The Invincible Hero

All partic.i.p.ants were in the Martial Origins Realm. All were allowed to join after pa.s.sing a few tests to weed out the weaker contestants. For the next two weeks, registration and try-outs would be carried out. After that, the contest would begin!

Finding an Inn was hard, but Bwiri was able to secure lodging for them after flashing her Amazon medallion. People always made way for immortals. Most mortals had never seen an immortal before. Being an Inn hosting an immortal raised the fame of the inn, which meant prices would also rise. The occupants of the top suites were immediately sent packing.

At first, the three princes from different kingdoms of the Afrina continent wanted to complain. This changed after learning their rooms were being given to an immortal and her retinue. Unfortunately, the princes were never able to find a lodging through the entirety of the contest being forced to set up tents outside the city.

Malkus Gun was in his room with his brother as they practiced their cultivation techniques. Bwiri said they weren"t allowed to remove their trainer bracelets and belt. They were to keep it on throughout their time in the Inn and during the compet.i.tion. She told them it was more important to keep the training than to win a "stupid" tournament.

Women, what did they know about the heart of a true warrior? Warriors were people who were meant to fight and conquer. If you had the ability to win, why not win?

Paneneko, his brother, didn"t agree. He thought the training was better for them. Besides, he already learned one of the benefits of the weight belt and braces was that his fighting techniques were becoming more and more polished. He was quickly losing all of the unnecessary movements that always got in the way of his fighting techniques. These flaws, nearly got him and his brother killed on several different occasions.

Malkus stopped complaining, he decided to work on his punching techniques since weapons weren"t allowed in the tournament, neither was killing.

Something interesting happened this morning. Tower showed up wearing ankle weights today. When the Gun brothers asked why they weren"t given the weights, Tower just said;

"Too weak."

It was true, Malkus and Paneneko were at level twenty-six, but Tower had past level forty. He certainly deserved to have his training level b.u.mped up. Of course, these new weights greatly weakened Tower. He was much slower and had less stamina than in the past. However, his toughness couldn"t be denied. He and his brother still weren"t able to defeat him, even when they teamed up.

Master Shannon left to get the men signed up to go through the preliminary tests. This freed them up to continue their training. When Master Shannon returned he informed them that they would go to the seventh testing rink in section eight of the grounds at around two in the afternoon.

The three men continued training without stopping until lunch of the next day. Finishing lunch the men left to take their tests. They jogged to the testing grounds and continued to work out as they waited to be called.

An hour after they arrived they were called to the testing grounds. The tests were being overseen by an Origin Master. Origin Masters was at the top of the Mortal cultivation realm. They were also called Masters. They were the true masters of the mortal realm.

Therefore, having someone in the Origin Master realm was a great honor. Of course, after spending the last two months with Bwiri the boys were less than impressed. They were used to the oppressive presence of Bwiri. She built up the level of her presence while around the men. She only let out ten percent of her presence, but that was more than enough to outdo this Origin Master.

Tower could handle twenty percent of her presence, but he had been with her for years. Bwiri was really impressed that the Gun brothers were able to adapt so quickly to her presence.

The Origin Master was impressed by how the three young men seemed completely unaffected by his presence. This made him suspicious and he suddenly thought to make sure that these men were actually in the Student realm as they claimed.

Suddenly he felt someone speaking in his mind, the old man was really startled as he looked around and couldn"t see anyone. He suddenly realized he was being spoken to by an immortal. He was shocked. He had been around several immortals, but he was always ignored. For the first time in his life an immortal was directly speaking to him. What she said was absolutely shocking,

"Hurry up I"m getting bored. The men are as they seem."

The old man was startled and realized he was being given an order. He was wasting an immortal"s time, he better hurry up. The old man looked at the young men before him, seeming to think for a few moments he finally said:

"Pa.s.s, impressive boys, impressive." The old man said.

"Call them men, my fiance hates being called a boy," Bwiri spoke again.

"Fiance! One of these men had an immortal as a fiance! SHIG!"

"Excuse me, I meant men, you are all some impressive men. I hope I didn"t offend anyone, I"m just an old man after all!" The Origin Master said with a pained smile.

