Chapter 1: System Activated, The Problem Child Begins!
Chapter 1: System Activated, The Problem Child Begins!
"Young master, it's time to wake up!" the maid gently tapped Richard on his shoulder.
Seconds later, a young boy with golden hair and fair skin woke up from his slumber. This is our main character, the old Eric and the new Richard.
"I want to sleep more Mary..." Richard slowly moved on his bed.
"Young master, the city lord would be angry at us if you were not at the ceremony..." the maid pleaded.
Richard, feeling his maid's desperate attempts and her fearful aura, woke up quickly and asked his maid to prepare his bath and clothes.
He pitied the people of this world as well as envied them. On the other side, Richard pitied the regular people as they lived in a world full of aristocracy and it was like the Roman Empire on Earth.
And envied, because this world has cultivation levels, like superpowers, just as the novels on Earth told.
He sighed as he washed himself and prepared for the ceremony.
.....
Fully dressed, he and his maid walked towards the city lord hall where a bunch of people from different families and officials gathered.
What was the gathering for? It was to test Richard's talent and celebrate it. Although Richard's mother passed away when she gave birth to him, it was said that when Richard came out of his mother's womb, a phoenix and a dragon were seen above the city lord's castle.
Such auspicious signs meant that the young master had a heaven-defying talent!
More and more guests flocked to the city lord's hall and were already anticipating the city lord's son's show of talent to everyone.
Some even had designs to contract the city lord for marriage with their daughters or relatives.
One must know that having the position of a city lord required connections with the empire's royal family or with its high officials and one must also have a good level of cultivation to hold the said position.
The city lord, having that powerful connection, was a 9th-stage master realm and just a few hairs away from breaking through the King Realm and joining the world's elite ranks. However, was breaking through that barrier easy? Never. Although seemed easy, doing so was another matter and it required not only a high amount of treasures but also, a high level of foundation.
The city lord has held the position since he was in his 40s when it was passed down to him by his father, Richard's grandfather, who went missing after going on a journey around the world and exploring the unknowns.
It was said that Richard's grandfather had a cultivation of a 5th stage King realm and was already on the verge of 6th stage, however, due to the position of being a city lord, his cultivation speed slowed down, and the reason why he passed it down immediately to his son, Richard's father, when he deemed him enough to lord over their city.
As for Richard, he was destined to be the same when the time came.
....
Richard came to the city lord's entrance with his gorgeous clothing and walked in the center towards the city lord's throne.
There, he saw his father sitting and smiling at him. His father stood up after he bowed down cutely, and his father quickly announced the start of the ceremony.
Everyone went silent and the sound of a rolling wheel can only be heard aside from female guests whispering with either their husbands or female friends.
The rolling wheel sounds stopped and a large device was in the presence of all, it has 10 crystal stones that go from bottom to the top, like levels.
Richard saw it and was amazed by its intricate design as he had never seen anything like it even on Earth.
There, his father announced the start of the testing ceremony.
Richard was asked by the city guards and officials to come closer to the testing device.
Richard nodded and obediently followed.
As he closed in on the device, he was asked again to place his hand on top of a separate crystal.
As soon as his hand touched the crystal, it started to glow up, seconds later, the first crystal out of the ten crystals lit up. another few seconds, the second followed, and after a minute, the 7th crystal lit up.
This surprised everyone in the hall as having 7 crystals lit up meant that the young master of the city lord's house had a great talent for cultivation and may reach higher than a King realm and possibly get to the Emperor Realm, just like the legend.
Richard's father was elated too as he also had 7 crystals lit up when he was young.
Everyone was happy.
"This is my son!" the city lord said proudly and walked towards Richard to congratulate and hug him.
Unexpectedly, the 8th crystal lit up!
Gasps could be heard from all the guests, city lord included!
"This...!" The city lord uttered.
Richard was also surprised as he never knew he could have such talents, when he saw the 7th crystal lit up, he was already joyful that he got a main character type of talents and thankful to the gods of Earth as they gave him a new life and such advantages, like his talent.
But with 8th crystal lighting up, he knew that this aint some simple thing!
While everyone, including Richard and his father, was shocked and thinking things, the 9th crystal lit up!
"What!!!!!!" A guest uttered and quickly shut up!
