"Father!!" Jacob shouted before even reaching the elder.

"You seem very excited right now. Can you tell me about it?" The elder simply smiled at his son.

"Father. There is this tournament. It will be held ten days later. The beast core is the reward. I also want to participate."

"As my son wishes. This beast core is very fit for you." The elder was happy for his son.

"You also think so?" Jacob asked excitedly. He knew that his father would support him in his decision. He was not disappointed at all.

"Indeed. In fact, it is perfect for you." The elder gave his son a profound gaze as he said that.

"Ok. I will show everyone your training during the tournament. I think they will get amazed by that." Jacob quickly planned to show his skill in front of the crowd

"Haha. They will be. Come on. We have to find that old man first. After that, we will go to the coliseum for your registration."

"Ok, father."

After that, the father-son duo resumed their walk towards the City Park. After reaching there, Jacob asked about the man's office. After asking a few people, they easily reached it.

The inside of the office was a bit messy. Many compartments could be seen decorating the walls. They were containing several parchments and scrolls that were anything but tidy in the arrangement.

There was a table behind which an old man with glasses was sitting. He was busy reading a parchment. The table in front of him was also messy and had half-opened scrolls and parchments sprawled on it.

As Jacob along with his father came near him, he looked up with an indifferent expression and said,

"Can I help you?"

His voice was devoid of any positive emotion. Jacob could slightly feel that they were not welcome in the office, judging by the old man's indifference and cold posture.

"Umm. Hello, mister Wilson. Uncle Gifford sent us." Jacob replied while the elder remained silent.

Hearing Gifford's name, the indifference on the old man's face broke for a second and an annoyed expression came on his face. His face soon turned indifferent after that.

"In that case. Please sit down and give me a minute." The old man motioned towards the empty chairs in front of him and resumed his work.

The father-son duo sat down without saying anything and waited for the old man in front of them to finish whatever he was doing.

They kept sitting for a few minutes accompanied by the noises made by the old man turning the parchment's pages. After finishing with his work, Wilson put down the parchment, took off his glasses and broke the silence.

"First of all, tell me how is that clown doing?" The old man asked Jacob, ignoring the presence of the elder.

"Uncle Gifford is fine. His business is going good."

"Ok. Now tell me the purpose of your visit." The old man asked their purpose of visit with raised eyebrows.

"I want to join the sects. So, we decided to set out with a procession from Agoross." Jacob said while motioning towards his father.

Hearing Jacob, the old man looked towards the elder for a second before he started looking towards the table with a face of concentration. He was trying to remember something.

"The sects start recruiting in the month of January. A journey from Agoross to any sect in the east cost a month of constant travel at least. You did well that you came to see me regarding this matter.

I know of a well-armed and well-prepared group that will set out on the first day of November. I can patch you up with them." The old man said after a few seconds of thinking.

"Thank you so much, mister Wilson. I am in your debt."

The old man smiled slightly at that and said,

"Meet me here on that day. Is there anything else?"

"No. We shall take our leave. Farewell." Jacob understood that it was their cue to leave. So he quickly stood up and bade him farewell. His father just remained silent during the whole thing and just nodded at the old man before following Jacob out of the office.

"Now that we are done, how about we head to the coliseum, father?" Jacob asked while looking at his father.

The elder just nodded at that without saying anything. Both slowly moved towards the coliseum in the inner city.

As soon as they reached it, they saw a couple of young men talking to the fatty sitting outside of the coliseum doors. They waited for them to finish their conversation and leave the fatty alone before heading towards him.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

"Uncle Warren, you seem busy today. Should we return tomorrow?" Jacob said jokingly as he neared the fatty in front of him

"Little Jacob, how have you been? Have not seen you for a while. Come sit here. I have a surprise for you." The fatty became happy upon seeing Jacob and motioned for him to sit in a chair lying near him. He also nodded at the elder.

Both father and son sat down near the fatty and started looking at him, waiting for his surprise.

