SSS Ranked Awakening: All My Skills Are at Level 100

Chapter 673: What the Hall Keeps Secret

Seraphine waited until Leon had finished his breakfast before taking him into the residence’s training yard.

She had tied her hair back and exchanged her outer robe for something that would stay clear of her sword arm. Leon looked at the practice blade in her hand, then at the closed gate.

”How much did Ji tell you?” he asked.

”Nothing. You told me enough last night.” Seraphine moved to the opposite side of the yard. ”Raise the Earth defense. Keep the pressure low until we know what we’re correcting.”

Leon formed a layered barrier across his left side. She approached with a measured thrust, letting light gather along the edge of her blade. It pressed into the overlap between two layers without breaking either.

He reinforced the seam automatically.

Seraphine shifted toward his exposed side, and he called Lightning. Heat gathered briefly in the Earth branch before the new current cleared it.

Her blade stopped against his sleeve.

”Still holding it?” she asked.

”A little.”

”Then do it again. I’ll use the same approach.”

On the next attempt, he released too early. The barrier weakened while her sword was still pressing against it, and she stepped through before his answer formed.

Leon looked down at the wooden blade resting against his chest.

”That was worse.”

”It was different,” Seraphine said. ”You can correct different.”

She withdrew and gave him room to reset.

The difficulty was trusting how quickly the next current would arrive. His old timing had kept the defense intact while he prepared an answer. Now the answer was ready sooner, and he kept spending effort on a brace he no longer needed.

Ji had made it seem simple. Leon suspected she had forgotten what it felt like to possess hands that occasionally failed to obey.

They repeated the exchange until he stopped rushing the release. On one attempt, Seraphine committed to the outside and Lightning gathered along his fingers before her blade cleared the falling barrier.

She stepped back, smiling.

”There. Did you feel it?”

He had. The return settled cleanly, with none of the lingering warmth.

”Again,” Leon said.

This time she changed her approach.

He caught the first variation and missed the second. By the end of the session, he was watching her shoulder and sword instead of waiting for a particular moment in a familiar sequence.

Seraphine lowered her blade when his attention began drifting.

”That’s enough. You’re going to undo good practice if you keep trying while tired.”

”I was about to get that one.”

”You can get it tomorrow.” She came closer and straightened the collar he had pulled loose. ”Try it against something manageable first. You don’t need to test every improvement against the strongest thing in the building.”

Leon caught her hand before she withdrew it and kissed her knuckles.

”I’ll bring back the reward list.”

”Bring yourself back with it.” Her fingers closed around his briefly. ”The others will want both.”

The Tempering Hall stood against the northern face of the mountain, its broad entrance worn smooth by generations of visitors.

Inside, a steward examined Ji’s permission jade and opened a register.

”Assessment and disciple-course entry,” he said. ”Your attendants may wait in the public hall, but this permission does not admit them as contestants.”

”They know.”

”Good. Before we begin, read these.”

He gave Leon two thin booklets. One contained the course rules; the other listed rewards and requisitions. Leon set the second aside long enough to read the withdrawal conditions properly.

A challenger could end a trial by speaking the withdrawal command or pressing the token. Between stages, leaving preserved all completed clears. Emergency termination counted as failure of the active stage.

”What does the safety formation monitor?” Leon asked.

”Whether the challenger remains conscious and able to sustain the trial. It also intervenes when an injury passes its emergency threshold.”

”So someone can be badly hurt before it stops the opponent.”

”Yes.” The steward rested a finger beside the relevant passage. ”Do not treat intervention as a substitute for withdrawing. The formation can end an attack. It cannot promise that everything preceding it is easily repaired.”

Leon nodded and turned the page.

”What leaves the chamber?”

”Stage results and safety signals. Nothing else.”

”No image?”

”No image, technique record, or transmitted energy signature. Combat methods are neither sent outside nor retained for later examination.”

The answer was clear enough that Leon looked up from the booklet.

”Even for the elders?”

”The restriction is part of the Hall’s construction. The hall elder receives the same results I do.” The steward pointed toward the passage behind him. ”An assessment can be witnessed with your agreement. The trial itself is private.”

Leon read the provision again. He had become accustomed to choosing what other people were allowed to see. The prospect of putting that concern aside was almost as attractive as the rewards.

Almost.

Unaspected Spirit Marrow appeared halfway through the requisition booklet.

Nine measures cost five thousand four hundred contribution. Ordinary purchasing credit could not be used for that allocation.

Leon placed a finger beside the entry.

”How clean?”

The steward leaned over to see what he meant.

”Neutral qi, densely condensed. No elemental alignment or residual cultivator imprint. The vault tests each allocation before release.”

”Why restrict it to contribution?”

”Supply. The Palace has a limited stock, and money alone would empty it.”

Leon thought of the weeks spent drawing usable residue from the Ethereal Initiate cores. Even with the array, every portion had required examination before he could let it reach the reservoir. Twice he had caught his attention wandering and closed the inlet until he had cleaned the waiting energy again.

He would still need to prepare this material and regulate the feed. But he would not have to spend weeks separating his supply from someone else’s lingering imprint.

That would be nice.

He checked the course payments against the price.

A full set of array consumables and preparation materials would cost another nine hundred. He copied the medicine entries Loriel had requested and several supplement prices for Vyra, then wrote six thousand three hundred beside the marrow allocation.

”That’s your target?” the steward asked.

”At least that much.”

”First clears only. Repeating a stage will not earn another payment.”

”I read it.” Leon tucked the copied lists into his robe. ”Let’s see where I can start.”

The assessment room held a construct, several measurement plates, and a woman whose hall-elder insignia was the only ornament on her plain robe.

Leon agreed to have the assessment witnessed. He used familiar abilities drawn from the affinities already recorded by the Palace, keeping his concealed methods to himself.

The construct tested his reactions before increasing its force. Ice turned its first serious attack. Lightning caught its recovery. When it tried to pin him against the room’s boundary, Leon folded the last few paces of his retreat and appeared beyond its reach.

The elder stopped the assessment shortly afterward.

”Senior course,” she told the steward.

Then she turned to Leon.

”The early stages should let you settle into the chamber. Beyond those, the benchmarks rise sharply. They remain fixed regardless of who enters.”

”How many stages?” Leon asked.

”Twelve. Eleven is the highest recorded clear among eligible disciples. Two challengers reached it within the last sixty years. The twelfth has remained uncleared for more than two hundred.”

Ji had warned him the course went further than he was ready to finish. He believed her. He was still curious about what waited at the end.

The elder handed him a trial token.

”You may examine each benchmark before accepting the stage. Completing one does not oblige you to attempt the next.”

Leon thanked her and followed the steward to the chamber entrance.

When the stone door closed, the room beyond was empty and comfortably lit. His token showed the first challenge, its reward, and the withdrawal command.

He drew his sword and tested the movement of his shoulders.

No one was watching for an affinity that did not belong on his record. No one would examine the fight afterward.

Leon accepted the first stage with a grin.

All right. Let’s earn something.