Kill The Old Ones!

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”It started within the respected cities you came from...” King Petyr stated to start.

”The GMU, Royal Court, and the World System told you that we are interested to see how much you’ve grown, especially after your unexpected abduction to the Sky Archon Trial Grounds.”

The King looked at all of them and smiled, amused.

”That was a lie...an improv, because that event derailed our plans, and we’re forced to take it into consideration.”

”In truth, whether the Sky Archon Trial Grounds appeared or not, there will always be a tournament within the city to figure out who amongst the current generation was fit to represent it for what’s coming next.”

There were silent gasps and changes of expression beside him, and Ren couldn’t blame them, but he also thought that they were exaggerating with their reactions.

He wasn’t shocked because he already knows. His girlfriend also wasn’t so surprised because he already told her some of his speculations. But the rest? They probably weren’t expecting it.

”After the cream of the crop within your respective cities had been identified, what came next was a tournament that pitted you against other cities and their representatives. And its goal was quite similar, just on a larger scale—to figure out who among your generation is the best to represent the whole kingdom...mine, to be exact.”

”And we hoped at least one or two of them would come from people from the city we reside in; alas, all we got was a bunch of trash...” Crown Prince Robert grumbled on the side.

Which got him a glare from his mother and a booming laugh from the king. Princess Alysanne just shook her head in exasperation, and young Prince Brandon chuckled.

”He’s not wrong. Those kids were raised like they’re the reason the sun rises from the east, and thus, we mortals should be grateful for their existence,” the king sneered as he shuffled in his seat. ”Well, so much for that. Now, they’re paying dearly for their mistakes. If I hadn’t enforced strict order and control on that city, all of those kids would’ve been flayed alive by now.”

Ren felt the collective shiver of his fellow finalists when this was revealed. The king wasn’t exaggerating this time, and neither was the internet. The anger and rage of Royal City’s citizens were just that immense.

”Anyways...from the two previous tournaments you’ve participated in, and now that I laid them out before you, you kids should be seeing the pattern, yeah?”

”...” Nobody spoke; instead, they waited for the king to continue his words.

”It begins locally and within the city, then city vs. city...If we’re following this pattern, the next is kingdom vs. kingdom.”

The King raised his hand and pushed a projection before their eyes.

The hologram displayed a large continent, which was roughly divided into five portions—not equal in size.

”This is the world map of human civilization. This includes all the land we occupy as a race,” the king stated. ”It’s named the Pangea Continent—the sole continent in this world.”

There’s a portion in this continent’s hologram that was outlined and, therefore, highlighted. The portion wasn’t the largest partition on the map, nor was it the smallest. Its size was somewhere in the middle.

”That is the Heavenly Bronze Empire.”

The hologram zoomed into the highlighted portion of the map, and suddenly, the image became more detailed and populated. But once again, there were partitions here, and this time, they were almost evenly divided.

”Under the banner of the Heavenly Bronze Empire are five kingdoms: the Black Spade Kingdom, Sea Serpent Kingdom, Sky Spill Kingdom, Great Wilderness Kingdom, and of course, my kingdom—the Letter Kingdom.”

The King left the projection there for them to stare and chew on for a bit. He probably wants them to digest the idea of how big the world truly was to humble them, but this was certainly not his main goal.

”Now that you’ve seen it, and I’ve told you about the pattern, what comes next should be obvious, right?”

”One kingdom’s representatives versus another kingdom’s representatives,” Adrian Arclight muttered to himself, but his voice was loud enough for everybody in the room to hear.

”And after that?” The king urged him to continue.

”One empire’s representatives versus another empire’s representatives,” Adrian responded.

”Right, you are!!” King Petyr clapped a couple of times. ”That’s exactly how it is!”

”You are in a much larger chain of tournaments to figure out who’s truly the best amongst the current generation! And all of these events happen once every decade!”