Even the city lord couldn't believe it!
"Was the auspicious sign that caused this?" He thought deeply.
Not only he, but some guests from prestigious families also thought of the same thing.
Didn't this mean that the young master had a greater chance to reach the emperor's realm and beyond that?
Richard, while getting used to these spectacles in the hall, also felt elated after being shocked by his talents!
"I must work hard," he thought and followed it up with "Of course, not like before, doing overtime. Wait... will doing overtime for cultivating be bad?" Such thought came running round and round in Richard's head.
Finally, it was like fate was making jokes on the people inside the city lord's hall, the 10th and final crystal lit up!
"Oh my Lord!" most guests said these words as soon as they saw the 10th crystal lit up.
It was said that having 7-8 crystals lighting up during a talent test ceremony would be rare enough while having the 9th crystal lit up would be a heaven's blessing, but getting the 10th crystal would be like being heaven's beloved son/daughter!
And Richard was that kid!
"Dang, I really became a main character huh?" Richard thought.
Not sensing his father's silhouette, Richard felt his father's hand placed over his shoulder, so he turned his face and saw the delighted face of his father, the city lord.
"My great son!" The city lord announced as he turned his gaze towards the guests.
Everyone clapped, having an offspring who had such talents was not only the family's greatest blessing but also the empire's blessing!
Nonetheless, there will always be people who don't like such talented individuals to live, so, as soon as the ceremony finished, reports flew out of the city and reached all corners of the empire, including the current emperor.
In the empire's imperial throne hall, the emperor read up the report and nodded approvingly!
He announced quickly that he'd have his 9th imperial daughter, the 9th imperial princess, Renessia Vi Lukadonia, to be betrothed to the young city lord of the Theierst Family.
This shocked everyone within the empire, even the ministers within the imperial palace were shocked by the abrupt decision their emperor made!
While some agreed with that decision most didn't.
Ministers and the Lukadonia descendants were against it. Most of it was Renessia's mother, the Imperial Empress.
Although the Theierst Family has some strength, they don't warrant superiority or power, they were just a regular family in their eyes, just like most city lords of their empire's hundreds of cities.
However, indeed, having 10 crystals lit up in a ceremony was a heaven-defying phenomenon, though, it didn't guarantee that the young city lord of Theierst Family would grow safely and become a fully bloomed flower. There were so many undercurrents within and outside the empire.
The Lukadonia House, the sole ruler of the Lukadonia Empire, since its founding thousands of years ago, would never allow weaknesses within the family, and blood that didn't deserve to be mixed in with theirs.
The Lukadonia's bloodline must be protected at all costs and must not be sullied by low-born blood!
It was already proven that due to their bloodline, each talent of Lukadonia House was great and monstrous on average.
So, associating with a lowborn's blood, although with heavenly-defying talents, was not enough and must be observed for later to see if this such talent will be able to crawl out of the abyss of doom!
...
Since the empress had expressed such defiance against his decision, the emperor didn't totally turn back his words, but rather delayed his decision and changed it to their daughter marrying the son of Theierst family once they reached 15 years of age.
Many thought the change in their emperor's decision was due to the pressure from within the Lukadonia House, most notably, the empress herself.
The emperor could only sigh afterward.
.....
At the Theierst family city lord palace, the city lord received the decision of their emperor and was delighted but also disappointed at the same time. He knew the emperor would recognize his son's talent but the Lukadonia house seemed wary and totally against their family bloodline, and he fully understood why was that. Indeed, from his grandfathers to his father, their bloodline was from the ancient serfs of the Lukadonia Empire. The family just made a breakthrough when one of his grandfathers had a lucky chance and was able to cultivate the King Realm and was recognized by the then emperor of the Lukadonia.
From there, their family blossomed which resulted in Theierst family being given a city to own and be able to pass it down to their future direct descendants.
The city lord could only sigh, but he was thankful that the emperor didn't totally change his decision, but rather delayed it, it seemed that there was still a chance for them to be associated with the imperial family, as long as his son, Richard, would be able to harness his talents fully.
With 10 crystals, that would be a no-brainer, but talents like his son were not only treasures but also a burden. He must always make sure that his son stays safe within the walls of their city, or else, those hounds might take action against his son and kill him.