"A tournament is being held in the coliseum a few days later. It is for young men like you. Can you guess what the prize for the winner is?" The fatty took a deep breath before saying it all in a single breath.

Although Jacob knew about the tournament and the final reward, he did not tell the kind man in front of him. Instead, he smiled a bit and just raised his eyebrows as if questioning him about the reward.

"It is a beast core. The winner will get something awesome which is the beast core. Your cultivation speed will become double after getting it."

The ticket keeper of the coliseum was another contact Jacob had made in the past few years. Just like Gifford's inn, the coliseum was another thing he had frequented. As a result, his relations with the fatty became better. Jacob had also told him about his dream of becoming a cultivator and about his training with his father.

"Really, uncle??" Jacob made a fake exaggerated expression of excitement that could be spotted from miles away. Thankfully, the fatty did not comment on it and replied normally. It was unknown whether he had detected it or not. The elder also did not expose his son and just chucked at it slightly.

"Of course. You saw the young men who I was talking with just before you came? They were here to register for it. So, what do you say? Do you want to take part? Keep in mind though that it will be dangerous and real weapons will be used.

Although no deaths are allowed and few people will be present to stop something like that from happening, accidents always happen." The fatty also looked towards the elder while saying his piece.

He was sure that Jacob would surely take part in it but he was aware that the elder sitting in front of him was the guardian of Jacob. So, his purpose in mentioning the dangers of the tournament was to inform the elder about them. He was not aware that Jacob had already turned into an adult and could make decisions of his own free will.

"Yes. I also want to take part in it. How do I register?"

Jacob agreed in a second. He had already discussed it with his father. There was nothing left to talk about now.

"You just have to fill out this register. Here." Seeing that the elder was not giving any response on his son's decision, the fatty lifted the opened register lying in front of him. He handed it to Jacob and pointed at a row in it for Jacob to fill out.

"Uncle. Can you tell me why is the beast core being used for the tournament? Isn't very precious? Why was it not used by the Aumrin clan themselves?" As Jacob filled out the row in the register, he asked the fatty some things he was curious out. He was aware that Warren was working for the Aumrin clan so he thought that the fatty would know about it.

"I have some inside info about the matter. The beast core was identified as useless by the scholars for people of foundation establishment or higher. It is only useful for the body strengthening cultivators." The fatty shared some info with Jacob and the elder.

"Why is it useless for the higher levelled cultivators?" Jacob was already aware of that. He wanted to know the deeper details about the affair.

"It is related to the rarity of the beast core. According to scholars, they have not seen or read about such a beast core in their life. It is a rank one beast core and this is the first time scholars are seeing something like that." He paused at that. He told them the details in a low voice this time.

Jacob became intrigued by the information. So, he listened to the fatty with full concentration.

"There are no records about such a beast core. So, this is kind of a first discovery. Usually, beast cores start appearing at rank two in some rare second-level beasts. In order to upgrade a beast core, a cultivator has to absorb similarly ranked beast cores until it is fully upgraded. After that, there is a rank advancement." The fatty's voice was almost a whisper by now. It was as if he was exposing confidential information.

Jacob had to unconsciously bow in his direction in order to listen to his voice clearly. The elder just kept sitting in his chair without any change in posture, head tilted slightly as kept watching his son.

"When a beast core becomes full, a cultivator has to absorb a higher rank core to advance his beast core to the next rank. This is how a cultivator maintains a double cultivation rate, by keeping his beast core at the same level as his. Lower levelled ones cannot benefit him much. Can you understand now why the first rank or the first levelled beast core is useless to higher cultivators now?" The fatty ended his speech with a question to Jacob.

"Yes. I think I understand now. So what you mean to say by all that is that the beast core cannot be upgraded because no other first-rank beast cores are present out there. Without becoming fully upgraded, it cannot be advanced. So it is useless to higher levelled cultivators. Right, uncle?" Jacob was a sharp teenager. He quickly came to some conclusions after thinking about what fatty said for a few seconds.