”You’ve been rewarded, both personally and in the respective cities you represent. And if we’re continuing this trend, then you’d realize that your following challenges aren’t just something personal for you. The stakes would be much, much higher, and so are the benefits and consequences.”

”In the Kingdom vs. Kingdom tournament, your final results will affect whether the kingdom you represent gets blessings or punishment. It’s the same kind of blessings and punishment you rolled for in the Wheel of Fortune/Misfortune, only on a kingdom scale.”

”And this pattern continues for the Empire vs. Empire tournament as well.”

”At least, that’s how it should’ve been...” the king’s voice trailed off from here, and it brought confusion to the finalists.

The scale of the tournament admittedly made some of them excited. Sure, the stakes were higher, but so were the rewards, and nobody here necessarily thought that they were worse than other kingdoms’ or empires’ representatives.

But the tone of the king made them uncertain, especially since he looked lost in his memories for a bit.

”Ahem!” Queen Jessamine cleared her throat loudly next to him, which startled the king bad enough to produce a visible reaction. However, it did bring him back to the present.

”Ah, sorry about that. I got lost in my own thoughts for a bit. Pardon me, I’m old, after all.” The king laughed in excuse.

He then cleared his throat and continued: ”As I was saying...”

”Normally, this would’ve been the trend, and looking at you all, I would’ve been very excited because I know that at least a few of you will actually have the chance to bring my kingdom more prosperity. Hell, some of you might even become representatives of the whole empire itself, and that’s a glory that had never been achieved since I began my reign!”

”It could’ve been wonderful, really!”

”Alas...” The king sighed and rubbed his temples. ”Something happened, something that was, once again, we never expected.”

The King’s face looked hesitant for a bit, which made the finalists nervous.

Ren, on the other hand, had a premonition.

’Oh, shit! Is he about to reveal ’that’ information? ’

”What I’m about to tell you now can’t be revealed to the public,” the king solemnly said. ”I am forcing an NDA oath onto all of you. You can only discuss this knowledge with those who are aware of it, and you will know who they are; there will be signs. But if you don’t see the signs, then you are forbidden to tell them what you’ll hear from me.”

The king gave the city lord a side glance, and the city lord tilted his head to his secretary for a silent order.

Alice then distributed the NDA oath agreements to the finalists, which only had a couple of pages and was straightforward enough.

Ren signed his without any hesitation after confirming that the contract was clean. Lily did the same.

Something changed in Ren’s perception after he signed the oath. A new instinct made itself known to him, a feeling that emerged whenever he looked at the adults in the room.

Right now, his fellow finalists don’t have these signs he could now perceive—which is probably what the king described earlier.

It wasn’t until everybody was done signing that he said something for the first time since attending this meeting:

”Is this about the terms ’Basement Floor,’ ’lowest level of The Spire,’ and the ’Old Ones,’ Your Grace?”

Everybody’s eyes locked in on him the moment he said this, the king’s ever more so.

His fellow finalists looked confused; even his girlfriend did. But the adults? They were shocked. They started looking at each other in silent probing or guessing.

The King looked at City Lord Gabriel, who resolutely shook his head. He then looked at Ren and asked:

”Can you tell me where you heard these terms?”

”From places where people think nobody’s listening—which is often a coincidence, and I just happen to remember them and speculate on my own.”

”The first time I heard about the ’Basement Floor’ term, it was from my uncle. He referred to it when I was near to clearing Stage 50 of the dungeons. He told me that I was ’halfway done through the Basement Floor.’ I called him out on that, but he used a white lie to escape from it, and I didn’t press him.”

”I’ve also overheard random GMU representatives using the term, so I thought that it must be a private and important matter; that’s why I kept it in mind.”

”As for the terms ’lowest level of The Spire’ and the ’Old Ones,’ those came from the Sky Archon Trial Grounds. You should all still remember the message left by the one who created the realm.”

Ren went silent and waited for a reply after that.

The King looked at him for a bit and responded with an undignified

”Oh...”