What are we doing here?" Kaleb couldn't help but hesitate quite a lot seeing the location he was in.

"This can't be what you meant when you said you knew a place, right?" Ning asked. He too felt slightly awkward being in such a place.

"I can't help it," Tenn said. "This is the best place for what you need. Many big named figures come around to relax here and have fun, and in doing so end up talking a lot more than normal. If you want to learn about something, this is definitely the best place."

"That…" Ning couldn't deny that what Tenn said sounded plausible. "But was there no better place than a brothel house?"

"Okay, we're not exactly going to a brothel house, unless you want to, which I can't stop," Tenn said. "Not all the places here are for what you think they're here for. Some of them are just here just so you can have some female companionship while you drink and relax. There are some places where they provide males as well."

Ning sighed. "Fine, let's go get the information then. Let's see what it is all about," he said.

Tenn moved on ahead with Ning and Kaleb following behind. Kaleb had his hand over his face, trying to hide, but his fingers were wide open and he was looking right through them.

Tenn tried his best to hide his face under his hood, especially when someone not from this place passed by him. The last thing he wanted to do here was get found out by someone that recognized him.

"Brother Tenn, if you are wary of being found out, you should leave," Ning said. "Now that I'm here, I can find my own way around."

"No," Tenn said. "These people are very wary of strangers and won't answer any of your questions unless they are comfortable after knowing who you are. As such, I will have to show my face."

"Aren't you worried though?" Kaleb asked. "What if they tell your family?"

"That I won't have to worry about," Tenn said. "The last thing any of these women will want to do is reveal who their clients are. The moment such an incident is publicized, they will get no more clients at all."

"I see," Kaleb thought. "That makes sense."

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The red light district was red at all. In fact, the buildings shined with lights of every color. The iridescent lights fell onto the road, mixing together, lighting the area in bright white light.

Not a single sound escaped the buildings despite the fact that there should have been a lot of sounds all over the place.

As it was evening, people were just getting done with their work and many people were visiting here. Despite that, the lack of sound told Ning that this place wasn't just a normal red-light district.

This was definitely a place that was big enough to place Sound Restricting barriers in every single building, and possibly every single room.

There were women wearing revealing clothes that hung around the windows of the buildings, luring in the men that came for exactly that. These women worked as better advertisements than any name the place could ever get.

Tenn stopped outside a building that did have a name. The Sweet Dreams Entertainment house.

Unlike the other houses, this one didn't provide any sexual entertainment, but simply companionship.

"This is the one," he said and entered. Ning and Kaleb followed behind him and entered as well.

A woman in a bright red dress and a rather revealing outfit arrived to welcome them. Tenn removed his hood and the woman's eyes widened slightly.

"Young master Tenn, welcome back," the woman smiled softly.

Ning and Kaleb looked at the man. "Welcome back? You've been here before?" Ning asked with a questioning look.

"It's not like that," Tenn said quickly. "One of my elder cousins dragged me here a week before I left for the academy to celebrate my acceptance. That's how I knew where to go exactly."

"I mean, I'm not judging or anything," Kaleb said.

Tenn looked at the woman and spoke. "Miss…"

"Jenna."

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"Miss Jenna, we aren't here for what you think," he said. "My friend here is looking for information, and my cousin had mentioned that there is no better place in the city than this for gathering information. Can we acquire some?"

The woman shook her head. "Young master Tenn, you should be more tactful with your requests. You should know we can't just hand over information. We're an entertainment house, not an information house," she said.

"Then…" Tenn was stumped.

"Then what we can do is entertain you," the woman said. "And if by some chance our girls are happy enough to give you some information, then that's that."

"Ah," Tenn realized what was happening. "Then I would like to use your services."

The woman, with her unending smile, asked, "Would you like different rooms or the same one?"

"Sa—"

"Let's do with different," Ning said quickly. "At least for me."

Kaleb had no problem with either, so he let Tenn make the decision for him.

Tenn shrugged. "Two rooms please," he said.

"Please come with me."

The woman took the three of them to two rooms that were side by side. As soon as Ning entered his room, he suddenly couldn't hear anything outside at all.

There was a woman in the room already, who by the looks of it was in her early 20s. She had a string instrument in her hand that she started playing as soon as Ning entered.

"Hello, sir. How are you doing on this lovely evening?" the woman asked as Ning entered.

Ning looked around at the room once before answering, "I'm doing alright."

"Please, come sit and enjoy this song of mine," the woman said and started singing a slow, melodic song that seemed to lull Ning into getting rid of all of his worries.

He sighed and sat down, wondering how early it would be before he got to leave the place.

