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Tarnished Gold Bar (64) -20 ↓
(44)
- $53,808,272 Thalers
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They wanted the training first; the complete opposite of what Julius expected. It’s probably desperation because they were curious about what it was like. Unfortunately, Tang Cheng left right before it. Since Level One had successfully finished once, the direction and control of the realm turned to the participants. For that reason, Julius decided to join with fifty Tang Family members, marking his third time going back to Level One Merit Universe. Empress Cai had put herself in as well, since she wanted to observe if they had changed at all since. She and he won’t try anything to interfere with their raw performance, maintaining the originality of the stage.
The two stood and waited as the fog manifested into the grand dual gates. The Tang Family was behind them, patiently waiting for anything. Julius heard a sigh from behind, nearly provoking a chuckle. Holy shit, they are really that bored. By the time the gate appears, their boredom better go bye-bye. He thought while half turned to the rear.
Immediately, the sound of the clanks and gears erupted. He turned back, glaring at the crowd. It heightened a bored few, and their eyes ceased their fatigue. When it opened, he and Empress Cai paced through while the former raised his arm, signaling to follow.
Arriving back at the Realm of the Blue River, Hu was already there at the same spot on the hill where Julius had some tea talk with her. The chest was summoned out of nowhere and he told the fifty to go to it, while he and Empress Cai went up the hill.
“You look the same as ever,” he greeted.
“Not for you. You’re too big,” Hu said, arched her neck up, and leaned her torso backward to keep in contact with his face.
The same table was summoned next to the three, now with another chair. Julius could see Hu breathing in relief as she quickly sat down first, appearing more comfortable and less stressed around her face. They convened while the fifty Tang members were at the bottom of the hill, scavenging the chest. Hu summoned her tea set with three black and yellow vinyl ceramic cups and poured it for Julius and Empress Cai.
“This tea is lovely,” Empress Cai said while blowing the drink's surface. “Where did you make this?”
“It’s a secret…think of it like green tea,” Hu said.
Empress Cai was being desperate. “Darn, I wanted to know!”
“Sorry, now it is not the time to reveal the true source.” Hu glanced at Julius. “Even he doesn’t know.”
“One day, mam. One day. I will learn the secret.”
Julius silently chuckled, almost choking on the hot green tea. He found it absurd, since the taste was not really that distinctively different. It’s still the same green tea. “I don’t think there’s anything different. It’s a motivating green tea.”
“You must have some odd taste. There’s a difference.”
“We can talk about tea all day but that’s not why you are here right?”
“Yeah. I’m not here for that. This is about your new guests.” He directed to the crowd below, still around the chest. “My paternal family is here…fifty of them, to be exact, which is a hell of a lot to even imagine. They’ll be the participants for this, and I want no changes to this realm.”
Hu nodded with a shrug. “I mean, you have full control of this.” She then summoned a virtual screen, about the size of a tablet, on the table. “Do what you gotta do before it begins.”
Julius observed all the features it provided. After glancing through, there wasn't anything spectacular. It's a semi-simulation. Nothing else worth mentioning. He quickly gained the aspects of it and dragged multiple toggle scrolls displayed on the screen. His finger pressed on the screen and dragged it left to right. Observing the surroundings as it changed upon the movement of his fingers. It was more of environmental changes like the air quality, nature’s contents, and the presence of elemental ailments. Playing a little of God mode, but eventually returned it back to default. Then one tap on the exit button for the virtual screen to disappear.
“You don’t like it?” Hu curiously asked.
“Nothing impressive. It’s only an environment. Nothing technical or any numbers to be altered, so why not leave it as it is?”
“Sounds fine to me.” Hu drank her hot tea before pouring another cup. Julius, too, finished his but not requesting seconds.
Empress Cai, silently harmonizing her green tea to almost a level of obsession, had one thought in mind. “Are you joining?”
Julius looked at her, followed by a hollow sigh. “No, I will not. Too much hell going on for me to care even further. I preferred to go to level two instead of going through this again.” He turned to Hu. “No offense, though.”
