My Level Zero System Chapter 284 284: Introduction

"Huh? Has it to do with ?" ra pointed at herself, as if asking, "What does it have to do with ?"

"That's right, and more accurately, you helped us this ti."

Kain leaned against the railing and began to explain.

That strange "challenge your intellect" stall ra had dragged him to before, Kain had vaguely guessed, was set up by a wealthy or even a noble family in urgent need of soone intelligent. An ordinary person wouldn't rent a stall just to not make money. You see, in Adia, land is a resource, a place of business. A rchant couldn't just lay out a mat on the street to sell their goods; they had to pay for a proper spot.

So, setting up a stall with no profit either ant a rich person was doing it for fun or had another purpose. Linking this to the noble resource distribution ga in Faith's letter, Kain thought he had figured out the purpose of that stall.

"Also, this once again helped confirm sothing."

"You're right, ra, we're too small compared to the nobility in terms of power. But what if in this ga... power is only a secondary factor?"

"In the letter Faith sent, although he never ntioned the rules or content of the ga, the very fact that he invited is a kind of information in itself."

"If both of us know we're too weak compared to the nobility, then there's no reason Faith wouldn't know that. However, his invitation was still sent to , which proves that what he needs from in this ga isn't power, but intellect."

"It's the sa with that girl's stall. Challenging intellect is to find a potential person."

"But..." Although ra saw the truth in what he was saying, she still asked, confused, "Would the nobility of Adia really be willing to stake the distribution of resources on a ga of wits?"

It wasn't that ra's thinking was limited, but power was always a factor that couldn't be ignored in this world. And ra didn't think the nobility would be willing to give up that advantage just to play mind gas with each other.

"There are two possibilities," Kain speculated.

"First hypothesis: the nobility is indeed very powerful, but there isn't just one dominant family, but many equally strong ones. This balance forces them to avoid fighting because the losses would be too great, so they have to resort to other thods. However, this hypothesis is weak because even if they are equal, the nobility still controls the rules of the ga. This would lead to many complications, such as not allowing outsiders to participate, which would make Faith's invitation to us aningless."

"Second hypothesis: what if the nobility isn't doing this willingly, but is being forced to distribute resources this way?"

Kain's second hypothesis completely surprised ra.

"That sounds absurd. How could any force..."

Mid-sentence, she suddenly stopped, clearly thinking of the sa thing as Kain. It was a good three seconds before she hesitantly spoke.

"The governnt... the Akazac Empire."

"Exactly. That's the most logical explanation I can think of." Kain gave a slight nod, agreeing with ra's assessnt.

The nobles of Adia were remnants of the old era's power. Although it was unclear why they were still allowed to exist, it was a logical move for the governnt to take asures to prevent any single noble faction from becoming too powerful and upsetting the balance, thereby forcing them to keep each other in check.

Therefore, the governnt forced the nobility to distribute resources through a ga of wits, as a ga of wits effectively stripped the stronger families of their massive advantages and put everyone on an even playing field. No one was completely superior to anyone else.

"What you said makes sense... In Adia, the governnt controls the outer city while the nobility controls the inner city. And this seems to be so certain that throughout our ti in Adia, we didn't see a single noble. Co to think of it, isn't this a form of disguised house arrest?" ra narrowed her eyes and stroked her chin, then turned to Kain with an eager expression. "So, Kain? Is my assessnt correct?"

"You're very right," Kain replied with a smile, reaching out to pat ra's head. A glimr of joy flashed in his eyes; he was happy to see ra "maturing" more each day.

Because they traveled by steamboat, Kain and ra didn't take long to get back to Adia. The difficult part was finding that stall again. Although Kain had a prodigious mory, it didn't an he rembered every single thing he'd ever experienced, especially things he didn't pay much attention to, like the location of a stall.

So, as soon as they got off the boat, Kain led ra, following his mory, to the last place they had stayed before leaving Adia. From there, they continued searching along that area. Even though he didn't rember exactly where the mysterious girl's stall was, Kain did rember that not long after leaving it, he and ra had found a place to eat dinner and stay the night. This ant their accommodation wasn't too far from the stall.

After a while of searching, they finally spotted the stall, with the sa girl still tending to it. And, of course, there were still no custors.

One could say that this thod of recruiting talent was quite foolish. But if it weren't there, things would be difficult for them.

Kain and ra exchanged glances and nodded, walking toward the stall together. Seeing ra approach, the girl at the stall clearly recognized her and beca happy. However, this ti, Kain was the one who stepped forward.

"Let's begin," Kain said flatly, with no need for pleasantries. He needed to get to the ga as quickly as possible. The girl at the stall was a bit confused because last ti, besides ra, Kain hadn't seed to pay much attention.

However, a task was a task, so she honestly set up the bowls and began the ga.

She went through the sa movents as before. After a series of actions, the girl successfully hid the ball in her cupped left hand, a perfect concealnt. But the trick she was so proud of was a transparent book in Kain's eyes. He had already figured out how she hid the ball the last ti ra played the ga. So, the mont the girl successfully hid the ball, Kain reached out, grabbed her left hand, and held it up, revealing the ball pressed into her palm, much to her own shock.

"How... how did you..."

"The introduction is over. Let's move on to the main part." Kain cut off the girl, his calm tone and decisive action demonstrating that he had exposed her trick. And he was right.

The girl felt a bit wronged that her hard-practiced trick was so easily exposed. But, as she said, a task was a task, and she had a duty to lead potential candidates to her master. And so, the stall was packed up, and the girl led Kain and ra to another place.

According to the girl, she was just a servant in a noble family, one of many sent out to open those "challenge your intellect" stalls. The purpose was to attract smart people to do sothing she didn't know about, only her master knew.

Kain and ra said nothing more, silently following the girl. They were led into a carriage and then driven straight into the inner city of Adia. Getting in here did indeed require an escort, and the girl had played that role.

Compared to the outer city, the inner city felt much more stifling and was clearly divided into different areas belonging to various families. The carriage carrying Kain and ra stopped in front of the entrance to a lavish estate, where servants were already waiting to greet distinguished guests like them. It was very clear that this ti, the noble family was inviting talented people to help, so there would be no situations of disrespect, at least not on the surface.

Afterward, they were led into a large room in the mansion located in the center of the estate. The room, aside from being beautifully decorated with paintings and sculptures, was otherwise empty except for a large round table in the middle, surrounded by many chairs. However, only about ten people were scattered around, including four won and six n.

Seeing both Kain and ra enter, they were surprised, as no couple had ever arrived at the sa ti. Nevertheless, no one said anything, because if both Kain and ra had made it there, it ant they had already passed the screening.

Kain and ra showed no reaction, casually taking the two nearest empty chairs. Kain just glanced around once, then withdrew his gaze.