Chapter 55: Round of Sixteen

  A secret tunnel snaked through several underground caverns beneath the Arcane Academy. Flying through this tunnel was none other than Zoltan, rushing through the maze of interconnecting caves before arriving in front of a set of enormous metallic doors shining with a silver luster.

  The doors had no apparent handles or any obvious methods of access. Zoltan approached the shimmering surface and struck it numerous times in a complex and specific rhythmic sequence. After a minute, the gap between the doors hissed as it swung inward, cool air escaping and blasting him in the face. A rectangular corridor lined with plates of the same metal as the door stretched so far that the end couldn’t be seen.

  An azure-robed woman with long black hair tied up into a ponytail stood in the middle of the tunnel. Belinda had deep bags under her eyes, though it was mostly hidden behind her thick spectacles.

  “Zoltan, what is it? Shouldn’t you be at the Colosseum overseeing the Convergence?” she asked as she attempted to stifle a yawn.

  “Belinda, there was an issue with the protective amulets. The barriers were circumvented via water and lightning attacks, along with soundwaves. Some contestants suffered serious injuries. Is it possible to maintain the same level of defensive capability but increase the coverage? Perhaps have them create a full-body shield instead?” Zoltan asked, his tone serious.

  “Oh, they used methods like that? This batch of participants must be quite powerful! Let’s see…” Belinda adjusted her spectacles with one hand and tapped her pursed lips with the other. “It’s quite simple, actually. We’ll just need to create a larger artifact and power it with additional essence stones. Maybe something like a neck guard instead. However…”

  Zoltan smiled in relief at Belinda’s initial words, but the smile froze when she got to the end. Feeling slightly nervous, he asked, “What is it?”

  “Well, we don’t have much Mysticform Ore left. Even if we refine and extract some from the shattered amulets, it’ll be quite costly if we use up the rest of our supplies. Is that fine with you?”

  After hearing that, Zoltan heaved a sigh of relief. Smiling again, he said, “Is that it? I thought there was an issue. In four years, the new demi-plane will open up, and we should be able to gather some more.”

  Belinda crossed her arms and leaned against the metallic walls of the corridor. “That’s fine then. How many do you need? Eight? I’ll have it ready for you in three days.”

  Zoltan shook his head. “We need 16 in total. And we need it prepared in two days.”

  With a venomous glare, Belinda asked in a cold voice, “Do you think Tinkering is easy? Why don’t you do it yourself, then?”

  The frosty voice and harsh words did not affect Zoltan at all. His smile remained as he responded. “Belinda, stop with the act. I’ll allow you to choose and keep three materials from the next demi-plane expedition. Is that enough?”

  Belinda’s face lit up in elation, the icy complexion having vanished without a trace. “Oh ho ho. Now you’re talking! You know just how to convince me. I’ll have the artifacts prepared in two days. Send me the scraps from the destroyed amulets later when you can.”

  Zoltan withdrew a storage pouch from his robes and handed it over on the spot. “No need, I already brought the scraps with me. While I’m here, I want to see the progress on the analysis of the blood jewels.”

  After accepting the pouch, Belinda turned around and walked down the corridor. “Follow me.” The metallic doors swung shut after they walked deeper into the secret area.

  Not long after, they arrived in a small room somewhere deep within the structure. In this room, there were three long tables encircling a man tied to a raised bed. Strange tools and artifacts covered the tables, and the restrained man was currently unconscious. Embedded on his forehead was a large red jewel, the surrounding skin having turned slightly brown and dark. If Damon were here, he would be shocked to see him. It was Cado.

  Zoltan inspected the man with a grave expression for a time before turning to face Belinda. “How is his condition?”

  Pushing her spectacles up, Belinda stroked Cado's head and said, “It’s not good. After the testing began, the jewel retaliated by attacking Cado’s consciousness. We’re trying our best to relieve the pressure and heal the damage, but we don’t know enough about the mind. For now, we’ve had to stop the experiments, otherwise it will consume him completely.”

  “What else have you learned?”

  “The jewel itself is quite brittle and will shatter if a significant force is applied. However, we have not tried with Cado since his jewel is currently connected to his mind. The other thing is… The jewel is alive. It looks like a gem, but it will occasionally attempt to dig further into Cado’s mind. It is more similar to a seed, rather than a jewel. Calling it the blood seed is more fitting.”

  “What of its origins?”

  “The seed is most likely a physical manifestation of a Psion’s mental power. They must be incredibly powerful to have created such a thing.”