Ning looked at the piece of paper in front of him. On it was written the prices of food and drinks, as well as the price of calling additional girls to the room if they wished for it.

The girl to his side continued playing the stringed instrument, feeling the room with a vibe that Ning hadn't felt in a very long time.

"I don't believe I have seen you here before, sir. Is this your first time?" the girl asked.

"First, and most likely last," Ning said.

"Oh, that's not fun," the girl said with a worried tone to her voice. "Is something troubling you?"

Ning sighed. "Okay, listen. I'm not here for any of this. I know what you're trying to do and I can tell you there's no need for it," he said. "I came here looking for information that I've been told I can get here. Can you help me?"

The girl's rhythm fell off for a second before she got back into it with the next set of plucks of her instrument. "This is an entertainment house, sir. I am here to entertain you. Would you like for me to dance for you? If you're hungry you can order some food too."

Ning looked at the girl for a moment and thought of something for a few seconds. "Can the people outside this room hear us?" he asked.

"No, every sound is cut off from the outside. No one can hear us at all," the girl said.

"Then how do you call for them? Is there any mechanism in the barrier around us that can help you notify others?" he asked.

"No, we simply have people around the building keeping an eye on our Essence. If we need to call for someone, we simply have to use it," the girl said.

"And you are certain that aside from the aura, they can't see anything else? They can't hear anything else?" he asked.

"I'm certain," the girl said.

"Prove it," Ning ordered.

The girl hesitated a bit. "How would you like me to prove it, sir?" she asked.

Ning thought for a moment and asked, "The girl outside, Jenna... she must be your superior, right? Tell me something bad about her."

"I'm sorry? I can't say something like that," the girl said.

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"Fine, if you won't say anything then I will leave," Ning said and stood up to leave.

"Sir wait!" the girl stopped playing the instrument. "Please, you don't have to leave just like that. Aren't you here to get some entertainment?"

"No, I'm here to get some information, which you either don't have or don't want to give me," Ning said.

"Are you… really not here for anything else?" she asked. She couldn't believe someone was coming here to get some information. They definitely had information, but was it really something that could help him?

"No, just the information," Ning said.

The girl hesitated for a bit and spoke, "Alright, I can do that, but you will have to buy something expensive. Since I'm giving away information, I might as well make you pay for it."

"I'm fine with that, but can I trust that you will have the information, or that you even have it in the first place?" Ning asked.

"I don't know what you're looking for, so I can't tell you whether I have the information or not, but I will definitely give it to you if I have," she said.

"Okay, and I don't want anyone else hearing this. Is no one outside listening to us?" he asked.

"No, there isn't," the girl sighed.

"Prove it," Ning said.

"I hate Jenna for always bringing me the guests with less status and sending the guests with higher status to the room over. Is that badmouthing enough proof?" she asked.

Ning smiled and went back to sit beside her. He looked at the menu and ordered an expensive set of snacks and drinks.

He felt the girl flare her essence and very quickly a person walked in to take the order.

"Can you start now?" he asked.

The girl took her instrument and started playing it. "What do you want to know about?" she asked.

"Who is the one in control of the Whiteowl region?" he asked.

The girl's eyes narrowed for a second. "Anyone can tell you that. It's the Foreman family," she said.

"But they are not officially recognized, are they?" Ning asked. "Why is that so? Why have they not officially moved on to become the ruler of this region?"

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"They can't," the girl said. "The Ilia family and the Goren family are becoming a hindrance to them."

"The Ilia and Goren family? Are they big families?" Ning asked.

"Not very," the girl said. "They are nothing compared to the Foreman, but they hold just enough power to make a say in things if they stick together."

"The two families must have realized that they would be in trouble if the Foreman officially took the rein huh?" Ning asked.

"It's not that," the girl said. "It's more so that they don't want Foreman to win because they believe that the Foreman manipulated events to get here today."

"Manipulated events?" Ning frowned for a moment before his eyes narrowed. "You mean… the Grazer family? Did the Foreman cause the fire that killed all of the Grazers?"

"No one knows and it is all speculation at the moment," the girl said. "However, the other two families are using this coincidence as a way to not let Foreman become the ruler of this region."

"From what I've heard from my rambling clients, there is an agreement going on between the Foreman and the other two families," the girl said. "They are to wait 30 years before taking the throne just in case someone from the Grazer family had survived and wanted to take it all back."

Ning frowned. "Is that it? Is that why they haven't taken the throne? Because of an agreement?" he asked.

"That's about it," the girl said. "But from what I've heard, the situation might play out differently from anyone imagined."