He knew that politics played a big part in the empire, so he had to protect his son until his son could protect himself. This was the test given to them by the Lukadonia Royal Family.
.....
With all these things happening outside, Richard, our main character, was back in his room and was staring at what you would call a hologram.
Yes. A hologram. Why was that? He actually activated a system in this world!
After his talents reached the 10th crystal, he then heard the system's voice, robotic, neither a female nor male, and it announced that he activated the 'Prodigal System'.
As the system explained, its role was to give Richard missions, as long as Richard completed them, he'd receive a reward that was multiplied by 100 based on the mission.
What missions does he receive? The system explained that he needs to spend money or treasures within a limited time frame or else he'll die and his soul will disintegrate to nothing.
This scared Richard. "What kind of ruthless system I got!? This is not a blessing at all! This is torture!" He said with anger.
He remembered some novels that have such types of systems and couldn't believe he got one himself!
"What kind of freakin' life would I live!? My image would definitely be changed from heaven's favored to heaven's prodigal son if I do my missions recklessly!" Richard facepalmed himself.
"Thankfully, there's no restrictions and the system just said I need to spend money and treasures! I could spend them for myself!" Richard thought.
As soon as he calmed down, the mission hologram appeared.
[Mission Update!]
[Spend 1,000 Gold Coins]
[Time Limit: 3 Days]
[Reward: 1,000 Gold Coins*100]
"3 days!? 1000 gold coins!?" Richard was surprised by the system's sudden mission!
He just got the system and he already has missions to do!? "I am only 6 years old you know! Where do I get that kind of money!?" Richard knitted his forehead.
"Dang it! Father is the only way I could get that!" Richard was sweating while thinking up strategies on how to get that money out of his father's pocket.
"Well... I have 10 crystals talent, I have leverage!" Richard quickly calmed down and asked his maid if his father gave him some allowance in case he needed something, and the maid's answer made his mouth arch like joke-aR's lipsticks.
His father gave his maid 1000 gold coins to handle for his allowance!
"Good! Come! Let's go to the market!" He said to his maid and both went out of the city lord's palace along with the guards.
.....
"Aint that the city lord's son?"
"What a handsome kid! He'll definitely grow more handsome and majestic in the future! I wish I could marry my daughter to the city lord's son!"
These were the words uttered by people that Richard passed by and Richard ignored it.
He felt that he was in some kind of Asian period drama. After carefully analyzing the streets of his father's city, he could definitely say that the city was like an ancient Eurasian design, just like in Roman imperial times. No technology, just superpowers.
"What a boring world," Richard whispered.
"?" His maid didn't understand what his young master meant, but she thought, "Would a 6-year-old be able to say something like that?"
But logic prevailed for her, "Maybe, all talented individuals think like that?" She herself was a serf, and previously a slave, so, she couldn't make heads or tails of his young master's mind.
"What to buy?" Richard asked himself.
He looked through the vendors, who heatedly tried to give him discounts and items that seemed rare, however, Richard was too used to using technology, and not having it in this world was such a torture.
"Wait..." Richard stopped walking and put his fingers under his chin and slowly slid his fingers back and forth, like an old man playing with his beard, but with him was a non-existent one.
"The system didn't limit me, I could use it to strengthen me!" Richard thought more.
"Spirit stones? I could convert them to experience points. How many spirit stones could I buy with 1000 gold coins?" He thought and then turned to his maid and asked, "How many spirit stones could I get with 1000 gold coins?"
"Spirit stones?" His maid repeated his words.
"Unh!" Richard nodded.
"That.. young master... the city lord palace has a large stock of them already, you don't need to buy it at all!" His maid answered.
"What!? We do?" Richard wanted to facepalm himself again.
"Stupid me!" He thought, "I am indeed a son of the most influential and powerful person in this city, so, indeed, my father would definitely have mountains of spirit stones for cultivation."
"Okay! So..." He replied to his maid and went back to thinking.
"Why not buy something to play with, young master" She suggested.
"Play?" He said.
The maid nodded and did not say anything further lest it influence his young master's behavior badly in the future.
"Hmm..." Richard went back to thinking. "What plaything could I buy in this world!? There's no internet, no computers!" He really wanted to shout out his frustrations but he held back.
He decided to continue walking. The guards and his maid followed closely.
