After listening to the man gush over the fighters they were going to meet, Xiao Lee had to admit that July’s enthusiasm was truly infectious. Perhaps it was because he already found them interesting, but he was genuinely getting excited about meeting the High Cultivators that would be fighting.
“We’re here.”
They stopped at a door with the words ‘BACKSTAGE’ written clearly on it. It opened after a moment to reveal a massive room buzzing with activity.
There were people moving around at speeds faster than he could track, and more than a few humanoids he recognized as machines after further inspection. He turned to Lisa.
“I thought people did not do manual jobs anymore.”
“Well, usually,” Bornie was the one who answered. “But the High Cultivators fighting have been off world for a very long time. They aren’t familiar with most of the advanced automation. These people are part of their personal escorts.”
That was interesting. Though something she said caught his attention.
“Off world?” he asked. “Do they live on a different planet?”
There were few Great Lords who did that, usually the ones who wished to achieve perfect comprehension of certain Daos. Some would return on occasion, but they usually told stories of barren worlds that offered no benefit to a cultivator of lightning. So, he had no interest in them.
“The universe is vast and unexplored, even for us. I don’t know where they went but it was far from any of our colonies.”
“Lasvania has colonies on other worlds? Why?” he asked.
He knew there were sects that had considered it, and at least one that had bases on the moon, but it was mostly considered pointless. Though he guessed Lasvania would be able to do more pointless things with their vast resources.
“For resources, primarily,” she spoke like it was supposed to be obvious. “Did you guys not have colony worlds on Xenus? I thought you were space faring.”
“The worlds we found lacked any meaningful resources.”
Their conversation was interrupted by a loud groan.
“We’re at the backstage of first Gladiator match between High Cultivators in our lifetimes!” he exclaimed. “And you guys are talking about some boring rocks!”
Bornie shook her head at him but paused the conversation. Though Lee received an information packet on the Lasvanian off world colonies.
A woman appeared in front of them, without warning, visibly startling everyone except Lisa.
“Hi,” she said with a pleasant smile. “Welcome to the behind the scenes of the Gladiator Games. Let's see, July, Louisa Walkins, Bornie Saurabh, Lisa Feltham and Xiao Lee. Is that correct.”
The woman’s smile turned strained halfway through the identification. Lee wasn’t completely sure, but he suspected she just realised the level of people she was dealing with. His importance was something he was starting to resign himself to.
“Yeah, that’s us,” July answered for them, barely restrained excitement evident on his face. “Are we going to see the High Cultivators now?”
The lady seemed taken off guard by his enthusiasm though she kept her smile.
“Well, the plan was to give you guys a quick tour of everything her first before meeting the fighters today. If you want something different though...”
“No!” he shouted, then looked down in a way that made Lee think he was embarrassed. “Let’s tour the place first.”
The woman nodded and started pointing out the different things that were going on and explaining them. He was not particularly interested, truth be told, so most of his focus was on trying to increase his qi gathering speed.
The others, though, gave it their full attention. Except for Lisa, of course. He continued to tune out the woman’s voice until he heard something that caught his attention.
“This room is what makes the Games possible.”
The door to what seemed like an unassuming room swung open and he immediately knew it was anything but.
The number of formations he could feel just standing outside was astounding. He had seen a lot of complex formations since he came to Lasvania but nothing so far was on this level.
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They followed the woman into the room and let out a collective gasp when the sheer amount of spatial qi that hit them. He felt vindicated when he saw even Lisa raise a brow in surprise.
The woman smiled proudly at their reactions and stretched out her hands.
“Welcome to the Other Room. The formations and machines in these room are the single most complex piece of spatial infrastructure available for civilian use on this planet. It is the crown jewel of the Institute for Spacetime Research and the reason the Games exists. I’m sure miss Feltham can appreciate its value”
Lisa just nodded at the woman. Her eyes were closed, and she seemed like she was only marginally aware of her surroundings.
“I’ve always wanted to see this,” July finally spoke. He had been staring at the room for a few seconds. “It’s a wonder of the world.”
“The formations are even more complex than I imagined,” Bornie agreed. She also seemed captivated by it.
Lee suspected he was ignorant of the machine’s true significance. For it to surprise Lisa and Bornie meant it was more valuable than he could even understand. Louisa seemed like she was just trying to take it in.