  Zoltan rubbed his stubble as he considered the conversation up to this point. He then met Belinda’s eyes and said, “Cory has recently started asking about Cado’s whereabouts. It’s getting harder to convince him that his grandson is out on a mission. He’s even threatened to leave his post at the Guard Manor to go search for Cado. Are you able to suppress the seed? We need to release him as soon as possible.”

  Belinda furrowed her brows and frowned as she contemplated Zoltan’s question. After a few minutes, she finally opened her mouth. “We’ve gathered pretty much every material related to the mind from the Trade Hall and Pavilion’s possession. With these, I may be able to craft a trinket of sorts that could suppress the mind… It will take time and a lot of experimentation. I can’t guarantee anything.”

  “Haah…” Zoltan heaved a sigh and cracked his neck while looking up at the glowing stone embedded in the ceiling. The white light cascading down irritated his eyes, but he did not blink as he was lost in thought.

  “First, complete the artifacts for the Convergence. Then I want you and your team to focus solely on figuring out a way to suppress this blood seed, or how to track down its creator. This is your top priority.”

  The day after the first round of matches, Damon opened the door to his private villa. A gush of wind pushed Damon to the side as a flash of golden hair passed him by. Trailing behind was a sweaty and panting Thomas.

  “H… Hey… Damon…” Thomas greeted him between his ragged breathing. Damon had invited Claire and Thomas over to discuss the Convergence. It seemed like Thomas made the mistake of meeting Claire prior to coming over.

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  “Welcome, Thomas.” Damon closed the door behind Thomas and gave him a glass of refreshing spring water. “Claire, can you stop jumping on the bed? I just tidied up.”

  Claire leapt from the bed and floated down toward the table Damon and Thomas had sat down at.

  “So, why did you gather us, Damon?” Claire asked as she took a seat. Even while seated, her legs swung back and forth ceaselessly.

  Damon passed a glass of cold water to Claire as well. “First, how are you? Are you okay, Claire?”

  “Me? I’m fine! Why wouldn’t I be fine?”

  “We saw what happened after your first match…”

  “Ah, that… Don’t worry. I won’t lose my cool again. Grandpa gave me a pendant to wear at all times that helps calm the mind. Their words won’t affect me like that, even if they try something similar again.” Claire pulled out a small jade pendant that was strung on a gold chain around her neck.

  Although Damon was curious about this material related to the mind, he chose not to inspect it closely. “That’s good. I’m glad to hear that. Now the second thing I wanted to discuss was… The abilities of the other top contenders and to strategize against them.”

  Having caught his breath, Thomas asked, “That’s a good idea. Is it because the Towers have already organized against us?”

  His words shocked Damon, prompting him to look back at Thomas with wide eyes. “What? The Towers have already organized against us? How do you know?”

  “Well… Apart from Nox, all the other matches between the Towers have been very mild. It’s obvious they were holding back, and you could tell the weaker apprentices were taking the hits on purpose.” Thomas explained.

  Even Claire stared at him wide-eyed, her and Damon looking like two newborn chicks looking up at their mother. Thomas placed his face in his palm and shook his head multiple times. How were these two top contenders?

  “How could you tell? I didn’t notice anything!” Claire slapped Thomas’s arm a few times before shaking it vigorously.

  “How could you not? It was so plain to see… Wait. Did the two of you not observe any of the other matches during the first round?”

  Damon and Claire met eyes before looking back at Thomas while shaking their heads. Damon had been too preoccupied with his staring contests with Alexander, and Claire just wasn’t paying any attention. The only matches they watched were the ones with people they were close to.

  “You two… Are seriously special, you know that?” Thomas leaned back in his chair and stared at the other two in exasperation.

  Claire smiled while nodding her head eagerly, and Damon just thanked him. Thomas became dazed for a few moments before returning to himself. He sat back up in his chair and leaned over the table, motioning for the other two to come closer.

  When Damon and Claire leaned in as well, Thomas said, “You know that the Towers are scheming against the Assembly now. So, what will we do about this? You saw how cruel Nox was to the Initiate from Argent Flame. His next match is against Jackson. We should warn him to prepare for any underhanded tactics.”

  Damon and Claire became serious at those words and nodded with solemn looks. Damon then spoke up.

  “That’s Nox, but what about the others? Should we use underhanded means against them as well? Fight fire with fire, as they say?”