"Sports?" Richard got a random idea, "But which one?" He knew multiple types of sports on Earth but which was entertaining?
"Football? American Football or European Football? American Version of Rugby or the actual football?" Richard asked internally.
"European football ain't enough in this world for now... so... American Football then?" He hesitatedly asked himself.
"But who could create an oval-shaped ball?" He thought this was getting complicated.
"Heh.. I got money, why waste time thinking!" Richard smiled.
"Come! Bring me to a seamstress, I need something created!" He said to his maid.
"Yes, young master!" The maid guided Richard towards a simple house.
"This is where the seamstress lived?" He asked.
"Yes young master, wait, let me call up a person." The maid walked inside the yard and called out the owner.
In just seconds, a middle-aged woman came out of the home dressed ruggedly while a small kid followed behind her.
It was her 5-year-old daughter.
"What a cute kid." Richard thought.
"We greet his young city lord!" The woman bowed to Richard.
"Just calling me young master is enough. Anyways, are you the seamstress?" Richard asked.
"Yes, young master." She confirmed.
"Good! Do you have something to draw on or write?" Richard asked again.
"We don't have one young master, we apologize!" She bowed deeply and on her knees as she thought how shameful it was not able to fulfill their city lord's young master's request.
"Tsk~ Stop that and alight yourself. I am not angry or disappointed, but definitely could help me to explain to you what I wanted you to create." Richard said.
"Create, young master?" She said curiously.
"Yes, and if you do so, and if very well, I'll reward you with 10 gold coins!" Richard said.
"10 gold coins!?" She uttered a loud reply.
How much was 10 gold coins!? That was 10 weeks of food supply and one could eat 3 times a day for that amount of money!
She has her daughter, so, if she did the young master's request, she and her daughter could live and eat properly for the next 5-7 weeks!
"I'll do my best, young master!" She bowed again but with determination mixed with it.
Richard felt the determination in her voice, so, he picked up a stick on the side and then returned, he looked down and started drawing on the soil.
"Here is the object made of hard clothing, it's this large in actual size so better remember it. It has a brown color like this cloth." Richard pointed out her daughter's brown pants.
The seamstress nodded and listened more to her young master's words and memorized each and every word he said.
He gave her the whole day to do it and will come back tomorrow to see and pick it up. She offered to personally send it at the city lord's palace but Richard shook his head as he explained he wanted to go for walks tomorrow.
Richard left the seamstress yard and returned back, but before the guards went back to their positions, he asked them to bring in 40 people who had good physical power in the afternoon, at the city lord's training grounds.
The guards nodded and assured them that they'd do what their young city lord wanted.
Assured, Richard nodded and let the guards go. As for his maid, he asked her to accompany him to the training grounds. He wanted to see how large their training grounds were.
As soon as he and his maid arrived at the wooden door/gate, he asked the guards guarding it to open the door. They complied.
As the doors opened, Richard saw very large open grounds!
He surveyed and found that it's the size of four football fields! How large!
"I could have four teams play at the same time here!" He thought.
"I still have 1000 gold coins and the day after tomorrow was the deadline. If I pay that seamstress 20 gold coins, if she does a good job, I will still have 980 gold coins!" with a worried face, "I will have 40 people by afternoon, so, if I put them in 4 teams of 10, the 3rd place and 4th place would receive 10 gold coins each player, for the 2nd place, they will receive 30 gold coins each! And the champion would receive 45 gold coins each! Perfect!"
"For the rules... I need it to be simplified. No eye poking or nut-hitting. They can tackle the body or the limbs, then steal the ball from a player, and then run behind the line to score a point!"
"As for the body protection, I will require them to wear full upper body armor and helms. As for the start of the game, I need at least a meter stick to size up the distance between the two teams for attack and defense initiations. I need to have someone draw the lines and the linemen! The linemen's salary would be 1 gold coin each and I need 30 of them!" Richard's mind went crazy thinking up the details for his tournament.
"Please tell the guards I need 30 more people, best if they are poor or have nothing to eat!" He said specifically, "I need them in the afternoon too!"
The maid was surprised by this request but she nodded and when she went back with Richard to his courtyard, she went directly to the guard responsible for bringing in 40 people at the training grounds in the afternoon.
...