“The Room is designed to create a pocket world capable of staying stable throughout a fight between two High Cultivators,” their guide revealed. “That is something usually reserved for only the most powerful spatial High Cultivators. Of which there is only one that is not off world. Can you guess how the pocket world was tested?”
Given her smug expression, he suspected the answer was going to be something they would not expect.
“It's sort of a secret, but I doubt it matters, given who you guys are,” she paused briefly, preparing for maximum impact. “I’m sure you’re aware of the semicentennial summit between Love and the Lone Powers. The last one was held here.”
What followed was varying levels of shock that made the woman’s smile grow wider. Even Lisa let out a gasp.
Xiao Lee, on the other hand, was even more confused. He had no idea who Love was or why they held a summit every fifty years. A pocket dimension capable of hosting said meeting was apparently shocking, another thing that made no sense.
Bornie noticed his confusion and thankfully explained.
“High Cultivators have a certain weight on existence that destabilises pocket worlds. There are very few pocket worlds that can hold even a single Lone Power and they are all natural. An artificial one holding all the Lone Powers is completely unprecedented.”
That made more sense, though he was curious about the weight High Cultivators had. There were pocket dimensions with realm caps on Xenus, but Great Lords could still enter spaces built by people lower than them.
No one said anything about Love though, and he wasn’t sure if there was a reason for that. Either way, he would check it when he got home.
She pointed to different strange devices in different parts of the room and gave explanations that mostly flew over his head. He tried tracing as much of the formation as he could with his mind but failed woefully. He had no idea something this complex could even be built.
They finally got to the most eye-catching thing in the room.
A smooth metal ball as large as his head floated in the room’s centre. He could feel the vast amount of spatial qi flowing out of it and powering the formation.
“That is the heart of this system,” the guide pointed to it. “It serves as both the power source for the formation and as the anchor point for the pocket space. It was made with very advanced materials and a patented process that combines a ten-teracycle qi generator and a spatial superconductor to amazing effect. It has a state-of-the-art processor that takes care of all the necessary details.”
He didn’t understand half of what she said, though he sounded impressive and Bornie was staring with wide eyes.
“Are we still going to see the High Cultivators?” Jessica asked, her tone impatient. She had been uncharacteristically quiet since they entered the room.
“Yes,” the woman answered. “That will be our next stop, in fact.”
Bornie and July asked a few more questions about the room, after which they left for the final destination on their short tour.
The High Cultivators were already dressed for battle when they arrived at the area their waiting area. Of course, cultivators at their level had no use for protective gear and the eye-catching combat gear they wore were mostly just costumes.
Dressing ostentatiously was something he had come to expect after watching a few of the matches. So, he was not particularly surprised by the completely useless heavy armour both men wore.
“Ho!” one of the men exclaimed when he saw them, his voice booming against the walls. “We have guests. Whoever could they be?”
“They have VIP backstage passes,” the tour guide explained. “I just gave them a tour of the behind the scenes.”
“VIP passes with all the fuss about security?” the second man, with his quiet voice, asked. “Your parents must be loaded.”
The first man ignored his companions' words and instead spoke to the guide.
“Introduce our guests then.”
“Of course,” Lee didn’t miss the mischievous smile that lit up her face for a moment at the question. She started pointing them out.
The High Cultivator paused after they were introduced.
“Loaded parents indeed,” his companion said with a shake of his head.
“That is... impressive,” the first one said awkwardly. “And congratulations on your ascension, Xiao Lee.”
Lee nodded his thanks to that.
“Alright, ask any questions you have now,” the man continued. “We will answer as best as we can.”
July and Louisa pounced on him immediately, peppering the man and his companion about things from their favourite fighting styles to the fighters they usually support.
It was indeed fun watching the two powerful men struggle a bit under their assault. Bornie and Jessica joined after a while, and he even asked a few questions of his own.
Lisa stayed out of it. From what little he could deduce; it seemed like she was meditating. Perhaps the Other Room had given her some insights. It made sense, considering it was a marvel of spatial qi.
Eventually, their barrage let up and the men were able to ask them some questions of their own. They took pictures after that, even dragging in the tour guide at one point.
He followed Jessca’s advice and posted some of them on his social media.
Their time was over soon after that and the men had to enter the pocket world from their ow entrance. The group, meanwhile, followed July and Louisa to the VIP entrance.
Lee watched the multitude of people going through the regular entrance and thought back to July’s comment about having important friends.
He couldn’t say he disagreed with it.