The First Peak of the Force

by Yuri Ajin

  “Nice job,” Shin Sei said. “I’m glad I sent you! With this back, our clan will instantly rise above all others. Don’t worry, everyone will know what you’ve done for the clan. The Elders are already preparing a resource kit for you.”

  “Thank you, Lord Shin Sei,” Shin Zhang replied and bowed his head.

  “You’ll excuse me, but it’s time for me to prepare for the second stage of the Tournament.”

  “I understand. I wish you the best of luck.” He nodded and left the room.

  It was only when he was alone that Shin Zhang grinned. His eyes gleamed ominously.

  Chapter 26

  THE RIGHT TO PARTICIPATE

  The token transferred Kai not to the border of the Middle and Far Wasteland, where the Tournament had begun, but directly to the outskirts of Neiven, where the other stages would take place.

  Kai appeared in a huge clearing among thousands of other participants. Many of them were injured. Some had landed poorly, not having expected such a sudden transfer. Some were happy just to be back, but everyone was eagerly waiting for the first stage to end.

  Then the representatives of the Blades arrived, including the Elementalists, who quickly organized the crowd by sending the students to several finishing points. The participants had to hand over their tokens so that the elders could count the points.

  After about six hours, a long list of seven thousand names was compiled.

  A special array, which had been connected to the tattoos via the System, presented each participant with their overall score and rank.

  Kai Arnhard: 29,345 points

  Rank: 918

  Congratulations, you have successfully completed the first stage of the Grand Tournament.

  You have qualified for the second stage.

  As the organizers had explained, everyone who passed had to go to Neiven. The rest of the students could either follow them as observers, or return home.

  Deciding to go around the city’s wall, Kai quickly reached the furthest gate, where the line was the shortest. It was still long enough, however, that he had to wait for a couple of hours before getting in.

  At the gate, he was given a Tournament badge, which was to serve as his ID while in the city. He was also told that he and the rest of the participants would be given lodgings in the city during the second stage. The Blades had made sure that there was enough space for everyone.

  Kai had five more days before the official beginning of the next round. Participants were given time to rest and recover as best as they could as, unfortunately, not everyone had managed to return from the Far Wasteland in one piece.

  Since he needed no healing and thus had some free time on his hands, Kai decided to visit the local Alchemist Guild. Having lived in the Far Wasteland for almost two years, he managed to gather a lot of things that could be of great interest to the local alchemists.

  A few hours later, he left the Guild very pleased and with one hundred and fifty thousand gold coins jingling in his Ring.

  Stopping by a fountain to wash his face, he decided to go and visit Julie. She hadn’t heard anything about him for almost two years, so she had to be sick with worry by now. Unfortunately, and embarrassingly, he had no clue where she lived. Neiven was huge, much larger than the Upper Nest or Rivertoon, so just walking around hoping to bump into her would get him nowhere. To find out where she lived, he went to the administration building in the city center.

  Walking around, Kai marveled both Neiven’s beauty and people. Even though it was late in the evening, the city shone like some metropolis from Earth. But what was most striking was the security. While walking down the street, he’d occasionally run across a representative of the local guard. Seeing their serious faces and quality armor, he was even more convinced that he did the right thing by sending Julie here.

  He reached the city center by dawn. Thanks to the guards, he quickly found the administration building. Luckily, it was open despite it being pretty early. He honestly hoped that by being a participant in the Tournament, he had some benefits that would make the officials help him faster.

  A couple of greetings and polite smiles later, Kai had gotten his sister’s address.

  The road to her house took several more hours. Kai wandered among the neighborhood, trying to find the right house. Soon enough, he found himself standing at Julie’s doorstep. The house was deceivingly modest at first glance due to its relatively average size. However, upon closer inspection, the white walls were made of a rare type of wood and the path leading toward the door made of heavy wood was made of tiny stones of various values, shaped into a mosaic. The garden was that of luscious grass and exotic flowers, as well as several trees. He didn’t know which fruits they bore as they had been harvested, but by the smell, it was something rather sweet.

  Guarding the estate was a guard, standing watch near a gate. Kai gave him a polite nod and almost immediately received a message from the System asking him to notify the residents of the house of his arrival.

  It was barely dawn, so it wasn’t surprising that the gates opened only after a few minutes. A young girl appeared greeted him and led him through the garden to the entrance door. Judging by her clothes, she was a servant, but judging by her aura, she was a cultivator at the Muscle Endurance level.

  “What shall I say to the missus?” she asked, stopping at the door.

  Kai chuckled. He didn’t expect that Dee would hire a servant for Julie. But he liked that he did.

  “Tell the lady of the house that her brother is back.”

  ***

  During the five days that Kai had spent with Julie, he took care of her financial problems and even found time to meditate as he needed to spend some more time contemplating the Cold Void in order to understand it fully.

  Seven thousand participants of the tournament gathered in the city’s training area where the second stage of the Tournament was to take place.

  Once everyone was there, one of the elders, a short man with gray hair tied in a bun, climbed onto the platform and gestured to everyone to settle down.