“What if something is in trouble?”
“I will not try to do anything unless they’re about to die. That’s the fine line between me having to get involved. One thing or the other.” Julius answered while staring into the distance.
Empress Cai noticed his attention focused on something down the hill. “What are you looking at?
“That lady, Míngyuè.”
“Are you attracted to her?” Empress Cai asked as she leaned her back to the chair.
“No, not that way. There’s something I can’t really describe. It’s a parental feeling,” Julius said while feeling nervous that came from his guts. “…I don’t know.”
“You have a kid?” Hu asked with a high pitch at the end.
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
“No, I was forced to raise one for three years. The first few months were really tough, but I grew a bond with her. Especially being nineteen, it took a bit. Then I graduated at twenty-two and have never seen them since.”
“Wow, that’s terrible. You better see her again.”
“I will, no doubt. Once it’s safe to go back to Earth…Now that you mention it, I don’t even know how to fucking go back. So, I’m stuck here. I don’t think I need to worry too much, as it takes a week here to be barely a day over there.” He said, amid the back of his mind; he had wondered what his place of birth was like. Suddenly, his mind went blank, triggering his head. Being underground for one year only to find out it was only half an hour above was disturbing and did some damage. Additionally, the unfortunate mishap of five hours in the Merit Universe before reform that resulted in two weeks outside cost some permanent brain damage. Julius probably only realized that after saying his point, regretting it after. And his head felt like it was going to explode. Trying to ignore the incoming horror, he violently went after the teapot and poured it heavily into his ceramic cup. A gulp of hot liquid into his mouth and the lower half dumped like a load of water from a pail on his head, soaking his thick hair with hot shower tea. Empress Cai and Hu lounged away from the table.
“Oh Yinhai, it’s hot…woo!”
“Why the hell did you do that?” Empress Cai questioned.
As he fought against the burns from the green tea, the inside of his head reversed itself, removing the developing symptoms. He finally calmed down, taking multiple breaths of air. “I think it’s best to not ask me questions related to time comparisons. My mind probably got toasted after experiencing the distortions twice.”
“Alright. I’ll end it there. I have one more—”
Hu stood from her chair. “It’s time. I’ll see you two when all this is finished.” She dispersed like dust from her spot, flowing in the air until the particles vanished into emptiness. The sky changed after she vanished. Julius and Empress Cai sat and observed the place changing into the usual setup before the stage began. Oh, they finished choosing. The latter thought.
A transparent glass-like barrier appeared and encircled around the hill while the two sat still. The barrier was elevated into the air, forming a roof while maintaining transparency. Pretty much, the two were inside a casing. The ground of the hill changed into a solid and smooth surface made from brown hardwood. While all of this was going on, a virtual screen appeared again on the table, attracting Julius’s attention. As he looked at it, Empress Cai stood up with her arm, reached across the table and grabbed the teapot.
The screen Julius stared at showed the list of all the contestants. What was currently on the display was a leaderboard, listing the names and kill count. Since nothing in the realm was changed, the first round should still be a thousand Black Nine-Tailed foxes. A notification popped above the screen: “All Participants have chosen their Spherical Flame!”
One tap summoned a blue or a red dot by their names on the leaderboard. Julius learned something new. The whole family took the Flames of Wrath (愤怒) to the surprise of him and Empress Cai, who both are users of Flames of Wrath. She looked at him after. “You might be different, but your blood has a history of violence, and every once in a while through generations, somebody will be an immense force to be reckoned with.”
“Have they reached that cycle yet?”
“Nope. A natural prophecy of three candidates will rise every half a century. The one remaining standing will be the true representative of the Tang Family.”
“Woah…woah. Are you trying to say I’m part of this?”
“I’ll be honest; I would be shocked if you weren’t. Nobody who is inexperienced like you at the beginning could survive with such qi. And I’m very serious about that.”
“Thanks for adding another pressure onto my shoulders,” Julius said while being annoyed.
“Don't look at me like that. I didn't know you were that emotional. It just makes sense why they would pick the Flames of Wrath.”