  Claire glared at him and punched him in the shoulder. “What do you mean by ‘use underhanded means’? Do you want to be like that scum, Nox? No, we will be above them. Beat your opponents fairly but also display the power of the Assembly. The Towers are obviously trying to put us down, so we just need to prevent that with a show of force.”

  “Claire is right. Damon, we can’t stoop that low. Besides, the only threats are their first seeds, in my opinion. Erik and Nox are both powerful in their own ways, and Alexander is a mystery. He has yet to reveal anything special. How do you feel about your match with him tomorrow?”

  Damon crossed his arms on his chest and leaned back. “Well… I don’t know. I watched his match, but he seemed almost… Average? He must be hiding his true strength. I was there during his assessment, and he has a high affinity for the fire, earth, and light elements. He’ll most likely specialize in one of those. Possibly more.”

  Thomas leaned back as well with a relieved smile. “Oh, you know that much? Good, it’ll be easier to face him, then. Water is very versatile and should be able to match against those elements quite well.”

  Claire remained leaning forward, resting her chin in her hands as she glanced back and forth between her two friends. As they discussed the upcoming matches with serious expressions, a radiant smile bloomed on her face, yet it went unnoticed by the two boys engrossed in their conversation.

  The day of the next round of duels arrived, and the Colosseum was packed to the brim once more. In the arena, the 16 remaining contestants stood around one large platform, formed by the merging of the previous four platforms.

  This wasn’t the only change that had occurred since the previous round. Now, there were numerous cultivators walking around with large signs as they hawked their wares. It appeared they had taken a hint from Dylan and Samantha’s lucrative business on the first day and copied them. However, Dylan and Samantha had not remained idle, either.

  Nobody knew how Dylan had managed to receive permission, but they had set up a complete food stall on the northern side of the platform. With a few more of their chef friends joining them to cook hot food on the spot, their business was much more popular than the random hawkers selling snacks. Dylan ran around taking orders, and Samantha was delivering the meals.

  With a bright smile on his face, Dylan paused for a moment to wipe the sweat beading on his forehead. At this moment, the noisy audience fell into a hush, and Dylan looked down at the arena. Zoltan had emerged from the private box and levitated above the single large platform.

  Zoltan levitated in place for a few seconds while the murmuring and chattering of the crowd died down. He then cleared his throat before his voice rang out over the entire Colosseum.

  “Welcome back for the round of 16. We have implemented some small changes. First, the protective amulet artifacts are now protective bracers. They function the same way and maintain the same defensive strength, but the barriers they create will cover the contestant’s bodies.”

  He glanced around at the audience. Every single person was listening with rapt focus, and not a single whispered complaint or mumble of discontent entered his ears. With a small smile, he continued.

  “Secondly, the four platforms have been combined into one, and there will be only one match at a time. The four Adjudicators will collectively maintain the safety of the participants from the four corners of the platform. That is all. With that, let the first pair come up!”

  Having finished with his brief explanation of changes, he flew back out of the view of the crowd.

  As the audience broke out into discussion about the changes, a new voice filled with enthusiasm rang out.

  “Welcome back, everyone, to the second round of the Crucible Convergence. If you weren’t here last time, I am Wesley from the Military Academy and next to me is Alan from the Arcane Academy!”

  “Hello.” A gruff voice greeted the crowd.

  “Yes! Changes have been implemented to ensure the safety of the participants! The Assembly takes every precaution very seriously! Hopefully we won’t have any incidents today!”

  “Today, we will begin from bracket one and go down the list. The first match features the first seed from our Arcane Academy, Claire Dumont.” Alan had his left hand placed on the crystal orb as he rested his head against his right arm, which was propped up on the table.

  “That’s right! Claire is up against the sixth seed from Violet Mist. Oh, there they are, climbing up onto the stage now! No upsets are expected from the first bracket. The highlight match of the day will come up shortly in bracket two! It’s the match between Damon Fletcher, the dark horse of the tournament, and the first seed from the Argent Flame!”

  Wesley’s voice was clear, and his enunciation was perfect. Combined with his enthusiasm, it was as though he was born to be a commentator.

  On the other hand, Alan’s face was blank as he yawned and closed his eyes. With his head resting against his hand, it looked like he was sleeping. At the mention of Damon, he opened his eyes again.

  “Yes, I believe that will be a match worth watching. It will be the most entertaining match of the day.”

  “I agree! But first, let’s focus on the current match! The lead Adjudicator is raising his arm into the air to mark the commencement of today’s Convergence. Aaaaaaand… Start!”

  Crucible Convergence is going to heat up soon!

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