30. Opening

“Don’t worry, he’ll be here,” Yara said, but it was impossible for Hien Ro not to worry. They hadn’t seen Little Bug for almost a week, and it was the day of the tournament. They were expected to gather at the eastern gates with all of the other participants, and Hien Ro was hopeful that they’d see their master there, but so far he hadn’t--

“Oh, good. I didn’t miss it,” Little bug said from behind Hien Ro, causing the teenager to jump six feet in the air.

“What the hell, Little Bug?” he demanded, rounding on the boy for scaring him.

“Sorry,” he said. “That’s a nice ring, Hien Ro.”

“What? Oh, yeah. I found it in our room. Is it yours?”

“Yes, but I want you to keep it. It’s easier if you wear it at all times. I’ll explain after the tournament,” Little Bug promised, and they stepped forward to register.

They gave their names and drew their lots along with nearly a thousand other applicants. Less than a quarter of that number would proceed to the first round, however, as they failed to light up the ink in the stone that they selected. This was a tournament for cultivators, of course, so a simple method of screening out mortals was required.

Once they presented their illuminated chit to the attendants, they were shown into the waiting area deep beneath the coliseum floor. Once their room was filled, representatives from the tournament came and explained the procedure and the rules.

“This is your battlegroup for day one,” the announcer explained. “You will be facing off against every person in this room. Except for the staff, of course. How you spend your time between now and your first battle is up to you, but any violence except for on the tournament floor will see you expelled from the tournament.

“The first day is one of elimination. Those of you who fail to score fifty points will be barred from participating in the rest of the tournament, while those who score three hundred points or more will move on to the next round immediately. We expect to weed out three quarters of you before nightfall.

“The rules are as follows. One: Killing your opponent is an automatic ejection from the tournament. Two: seriously wounding your opponent, to include maiming and crippling, will result in automatic ejection at the judge’s discretion. Three: No weapons allowed. Techniques are allowed, but you may not bring crafted weapons onto the tournament floor. Four: Each bout will last ten minutes. Your objective is to score as many points as you can within that time frame. The methods of scoring points will remain the same throughout the tournament, but will not carry over from today into the tournament itself. Five: The methods of scoring points are as follows: Ring out: five points. Submission: Ten points. Incapacitation: Ten points. Solid blow as determined by the judge: One to six points. Are there any questions at this point?”

I yawned, already being familiar with the rules, and tuned the lecture out. Instead I evaluated the participants in my room. There were three dozen of us, although it was clear that many of them didn’t really belong.

Aside from Yara, Hien Ro, and myself, I sensed only three of the participants had any real advancement. The others had barely enough spirituality to make the ink of the stone light up.

Still, we had to go through the motions in order to qualify for the rest of the tournament, so we waited in one corner, playing with a set of dice that Hien Ro had brought with him. One of the fighters whom I’d noticed earlier came over and plopped down beside us. He began speaking, but when it was clear that only Yara understood him he seemed to lose interest and wandered away.

A few hours passed, with the room filled with nervous energy, before we were called to fight. The entire coliseum was ours, with a dozen familiar judges standing in the rings. They called out numbers, and when I heard mine I jogged over to fight against a girl who was little more than a mortal.

I pinned her to the ground and scored ten points by incapacitation, triggering the end of the match.

She screamed at me with a red face as I was pronounced the winner, but I simply smiled stoically as I waited for my number to be called again.

It was easy to reach the minimum to qualify, and while I could have proceeded to the next round by scoring points, instead I chose to begin holding back, allowing my opponents to showcase their skills as I employed the meridian slowing technique which brought me down to their level rather than simply overpowering them effortlessly.

Hien Ro didn’t follow my tactics, however, and he moved on from the elimination round after his fifth win, having scored sixty points per match with the inclusion of solid blows. Yara was having a harder time, and I think Hien Ro tried to stay to cheer her on, but he was asked to leave once he’d qualified.

Finally it was time to fight against the fighter who had approached us earlier, and he smiled at me as we got in the ring together.

