*Bing-Bong*
And we are back to the usual language indicators.
*Bing-Bong*
_____________________________________________
âOkay, so a little over a hundred or so contestants, of which there are several obviously strong people and way more hiding their abilities...yeah, I can already tell this shit is probably gonna go sideways real fast,â Zhen Liu thought to himself as he looked over the competition.
[Do you want us to do any sabotaging for ourselves? Do it better than Inky and Pinky?," Razorstella suggested.
[Razor, thatâs dishonorable!]
[Oh, turnabout is fair play, Nepherage! They started it.]
[So we should end it!]
[Boo!]
[Wait...,] Spring Brawler interjected, [shouldnât Frosttusk be the one suggesting revenge? Since heâs technically running the stuff?]
[I...huh.]
With this realization made, the kaijin and Zhen Liu turned their attention towards Frosttusk, who remained silent for a solid three minutes before finally sighing and giving the group an answer.
[We...already...got...revenge...besides...I...prefer...up...close...and...personal...]
âNoted. Besides, if this goes the way I think this is going to go, the main clan is going to be the least of our worries...probably.â
[What makes you say that, maestro?]
âThe various powers and desires Iâm sensing all around us like a fog, and how I can detect at least...three very negative feeling ones.â
[Ah.]
âIâm honestly surprised Iâm not suddenly condensing cores left and right right now.â
<Oh yeah, thatâs because thereâs too many desires going off right now.>
âCome again?â
=Donât you remember when you condensed Frosttuskâs core? You couldnât do so because you werenât able to isolate his desire and had to be in a certain range? Similar logic to this situation.=
âYes, but I thought I got over that limitation because I am now a Grand-hold up, what the fuck am I sensing?â
[Huh?]
[Sensing what?]
[Something...off...?]
[Someone we can fight?]
[I think he means that guy over there...the one trying to suppress the fact they got dragon force.]
<=WHAT?!=>
_____________________________________________
"Man...if I knew this competition was going to attract so many people, I wouldâve dressed better! Or at least done my hair better," Zhen Guo complained.
"No shit," Zhen Xing agreed, "this is like three, no, five times bigger than the Prospector Challenge back home!"
"More like ten times bigger...," Zhen Feng commented as he stared up at the stands filled with people, "the crowd is honestly making me nervous."
"We canât be more nervous than how grandfather is probably feeling."
"True..."
Hours ago, the Zhen branch clan had a miracle happen as all of the members of the younger generation had all managed to simultaneously breakthrough to the Aether Master stage thanks to the pills provided by the main clan (and the interference of one well-meaning young man with a questionably demonic gun).
Much celebrating was done that evening, Gao Ren even made a delicious apple pie for the occasion.
Of course, there was also a small...event...that couldâve gone badly had it not been for the intervention of that aforementioned young man. If one was conscious and in the area at the time of this event, they wouldâve heard the sound of crackers breaking into pieces...granted, they werenât crackers.
In the morning though, i.e. today, the branch clan arrived to the competition venue, were quickly divided into two groups: contestants and audience, and then sent off into two different directions within the arena.
The audience group consisted of the branch clan elders, their spouses, attendants, children deemed too young to fight and of course, the clan patriarch.
They were originally going to be seated at the more general seats, since the branch clan hadnât been formerly identified as such yet, until the clan matriarch themselves noticed them and proceeded to invite them over to their more private section of the stands, in essence, a skybox made of aether and runes.
What unfolded before Zhen Liu and his cousinsâ eyes, was an awkward dance of etiquette that none of them could properly comment on, that ended with the branch clan sitting in the skybox...looking awkward as fuck...as least the patriarch did anyways.
Speaking of Zhen Liu and his cousins though, they were sent directly into the arena grounds in order to mingle and see who exactly their competition was going to be.
Well, Zhen Liu was scoping out the competition(conversing with his kaijin) while his cousins were trying to see if they recognized anybody within the crowd of contestants.
