It had been a month since the start of Shields forging. Today, Marcus forged the thirty-first one. There were only another seven to go. Krune, of course, was there with Marcus to forge his own Divine Imprints. He couldn't help but be impressed with Marcus' skills. Every single shield connected with each other perfectly! But that made some sense: he is a Five Stars Blacksmith after all, only beneath the Hall Master himself who is at the Six Stars!
Marcus started the forging process of the next one while Krune was sat by the side. Suddenly, Krune opened his eyes, and a blast of Spiritual Energy filled the room where they are staying. Marcus was a little surprised by that, it was evident that Krune had achieved a breakthrough.
That was right. Krune had finally entered the 8th stage of the Foundation Establishment. He could have done it a few hours earlier, but he was waiting for Marcus to start a new forging process. Like that, he knew that Marcus wouldn't need his Divine Imprint for the next few hours. There was enough time to stabilize the chaotic spiritual energy inside his foundation before the next one needed to be forged.
After this breakthrough, Krune's Divine Sense and soul power increased once again. He brought out the already forged thirty Hexagonal Shields and poured his Spiritual Energy inside. According to Krune's specification, the shields were made to accept any kind of element and not just spiritual energy. Just like Lina's weapons back in the mercenary selection where they could be used with fire and lightning.
He then released the shields and used his Divine Sense to control them. They started to float around while slowly spinning. Krune then tried to make a few different formations with them, but it became harder than he thought. Marcus wasn't kidding before when he'd said that too many flying shields would put a lot of burden on the soul. And there was still another eight shields incoming.
'It seems like I will need to practice for a while. Although I have enough soul power to control them with Divine Sense, it is still hard to use them together. No wonder cultivators at my levels don't like to use too many flying weapons at the same time.'
Krune sighed and then put his shields back into his spatial ring. Without having all thirty-eight together, there was no point in practicing that time. It would only make him feel weird when more shields suddenly appeared in the situation.
---
In the Makui Continent, several elders, sect leaders, kingdoms representatives, guild heads, and other organizations, people from all powers in the world were gathered. It was the gathering to receive the Divine Path Sect representative, who would oversee the Martial Gathering that time around. Suddenly, a boom could be heard coming from the sky. Everyone's eyes lit up when they saw that. It was the sound of a spaceship when it entered the atmosphere. The spaceship was azure like and bigger than any other spaceship owned by the people in the Makui Planet. On its side, it could be seen the heavens symbol emblem of the Divine Path Sect.
This spaceship would also be the one to take the ten Foundation Establishment winners and the Core Formation Realm competitors under 40 years old to the Divine Path Sect entrance exam.
The ship approached the city where everyone was waiting, and not long after, it stopped right above it. The ship was so big that it could cover one-tenth of the entire city. It was also a way of showing the Divine Path Sect's power in their own territory. The comports of the ship opened. It could be seen three people coming down, an elder and two Core Formation youngsters. Judging by their appearance, they were obviously under 40 years old as well. Even before they arrived on the ground, the people there could already hear the young man complaining.
"Elder, why do I have to come to this place? There is nothing worth spending my time here anyway. This planet hadn't had a successful contestant entering the Divine Path Sect in ages. We could simply ignore them and say that we didn't find anyone worthy of taking notice."
The young man didn't hide his words at all. The disdain in his eyes was apparent for everyone to see. But he obviously was a member of the Divine Path Sect. So even the Soul Forging Realm cultivators of the Makui Planet couldn't retort.
The elder heard that, and his face darkened.
"Shut up! If our Divine Path Sect starts to neglect the cultivators in our own territory, it won't take long before our Sect's power starts to diminish."
The other youngster was a woman around the same age as the man.
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"The elder is right! I've told you hundreds of times! You never know where a real talent might appear. It's our duty to make sure the talents of our territory are properly taken care of. This attitude of yours would just send the Sect to its ruins."
The young man snorted and didn't say anything else. It was undeniable that he wasn't convinced by the words of the elder and his martial sister.
They arrived on the ground and were greeted by Kaio Gleem. Gleem was the overall representative selected by vote to speak on behalf of the powers of the Makui Planet and the leader of the Divine Swords Sect, one of the world's strongest powers.