“I score point against you,” He said, and I blinked. He must have asked someone how to say that phrase in the northern tongue since he sat down with us earlier. Then the bell rang and the battle began.

He dashed forward, and I immediately saw that he focused on speed. I hadn’t had a chance to evaluate his cultivation quite yet, so when I moved to counter I was too fast, punching him in the nose. I felt a ‘crunch’ beneath my fist and cursed as blood gushed forth. He pulled back and grabbed his face.

This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

“Solid blow, four points,” the judge announced. “That puts you over, Po Guah. You move on to the next round.”

I cursed. I had actually been looking forward to fighting this boy. I had little doubt that he would make it to the tournament proper, but there was a chance that he would drop out before we were matched together again.

“Sorry,” I said, patting him on the shoulder as I made my way off the coliseum floor. “Good fight.”

“Good fight,” he said, his nasal voice calling out behind me.

~~~~~

“So you qualified,” Arjun said.

“Of course I qualified. Half of these applicants were barely above mortals. I think that the ink that the tournament is using for the chits is far to sensitive, it’s not weeding out nearly enough of them,” Farun said.

“Please, boys, it’s not like qualification was ever in question for the three of us,” Lahri said. “The question I have to ask is whether or not you allowed your opponents to score any points off of you?”

Arjun smiled, while Farun looked somewhat ashamed.

“One of my opponents was a step away from the bronze path,” he objected.

“So that’s a ‘yes I did,’” Arjun said. “Pathetic.”

The three continued to banter as they reunited, as planned, after qualifying for the tournament. They weren’t expecting to win, but they were expected to put in a good show for their respective sects, and they were determined to prove themselves in combat against their peers.

“I’m serious, I think that the woman who scored against me was holding back for years to enter this tournament,” Farun was protesting as they stopped at a confections vendor to pick up something to snack on as they watched the rest of the eliminations.

“The tournament has only been announced for a few months. Nobody was planning it before we met Po Guah,” Lahri reminded the boys.

“Yes, well, she must have been prescient. That would explain how she scored the points,” Farun said.

“Points? Plural? You allowed more than one?” Arjun inquired.

“Shut up. You’ll see when you face her in the tournament,” Farun said defensively.

“If she doesn’t drop out before it comes to that,” Arjun said.

“If you don’t drop out before it comes to that,” Farun taunted.

“I’m in it to win it,” Arjun countered.

The three continued to banter as they looked for a good spot to sit. As they made themselves comfortable, they were surprised to see Po Guah’s battle group take the stage. Their banter fell aside as they watched eagerly, excited to see the young prodigy in action.

They continued to watch through the boy’s first three match. Then they began exchanging looks of confusion.

“Well this is disappointing,” Farun admitted as Po Guah’s companion succeeded in qualifying before he did.

“He’s obviously holding back,” Lahri said.

“Obviously. The question is why?” Arjun said.

“Gambling, perhaps?” Farun said. “You’re allowed to bet on yourself, and the bookies are watching the qualifying rounds.”

“How disappointing,” Arjun said.

They sighed and leaned back, eating their confections as they watched the eliminations proceed.

~~~~~~~

“Hein Ro!” Little Bug called out, causing the teenager to turn around. Ro had just been coming from the privy, and was still lacing up his britches when the younger boy found him.

“Oh, so you finally qualified?” he asked.

“Yes. It’s time for me to go back until tomorrow,” Little Bug said.

“Go back?” Hien Ro asked.

“Give me your hand,” Little Bug said, and Hien Ro, confused but obedient, obeyed.

“No, the other one.”

Little Bug took the teenager’s hand in his and he--

Little bug vanished, popping out of existence like he’d never been there in the first place. Hien Ro jumped and cracked his head on the ceiling. “Ah tah tah tah tah,” He winced and muttered as he recovered.

He looked down at his hand and saw the ring that he’d been instructed to wear.

“Oh,” he said, wondering where his master had gotten a spatial artifact. He shrugged. At least now he knew where Little Bug had been this past week. Then he reflected that he was wearing a ring which could buy a medium sized kingdom and began freaking out a little bit.

‎