Julius didn’t have to wear the sect’s robes. He was advised by Elder Malric to wait until he received special robes that depicted his status as an honored guest, but he insisted. It didn't help matters that they looked cool as hell. Not to mention, they were even more comfortable than the uniforms at Goldencrest, which was saying a lot.

It wasn’t just the enchantments woven into the fabric either. It was the quality of the material. He didn’t know where they got it from or who made it, but the fabric was breathtakingly light and extremely soft. The uniforms at Goldencrest weren’t like that. They were comfortable, but it was almost like they wanted to force you to stand up straighter, and so the fabric was a bit stiff.

The robe was primarily crimson red and deep black. But the slight shimmer of gold gave it an elegant look. There was a small crest of a burning sun on the left side of his chest and a larger one on the back of his robes.

“How do I look?” He asked Maya, giving her a dramatic twirl.

“Very fetching,” she said with a roll of her eyes.

“Why, thank you. I think so as well,” he said with an excited chortle.

She slapped his shoulder and followed Elder Malric, who was taking them to where he would be staying. Apparently, Cassandra’s pavilion was deeper within the sect, and with the help of Elder Malric, they were able to enter the inner court without too much issue.

Maya was recognized by some of the female disciples, and she took some time to talk with them while Elder Malric went into a nearby building, telling him to wait for him outside. He stood there feeling a little lost and out of place. So, in the meantime, he took his lunchbox out of his storage ring and went over to a retaining wall, where he sat down.

He opened up the lunchbox and gasped in excitement. His soul-bound item must have been feeling generous because before his eyes was the most juicy-looking steak he had ever seen, next to a shimmering potato. It was still relatively simple food, but considering most of the food from his lunchbox was sandwiches and other plain snacks, he wasn’t about to complain. Furthermore, he had never experienced a bad meal from the lunchbox. Everything that came out of it was delicious, almost concerningly so.

And this time around wasn’t anything different. He formed a knife and fork from his mana before he dug in. He let out an excited giggle as his fork was almost enough to part the steak on its own. Juices flowed from the meat, and the aroma was absolutely intoxicating. He closed his eyes as he let his sinuses fill up with that buttery and beefy scent. There was a faint hint of herbs as well, something floral. But not enough that it overpowered his nose.

He couldn’t hold back any longer and shoved a nice hefty piece into his mouth. He cursed in alarm when his taste buds were violently assaulted. If the scent was intoxicating, then the taste was absolutely divine. He had never experienced something so beefy and rich. But it wasn’t just that. He was able to taste several other things going on. There was a pleasant smokiness that had his tongue tingling, and a sweet but slightly salty seasoning on the outside of the steak, only enhanced by the smoke.

One of the disciples who was passing by looked over at him with a drooling expression, but he ignored it. Deciding to try the plain-looking baked potato, he cut into it and was stunned by what he saw. If he didn’t know any better, he would have thought the potato had been injected with pure buttery, herb, and garlic deliciousness.

There was nothing on top or mixed into it. From all appearances, it looked like a regular potato. He took another bite and cursed again when the skin of the potato crunched in his mouth and even more flavor exploded out.

Not wanting to risk it getting cold, he dove right into the most amazing meal he had ever eaten from the lunchbox. He tried to savor it, but it didn’t last very long. Before he knew it, all of the food was gone, even the juices had been licked clean by him. He held his empty lunchbox with sadness. Hoping that it wouldn’t be the last time he got to experience that meal.

He opened and closed it a dozen times in hopes that another steak would magically reappear, but unfortunately, his prayers weren’t answered. He let out a mournful sniffle and put the lunchbox away.

After he did that, he sat there waiting for Elder Malric to finish up whatever he was doing. He didn’t see or sense Maya anywhere. She must have been led away by her friends. And so he was alone.

As he swung his legs from the wall, he spotted a large crowd of disciples coming toward him, talking loudly and jokingly pushing each other. They were all wearing uniforms depicting their status as inner disciples. One of them noticed Julius sitting on the wall and pointed him out to the others.

They all looked at him, and one girl headed straight for him. She was really quite pretty, with tall and luscious black hair. Her eyes were really what drew his attention. They shimmered with little embers.

“What are you doing here? Outer disciples are not allowed here,” she called out to him.

Julius looked at her with an unbothered smile. “I’m not an outer disciple.”

She pointed at his new robe. “That says otherwise.”

He looked down and realized that there were some differences between his and her uniforms. He hadn’t been here long enough to understand the differences, but it would appear his robes were those of an outer disciple. To be fair, he had gotten them while in the outer court, so it made sense.

She huffed upon seeing his reaction. “Just get out of here. If you leave right now, I won’t report you to Elder Genau.”

“I’m allowed to be here. In fact, I was told to wait here,” he explained calmly.

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She gave him a once-over and frowned. “Where’s your writ of permission?”

I don’t have one yet. But I promise I am telling the truth.”

“Yeah, right,” one of the older guys behind the girl scoffed quietly.

Julius ignored him and continued to stare at the girl who seemed to be the leader of this little group. After all, she was one of the only two people in this group who actually seemed strong. Sure, the other four were also Tier 4, but they didn’t have the same weight to their auras. He suspected they had recently advanced.

Though it was a noticeable difference from the outer court, where most of the people he saw walking around were Tier 3s.

He also took the time to examine the other Tier 4 who caught his attention. It was a young-looking guy with somewhat plain features. Neither tall nor short. He had an average build and face. He didn’t seem concerned with this little exchange. He was too busy playing with something that looked like a deck of cards in his hands.

Julius sensed extraordinarily complex workings of mana in these cards and spotted what looked like runic symbols on their faces.

He sighed. “Look, I am here waiting for Elder Malric to finish up with whatever he is doing. If you have any questions regarding my permission to be here, you can take it up with him.”

The same older guy who had spoken out earlier stepped forward. “Yeah, as if someone like Elder Malric would be escorting an outer disciple inside the inner court.”

The girl grabbed the guy by the shoulder and pulled him back, giving him a warning look. Then she turned back to Julius. “You said you were with Elder Malric?”

He nodded and pointed at the building where the old man had entered. “He went inside there and told me to sit here.”

She considered his words and looked at him carefully, as if trying to discern if he was lying or not.

The older guy seemed to have made his own conclusion, though. “He’s obviously lying, Lianara. There is no way Elder Malric is personally escorting a Tier 4 guy who is still in the outer court. Elder Malric would have one of his assistants do that type of work. Furthermore, I don’t recognize him and also didn’t see him at the last couple of Inner Disciple ceremonies either, so he shouldn’t be a new Inner Disciple getting registered.”

Honestly, Julius couldn’t even fault the guy for his assumption. It actually seemed reasonable, regardless of the man’s callous and rude way of saying it. There were just a few things he was mistaken about.

“As I said before, I’m not an outer disciple,” he said calmly.

“Then why are you wearing an outer disciple uniform?”

“Because it looks cool,” he said, completely serious.

His genuineness must have taken the guy aback because he had nothing else to say in response. The girl, Lianara, was about to say something, but they were interrupted by another voice.

“There you are. You shouldn’t go running off alone,” Maya said with a sigh of relief.

“Me? You’re the one who left me,” Julius said with a deadpan expression.

“Did I?”

“Yes, you absolutely did.”

“Hmm, my bad, I got distracted by some of my friends I hadn’t seen in a while,” she said with a shrug, and looked over at the group of disciples who were hovering around Julius. “What’s going on here?”

“They seem to think I am trespassing or something. Calling me a liar and such.”

“No, we weren’t!” the guy who was so outspoken shouted abruptly.

Julius frowned and looked at the guy who suddenly seemed nervous. “Yeah, you were just telling me that someone like Elder Malric wouldn’t be seen with the likes of me.”

“Oh? Is that right?” Maya said curiously, looking more closely at this group.

“Lianara? Casper? What are you two doing here?” She seemed to recognize the girl and the plain-looking guy.

Casper, the guy with the cards, finally looked up and gave a little wave to Maya. On the other hand, the girl, Lianara, smiled awkwardly at Maya. “Oh, do you know this boy, Maya?”

“Yes, he is with me. Why?”

“Oh, good. I was just making sure that he had a writ of permission to enter the inner court since he was wearing outer disciple robes.”

“He has permission,” Maya said simply.

“Ah, I see. Our mistake, then,” Lianara said with a short bow and an awkward chuckle.

“And that justifies you harassing, Julius?” Maya wasn’t about to let it go, though.

“We weren’t harassing him!” The guy from before argued.

“It certainly seemed that way to me… what was your name again? I swear I have seen you around somewhere.”

“It’s Kenus, Core Disciple Maya,” the guy said with a bow.

“Don’t blame them too harshly, Maya. They were both just chewed out for failing a practical exam from Elder Genau,” Casper said, finally bothering to look up from his cards. Julius sensed a small surge of mana flow through them and snapped into place.

“I didn’t fail,” Lianara said heatedly. “My team failed to keep up.”

“Yes, because you failed to explain to them what they should do to improve or to help you. You can’t do everything by yourself,” Casper said with a sigh.

“Don’t make it sound like you weren’t scolded either.”

“Yes, but I also don’t care as much. I’m only going to those lessons because my master told me to.”

Julius shuffled over to Maya as the two of them started to bicker back and forth. “What is the deal with them?”

She shrugged. “They have always been odd, but they are pretty talented. They are close to becoming core disciples, too. What did you do to antagonize them or get their attention?”

“Nothing, I was just eating and waiting for Elder Malric to come out.”

She looked at him suspiciously.

“It’s true.”

She flattened her lips and eventually sagged her shoulders. “I promise you that this kind of stuff doesn’t happen often.”

He waved his hand. “I don’t care. My old school was worse at times. At least they had a genuine concern about something. There was one time I was yelled at for eating.”

At that moment, Elder Malric returned from whatever he was doing and walked over to Julius. He spotted the crowd of disciples, and a single frown from the old man was enough to send the entire group scurrying away. It was impressive how quickly they were able to escape without looking like they were running.

“What was all of that about?” The old man asked curiously.

Julius shook his head. “Nothing, just some excitable children making noise.”

“You know they are all older than you, right?” Maya said with a blank stare.

“I’ve been told I’m wise beyond my years,” Julius said with a proud grin.

Elder Malric hid a smirk and beckoned them to follow him. “Come with me. Apparently, there is someone who wants to meet you.”