"Welcome, my name is Kaio Gleem. We have been waiting for your arrival, Divine Path Sect Elder."
He then asked:
"May I ask this esteemed elder's name?"
The elder nodded in approval.
"My name is Loni Ravser, an outer sect elder. There is no need to be so polite. It's our duty to oversee all competitions of the planets in our territory. Don't mind this idiotic disciple; he is young and hasn't seen the universe properly yet."
Everyone heard that and secretly let out a sigh of relief. It seemed this time they got an easy-going elder. There had been several times where the Divine Path Sect representative was someone hard to deal with. They had got quite a few representatives that were just like the young man beside the elder.
"The elder is too polite. We have gathered all the powers that a cultivator participating in the Martial Gathering would have. We are ready to take the elder Loni's orders."
In fact, the Martial Gathering contents were never decided by the planet itself, but by the representative of the Divine Path Sect. It was also the reason why no power would ever fail in sending someone to hear the contents. The earlier they knew about it, the better were the chances of their own contestants during the gathering. From the Yule Continent Mercenary Guild Side, none other than Bary Casfiu came to check things out.
Loni then asked:
"How many contestants have you gathered this time around?"
Kaio dutifully reported:
"Our planet has a total of 1349 Foundation Establishment contestants this time around."
"And how many under the age of 40, Core Formation Realm cultivators and demon beasts are you sending this time?"
Kaio answered again:
"Our planet was lucky this time around and gave birth to sixteen Core Formation Realm cultivators and demon beasts under the age of 40 willing to try the Divine Path Sect Entrance Exam."
Loni got a little surprised. For a world of the Makui Planet size, having sixteen Core Formation Realm cultivators and demon beats willing to participate, is an excellent number.
Of course, compared to the real strong planets in their territory, that number wasn't anything worthy of praise.
Loni then opened the screen of his communicator, and, after checking the information for the Makui Planet, said.
"This martial Gathering will have Three Phases!"
"As you probably have already guessed, the first is the elimination phase, which will cut down the cultivators' number up to 400."
"The second phase will once again eliminate the majority. Only 160 will remain."
"The last phase will be one vs. one battle. In the end, only ten will remain, who will then come with me to the Divine Path Sect Entrance Exam a few months later."
The contents always varied. There have been gatherings with up to ten phases. It was up to the Divine Path Sect representative to choose. There were even a few impatient ones that went with a single-phase only. You never know what they will be planning.
The elder then looked at everyone and revealed the contents he chose this time around.
"The first phase will take place in the Gamon Planet. The cultivators will be released at certain points of the world and have to make their way to the location specified beforehand. The first 400 to arrive will advance to the next phase. As for the contents of the second phase, you will come to know after the first phase is concluded."
"To make sure that the Martial Gathering will start at the appointed time, we will be departing in fifteen days. The travel to the Gamon Planet will take twelve days. If someone is not here by that time, we'll leave. They can only blame themselves for their luck. That's all for now."
Everyone took their communicators out and started sending the news back to their powers. They had to make sure their contestants would be there on time. Bary also did the same and immediately contacted the guild. He then passed the orders to find Shinja in the Ice Hell Danger Zone and asked for Krune and Ao to be informed too.
Shinja had left the message that she would stay inside the Danger Zone until the Martial Gathering starts. But they will be leaving the planet for the first phase, which is a very rare occurrence. So they will need to have her back before the appointed time. Fortunately, she had left the approximated location where she would be staying. Then the guild immediately dispatched three Divine Soul Realm cultivators to find her as soon as possible.
The elder then looked at his two disciples and said:
"You are free to do whatever you want in the meantime. But don't go out there and start making trouble for the people of this planet. I'm especially talking to you, Roni."
Roni then nodded and left. Since he had to wait there anyway, he might as well take a look.
The elder saw that and shook his head. That disciple of his has always given him headaches. He then looked at his female disciple.
"Lena, keep an eye on your martial brother, will you?"
Lena nodded and then set off in the direction Roni left. She has already been expecting as much anyway.
---
Back in the Mercenary Guild, Krune and Ao had received the message from Bary about the Martial Gathering contents. Krune looked at that and left a sigh of relief.
'Fortunately, my shields will be completed in time.'