Inheritor Of Magic: The Magi King

?It was fifteen very long minutes before the first guard came back, looking embarrassed under the gaze of all the surrounding Nobles.

"Right, then. I'll just go back in there and get to work." He mumbled, then walked into the portal as if it were a closed door, giving himself a bloody nose in the process.

"Once you have been defeated in the trial, you're done for the day. I'm not certain how long it takes to reset, but teamwork is essential because you can't rejoin the group." Wolfe explained.

The Nobles made both mental and physical notes of that, as it ruled out sacrifice tactics in questionable situations. If the members were sent back to be healed and return, that would have become a valid tactic for them.

"How long does the trial usually take?" One of the Nobles asked as the time passed and no more of their members were ejected.

"Usually around two hours. I can make us some chairs if we're tired of waiting." Wolfe offered.

The Nobles chuckled. They had been sitting all day for weeks, it was good to get up and stretch their legs for a little while as they waited. They were also planning to add some charge to the crystals to keep the portal open, but they weren't certain if they had to close it between groups, and they didn't want to accidentally force it open for days or weeks while being unable to use it.

"What happens if we send them reinforcements?" One of the Nobles asked, curious about the rules of the trial.

"It's been more than a minute or two, so they'll be sent to a separate time loop from the ones that are already in there. One of the invasion armies tried that already, and sent their whole force in waves five minutes apart." Wolfe explained.

"Alright, so that is out. But we could theoretically just keep this portal open and send teams four or five times an hour, while having them end up in different loops?" One of the Nobles asked.

"It would be extremely mana intensive, but yes. The defensive wards are set to draw mana from the senders side to power the trial instance. If there isn't enough, then our side will make it up, but the Generals will be alerted that it might be an act of war, trying to get around the defences." Wolfe explained.

"Then mana starving the trials is definitely out. I would rather not find out what a counterattack by the wards that keep this trial running looks like." The middle-aged nobleman laughed.

Wolfe chuckled as he focused his mana to make a storage crystal for the formation, so it could feed maximum amounts of mana to his world for the trials, which had their own array of storage crystals. The more excess he could gather, the less they had to worry about the invaders who didn't pay enough.

"If you make another statue of me, I'm reshaping it." Petros warned him as he realized that Wolfe was intending to make something.

"Not this time, that would just be too tacky for the portal room. No. Instead, I will create a sculpture that warns future entrants what they're in for. I know how knowledge can get lost, either by the movement of people, or the passage of time.

But if the mana crystal for the portal is a design of feral Fae and Demons standing over treasure, they should at least have some idea of what the portal is leading them to, if not what it was originally for." Wolfe explained.

Wolfe finished his work, and then coated the mana crystals in a layer of silver, to make them look more like a proper statue, while still holding more than enough mana to send an entire army through the portal.

It was overkill, but keeping the portal open let the defensive wards siphon from it, and there was a possibility that the rewards from the trials might improve if they had extra mana to form whatever it was that the two Kings had decided to gift the victors of the trials with.

They would have to wait to find out because the guard group was not the one that was going to be talented enough to beat the final bosses, whose difficulty was based on the nature of the person. Many of them were actually horrible people who abused their power as a guard, or used it as a shield for the other crimes they had committed.

Wolfe wouldn't tell that to the others here, but when the guards came out with dejected looks on their faces, it was clear that they could not overcome all the trials.

Petros smiled at them. "Well, how was it? Did you learn anything? Perhaps gain a reward?"

That brightened a few faces. "Some of the monsters we defeated left us with rewards, especially in the deeper caves, where it changed from fighting Fae tribesmen to fighting human cultists. They were insane, but at least three of us got Rank Two or higher magical items."

That was impressive for a group that had gone in at Rank One.

Some of them had advanced in the trials, but most of them remained as slightly better Rank One guardsmen. That was enough for Petros.

They had proven that some of them could have a breakthrough in a single trip, and for that reason, he was willing to make sure that the portal was kept supplied with mana while they sent everyone willing to enter and test their luck.

Petros looked around the room. "We will make a schedule to start sending training groups through the portal once we have a bit more data. First, we need to know why they failed? Is it intentional, in order to encourage them to improve? Were they simply not worthy?

Saint Noxus hasn't deemed us worthy to know the details behind the selection process, so I suggest that we have three different groups go. One of the weakest, the maids and servants of the Nobles who have limited mana training, one of line soldiers, and one of senior officers.

Once all three groups have gone, we will have more data. Saint Noxus, is there a recommended group size?"