Rise of the Cosmic_Emperor

Hal followed Eva out of the party Hall and down the Residence corridors and straight to a large ornate door.

The one thing Hal did not particularly care for at that moment was Eva's grim expression. It made it seem as though the things just past that door were torture devices meant to bring him immense and excruciating pain.

Then again, that could very well be the case since he had no idea what the fuck was going on!

Had Eva continued to stand there and stare at him with that same expression, he might have lost it but she pushed the door open and went inside.

"Come in" she called out to Hal.

He sighed and followed after her and had to admit he was quite disappointed when he saw it was merely a very large study.

He took a quick look around and noted many things that told him that this was the Baroness' study and not the Baron's.

He frowned. 

Since the Camira Noren had only become Baroness by marriage, the title did not truly hold any political power so what was the need of this study.

Either, contrary to public opinion, the Baroness was the one truly in power, 

Or

What she was doing here was completely different.

Hal was quite inclined to the latter as it was probably related to why he was here.

Eva did not say a word and only went off to stand by the wall while resting against a shelf of books.

Hal was about to ask her what this was all about when the doors of the study opened and in came Camira, still in her stately attire for the night's event.

Hal did not wait for her to get settled at all,

"What is all this about?" 

Camera smiled lightly but the sentiment did not touch her eyes as she said, 

"Sit down." She said.

Hal shrugged, 

"I don't want to."

Camira's eyes flashed and she released the faint pressure of a Late-stage Cosmic Phenomenon realm expert while Eva was already behind Hal and pushing a chair against the back of his knees to cause them to buckle so he was forced to sit.

He frowned but said nothing.

"I insist" Camira said as she went to sit behind the large desk decked with books.

Eva turned Hal's chair so he was facing Camira while she drew another chair for herself and turned it to look at him.

"So, Hal. Who are you and where are you from?" Camira asked

Hal rolled his eyes, 

"My name is Hal and I'm from Sapphire city."

"We have no knowledge of Sapphire city having a Teleportation circle." Camira said with a frown.

Hal shrugged, 

"I said I'm from there, not that I traveled from there."

He had no intentions of letting these ladies know about his Teleportation circle. If he did, What would have been the point of keeping the coordinates private?

What he still did not understand was why they were making such a big deal of this.

The sisters shared a look and Eva drew her chair closet to Hal while wondering why there seemed to be tingling in her lower region as she inhaled his scent.

Also, what was with that face of his that made her just want to jump his bones?

"Hal, this is very serious. This would not have mattered to us, had it not being for the Jade token you had with you, we would not have bothered." she told him.

Hal's eyes widened, 

"Jade Token?" 

Camira sighed, 

"Don't bother attempting to deny it. We know the Princess gave you a Jade Token. She also left us this..." She said and pulled out a poster.

On it was a beautiful painting of Hal's face. While slightly less attractive, the resemblance was clear.

"Not many get the privilege of receiving a Jade Token so I hope you did not think she would simply give it and not keep an eye out for you. The princess deduced that should you ever decide to leave Salmon city, you would have to come to the Barony for a Teleportation circle.

Of course, she did not expect you to have a Blue gem, so she also expected you to need to exchange Gold for gems to power the Circle.

We are part of her information gathering network and she left us and some others this portrait so that she would be informed the moment you were seen.

The thing was that she was right and you did come to the Barony center but you did so through an arriving Teleportation circle with no coordinates.

This makes it quite likely that you tricked the princess and are not truly from Sapphire city. If that is the case, I need to know where you are from and you must convince me you are not from the Dystopian Continent.

We've been having an influx of spies from there as of recent and the last thing we need is for one of them to be in possession of a Jade Token."

Hal said nothing but thrust his hands into his robes as though to pull something out but it was just a cover to retrieve the token from his inventory.

He toyed with it in his hands for a while before he looked sideways at Eva, 

"Before I answer any questions. Tell me what this Token really is. The 'Princess' told me it was so that I could join the Royal academy selection in Four months, but I'm guessing there is more to it than that." He said.

Was Hal worried about the situation?

No, he was not.

While Camira was at the Late stage of the Cosmic Phenomenon realm and Eva was at the Mid-stage, they both had no hope whatsoever of defeating him. 

Also, all those in the Baron's residence presently fell under the category his Invisibility could affect and he could sneak out of here as easily as he wished.

"You are not in the position to ask questions." Camira interrupted with a frown.

"Sister, please. If he's a spy, he won't get out of here alive anyway. His cultivation is at the Early stage of the Cosmic Phenomenon realm. We might as well answer his questions." Eva told her sister.

Hal was not surprised that she could tell what his cultivation was as he had been faintly releasing the pressure of his cultivation base since he arrived.

It was his way of putting them at ease that they had him dead to rights.

"Alright fine." Camira said with a wave of her hand while she stood from the chair and went over to her platform behind her where there were bottles of Alcohol.

She poured herself a glass and downed it while cranking her neck.

All of which Hal did not fail to notice.

With the permission granted, Eva answered Hal's questions, 

"The Jade Token is indeed not just for selection. First, you need to know that there are three tiers of students at the academy. The White robed students who are the lowest tier and are where all students start from, the Blue robed who have more status and represent better prowess.

And then the Green robed students who are usually hand-picked by Elders and other distinguished individuals in the Academy.

With the Jade Token, you can become a Blue robed student immediately after passing the selection and some are even lucky enough to become Green robed by having Elders or other distinguished figures take interest in them.

However, that is only one of the uses of a Jade Token, the second and most important is Espionage"