"What makes you say that?" Ning asked.

"That's because—"

Just before the girl could answer, the door opened and another girl came in with the food.

Ning did his best to fake a smile but the burning curiosity in his heart was making it quite difficult to do so.

'Because what?' he wondered.

He watched the other girl place down the food and drinks and walk away. As soon as she closed the door, he turned around to the girl for his answer.

"Because of what?" he asked urgently.

"Because… there is a rumor going around that someone from the Grazer family actually managed to survive the fire, a son," she said.

"A son?" Ning asked.

"Mhm! They say he's been hiding in the north all this time. With just about 4 years left before the deadline of the agreement, the Foreman must be trying their best to get rid of him. That's what the people from the other two families believe at least," she said.

'A male being hunted in the north?' Ning couldn't believe what he was hearing. There was a person in his mind that perfectly fit the description.

"Clara!"

Ning finally thought he understood what was happening. He understood the reason why Clara was being targeted so much and why everyone that did so believed that she was the man that had escaped this place.

'They must not be aware that she is a woman then,' he thought. 'I will have to get this information back as soon as I can.'

"Sorry?" the girl next to him spoke. "My name is not Clara. Its Bella. It's written right here."

"Hmm? Oh right. Sorry," Ning quickly said. He quickly pushed the snacks toward her. "Please have some."

He picked some food himself and started eating them. The drinks that he had randomly ordered had turned out to be alcoholic, so he only drank a little bit.

The drink was more juice than booze, but even then it was enough to get him tipsy, so he didn't go for much.

The girl seemed to be able to stomach alcohol a lot better than Ning, so she drank without stopping.

She started asking Ning who he was and where he was from as well as what he did. Ning had no reason to hide anything so he answered everything.

He asked the girl questions as well and she answered what she knew too.

It turned out that the girl had actually been sold to her parents when she was just 11 years old to a noble from a city over. They had a bad year of crops, so they couldn't pay back the noble and had to instead sell their daughter.

The noble had then sold her to a brothel, but because she was so young back then, the brothel owner only made her work as a servant of the brothel house.

As she grew, she was taught what most courtesans were taught to prepare herself. However, when she was given a chance to transition to becoming a courtesan, she instead chose to leave the brothel house.

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She had earned enough money by then to buy herself her own freedom.

She went back to find her parents, but her parents had already fled to the village after not being able to pay the noble for another year.

After that, she had come to this city, but without much knowledge or skills, she couldn't find work in many places. As a result, she had to find another Brothel to find work.

However, to her luck, she had instead found an entertainment house where she did not have to become a courtesan and could instead just be a normal entertainer.

She believed that she had used up all of her luck on that day. Since then, she had been working under Jenna and entertaining guests.

In half a dozen years, she had become one of the best in the house, but she still had ways to go before she was the best. She believed that she could do it and she had been trying her best ever since to achieve it.

Ning was impressed by her drive and determination. Even if what she wanted to achieve wasn't something respectable in most people's eyes, he still had to commend the girl on how hard she was working to get what she wanted.

"I'm sure you can do it," he told her. "Just keep trying your best."

"Thank you, sir," the woman said. "I'm sure your school will end up winning the tournament that you came here for."

"Let's hope so," he said and continued eating. As he ate, he sensed something peculiar from outside the room.

Multiple people with different Essences had gathered outside the room and seemed to be doing something.

Ning frowned and stood up. "Something is happening outside, I'll go check," he said and walked out.

The moment he came out of the door, he saw Jenna standing in the corner holding onto a few girls that seemed terrified at the moment.

Ning then turned to see Kaleb with an awkward face not knowing what to do.

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In front of him stood a tall, long black-haired, thick bearded man that wore robes with gold engravings all over them. He had his hands crossed together and had a rather angry look on his face as he stared at the ground below him.

It was only then that Ning realized that next to the man's feet was a crouching Tenn who seemed to be kneeling as low as he could.

'What's… going on?' he wondered.

The girls didn't seem scared, so much as they didn't want to get involved with whatever was happening.

"Please forgive me, uncle," Tenn said. "I had no other intention in coming here."

The man stared without speaking and simply gave a small scoff to imply that he didn't believe him.

'Uncle?' Ning thought. 'One of the Foremans?'

"Believe me, uncle. I came directly to this place because my friend wanted to come here, I wouldn't have come here otherwise," Tenn said. "Please don't tell my parents."

"Someone tells me my nephew is in the city and when I search for him, I find him in this place. You came here directly without going home. You still want me to believe that you didn't want to come here?" the man asked.

"No, I'm telling the truth," Tenn said.

