CHAPTER 306 THE SECOND ROUND OF THE COMPETITION

"No, it didn't cause any trouble. It was well-behaved. Miss Isis did not return to the Isis Pavilion last

night, so I do not know of her thoughts about Rubygon. And she knew about it since the last time you

brought Rubygon here, anyway," Sue responded.

"The last time?" Rocky blurted out. He immediately remembered that he also came with Rubygon when

he attended the Army Flag Contest last time. He felt flustered at a thought that crossed his mind. 'Is it

possible that Isis already knew that I have two spirit-manipulated beasts?'

"Mr. Bai, are you alright?" Sue asked when she saw that Rocky's expression suddenly changed.

"Yes. Of course, I am fine. Watch the competition together with Rubygon! Well, I have to go now!"

Rocky said and then affectionately tousled Sue's hair while smiling affectionately at her. He then turned

to walk towards the platform.

In the meantime, Lance walked towards the platform from the opposite side with a group of officers and

commanders. The people in the crowd watched him with admiration as he walked. Some of the people

in the crowd then noticed that Rocky was also approaching the platform from the opposite side.

When Lance saw Rocky's approach, he walked towards him as the people in the crowd watched them

both.

"Commander in Chief!" Rocky greeted politely and bowed to Lance the moment he saw him.

"I was impressed by your performance yesterday. I am looking forward to another impressive

performance from you today," Lance said calmly, slightly smiling.

Everyone who walked with Lance stared at Rocky with a feeling of surprise and envy. It was rare for the

Commander in Chief of the Crimson Dragon Group to voice out his admiration as well as say

encouraging words.

"I will do everything I can not to disappoint you, sir!" Rocky replied calmly, stressing "disappoint"

deliberately.

Lance smiled contentedly and slightly nodded. He then continued his walk as his officers and

commanders followed him closely.

Seven spirit manipulators including Rocky were qualified to join the second round. All of them had

gathered in front of the high platform. Six of them were all deputy commanders of their respective

military camps. Rocky was the only exception.

Lance slowly walked towards the front of the platform and scanned the entire training field with his

sharp eyes. He was like an eagle looking across the plains in search of its prey. When the crowd saw

Lance was scanning the training field, everyone fell silent. None dared move nor breathe. Everyone

waited for Lance to announce the rules for the second round of the competition.

"Two red spiritual crystals are hidden at two separate places within the camp. The two contestants who

can bring these two red spiritual crystals here will be the winners and will also be qualified to proceed

to the third round. All participants are not allowed to attack any of the other participants. They are only Content held by .

allowed to utilize their spirit-manipulated beasts to find the crystals. Once the crystals are found, the

spirit-manipulated beasts should also be the one to bring them back to the training field. There is no

other restriction other than the ones I have mentioned. The owner of the spirit-manipulated beast who

succeeds in bringing back a red spiritual crystal will be the winner!" Lance announced the rules for the

second round of the competition.

He continued after the short pause, "In the depths of a foggy place near water, flowers flourish and

fade in secret. These words contain the clues on the places where the two red spiritual crystals are

hidden. Understand the meaning behind these words and you will know the locations of the two red

spiritual crystals. And the second round starts...now!"

The six deputy commanders exchanged puzzled looks as they tried to fathom the meaning behind

Lance's words that bore the clues to the locations of the red spirit crystals. But even without a clear

idea of what the words meant, they set out at once to find the two red crystals.

'So the round is a combination of a riddle and a treasure hunt. The Commander in Chief is really an

expert at designing games. And to make it more complicated, we are only allowed to utilize our spirit-

manipulated beasts to search for the crystals. This round is obviously designed to test the abilities of

our spirit-manipulated beasts. And the only way to win the round is for our spirit-manipulated beasts to

bring back one of the crystals. I suspect that there will be unexpected danger waiting!' Rocky thought to

himself. He was the last to leave. After looking around for a while, he dashed off towards a direction.

Many of the spectators also left the training field. They intended to watch the seven competitors as they

were searching for the two crystals. They dashed towards the different directions where the

competitors went. When everyone had gone to their respective target locations, only a handful were left

in the training field.

"Since Sheridan had taken Rocky as his disciple, it means that Rocky is skilled when it comes to

manipulating beasts. I just have to see how skillful he is," Lance murmured to himself as his eyes

followed the direction where Rocky headed to.

Rocky exited the training field with Uriah and saw that there was a watchtower in the camp. His eyes lit

up with an idea. He and Uriah went to the watchtower and climbed all the way to the top. From the top

of the watchtower, Rocky could see the entire camp.

'The two clues: depths of a foggy place near water and the flowers flourish but fade secretly... One of

the clues has something to do with water, so one of the crystals would be at the river or lake. The

second possible location would be a garden or a similar location that involves flowers.' Rocky thought

about the clues and scanned the camp to look for locations that would match the locations described in

the clues.

He soon found a small lake on the south side of the camp that was surrounded by various buildings.

"One of the crystals should be there," Rocky said with confidence as his eyes scanned the details of

the area. He and Uriah then went down the watchtower without further delay and headed towards the

lake on the south side of the camp.

Three of the deputy commanders were also headed towards the same direction including the red-

clothed Deputy Commander who fought against Rocky yesterday.

At the same time, another three Deputy Commanders from the east-southeast military camp started to

search for all the places that were related to flowers within the whole camp.

In truth, it was not difficult to find the two red spiritual crystals because the spirit-manipulated beasts

had their own sense of recognition that was attuned to the crystals. The real challenge of the second

round was bringing the crystals back to the training field. The rules and limitations of the second round

did not state that the crystals couldn't be grabbed from the spirit-manipulated beast who found the

crystal first. This meant that after someone found a crystal, someone else could snag the crystal and

bring it to the training field themselves in order to win the round. And even though the participants were

not allowed to attack each other, their spirit-manipulated beasts were not prohibited to fight each other.

It was clear, then, that the strength of a spirit-manipulated beast was the first key to winning this round.

But even though the strength of the spirit-manipulated beast was important to win the round, it was

equally important for its owner to have the necessary beast-manipulating skills. When a spirit-

manipulated beast found a red crystal, it was obvious that the other spirit-manipulated beasts would

give chase and try to take that crystal from it. The owner of the beast who found a crystal needed to

have the skills to take advantage of his beast's strengths in order to defend the crystal until his beast

reached the training field.

Groups of people followed the seven competitors around as they searched for the red crystals. And

since Rocky had a remarkable performance yesterday, the biggest group of people followed him

around.

On the way to the area that Rocky meant to go, a graceful figure slowly landed like a feather on the

roof of a nearby building. It was Isis. She stared at Rocky with her beautiful yet cold, calculating eyes.

"Sheridan once said that you have a rare and outstanding ability of manipulating beasts that only

manifests once in many generations, which surpasses even mine. I would like to see it today," Isis

declared arrogantly. She had long suspected that the second round would be mainly a competition

between spirit-manipulated beasts. Her father knew that Sheridan had accepted Rocky as his disciple

and that he had almost learned all of Sheridan's skills. Her father was then eager to see Rocky use

those skills. The second round was mainly designed to see how many of Sheridan's skills had Rocky

mastered!