Afternoon arrived and 40 men in armor lined up on the right side while the 30 regular civilians were on the left side.
Richard was at the front with his maid and a guard. As soon as the hubbub finished, Richard, with his child's voice, spoke.
"Hello and good afternoon to you all! I called you all in this place as I have a thought of something. I wanted to create a simple tournament, but make no mistake, this is not fighting but a different one.
Let me explain further, this is for the 40 men, as you all will participate in this tournament that will take place on this grounds tomorrow in the morning." Richard paused.
The city lord guards/soldiers whispered, some were curious and some were doubtful of their young city lord.
"Don't fret as I will not let you do something shameful. Actually, this will also help you in your future martial arts and fighting skills, if you get how to do this. But enough of that possibility, tomorrow, you all will be separated into 4 groups of 10 people and each person must wear their helms and upper body armors leaving out your lower body and limbs open.
Why was that? It's to protect your body from injuries!
Why was that again? Listen, the tournament will be 10 versus 10 so 4 groups will be matched to each other and the tournament will be played within the time of 2 incense sticks.
All the 10 people in the group need to do is go over your opponent's line base to score a point! On the other hand, the opponent who was on the defending side must not let any person from the other side touch or go over your line base.
There will be an item that I'll provide tomorrow and that is called a "ball".
This ball will be handed over to the offensive group and one of their 10 players must bring the ball over their opponent's base or have the ball touch their opponent's base to score a point.
One thing though, after scoring a point, it will be the other side who will go for offensive and the previous offensive group will go on defense.
Last thing, you can still have this "ball" if you do so, the person who has this "ball" can go forward and bring the "ball" to the opponent's base to score a point.
Note, you can pass this "ball" to your ally if you deem them able to score a point for your group."
Richard looked at the 40 men's faces as if they were a little confusion, and one of the 40 asked, "Why we can only wear helmets and upper body armor and not wear all of our armor?"
"Because that's my rule." Richard straightforwardly answered.
"Can we attack the opponent?" another asked.
"Yes. However, punching and kicking are not allowed. You are only allowed to tackle your opponent's body or grab their helmet and body armor, their arms and legs to stop them from scoring. No eye gouging or attacking the private part of the opponent's body or else they will be punished. The punishment for an ally who did that would be removal from the game for one turn. What does that mean? If your group was in a defensive or offensive position, as the offender of rules, you can't join your group and help. You can only do so after the next turn."
The 40 men nodded. Some even whispered "That's fair"
Richard explains the basics and moves forward onto the bread and butter of his plan, the rewards.
"Now, moving forward, I will now talk about the rewards!"
"Ohhhh" The 40 men uttered bewilderment.
They never expected to receive rewards from the young city lord. At least not much. Why? The young city lord was only 6 years old and hadn't had a proper way to go about things such as finances, but looking now, they thought that the young city lord seemed smart and different. They attuned that to Richard's talent level because that was the only explanation they could think of.
"4th and 3rd place groups will receive 10 Gold Coins each person!" Richard announced.
"What? 10? For real?" the 40 men uttered. "That's a lot!"
"Heh, I'm not even starting, listen, 2nd place group will receive 30 gold coins for each person!"
Gasp!
The whole crowd was stunned by the amount of gold they could win as a 2nd winner!
"Surprised? Well, for the Champion of this tournament...." Richard hanged his words for a bit.
The 40 men, 30 other men as well as the other guards around waited for the amount the winner could have!
"45 Gold Coins for each person!" Richard said simply.
"What!!!!!!!"
The 40 men, 30 linesmen, and surrounding guards said loudly either through their mouths or their minds.
"Now, please group yourselves into 4 groups of ten!" Richard said.
Quickly, the guards/soldiers went and grouped themselves into 4 of 10 members each.
"Good. Remember your allies' faces as they will be your most trusted person for tomorrow's tournament. Dismissed!"
The 40 men dispersed and went back, however, some guards not selected tried to ask some to exchange with them for a chance to win gold coins!
However, neither one of the 40 men agreed and thus, became the envy of all the guards and soldiers of the city lord's palace.
The 30 civilians, who were gathered by the guards, were taught by Richard about the lines and what to do when the guards, who'll participate the next day, go over the lines, then, he asked them to paint lines on the training grounds size of a whole American football field.
