Kill The Old Ones!

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”I’m not saying that you all should go and curse the world system. That would be useless. It would just ignore you. It wouldn’t even delegate a percent of its processing power to entertain your concerns.”

”It has been here since day one; some would even say that it existed way before we, humans, were born. It follows its own directives and missions. Nothing we say could change that, no matter how many we are or how loud we complain.”

”So, just keep this in mind as you move forward—the world system isn’t an enemy, nor is it a friend. It’s an evaluator and a tool we can use.”

Another period of silence followed after the king told them this.

Ren glanced at his fellow finalists and saw their complicated expressions. They looked overwhelmed, and honestly? He couldn’t blame them.

There were too many revelations today, unloaded one after the other. They weren’t even given a chance to digest the previous one when the next was already being fed to them.

It’s simply too much. And he could already tell that this will stay with them for the next following months, or years...

”What’s our objective, then, Your Grace?” he asked, ending the period of silence and reeling the conversation back to their most immediate concern.

”How long do we have before we are sent to ’The Stairs’? Are there things required from us? Will we be meeting the representatives of other kingdoms under the Heavenly Bronze Empire?”

”What do we do once we arrive at that secret realm? How do we ’compete’ with other representatives of other empires? How can we know if we’re ahead or not?”

”More importantly, how long does it last? Where do we gather to enter the secret realm? And are we guaranteed to return here? Safely?”

Ren’s barrage of questions stunned the whole room. Once again, everybody was now looking at him with complex expressions.

He swept them all with a glance and said, ”What? I’m prioritizing. Can’t do shit about the spire, the old ones, or the world system, so we might as well focus on what we can control, at least—which is the upcoming tournament. That’s what we’re gathered here for in the first place, aren’t we?”

”BAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! INDEED, YOU ARE!!!” The king let out a booming laugh that shook the pillars of the mansion.

Ren’s eyes glinted for a bit as he analyzed the fluctuations.

’8th or 9th Inhuman Transformation. Possibly higher. His martial realm might be sealed because of the rules.’ He measured and speculated inwardly.

”Man, looks can really be deceiving, huh?” The king wiped the tears forming at the corner of his eyes from laughing too much. ”And here we all thought you were just some thug that just punches problems until they go away.

”I do, sometimes. It doesn’t always work, but when it does, it feels great!”

”I imagine it does.” The king snorted and laughed despite himself. ”But to answer your questions...”

”Your main objective is, of course, to climb the rankings. There are five empires in total, and everybody’s goal is to put their own at the first place. Whether you actually have an ability to make that happen or not, I couldn’t care less. I want you all to go there and have the mentality of winners, not losers.”

”Meeting the other representatives...very unlikely. I assume that, just like you all, they’re receiving the same revelations, and I’m afraid that there’s little to be gained in fraternizing, especially since you don’t have much time left before you are taken to the secret realm. They would focus on training and gaining as much strength as they can before it begins.”

”The tournament will take place three months from now. I know that’s too soon. Definitely not enough time to expect another breakthrough from any of you, and that’s fine. You all are fine as you are. So long as none of you surpassed 9th Transformation of the Inhuman Realm in practice, then you’ll be able to enter the secret realm.”

”When the day of the tournament arrives, you’ll be gathered here, in this very room, for a last debrief before we send you away.”

”As for the mechanics of the tournament? I’m afraid that we can’t tell you that. We are forbidden, by the world system, to tell you anything. Not even a clue, to be honest. You know, just to keep things fair. The reason is because the contents of the tournament stay the same every time.”

”We are not allowed to say anything, or even talk about it in public. The moment we think about discussing it, the world system will instantly know and will judge if the environment’s secure or not before allowing us to. If it sensed even a random soul, even an infant, it will seize our voices, preventing us from talking any further. We can’t use sign language, either. It is that thorough. This also extends to writing, of course. So, you won’t find any records anywhere.”

”Damn!” Lucian Skyrend exclaimed softly when he heard the strictness.

”Damn, indeed! Hah!” The King laughed. ”It is that strict.”

”Now, here comes the tricky part...” his voice turned solemn here. ”...we can confirm that your entry to the secret realm will be safe. As for leaving that place safe or using the same entry point to return here, we can’t guarantee that.”

Hearing that made the hearts of the finalists clench in trepidation.

”One thing I can guarantee is that none of you will die regardless of the tournament’s outcome.”

”The thing is...the secret realm is unstable. It follows a scheduled appearance—a few years earlier or later doesn’t matter. What’s important is that roughly every 100 years, it will appear, and the world system makes it our problem.”

”It has its own rules...think of it as a massive dungeon, instead, with an unstable entry and exit point.”

”The entry point can sometimes work both ways, to be used to enter the secret realm and also serve as an exit. Sometimes, it can only be an entrance, not an exit. Sometimes, the entrance drops you to a relatively secure zone in the secret realm. Other times, it drops you straight in the middle of a monster’s lair...”

”The point is, it’s random,” the king sighed. ”Our historians tried to search for a pattern, which isn’t easy, mind you, as this secret realm only appears every 100 years. But even after so long, their predictions are always off, and at this point, we’ve nearly given up trying to predict it.”

”Doesn’t that mean that there’s a high chance that we’d be trapped there for the next 100 years!?” Aria exclaimed, mildly horrified.

”No, of course not! The world system can be a bitch sometimes, but it’s rarely cruel unless it’s teaching a lesson.” The king shook his head and denied the possibility. ”The moment the tournament ends, which lasts for a whole year, by the way, you’d be removed from the secret realm.”

”Now, if we’re lucky, you will be returning here using the same entry point. If we’re not, then all of you will be transported to the 1st Floor of the spire.”

”The 1st floor is stable. It’s a world of its own in there. The rules might be slightly different, but at the very least, you will be able to survive there.”

”Unfortunately, if you want to return here—to the Basement Floor, from the 1st Floor—you’d have to clear one World Mission in there first. I can’t say anymore than that, unfortunately. But so long as you work hard, then you’d eventually be able to return here.”

”Unrelated question, Your Grace,” Ren spoke. ”Can we assume that there is another way to ascend to the 1st floor without going through ’The Stairs’?”

”Yep, there is. It’s called ’The Elevator,’” the King replied in a deadpanned manner. ”Again, don’t look at me that way. I wasn’t the one who named it either.”

”Anyway, it’s a teleportation platform that sends you straight to the 1st floor, safely, of course. It requires reaching the 3rd Transformation of the Inhuman Realm to be qualified. And unlike the finicky stairs, the elevator is stable and could go up and down the floors.” The King wiggled his brows, sounding weirdly amused using these terminologies.

”Alright...” Ren drew a long breath, ”We have three months left to prepare for a year long tournament that takes place in an unstable secret realm possibly filled with monsters that could rip us apart in a blink of an eye. We also have to wary about the competitors coming from other empires because this isn’t exactly a friendly tournament, more like a Imperial Ranking War, and we have no way of knowing where we’d end up after it’s done.”

”Oh, and apparently the world’s much larger and weirder than we thought. Who would’ve ever guessed that we’ve been living inside an inverted tower all this time? Certainly not me.”

”Does that cover everything, so far?”

The king looked at Ren and nodded: ”Yep, that’s much, pretty much it.”

”Lovely! You’ve nearly driven us crazy from all these revelations, Your Grace. No offense, of course.”

”None taken! BAHAHAHAHAHA!!!”