  “Greetings to all of you who have reached the second stage of the Great Tournament,” he said, voice amplified by energy so that everyone could hear him. “By managing to survive in the harsh lands of the Far Wasteland, you have proven your worth as cultivators, brought pride to your clan, and showed yourself as students!” He paused for a moment. “Unfortunately, today we’ll have to say goodbye to some of you. Only a thousand people will move on to the third stage. The rules are simple — you have to score as many points as possible in the Endless Battle.” He paused again and stroked his beard. “I’ll tell you about the third stage right away. It’ll be a dueling stage, divided into two rounds — a qualification and the main round. The former will be held not far from the city. Based on the results, five hundred and twelve participants will move on to the main round which will be held in the main arena in the city center. However,” he narrowed his eyes, “students who rank among the first hundred today won’t have to go through the qualification round. That’s all. You may begin. The results will be displayed right here,” he said and pointed to a huge board.

  Forming groups, the participants made queues in front of the Battle Arrays and took turns testing their skills. As the one Kai had used when fighting with Lei Wang, these, too, used the spirit worlds of the participants in order to create a sort of virtual reality in which they could fight without being hurt.

  While people were fighting and waiting in line, Kai was sitting silently in a dark corner and observing. He was in no hurry.

  “Have you heard about what happened in the Wasteland?” someone whispered. “They say the Salamanders took quite a hit.”

  “Yeah, I did. The other clans had no more than six or seven hundred casualties, while they had almost a thousand.”

  “I wonder what happened... Do you think they had really shitty luck and ran into some kind of a monster?”

  “Who knows? By the way, have you hear
d about that newcomer who managed to snatch some rare Fruit right from under everyone’s noses?”

  “I haven’t! What’s that about? Did they catch him?”

  “Nope! He fucked them over and just ran off!”

  “Is he just that good of a thief or was he using some technique, what do you think?”

  “I don’t know. However, I heard that he was supposedly at the Brain Endurance level. Can you believe that?!”

  “You’re kidding, right? There’s no way that anyone at that stage could fool anyone.”

  “I know, but it makes for a good story, doesn’t it?”

  “It’s all nonsense...”

  Hours passed one by one, dragging slower than a student to a morning lecture. The list of the hundred strongest kept changing, but toward the end of the stage it seemed like the final one had been formed. It seemed to be finalized when Lei Lo, one of the main Serpent protégés, took the hundredth place, gaining a number of points unattainable for most.

  The day was drawing to a close; there were no more than a hundred people left to be tested. Rude as it sounded, almost no one paid attention to these people as they were considered cowards and weaklings for having waited so long to take their turn.

  Kai was among these outcasts. Approaching one of the available arrays, he placed his palm on the special sphere on the pedestal next to it. His consciousness was instantly engaged in battle.

  The sky was already crimson. Seven thousand people were eagerly waiting for the official end of the second stage to be announced.

  Some of the students were still being tested, but no one paid attention to them anymore. That was why everyone was shocked when Lei Lo’s name was replaced by another.

  Kai Arnhard.

  The raven-haired young man chuckled. He already knew what his score would be, so he didn’t even bother to look at the board. What he didn’t expect, however, was that, turning around, he’d be greeted by so many surprised gazes.

  Not far from one of the exits was a group of Serpents. Whispering amongst each other, they weren’t paying attention to the world around them.

  “Lord Lei Lo!” one of his servants called. “Lord Lei Lo!”

  Sighing wearily, the young man turned around.

  “What is it this time? Another crazy fangirl?” he asked with a sneer.

  “No, no… There… The list.”

  The servant looked shaken, so Lei Lo wondered what was going on. Casting a lazy glance at the board, which stood in the center of the training complex, he felt his heart sink to the ground. He was now one hundred and first. Staring at the number, he couldn’t believe his own eyes. Looking a little higher, he saw the unfamiliar name of the bastard who had dared take his place.

  “Who DARED to beat me?!” he hissed angrily. Using a running technique, he quickly made his way to the arrays.

  Kai was about to leave when he was rather rudely grabbed by the shoulder from behind.

  “You!” someone growled. “Are you Kai Arnhard?!”

  “Maybe,” he replied, turning around to look at the enraged Lei Lo.

  “You’re from our clan! Don’t you know that I’m the eleventh strongest apprentice? Where’s your respect?”

  “Excuse me?” Kai raised his eyebrows in confusion. “Why should I respect you?”

  “How dare you?!” he spat furiously and grabbed Kai by the collar of his robes and pulled him closer. “I’m Lei Lo, you insolent worm! And you’re the bastard who took my place! Did you score one more point on purpose?! Because of you, I now have to compete in the qualification round with the rest of the scum!”

  “Not my fault that you weren’t strong enough...” Kai shrugged.

  He did score one point more on purpose. However, it wasn’t to beat Lei Lo, but to take the hundredth place. He didn’t want to stand out too much, so he decided to be on the very bottom of the list.

  As for the test itself, Kai was able to score the required number of points without any problems as he was very familiar with his soul world and its workings. Thanks to the competition with Lei Wang two years ago, he knew how many points each defeated enemy would bring him.