"He's not lying," Ning spoke up. He walked next to Tenn and stood by him. "He didn't want to come here. He's only here because I needed to come here."

"Hmm? Who are you?" the man asked.

"My apologies. My name is Ning. I am your nephew's friend in the academy," Ning quickly introduced himself.

"And are you trying to take the blame for him because you think I won't punish you on his behalf?" the man asked.

"I don't know, senior. I've never met you, so I can't tell what you might or might not do," Ning said. "All I'm doing is telling you the truth that your nephew isn't here for any other reason than bringing me here. That's why I was in a separate room from these two."

The man stared at Ning for what felt like an entire minute and sighed. He looked down toward Tenn and nudged him with his leg.

"Get up," he said. "I won't scold you, but you're not off the hook just yet."

Tenn finally stopped kneeling and stood up. His face was red with embarrassment and nervousness and aside from that, there wasn't anything wrong with him.

He still didn't look his uncle in the eye and shifted uncomfortably where he stood. The middle-aged man sighed and turned around. "I'll be waiting outside. Pay up and leave immediately," he said and walked away.

Tenn remained standing still for a few seconds afterward before grumbling in the complaint. He felt wronged as he hadn't come here for what his uncle thought he was here for, but he knew he was never going to be able to explain that.

Even Ning's explanation wasn't going to help him at all.

"I'm sorry you guys had to witness that," he said and walked toward Jenna to pay the price of their service today.

The two rooms in total cost the young man around 80 Fire Essence coins, which he pulled out from the storage artifact he was wearing.

"Let's go," he said and the three of them walked outside.

Tenn's uncle turned around and watched them come up to him. Then, he looked around at where he was and said, "Let's leave this place for now."

He started walking away and the three of them followed him.

As soon as they walked out of the red lights district, Tenn walked up to his uncle and started speaking up for his innocence. It was a losing battle for him, but thankfully he got his uncle to promise not to say anything to his parents or other people.

The uncle turned around toward Kaleb and Ning and looked at them carefully. "You two are participants too, aren't yoU?" he asked. "I think I saw you two before."

"Yes, we are," Ning said. "All of us are participants in the competition."

"And your school allowed you two to venture into a big city on your own? Do they not have any supervision?" the man asked.

"Our competitions are over," Tenn quickly said.

"Hmm, isn't there a few more days remaining?" the uncle asked?

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"No, our competitions are over. What's remaining is for the seniors," Tenn said.

"Hmm, isn't he a senior?" the uncle asked while pointing at Ning. "He looks old."

"Huh? No, he is first-year like us," Kaleb explained. "He just joined late."

"I see," the uncle said. "And you were the one that wanted to come here huh? Why did you have to bring along someone so many years younger than you?"

"I didn't tell him to bring me here," Ning said. "I just wanted to come to the city to find a place that can help me get some information."

The uncle paused for a second and turned to Tenn. "Is he telling the truth?" he asked.

"Yes," Tenn said.

"And you chose that place? When there is a literal information agency on the other side of the city," the Uncle said.

"I know, but cousin Nalen brought me there once before and told me that was the best place for finding high-level information since old men tend to freely speak with those girls when they are drunk," Tenn said.

The uncle simply looked dumbfounded at the answer. He thought for a moment and said, "Don't follow in your cousin's footsteps. He isn't a good role model," uncle said.

The atmosphere got a little better as the uncle seemed to soften up toward his nephew and even pat his back a few times. Ning and Kaleb stopped worrying about their uncle and started enjoying the nightlife of the city.

The brilliant artifacts created from converting light into light essence hung at every wall of every building in the city, illuminating the ground as if it mattered not that the sun had set already.

The entire city was still illuminated as if it was daytime. Even the places that were supposed to be dark alleyways were bright enough to see everything inside easily.

Part of it was due to how well everyone's sight was due to their Essence rank, but part of it was genuinely due to how many light essence artifacts were around.

After walking through the busy streets for a while, the group arrived upon a large gate on either side of which were tall walls that went on for hundreds of meters.

It was as if they had somehow arrived in a different city while inside the city. The gates were wide open, but the guards were inspecting every single person that came in and out of the gates.

Tenn's uncle pulled out something from his pockets and showed it to the guards before walking in.

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Tenn didn't need to show anything at all. "These are my friends," he explained to the guards.

The guards nodded and pulled Ning and Kaleb to the side. "Are you carrying any weapons?" they asked.

Ning pointed to the sword on his hips while Kaleb simply nodded. "Please hand over all your weapons," the guards said.

