Awakened: Evolving to Godhood

After the parents of the fifty top participants handed back the magic contract to him, many of which showed consent while some didn't, instructor Leonardo used magic energy to amplify his voice as he said: "We thank you all for taking time out of your busy life to attend the tournament. I hope you guys had fun and enjoyed it as much as I and the others. The tournament has come to an end and now we must part ways. Everyone who doesn't have anything to do here, please descend from the Emerald Mountain and return to your homes. Students, you are dismissed! Do whatever you like."

He motioned for those who have gained the consent to go and explore the newly discovered settlement to remain on this place with him.

"Thanks for having us!"

"We bid you farewell."

"Elder brother, little sister, let's go!"

"Good luck, honey! I will be waiting for your return!" Lisa said, waving her hands at Elliot.

Elliot turned to look at her, showed her a smile, and waved back.

Several students who had their heads lowered in dissatisfaction because they didn't get what they want were pulled out of the arena by their parents. Meanwhile, Elliot, Theo, John, Sylas as well as thirty-odd students stood in the arena, waiting patiently for what's to come.

Instructor Leonardo raised his right hand and opened his hand. A mustard seed appeared in the center of his palm. It was grey and sturdy like metal and had a lot of lines on its surface that formed some kind of magical symbol.

One look at the mustard, and Elliot realized to his shock that its true form was an aircraft that could carry thousands of people. As for why it looked like a mustard seed, it's all because of the uncountable number of lines on its extremely tiny surface.

The so-called lines were parts of the magical rune of contraction and expansion. Runes! Elliot has never heard about them. But to be able to contract something so big into something so small, they must truly be something heaven-defying.

Instructor Leonardo flung it towards the skies, and after the metallic mustard seed reached above the peak of the mountain, a resounding reverberation of a stick hitting a drum sounded out. "Expand." Right after that word left his mouth, thousands of ruptures appeared on the mustard seed, and then all of a sudden, to the amazement of the people down below, metallic boards burst out of them. They expanded for several dozen meters while hovering parallel to each other. Then, metallic threads came out of their sides, wriggling towards one another.

They wounded around each other and connected all the metallic boards into one big circular surface which was hovering over them.

Everyone below and on the emerald mountain felt the disturbance that arose during the creation of the circular aircraft. With its shadow covering a wide area, most of the people turned to look at it involuntarily. What they saw left them shocked out of their wits. The giant high above could destroy the mountain and even half of the city if it crash-landed on the ground and exploded. How did it suddenly appear above the mountain out of nowhere?"

The students were equally awestruck and they stood on their spot with gawking expressions on their faces.

"What the hell?!"

"I've never seen something like this before. It's safe to assume that instructor Leonardo got this technique from an ancient settlement!"

"Is this what a truly powerful artifact looks like?"

"Haha, you guys are right! It's indeed an artifact I unearthed from a settlement with a desert-like environment. Although I nearly died multiple times, thanks to my brothers I managed to survive the exploration of that place. What I want to say… You guys will be going to a place with undetermined danger. But it's going to have treasures like the one in the sky! If you want to back off, now's your last chance." Instructor Leonardo said as he looked at the students with a powerful and suppressing gaze.

None of them took a step back as all of them wanted to go there, even though they knew that there was a chance of it being their last trip.

They raised their heads and looked back at him, conveying their will through their eyes.

"You guys made the right choice. Without putting oneself in the unknown, forget about success, even remaining alive in this world is extremely hard." Instructor Leonardo said as a large amount of magic energy burst out of his body, taking the shape of thirty of so visible and tangible blue ropes. Each of them extended towards a student and wrapped around their waist in a tight grip. Then, he pressed his feet on the ground and jumped towards the aircraft in the skies.

"Don't resist." The voice of the instructor sounded in the startled students' ears as they were lifted off their feet and pulled towards the skies. Soon after, they were on top of it, enjoying what it feels like to stand above the cloud and look at the scenery of the entire city and the wilderness ahead as if they were some kind of lofty immortals and nothing could escape their eyes.

Four elderly instructors jumped on board, standing on four circles on the west, north, east, and south side of the metallic circle. They moved their arms, each of their actions causing the dim circles below their feet to brighten up in a blue hue, and after they performed some hand signs while they were at it, winds were generated in mid-air and pushed the aircraft towards their desired direction.

Swoosh!

The aircraft cut through the air, drifting straight toward the north at an incredible speed.

It was moving so fast that it left the city behind in the blink of an eye and charged towards the towering green mountains at a faraway distance. It wouldn't be a lie for one to say that if it wasn't for the barrier surrounding the aircraft and blocking the wind, the students would have gotten lifted off their feet by the strong gales of wind and thrown off the platform, right to their deaths.