As for the whole pay, each of the 30 "linesmen" will receive 1 gold coin after the tournament next day.
...
"What did you say?" The city lord asked.
"Lord city lord, your son gathered 40 guards and soldiers today and asked them to participate in a tournament he set for tomorrow. As for other things, he promised them he'd reward them with gold coins.
Aside from that, he also gathered 30 civilians of poor and homeless to do things I couldn't get and promised them a gold coin each tomorrow." The guard explained.
"This... I better check tomorrow..." The city lord really wanted to reprimand Richard but held back as there could be a reason for this, he couldn't believe that a 6-year-old kid would be able to set a tournament by himself, but also curious about what kind of tournament his son wants to create.
....
The next morning arrived, Richard had already woken up, bathed, and dressed. He went out of the city lord's palace along with his maid and guards toward the seamstress house for the football "ball".
When they arrived, the seamstress and her daughter were already outside waiting for his arrival. The item "ball" was already on her hand ready to hand it over to Richard.
Richard approached the seamstress and asked about the "ball" she made, she handed the "ball" and Richard inspected it.
Upon checking the size, texture, and hardness of the "ball", Richard's face went from serious to a smile of satisfaction.
He asked his maid to hand over the bag of gold coins to her, the maid did and the seamstress was full of surprise and gratitude. Richard and his entourage left, the seamstress checked the bag containing the payment and was shocked that it was not 10 gold coins but 20!
"T-thank you, young master!!!" She bowed down on her knees towards the direction of the city lord's palace.
"Mama, why are you crying????" The seamstress' daughter had a worried face which could result in her crying as well, but the seamstress hugged her and said, "Mama is just happy, mama and you can now eat our fill comfortably for quite a long time!"
"Really?" The child was surprised and excited. "Really!" The seamstress replied with gusto.
...
Richard arrived at the training grounds and the 30 linemen and 40 participants of the tournament were there already wearing their helmets and upper body armor.
Along with them, Richard was surprised his father was also on the side watching the spectacle.
Richard approached his father and said "Father! Why are you here?"
"And why would I not be?" The city lord replied and thought, "You're spending your money, my money and I can't know what you want and where you want to spend my money?" He held back as his child is only 6 years old and a little bit of spoiling would be fine at times.
Plus, his guards and populace will learn that his child was a magnanimous child which in turn gives the Theierst family a big boost in popularity.
"Well..." Richard was speechless when he heard his father's words. "How do I answer this...?" He thought.
"What? I want to watch. Go ahead and start it, I'm waiting." Seeing Richard's helpless expression, the city lord answered it himself to help Richard out of the awkward situation.
Richard smiled at his father's answer and nodded, then ran off to the center.
Seeing Richard's smile and innocent happiness, he remembered his wife. His son really had a great resemblance with his wife, he couldn't help but feel sad.
...
"Attention! Line up to your allies please!" Richard said.
The 40 guards/soldiers who were wearing helmets and upper body armor lined up in 4 lines of 10s.
"I will now announce that from right to left, you will be named as Dragons, Tigers, Phoenix, and Warriors!" Richard appointed.
"Wooo~ We are the Dragons!" The Dragons team celebrated.
"We're the Tigers!" "Phoenixes!" "We're the Warriors!"
Richard nodded and asked his maid to come over. The maid carried a wooden box with a small hole at the top. It's a drawing box. Richard pulled a stick and the name of Phoenix was written.
"First group to fight in the tournament! Phoenix!" Richard announced.
"Yeah!" The Phoenix team shouted.
Richard pulled another stick and a "Warriors" word was written on it. "The team competing against Phoenix will be... Warriors!"
"Yes!" The warrior's team shouted with determination. "For those who are not yet competing, please go the side for your turns. Linesmen! Start your positions!" Richard commanded.
The 30 linesmen went over their assigned locations standing outside the field's lines.
Richard, with an oval-shaped ball in his hand, asked the two teams to come over and called one member of each team and showed a gold coin that had the founding emperor's face on it while a castle was sculpted on the back of the coin.
He asked the two representatives of each team to choose which side they wanted.
The Phoenix player chose the face while the Warriors chose the castle.
Richard threw the coin upwards, the coin flipped continuously and it dropped to Richard's palm he showed the result by putting the coin on the back of his other hand.