It was kind of difficult to make out specific faces within a crowd of a hundred or so people, but they could make out some people that were vaguely familiar to them, possibly related to someone they knew, and some individuals that they sincerely hope hadnât noticed them yet.
"Ah shit, isnât that the main clan girlie and her entourage over there? They havenât seen us yet, right?," Zhen Xing asked.
"No, but if you keep talking, they might," Zhen Guo replied.
"Wait a minute...that girl over there...ainât that the same symbol that Zhen Yueâs fiancĂ©e uses? Think she might be related to him?," Zhen Feng noted.
"If she is, I sincerely hope I donât have to fight her," Zhen Yue surprisingly answered.
"Because itâd be awkward as all hell to possibly beat up your fiancĂ©eâs cousin because of our internal family affairs?"
"Yes...precisely that."
"Well...at least heâs not here?"
"Donât jinx it."
"Okay, I swear I have seen that guyâs face before and it driving me nuts!," Zhen Hai commented as he spotted a young looking guy with a weirdly easy going vibe to him.
"What? You think it might be an ex-boyfriend of your girl or something?," Zhen Tai asked.
"No, most of her exes are...missing....its just something about that guyâs face is really familiar..."
"I...ya know what? Me learning about what happened to those exes will probably be hazardous to my health."
Of course, while the Zhen Clan scions were discussing about other people, other people around them began to discuss about them...and not in necessarily a good way.
<<Oi, check it. Its the brackborn grandkids of the Eloper.>>
<<Seriously? What are they doing here?>>
<<Heard this from my brother in the Hero Hall, apparently the matriarch insisted that they participate in the competition in order to wipe away their grandfatherâs sin.>>
<<Tsk! What kind of coward needs someone else to earn redemption for them.>>
<<One who allowed their kid to have a mud-born child...>>
Evidently, none of the scions paid enough attention to the word being said to want to do anything about it, but a certain group of individuals posing as puppets had very different, very violent ideas in mind.
Zhen Liu was just about to lightly admonish his kaijin for their thoughts, until a light pulse of aether thrummed throughout the arena and silenced all forms of chatter that was happening within it.
The source of this aether pulse turned out to be a middle-aged Aether King that floating mid-air in blue tinted robes, or to be more polite in regards to identification, it was the Hero Elder, Zhen Xun Po.
âOf course theyâre going with a grandiose display of power,â Zhen Liu thought to himself as he stared up towards someone who was technically his elder.
âNot like thereâs a bajillion cases where flagrant displays of power donât actually work-OH WAIT!â
As he stood, floating above the crowd and arena, several aether tools in the shape of bats suddenly began to orbit around Zhen Xun Po like a moon around a planet.
<{"Testing, one, two, three! Mhmm! Is this thing working? Hello?"}>
The moment people heard that little verbal statement, everyone understood immediately that the aether tool in question was a translator of some sort, something that would be perfect for a rowdy crowd...or a riot.
<{" Greeting and saultations, one and all. I am humbled that so many of you, from all over of the world have to come to participate or watch our little competition."}>
A small wave of laugher occurred as soon as Zhen Xun Po made that joke.
It wasnât good, but it was appropriate for the time being.
"The amount of contestants this fine day is the largest weâve seen while hosting these games, over one hundred and twenty eight of you had signed up to participate in this contest, and all one hundred and twenty eight of you have arrived on time!"
"One hundred twenty-eight?! Holy shit?!"
"Damn, thatâs a lot of fighters."
"How are they going to determine who will move on to the next round though?"
This murmuring continued for awhile until Zhen Xun Po picked up where he left off.
"Now, you must all be wondering how are we going to host a tournament with over a hundred contestants in a timely manner? Well, the answer is simple: weâll be eliminating half of the contestants via Lottery Elimination!"
*SNAP!*
*POOF!*
"Whoa..."
With the snap of his fingers, Zhen Xun Po summoned forth a strange looking device that looked a bit like a giant fish bowl filled with several glowing colored balls that were floating inside of it.
âWait...it canât be that simple of a qualifier round...can it?â
Spoiler alert: it wasnât.