"Please just leave, you guys are stressing me out, I"m still a mortal, do you want me to die of fright?!" The old man thought.

The trio moved along not thinking much about this. Everyone else present, however, was utterly shocked! Just an old man, JUST?!!! Did the elder suddenly go senile? This was an Origin Master!

After the pre-testing was finished, all of the qualified contestants gathered the day before the actual Continental Contest of Might started. The purpose was to draw lots and arrange who would face whom. Not surprisingly, the most famous pract.i.tioners of the Mortal Realm made an appearance. Why? Because of the simple advertis.e.m.e.nt put up by the official Imperial court which said:

Continental Contest of Might!

Are you the strongest?

Do you want everyone to know?

Do you want money, equipment, techniques, fame?

Join the Battle of the Century and Take a Major Step Towards Immortality!

There were spies and martial experts from every corner of the continent. There were too many to count! The total number of partic.i.p.ants was 1012 people. Battles would be held from seven in the morning until seven in the evening. Thirteen b for the first part of the battles. There were ten battle platforms set up and there were stands set up near each of the battle platforms.

There was a VIP section that was elevated over the platforms. The plan was to eliminate nine hundred and twelve people over the course of the seven days of fighting. It seemed like a lot of people but it was easily an achievable number.

The exciting thing for the inhabitants of Karman wasn"t limited to the martial contest. It included all the money they could make, Whether it was selling food, renting rooms, or selling pills and weapons. Business was booming for the people of the Capitol!

The more than one thousand partic.i.p.ants gathered to select their numbers. The Origin Master waited anxiously all day until he saw the three bo...men from the other day. These young men had status far beyond anything he had. He was so stunned the other day that he never bothered to talk with the men to learn their intentions.

The trio stood patiently waiting along with everyone else chatting about some of their recent achievements in training. A young man carefully approached the three men and saw that Tower seemed to be the leader of the group. Bowing towards them the young man extended an invitation to speak with the Origin Master.

All three were a little surprised by the invitation, but without worrying too much about it they agreed and followed the young man. Arriving at the courtyard of the old Origin Master"s, they spied a table with three chairs and tea waiting to be poured. There were snacks waiting to be eaten as well. Sitting in a chair was the old man that ran the pre-test for them.

The old man got up from his chair immediately and bowed very low to the young men.

"Greeting young lords. This humble one is appreciative that you have agreed to meet with me." The origin Master said.

Tower instantly knew what was going on. This wasn"t the first time this happened. It was always a headache when people found out about Bwiri.

"I see you"ve spoken with my fiance," said Tower as he and the Gun brothers sat.

"Indeed, she informed me of your qualifications the other day so that you wouldn"t have to waste time with those silly tests." The old Master smiled at Tower.

"I see, what can I do for you senior," Tower asked the nervous old man.

"No need to call me senior, haha, umm, I was just thinking that if you would like there"s no need for you to partic.i.p.ate in the first part of the compet.i.tion. I"m sure that you"re more than qualified to fight in the top one hundred rounds. I"m even prepared to make the three of you our seeded fighters. You could wait to fight until the semi-finals." The old master offered Tower.

Tower"s expression changed, darkening a little. The Gun brothers also looked displeased.

"Why would we want to spend a week watching other people have fun fighting?" Paneneko asked.

"You, want to fight even these preliminary rounds?" The old man asked.

"Of course, we"re doing all of this for our training. Honestly, it would be more beneficial to us if we could fight at least once an hour. Unless we meet someone formidable of course." Malkus added to the conversation.

"I"m sure something like this is what my fiance intends. You know, we can"t get married until I break through and become immortal. Having me sit around dumbly watching others fight prevents me from gaining experience and advancing quicker. It"s like you want to increase the time we have to wait until we get married. Do you really want to stick your nose into the business of an Immortal in love and her fiance?" Tower asked. It"s true, the way he put things was malicious but other than having a little fun with the old man; he also wanted to make his intentions clear.

Unfortunately, his joke didn"t have the effect he was hoping it would.

"My heart!" cried the old man as he fell to the ground. He died right there in his gra.s.sy courtyard.