The head showed, so, the Phoenix will be on the offensive and the Warriors will be on the defensive.
Richard reminded me of the rules and asked his maid to lay the 1-meter stick and asked both teams to stand in between that distance every time the turns changed.
Both teams stood opposite each other at 1 meter of distance. Richard and his maid retreated from the field and once they were out of the lines, He shouted, "Ready!!!!"
Both teams tensed up and on the defensive everyone was eyeing the holder of the ball.
The ball holder became nervous as all the eyes of their opponents were on him.
"Start!!!!" Richard shouted.
As soon as that was heard, his maid lit up the first incense stick.
As for the players inside the field, the player who had the ball quickly passed it to his ally as opponents were running towards him.
When he did that, the opponents quickly turned and ran towards the new player who had the ball.
The same thing happened until the Phoenix player was trapped up by Warriors players.
The phoenix player was quickly tackled by a warrior and was put down, the ball tumbled and the other warrior picked up the ball and ran towards the phoenix base!
While this was happening, the Dragons, Tigers, linesmen, and other audiences cheered hard!
"What are you doing? Stop that man!!! He got the ball! He's going to score!!!"
"Run Forrest run!!!!"
"This is exciting!?"
The city lord saw Richard also cheering the person who had the ball to run forward fast. He watched the first clash between the two groups and he was surprised at how intelligent this tournament seemed to be!
Not only do you need physical prowess to stop the opponent from going to your base, but you also need to be fast and plan out how to trap the person who has that weirdly shaped "ball".
It's not only about that but to physicality of this tournament, unlike martial arts competitions, has something that makes one excited.
The excitement of a group of people able to score a point against their opponents was like a miniature war between two countries and empires.
This invokes strategizing and placing your people in the right positions. What an advanced tournament!
.....
The Warriors player, who ran out of his life towards the base of Phoenix, continued on and had already a few more steps and he would score a point for their group and would be one step closer to winning 45 gold coins!
After a few more steps the Warriors player was closer and closer to scoring, however, a sudden shadow appeared at his back and an arm grabbed his armor and pulled him back.
The Warriors player tried to resist and ducked a little pushed his feet forward and jumped.
The phoenix player, who tried to pull the warrior player, felt the sudden push forward, much more powerful than his pull, and was dragged forward by the warrior player.
The warrior player snapped back and found himself inside the Phoenix's base. It meant that he scored a point for his group!
He put his hands up and shouted "Yeah!!!!!!!!!"
The phoenix player who was still grabbing the warrior's armor let go and got a sad expression. "Dang."
He walked back to his group. "You tried well, he just got lucky! We will score next! Trap them and never let the person who has the ball pass it! Steal that ball and run! forward to their base!" One of the Phoenix players said.
"Yeah!" all the Phoenix players shouted.
The game continued until the two incense sticks went out. The Warriors won the 1st round of battle, 10-7.
The whole crowd cheered and some even started betting.
The city lord was also enticed by such a show of strength from his guards and soldiers! Some even showed improvement in their martial arts and cultivations! Although a little, it was still something! It only meant that this tournament set up by his son has the potential to be big and a great potential to generate money!
He really needed to gain more money in this poor city!
The city lord went silent all throughout the tournament thinking something.
.....
The tournament went well and the top 2 teams were decided, it was the Warriors versus the Tigers.
The dragons and phoenixes lost despite their names, however, the players still smiled when they received their 10 gold coins each. It was handed over by Richard's maid.
The final matchup started and the loser teams joined the audience and also used their gold coins to start betting with other bettors.
It was full of energy. The battle between the Warriors and Tigers was so intense and both didn't want each other to score their defenses were so intense that they took the unarmored parts of opponents' bodies.
The first incense was done and both teams were still 0-0!
The second incense started and halfway through, a miracle happened! A warrior went past the defense of the Tigers. This was the same player who scored the first points versus Phoenix!
"Did you see that!?"
"Yes! This guy! His foot technique improved!"
"For real!?"
"Definitely! This guy was just a regular guy with a foot technique in the guards department but now, he is blossoming! What a lad!"
The conversation about the specific warrior player continued and reached the ears of the general of the lord city lord. He noted the said player for later to re-assess him.