  “Think you’re special, huh?!” Lei Lo hissed, and it suddenly dawned on him. “Wait… Elder Sunoy!” He suddenly turned to the elder who was standing nearby. “If you could, please. What was this man’s rank among the seven thousand students that our clan put forward?”

  “Let me see,” the elder said. He wasn’t as powerful and important as the rest of his peers, being a middle–stage Exorcist, but as an elder, he had more rights and influence than most. Therefore, he could easily check information about the Tournament’s participants. “It seems that he isn’t on the list.”

  “I knew it!” Lei Lo grinned.

  Like Kai, Lei Lo also had an eidetic memory, which only got better after reaching the Mind Stage. This ability wasn’t rare, especially not here, in a world where energy worked wonders and where children of powerful people were born stronger and smarter than the rest.

  Thus, Lei Lo perfectly remembered all seven thousand names of the Serpent’s members. As he thought, Kai Arnhard wasn’t on that list.

  “Elder Sunoy, please get High Elder Shen here,” Lei Lo asked with a grin. He didn’t even bother to turn around.

  “But―”

  “Now! Please.”

  “As you say.”

  A group of people had gathered around Kai and Lei Lo. Shin Sei was also there, together with the other Salamanders. They knew what Lei Lo was trying to do and were looking forward to the show.

  Everyone was curious to see the strange newcomer and how Lei Lo would deal with him. To them, Kai deliberately waiting until the very end in order to beat Lei Lo by only one point was truly insulting.

  “Honorable judge!” Raising his voice, Lei Lo turned to the old Elementalist of the Blades. “In this situation, I had no choice but to contact you personally. You see, Kai Arnhard of the Thunder Serpent Clan, wasn’t chosen to be a participant in the Tournament. He probably joined on his own during the first round! I believe this is a gross violation of the rules and he should be immediately disqualified!”

  The crowd became noisy.

  “An unofficial participant?!”

  “How dare he?!”

  “Bastard!”

  A quiet but overwhelming voice came from outside the crowd, causing everyone to instantly become quiet.

  “Young man, your accusations are serious,” said the old Elementalist. “Are you sure of your words?”

  “We are absolutely sure.” With an equally powerful voice replied High Elder Shen.

  The situation became tense.

  Kai frowned.

  Chapter 27

  APPRENTICE OF A DESTROYED CLAN

  “Our clan didn’t choose Kai Arnhard to participate in the Grand Tournament,” said High Elder Shen. “Furthermore, this young man is accused of attacking an important guest of our clan, as well as causing great damage to one of our cities. Therefore, he should be sent to the clan lands at once. So, please, don’t interfere, this is a private matter.”

  “A moment, please,” the old Elementalist said sharply. “Kai Arnhard is still a participant, therefore, he’s protected by the Tournament rules. However...” He looked at the accused. “Young man, do you have anything to say to these accusations?”

  Everyone immediately looked at Kai again.

  “With all due respect, Honorable judge, but what could he possibly say in his defense?” High Elder Shen protested. “I think―”

  “I admit,” Kai interrupted, “that I’m not on the list. I was already in the Far Wasteland when the Tournament began, so I joined on my own.”

  “You see!” High Elder Shen exclaimed. “He confessed, so―”

  “However!” Kai interrupted with a smirk. “The eighteenth paragraph of the statute of the Great Tournament says: ‘Any student of a clan residing on the Celestial Plateau, provided that the individual is not more than twenty years old and has reached at least t
he Mind Stage, has the right to participate in the Great Tournament.’ Therefore, there’s nothing that would forbid me from participating. The clans themselves agreed that they’d nominate a predetermined number of students. But these are just formalities between the clans themselves, which have nothing to do with the actual rules. So, why exactly should I be disqualified?”

  Silence hung in the air, interrupted by the whispering crowd.

  A smile flashed on the Elementalist’s lips, hidden under his bushy beard and mustaches. He wasn’t going to help Kai in any way and he would’ve easily excluded him if he hadn’t answered or started making excuses. However, he had managed to take care of the matter on his own.

  “The young man is right. The list was conditional, and nothing prevents other clan members from taking part as well,” he said loudly.

  Kai’s smile widened.

  He had thought that something like this would happen the moment he ran into the Salamanders near the cave, so he was quick to check the Tournament’s rules in the information dump that he had received from Dee. Had he found anything that forbade him from participating, he wouldn’t have pushed the charade this far.

  The whisperings grew louder and more excited. Not everyone was familiar with the rules, but there were enough of those who knew at least a couple of them. So it was no secret that any student, if they met the conditions, could take part in the Tournament. However, over the past centuries, no one had ever called upon this rule as every fifty years the number of candidates differed. Over time, a clan’s abilities and criteria changed, so they simply couldn’t accept everyone.

  That was why the crowd was so excited. Using this rule meant going against the will of the whole clan. No one in their right mind would dare do something like that, at least not until they knew that they had won first place, but none present believed that someone like Kai could get that far. Not to mention that he was also accused of several crimes by his own clan. Even if he managed to win, once the Tournament was over, he’d no longer be protected by the rules. What would he do then? Run and hide again? Live as a fugitive forever? Or would he answer for his crimes?