The lavender coloured flame quickly began shrinking as it ate away at the tinder, ('watching this is always so fascinating') Ron thought as he watched the flame go to work.
The ball deflated quickly and soon it disappeared into nothingness, the flame lit up and discharged a gigantic pulse that nearly threw Ron out of his sea of consciousness. ('That has never happened before') It was an uncharacteristically powerful pulse that followed and soon all the stars lit up, they slowly unlit taking even longer than usual as if hesitating whether to stay lit or not.
90 stars, 85 stars, 80 stars and soon they stopped dimming and 75 stars remained lit. Gaining an extra 20 stars was unexpected but not unwanted, every bit of power he could obtain before the tournament was great.
('Speaking of tournament') It was time to see how long he had until the tournament and of course make it there as well.
He also had to test out his new physique and power in the kindling state, opening his eyes Ron found himself in a near empty cauldron. He was afraid he missed some medicine when he realised it was only impurities from his stars, disposing of the waste and cleaning himself up Ron could immediately see a difference in himself.
Originally Ron's skin tone was white however after the body forging method his skin tone became more tanned, as if he just returned from sunbathing.
Apart from the skin tone difference Ron couldn't really feel any difference, wanting to test it out immediately Ron took out a gun from his pouch and without hesitancy shot himself in the palm.
*BANG* *ding* A gunshot was heard before a small metallic sound was heard, Ron looked at his palm and could see a faint mark on his hand quickly disappearing, he then looked at the ground and saw the bullet on the ground dented in as if it had met a tough shield.
('I suppose you could call me a man of steel') Ron made a bad joke in his mind and was quite happy with the results, he then activated the kindling state to see how that felt.
Feeling the kindling state active Ron felt no pains or overall feeling of wear and tear that he originally felt he also felt more power than before although it wasn't much every bit helped. He had successfully overcome the extreme side effects of the kindling state and even gained more power in the process.
Ron was curious about his stats as it had been a while before he had even looked at them.
Name: Ron Belmont
Level: 1
Race: Human
Bloodline: Belmont bloodline (slightly mutated)
Wish points: 2,000 → 400
Strength: 32 → 40
Stamina: 32 → 40
Vitality: 15
Agility: 32 → 40
Toughness: 16 → 30
Magic: 2/2 → 6/6
Skills: Kindling state, Claws, Whip mastery, Muscle guard, Multi Step, Three in one (first stage)
Achievements: Accepting the past, Goblin tribe, Convincing, Goblin exterminator, Destiny changer, Secret finder, Kobold's cave clear, Spider hive, Ant colony, Nameless pharaoh's tomb clear, Scorpion nest, Scorpion exterminator, Overcoming the odds
Seeing his strength, stamina and agility grow in a linear fashion was excellent news. His toughness nearly doubled in size due to the first stage of the three in one body forging technique and the stars that stayed lit.
His magic was also slowly getting better every day as Ron didn't slack on it, one day he would draw magic circles and even cast some holy spells like grand cross.
His vitality was invisibly boosted by the necklace he had obtained from the dungeon however that still was a lowish number, that would be next on the agenda.
Looking at the stopwatch Ron could see he had little over 5 days left to reach the tournament before it began, this meant he was in here for 2 days.
Ron felt no fatigue and had no damage thus he felt no need for a potion, taking a deep breath of fresh air Ron cleared the cave and began to run slowly getting faster and faster.
Eventually Ron activated the kindling state once more and could feel his entire body speed up significantly, if someone were to look at Ron now they would only see a blur passing by them as he ran without pain. He would still have to deal with the exhaustion later on however one potion should be able to fix that. Ron was as strong and as ready as ever for the tournament.
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Quickly 5 days had passed and meanwhile at the centre of the first floor there appeared to be quite the crowd forming, over 1,000 people were here ranging from children to even the elderly.
Man or woman it didn't matter there were all kinds of people here. Everyone here was waiting for the tournament to start, there were tens of giant fighting rings placed along with stands at each of the rings.
There was also a giant pillar that seemed to piece the sky off in the distance. Some people sat at the stands yet strangely there appeared to be a small group of 5 robed people no-one got closer to or even tried to sit next to in one of the stands. In fact no-one even seemed to acknowledge these people as they chatted with each other.
"Seems like it's finally beginning, I was growing tired of waiting all this time" A man dressed in a green robe said clearly annoyed that it was taking so long.
"There's still an hour left before closing time. What makes you so sure no-one else will come?" Another man this time dressed in yellow responded to the green robed man.
"Everyone had two weeks to get here, clearly they're not going to come in the last hour" The green robed man answered as if it was fact.
"Want to make a bet on it?" The yellow robed man could feel easy money coming as late comers were always a possibility.
"Sure, what do you want to bet?" The green robed man was confident no-one was going to show up.
The yellow robed man grinned and said "If I win I get a week's worth of your spirit wine, if you win you get 10 kilos of my heavenly apples deal?" the yellow robed man made his offer and the green robed man seemed to consider it, after a small moment he said "I accept, be ready for the payment".
A sigh escaped from another mouth as this time a blue robed woman said "Can't you two be serious about this task? We're here to scout future seeds, not make silly little bets."
Before the men could answer, another woman in a red robe responded "Why are you on their necks so much? People can have fun and still complete the task ahead of them. Plus this little bet isn't too out of line".
The blue robed women snapped towards the black robed woman and glared at her "Not surprising you're defending them, I expected nothing more from your guild".
Now it was the black robed womens turn to glare back with even more ferocity "Oh? You wanna go right now?" the black robed woman said, releasing a small bit of bloodlust.
Before the situation got too out of hand the final man at the group dressed in a purple robe turned to both of them "Enough, there's no need to fight. Do any of you know who's running this event this time around?"
Changing the subject seemed to have worked as the tension lightened and the blue robed woman turned to him "Not a clue, I just hope it's not some of those extreme people" she said in response.
The rest of them also gave a negative to the purple robed man's inquiry, "That's strange, usually they would have revealed themselves already. Why take this long?"
Elsewhere in the ground another man had the same line of thought but to a different person completely ('Why isn't he here yet? Did he actually die in the other dungeon? Or is he stuck in one?') This person was Jacob, he had expected Ron to appear by now however Ron was still nowhere to be seen.
He knew Ron and Scarlett were off to find other dungeons when they rescued him, it was also possible to die or even be trapped in them with no way out.
Back in the stands the minutes slowly ticked by as the yellow robed man thought he had made a mistake with this bet, suddenly the black robed women looked to the side and said "Something or someone is coming and fast".
At first the yellow robed man was happy until he felt what was coming and frowned "This feels like a level two being and not brand new either, did someone new actually reach level two in a month and a half?" It seemed extremely unlikely as the people here were at best nearing the peak of level one with some even being close to level two.
"If he's not a newcomer then I still win, correct?" The green robed man confirmed with the yellow robed man.
Another change suddenly happened, the level two being coming towards them stopped and its power dropped from level two to a high level one being.
"It just dropped!? Can it be a boosting skill that can actually elevate his power through one stage?" The purple robed man exclaimed, boosting skills albeit rare here were not uncommon in the upper floors however having one that could boost past the limit was even rare at the upper floors.
"Seems like he's going to normally run the distance now, could be to hide his powers or because of the negative side effects of using it too long" The black robed woman commented.
"Whoever it is is certainly here for the tournament" The yellowed robed man was happy with the random strangers appearance as it meant he was getting a week's worth of free wine.
"We don't know that until he actually appears in the tournament" The green robed man tried to hide his frustration but inwardly was getting ready to pay the bet.
Ron finished taking a rejuvenation potion and began to normally run the rest of the distance, he could see the pillar in the distance and guessed that this must be the place for the tournament. Running for nearly 5 days straight and in the kindling state no less was exhausting.
However, when he was finally here, he wondered if he was going to see Jacob here or not. Walking into the crowd he could see multiple rings set up along with some stands to watch from, scanning the stands Ron could feel as if someone was watching him from them yet when he looked there appeared to be no-one.
"Interesting he can actually feel us" The black robed woman was even more interested in this man than before, the man looked at them as if looking for them before turning his attention elsewhere.
"Quite impressive indeed, I think we've found a good seed wouldn't you say?" The yellow robed man said and pointed the last line at the woman in the blue robe.
"Yes he's quite the good seed, however you know our policy" The blue robed woman said to the yellow robed man.
"When has that ever stopped you before? After all sex changes can happen with only a single wish" the yellow robed man knew of their policy to only accept women however with a single wish that could be changed.
"True, however I doubt he would accept that" The blue robed woman answered, from the way he was dressed and walked it was very clear that he didn't want a sex change.
Ron suddenly shivered as if someone had been scoping him out reading every move of his, it was most likely the people that were watching him from the stands.
He couldn't see them but he knew they were there, and most likely they were the scouts Ankhtakelot had told him about.
Ron didn't know if it was wise to appear on their radar already or not but he had no choice anymore in the matter.
Ron walked around for a bit more until a loud bang made him turn his attention elsewhere, red smoke was rising from the middle ring until a man in a red robe suddenly flew out and remained standing in the air. The five scouts in the stands all had exasperated expressions on them "Oh god, it's actually them. No wonder they didn't show themselves".