"It's good to find talents in unexpected places!" The general said.
"Aint that my son's doing?" The city lord smiled.
"Heh~ Then I'm grateful to the young city lord!" The general nodded.
"This kid has a lot of potential, he'll do good as your successor." The general added.
The city lord didn't reply but it was evident that he was delighted by such praise!
After the short talk, they turned back to watch.
.....
1-0, the Warrior was in the advantage.
The Tigers went back to their line as they will be the offensive. They huddled and strategized. This was something new that was developed in the first round and the more they played the more frequent their huddles became.
After going to the line, both opponents faced each other at a meter distance.
Both having their own game plans, Richard shouted, "Start!!!!!"
The tigers quickly formed and an unusual thing happened!
The 9 players formed a solid arching line!
The 10th Tigers player, who has the ball, hid behind his 9 allies as all of them pushed forward making the Warriors team helpless on what to do!
The thing continued until all 10 tiger players stepped inside the warriors' base!
Score!!!!!
1-1!
"What!????"
"What happened!????"
"You can do that!???"
"What a group of madlads!"
The shock lingered in the audience and the defeated opponents, who were watching the match.
The city lord and general also stood up from their seats.
"What a good strategy!" the general uttered with great admiration.
"Indeed!" The city lord was also shocked, these 10 guards and soldiers did something they never thought up until now.
What they did was not only ingenious but could also be applied to battlefields!
Who planned this!?
They really need to talk to this group of tigers! A great strategist could be born out of this tournament!
"If my son spent 1000 gold coins for this tournament, then, I won't mind!" The city lord said.
...
The game restarted with the Warriors on the offensive and with only 1/4 of the incense stick left, Richard already thought up another way to determine the winner to avoid a draw.
Toss a coin, and the winning team will be on the offensive with only 3 players on the field vs. 3 players from the opponent as defensive.
The score from this will be the final result to determine the winner.
.....
As the game restarted both teams surprised each other as both used the same strategy used by tigers before, 9 walls versus 9 walls clashed, not letting each other push forward, while two other players fought on who would go past to score or who would steal and go past to score.
As expected, the Warriors player, who improved his foot technique during the games, held the ball and hid behind the 9 walls created by his teammates.
However, 1 player from the Tigers hunted him. So, the Warriors player faked going right which made the Tigers player follow, The Warriors player smiled and quickly adjusted his footwork and quickly used his teammate's back and stepped on it.
The Warriors player continued until he reached the top of his teammates's shoulders and then jumped forward.
The tiger player and the 9 others were shocked and saw the warriors jump high in the air.
The audience was also captured by the move the Warriors player made.
A few seconds more, the Warriors player landed a few steps behind the defensive Tigers players, and without hesitation, he ran forward.
"Dang it! Stop him!!!" the players of tigers ran back and tried to reach the warriors player but it was too late already, the warriors player, who held the ball tightly in his arms, didn't slow down and in a few more seconds, he reached the base of Tigers and scored!
The second incense has also finished and gone. The Warriors won the 1st place and became the champion!
The audience cheered, it was so loud it reached the people outside the training grounds!
The people outside wondered what happened inside the city lord's palace.
"Was there a fight happening?"
This was what was in the thoughts of the people outside the city lord's palace.
.....
"Congratulations!" Richard greeted the Warriors team while his maid handed over 30 gold coin bags to each Tigers player.
He gathered the Warriors players and asked them to stand behind him.
With Richard's child voice, he spoke of gratitude to the participants and wished for them to participate in the next tournament.
The losers and wishful audience cheered and will prepare to join quickly next time! Those were gold coins as a reward! As practitioners of martial arts and cultivators, money and treasures are the most important thing! Without them, they wouldn't be able to push forward with their strength!
.....
The gold coins were given to all the participants and 30 linemen. Overall, the whole 1000 gold coins were smoothly cleaned out!
Richard went back to his room to rest. It was a tiring and exciting day.
He was indeed entertained.
[Host gained 100,000 Gold Coins]
[Reward has been placed in your inventory.]
[Next Mission ETA: 1 Day and 8 Hours]
"Oh, I'm rich now!?" Richard smiled.
"So I have free time tomorrow huh? What to do?" He thought up plans but hasn't decided what it would be.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone