章 21: Spiritual Tournament

A few weeks earlier...

In one of the cities of the Cromwell Kingdom, there was a girl with black hair, fair skin, a beautiful face, and alluring curves. She was leisurely eating at a restaurant while pondering over the information she had just received.

Crunch!

'Hm, it looks like the Spiritual Tournament at the Cromwell Kingdom is going to take place in seven months and youths under 18 will compete for the glory of being the best in the North of the Central Continent.

The prizes will be awarded as follows: the first place winner will receive a prize of 500 medium-grade crystals and a Silver-grade technique. The second place winner takes 300 crystals of the same level and a Black-grade technique, while the third one gets 100 crystals of the same grade.'

The Spiritual Tournament she was thinking about was a competition held every eight years in the North of the Central Continent.

It allowed for the future specialists of the region to get to know and understand the differences in power that could exist between regional geniuses and was also an opportunity to see stronger individuals.

This tournament edition would always take place in different kingdoms each time it was held. This time, it would be carried out in the Cromwell Kingdom. The last edition of the tournament happened in the Kingdom of Waves.

The Flaming Empire sect organized these Spiritual Tournaments as a process of selection.

That was because there was always a possibility that a talented individual would appear in other regions even if the region was impoverished in spiritual energy.

Although it was unusual in these areas, in the previous editions of the tournaments, a few individuals with Silver talent were found from such regions.

And since people with such talent always sought for stronger places to go, the Flaming Empire sects were more than eager to benefit from it.

That was also why there was such a generous reward for the first-place winner!

For this competition, due to the age limit and the average talent found in this region, the participants' strength was mainly at the beginning of the 4th stage, with many being in the final parts of the 4th stage.

But every now and then, there might also be some individuals who were already in the 5th stage, above level 40!

Usually, these individuals were seen dominating the competition and would rank in the top ten!

'Hmm, let's see if that brat Minos will at least be at the beginning of the 4th stage before the start of the tournament, which is the bare minimum cultivation for participating.

Hehe, if that lofty brat agrees to participate just as my master said, I want to see his face when he finds how big the world really is,' she thought with a mocking smile on her face.

This girl was none other than Ruth Miles, a disciple of Minos' mother, Maisie Coleman, and a member of the Gray Clouds Sect of the Flaming Empire. She was now at level 45, at the age of 18.

Ruth was someone with Silver talent, as did her teacher and the many members of the Gray Clouds Sect.

"Ahh, when I think that now I have to go to the Black Plain and accompany that disgusting brat for the next few months, I feel so bad..." she muttered despondently.

After paying her bill at the restaurant, Ruth headed to the north of the Cromwell Kingdom, where the kingdom's border with the Black Plain was located.

…

Hours passed as the three carriages of Minos' group passed by the plains of the Black Plain. The group had recovered well after the battle against coyotes the night before.

Now they were only a few kilometers away from the Maritime City but even then, the smell of salt in the air could already be felt by the group even at such a distance.

As they continued their journey, a beautiful view greeted Minos. The city was well-built and preserved, with palm trees lining the beach not far from the town.

A bay could be noticed at the far side of the beach, with a large building and several ships.

But in contrast to the reality of the Black Plain, the city was quite green, making it stand out even more.

Anyway, the group's carriage entered the city, after which they decided to head to the pier and rent a boat to travel to Stone Island.

"Young master, although the Maritime City may not be as large as the other important cities, many things could be found here. We should look around to see if there is anything of interest," Corporal Pyke said with a smile on his face.

What he said was indeed the truth. Despite being in the Black Plain, this town had many merchants from the Brown Kingdom and Stone Island, causing it to be a bustling hub for many businesses.

But that was not all, the prominent families of these two states would also pass through this place when they traveled from one region to another.

Thus, creating several opportunities.

And when arriving at the pier, the group was soon attended by a uniformed young woman. "Welcome to the pier of the Maritime City. Are you looking for a boat to go to Stone Island?" she asked.

Minos replied, "Hmm, I would like to rent a boat for Stone Island."

The young woman then explained, "Well, we have two types of options for this service."

"First, it is a boat without a crew, which costs 2,000 crystals for a group like yours."

"The second is to rent a boat with a crew, which would cost 5,000 crystals. I recommend that you choose the second option if it is your first time traveling by boat from here to Stone Island." The young woman said with a sincere expression on her face.

"I understand. We will take the second option," Minos agreed with the suggestion since they didn't know where the Stone Island was.

After paying for the boat's booking along with a crew to travel in two days, Minos and his group made their way towards the city center where they would stay.

…

On the street, while Minos went with some soldiers to a restaurant near their hotel, they heard two people passing by talking loudly.

"Believe me, Bill, I heard that a low-level grade-2 sword is going to be sold at the auction that will take place tomorrow," said a muscular man with long hair.

"Mick, even on Stone Island, very few places can sell grade-2 weapons, let alone our city..."

"This must be a rumor that Chief Ryan, from the Ocean Market, dropped to attract people to the monthly auction," replied a middle-aged man who had a large sword on his back.

Upon hearing this, Minos also became interested in this auction that was going to take place the next day in the Ocean Market.

After all, he possessed a high-level sword technique, but he lacked an adequate weapon. His current weapon was a medium-level grade-1 sword, which he had obtained in Dry City.

As for the weapons from the inheritance that Minos had received, they were all from grade-3 and grade-4!

He simply lacked the power to use a weapon of this level.

And, even though Minos was at level 33 and any grade-2 weapon would require the user to at least be at level 40, he could still use weapons that required additional levels due to the Indestructible Body technique.

That was because the technique made Minos' body much stronger and more resilient for the duration of 10 seconds. And during this time, his defense would become impenetrable to those up to 100% stronger than him.

To give you an idea, someone at level 40 had precisely twice as much energy as someone at level 35, but due to Minos' Physique's innate ability, he would achieve the equivalent amount of energy that someone at level 35 might have while being at level 34!

That way, the young Stuart had to go up just one more level to be able to use a low-level grade-2 weapon!

Of course, the catch was that he could also only use a weapon of this classification for 10 seconds which the technique lasted for. And considering his strength, Minos would also need to activate the Devouring Art so as to not exhaust himself completely!

However, for him, a grade-2 sword would be worth it, even if he had to fulfill so many requirements.

…

On the other side of the city, three people surrounded a young man with blond hair. On his clothes was the symbol of a silver eagle.

These people were members of the Silva family!

"Young master, are you sure you want to stay here another day just for the sake of that rumor?" asked one of the three, who seemed doubtful about the story.

"As you are aware, I will compete in the Spiritual Tournament in seven months; therefore, if I have a grade-2 weapon, it will provide me a significant advantage in the competition," said the young man with blond hair.

This was Darell Silva, the son of the Silva family's patriarch. He was at level 38, had a Black talent, and was 17 at present.

But even if he was at level 38, Darell was confident that he could reach level 39 by the start of the tournament and also be able to use a grade-2 weapon.

"This is a great opportunity for me and even for our Silva family. It is not easy to obtain a weapon of this grade. And even if we did, we would have to spend hundreds of medium-grade spiritual crystals to buy one."

In the Silva family, weapons of such a degree were given only to those Spiritual Kings and some of the high-ranking members at the 5th stage of cultivation.

And despite being the son of the patriarch, Darell would still take a long time before his father gave him a weapon of that level. After all, his family had a limited number of weapons at that level, which was just 20!

"That's true…" Protector Philip lamented with a sigh.