the front line and the main attacks to me."

"Then we’ll take that one for now."

"Three Seals are needed to open the center, do we want to take all three ourselves?" Cassian asked.

"Not necessarily." Lian answered.

Several looks turned toward him and he pointed toward Professor Silas’s explanation.

"He said three Seals need to reach the central gate, he didn’t say all three had to belong to the same group."

"Exactly, even if three different groups each have one Seal, the path to the center will still open." Rindo immediately nodded.

"Then why fight for the Seals at all?" Ethan asked.

"Because they give points? And points are still one of the most important things for deciding student rankings, the higher the rank, the better." Kain looked at him.

"Besides that, we can’t be lazy and create a bad image of ourselves, if the others get a bad impression of us, other factions might gain more control over the academy, you guys can stay out of it if you want, but the Student Council cannot just sit around." Rindo answered seriously.

Lian did not need to ask which faction he meant and could understand the Student Council President’s logic.

Rodrick wanted to rule the academy, it was not clear why, because naturally there were no direct benefits from it, maybe it was ambition or some other reason.

And he was definitely trying to get the highest rank in this test and create an absolute image of himself in the minds of the other students.

But Young Vorhelm was not stupid enough to stay silent and wait for the day that bastard came after him, doing such a thing would be stupid, especially when he was sure that sooner or later they would face each other.

He did not have an ambition like ruling the academy, but he was not going to let someone like Rodrick rule the academy either, and besides, isolating Kain just because he was Lian’s friend was not going to go unanswered.

This old grudge had to end as soon as possible, so he could focus on more important goals, such as clearing the Ruined Realm and finding the Calamity Anchor that had spread across their world.

And at that moment, the Silvercrest Gryphon flying above them suddenly changed its direction.

Liana remained still for a few seconds and her eyes focused on a distant point, she was using her summon’s vision.

"There is a large group northwest of us moving, very large...my God, I think group is not the right word, this looks more like an army."

"How many people?" Rindo asked with a frown.

"At least seventy...no, more are arriving."

"At least seventy? There is only one person who can bring this many students with him." Kain muttered.

Everyone looked in the same direction.

From a distance of several kilometers, the figures could only be seen as small dots, but their number was clearly increasing.

.

Students from two other bridges were also moving toward the same point.

There was no need to see Rodrick’s face, and the fact that people were gathering at one point with such speed almost made the answer clear.

"The First Stage forced him to be alone, but the Second Stage is giving him back his biggest advantage." Rindo’s face became more serious.

But a few seconds later, the large group changed and almost divided into three sections, each section moving toward a different pillar of light.

Kain was silent for a moment.

"Well...it seems some people don’t need to make decisions like we do." Seraphina pointed out an obvious fact.

"That is exactly the problem." The Student Council President did not take his eyes off the group, he felt like he had lost his position.

If Rodrick kept all his people together, he could have made a big mistake.

But he had not, he had sent three groups toward three Seals.

If all three succeeded, his faction could open the central path by itself.

And even if he did not take the Crown himself, controlling three Royal Seals would create a huge political and point advantage in the test.

Besides, losing to Rodrick’s group, especially when the Student Council President, his Vice President and the most likely next successor were all in one group, would destroy all the prestige and status they had left.

Now all their thoughts and plans were messed up, they did not want to let this bastard create an unbeatable and legendary image of himself in the minds of the other students.

But now how were they supposed to stop something like this? He was making a move that they could not make with their limited numbers.

"Lian, you don’t have an idea what we should d--where did he suddenly go!" Kain’s eyes fell on his friend, hoping that he had a plan.

But Lian was nowhere to be seen! Where the hell had that fucking vorhelm disappeared to?

Could it be....?