Ruger twitched his nose. There was no saliva on the small stone slab in front of him.
Suddenly, he felt a gaze sweep over him from above. It passed in a flash and seemed to belong to the corpulent old wizard.
He curled his lip, picked up the small stone slab from the ground, and held it as he continued listening to the old wizard. The man was the only one he could see when he looked up. Whether anyone else was hidden nearby, he had no idea.
"Traces have been deliberately left inside the stone slabs. Anyone who finds them will have passed the first-round test," the corpulent old wizard announced.
Ruger noticed the term at the end of that sentence.
If there was a first round, a series of further steps would inevitably follow. Of course, it could also be deliberately misleading wording.
Thinking this over, Ruger lowered his head and turned the small stone slab over in his hands, examining it. Then he glanced at Green, two steps to his right. The fellow was also fiddling with his own slab.
The slabs were similar in size, but not identical. Their shapes were irregular, and they were roughly a palm thick.
As Ruger fiddled with his slab, he suddenly heard the signal to begin.
Most of the wizards around him sat on the ground, though a few remained standing. He even spotted two who lay down outright. There seemed to be more interesting characters with distinctive personalities among wizards than among apprentices.
Ruger curled his lip and stopped watching those eccentric fellows. With a wave, he took out his Old Recliner, climbed onto it amid its creaking, and settled comfortably back. Holding the slab, he slowly closed his eyes.
He cast the Divine Object Art, which he had