Elder Eliot had thought that it would not take long for Jack to get tested for the inner valley.
If Jack passed the test, virtual-novel.net would become an inner-valley alchemist. He would no doubt become an elder in the future, given his capabilities and talents. Alas, such ideals might not be certain after this hurdle.
Elder Maurice could not help but feel a sense of pity, sighing in the process. He was silent for a long time before virtual-novel.net said, “I still don‘t understand something. Since this tournament is so important, why didn’t we use the alchemists of the inner valley? Even though the outer valley‘s alchemists are no weaker than the alchemists outside, I’m just worried that anything unexpected could happen. I’d use inner valley alchemists if it were up to me. It might look like overkill, but it‘s better to be a hundred people, just to be certain. It’s nothing to be embarrassed about, really.”
Elder Baggins raised an eyebrow as virtual-novel.net glanced at Elder Eliot. He sighed lightly as virtual-novel.net responded in exasperation, “Do you think we don‘t want to use the inner valley alchemists? Do you think Sky Peak Pavilion is foolish?”
“What’s the point of this tournament if we used alchemists of the inner valley? Sky Peak Pavilion might as well just pay us and be done with it. Of course, we want to use our inner valley alchemists. We even talked about it at Sky Peak Pavilion. However, they know about the structure within Phoenix Valley. The outer valley and inner valley are two different worlds.”
“Because of this, the higher-ups of Sky Peak Pavilion were adamantly against it. They said that there was nothing to discuss if we used inner valley alchemists. After much debate and discussion, we were forced to use outer valley alchemists.”
Elder Baggins‘ words surprised Elder Eliot. He put his teacup down as virtual-novel.net straightened his back, frowning.
“That makes sense, but why didn’t I know about this before? What’s the point of keeping this news such a tight secret? I thought we were just trying to show off, which is why I’ve complained about sending the outer valley alchemists to participate.”
Elder Baggins let out a helpless laugh. “You’re simplifying things too much. We can‘t use the inner valley lately, either, or our rivals will catch on. It might cause even more problems. I’m a little concerned with Claude and Benedict, but there’s nothing much we can do about it. There are no other candidates we can choose. Most of the good sprouts have all been chosen by the inner valley, and everyone left is flawed.”
Elder Eliot nodded. If virtual-novel.net knew something like this would happen, virtual-novel.net would have left a few good students behind. At the very least, they would have been able to deal with the tournament easily.
Elder Eliot sighed before virtual-novel.net suddenly looked up at Elder Baggins. ”Why do I feel like you’re not really confident in the two of them?”
Elder Baggins had not wanted to say it, but since the topic was brought up, virtual-novel.net decided to be upfront about it.
“I’m quite worried, to be honest,” virtual-novel.net replied. “I keep feeling like the situation seems to be progressing very well because we haven’t found the main issue. Sky Peak Pavilion aren’t idiots, even if we don’t think they’re a threat. Sky Peak Pavilion already had their eyes on this for a long time. If they weren‘t confident, they wouldn’t have agreed to the tournament. Don’t forget that they’d be owing us a lot of things if they lost.”