"Absolutely. This is how it is. As you want to roam the world, I think you will not join the army and become bound to it permanently. So, it is a great chance for young aspiring men like you." The fatty said with a bright expression.

"Alright. So, when will it start? What is the exact date?" Jacob said as he handed over the register to fatty. He had filled out his information long ago. There was nothing to fill much except his name, age, guardian's name and current address.

"The exact date is the twenty-eighth of september. You will have to fight in preliminaries first. After you qualify, you will have to fight the real matches the next day. Be sure to come before eight o clock in the morning." Warren said as he closed the register without bothering to look at the things Jacob wrote. If he had, he would have found many strange things.

"Ok, uncle. See you in ten days. Take care." Jacob stood up at that. He had to prepare for the tournament. He did not want to waste a single second now. A great opportunity had come to him and he wanted to grasp it with both of his hands. There was no place for any error.

"Ok. You also take care." The fatty reciprocated the farewell. The elder also stood up and nodded at the fatty. Warren also nodded back.

After that, they left for the inn. Along the way, Jacob kept thinking about something for a few minutes before finally asking his father.

"Father. What weapon should I use during the tournament?" He was conflicted between the weapons. He was more or less comfortable with all of them. The teachings of his father were fit for using all the weapons with the same level of mastery.

"It is for you to figure it out. Follow your heart." The elder said. Jacob was an adult now. He had to learn how to start relying on himself more than his father.

"Hmmm. In that case, I will use a sword, a longsword to be exact. How about we buy one right now? I want to start practising from today." Jacob made an educated choice. The sword he was carrying was a bit smaller. He went for the longsword because its reach was not that bad and he was most comfortable with it.

"Ok. We will head to a weapons shop now. In addition to the longsword, we will also buy proper armour for you." The elder replied.

"Right. I also need armour."

After that, they changed their direction to the nearest market. After reaching there, they quickly found a shop that dealt in armaments. There, they bought the most high-quality longsword present below the cultivator weapons.

In addition to that, they also bought chainmail armour for Jacob. It provided excellent protection as well as excellent mobility. It was a perfect fit for Jacob. Jacob's fighting style involved a lot of movements. There was heavier armour present. They were much better than the chainmail armour but all of them lacked mobility greatly. They were not suitable for Jacob.

After that, they returned to the inn. It was afternoon by now. After having lunch, Jacob left for the City Park fully clad in armour and longsword. The elder did not go with him this time and returned to the room with a smile. His son's dreams were about to come true. He was happy for his son.

After reaching the park, Jacob found a somewhat secluded place and started practising with the longsword. He brought forward all the training of his father and started swinging the longsword with graceful strokes. He also dived and dodged while imagining an invisible enemy and pulling various kinds of manoeuvres.

He was also familiarising himself with the chainmail armour he was wearing. Although it provided him with sufficient mobility, he still needed to get familiar with it so that he may be able to fight with maximum efficiency. He thought that it would take a day or two to attain sufficient familiarity with it.

The rest of his days passed just like that. They did not return to their home. They had already left it. Jacob had managed to talk his father into coming with him to the sects and doing woodcutting there.

He had been brewing such a plan for the past few years. He wanted his father to accompany him toward the sects. He became nervous when the time came but he found it extremely easy. His father accepted without any hesitation.

In the next few days, Jacob trained day and night in the park. Since his training place was not that secluded, he managed to gather a small audience during those days. Most of them were children and young men.

The young and adults alike were impressed by his graceful swings. Each of his forceful swings produced air-tearing sounds. Children also used to clap whenever he managed to pull some seemingly difficult stunts.

Jacob was a bit annoyed during those times. Many times, someone came too close to him. He had to stop and make them stand further without angering them. One time, a couple of young men approached him, demanding to come under his tutelage. Jacob became exasperated at that and politely refused.

In this manner, the day of preliminaries came.