“Then why did you pick it?”
“Because my natural state of power works well with it. I have a different reason for it.”
Boom!
The rumbling explosion broke off their conversation, prompting both to focus on the battlefield. Up ahead were consistent bombings like a geyser, shooting ground dirt from underneath. Very effective measure. It was small, targeted, and less widespread compared to Julius’s moments of explosive qi. He witnessed a couple of minutes that revitalized his interest in bringing more movesets or abilities related to deafening explosives because it was really loud amid the barrier. What was more captivating was the fact most of the time when one of them triggered an explosive, the blast blew at the right time and struck a pack of vicious black foxes. Great work! Julius would mentally repeat each successful time the blast ignited.
Beep!
Julius looked at the screen, finding the mission had been completed. A thousand black nine-tailed foxes are eliminated. What the hell? He stood from his seat and watched the scene. There were only a couple of spots where the bodies remained. The explosions unleashed so much heat that the blood and gushy bits evaporated, leaving steamy vapors around the vicinity for many death spots.
Unbelievable. It's only been five minutes. Julius's mind was baffled at the result. He then sat back down, taking in the results.
“How did it take us hours to finish?” Empress Cai wondered with a slight tone of embarrassment uttered through the tip of the tongue. “I remember…we did three hours.”
“We need to ask them once they finish the boss fight…Hang on.” Julius turned back to the screen and scrolled down. He didn't have to scroll for long when it stopped at one name. “She did ten.”
“Who?” Empress Cai leaned up to the screen. “Holy crap, she's feisty.”
“Míngyuè only started. That’s hella fast for—” He stopped and focused on the scene where she stood. Míngyuè’s blonde hair surrendered as most of it turned into white. When she walked around the area, her height changed and grew. The whole body gained weight, mainly the arms and her legs. The cloak had to be untightened, otherwise, she would suffocate. Parts of her clothes were shredded and burned from the nearby infliction of bombs. Like every average citizen and cultivator, she wore robes, long pants, and a belt tied around her waist with her black cloak over it. After the cloak untightened around her chest, Míngyuè pulled the hoodie part off from her head and let it hang on her back before she stopped. That was all Julius needed to see. Míngyuè became a cultivator, but the fastest transition he had ever seen.
Rumble
The ground rocked, and the barrier did its job to deter the vibration away from the hilltop. But Julius and Empress Cai felt a negligible force reach up to their legs from the bottom of their feet. They sat down and watched toward the same spot where the earthquake erupted like last time. The loud howl cried from the depths of the ridges. Here we go. Julius thought, bracing for the moment. Dark hollow openings between the ridges widened at a fast rate. It got so wide, doubling in width. And the divergence came to a complete stop, followed by the earthquake. It was silent.
Crack! Boom! Slam!
A violent tremor shook the entire realm that even the barricaded hilltop’s surface was not immune. Julius held his chair up, maintaining its balance. He saw Empress Cai gripped on the table while holding her ground. His peripherals remained focused on the ridges and there was Hu in her boss form. She was jumpier and swifter than ever. The leap reached near the ceiling of the realm. The health percentage bar appeared on the screen:
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Black Nine-Tailed Fox (Boss) HP: 15B
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Even higher. Julius noticed. He showed Empress Cai a three hundred percent increase in Hu’s health. Hu already knew, and she came prepared.
“She’s one step ahead since the beginning.” Empress Cai analyzed. “Maybe that’s why there’s a barrier.”
“Good point…Oh, look, her boss form is bigger.” Julius pointed out her arms and legs. There were more defined muscles enlarged underneath all the fur. Even the dark color can’t remove the definition and the presence of her updated physique. Her height also increased with her head casually reaching above the roof of the barrier. Julius had to lift his head nearly ninety degrees to see her total height. It was an unbelievable sight. Now, he wondered if they would last against it. Hence, he stood, went right to the barrier, and watched the scene as the battle commenced. The timer clock beeped from zero, and the Tang Family moved without hesitation.