Ning looked at Tenn who nodded. Ning shrugged and pulled out his sword, along with the sheath. "Where do I place it?" he asked.

"I will be taking it," the guard said.

Ning smiled a bit and shook his head. "It's too heavy for you," he said. "Tell me where I will have to place it and I will."

The guard frowned a bit and even the other guard got alert. Ning saw that and sighed. "Fine, take it." He let the guard take the sword by the hilt.

The moment the guard even grabbed the sword, its massive weight made the man fall to the ground of his own volition.

Ning grabbed the sword before the man was hurt and took it. "As I said, it is very heavy. Tell me where to place it," he said once more.

Everyone present was surprised to see something like that happen in front of them. The guard wiped his brows and pointed to the room behind the gate.

Ning walked over and saw a pile of weapons and armor that were kept there on wooden shelves. He placed his sword on one of the shelves and took the token that was in its place.

After that, he walked back to the gate and looked around. "Aren't you going to take his weapons too?" he pointed to Kaleb.

The group finally came to their senses again and the guards started working.

The guard once again looked at Ning and asked, "Do you not have any other weapons?"

"Nope, none," Ning said.

"May I check your storage artifacts?" the guard asked.

"Hey! Aren't you being too much? None of the other guests have to do so much," Tenn said.

"I'm sorry, young master, but I have to check for the weapons," the guard said.

Tenn felt anger flare inside him, but he couldn't do anything. Despite having increased popularity, his influence in the family still hadn't grown by a whole lot.

If it were Nalen's friends, the two of them would have left ages ago. Instead, because they were his friends, they were being thoroughly checked as per the family rule.

Ning looked at the guard and shook his head. "I have no storage artifact. May I go in now or do you want me to waste all of the Essence in my body next?"

I'm sorry about the guards. They are more lenient to other people's guests in the family, but I guess I haven't reached that level just yet," Tenn said while apologizing to the two.

"It's fine. My family's guards aren't so different either. Although I do have a bit more authority than you I suppose," Kaleb said.

"I'm truly sorry," Tenn continued apologizing.

"If your uncle had vouched for us, wouldn't that have worked?" Ning asked. "Or does he have even less influence than you?"

"Huh? My uncle has no influence in the family," Tenn said. "Why would he?"

Ning was taken back for a second. "Wait, is he not a part of the family?" he asked.

"What? Oh, no. He is my uncle on my mother's side. My father's side only has aunts and they are already married," Tenn explained.

"Ah, I see," Ning finally realized. "Was that why he had to use that token to get in."

"Yes," Tenn said. "He has free entry in and out of the family, but nothing more than that."

"I see," Ning said.

Tenn's uncle had already moved on ahead and was acting as if he wasn't hearing any of their conversation.

Ning and the rest continued walking as well and only then realized how big this place was.

Calling this place a separate city for the elites wouldn't be an exaggeration at all. There were roads inside with multiple buildings that had restaurants and general stores and what not on either side.

There were normal mansions inside the family ground that had their own walls around it. Ning was truly stunned to see it all as he had never seen something like this at all.

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"That's my house," Tenn pointed to a 3 story tall mansion that was lit iwth light from the inside and outside, and had people at the gate guarding it.

The mansion was fully white in color, either by choice, or because they were forced to have white walls due to the name of the region.

Now that Ning was noticing it, he was realizing that most of the buildings inside had completely white walls.

The guards bowed and the gates opened.

The group of four entered the mansion, and Ning immediately started looking around at the designs of the building inside.

This was his first time seeing an extravagant mansion in this world. The only other one that could count was the Paradise Hunters' hideout back in Grayfire city, and that was the house of a very small noble.

Compared to that, this place was no different than a palace.

"You see surprised," Kaleb said. "Is your house not like this?"

"Like this?" Ning chuckled. "Compared to this, my house is very simple."

"Oh," Kaleb gave a surprised look. "Right, you're from a small noble family, aren't you?"

Ning couldn't help but chuckle at the remark. He had been talking about his own house back on Earth that, while amazing, couldn't compare to this place. Although that house was built to look simple, so maybe it didn't count.

"By the way, are you two hungry?" Tenn asked. "I'll ask the servants to prepare something for you."

"No, that's alright," Ning said. "I already ate too much on the way to the city and then back there."

"Yeah, I'm full too," Kaleb said. "I'm sad I didn't get to go around much in the end. That was what I came here for in the first place."

"I'm sorry about that," Ning said. "That was my fault."

"I will have the servants prepare a room for you," Tenn said. "Let's relax a bit for now."

The Uncle had already walked away somewhere, leaving the three behind. Tenn brought the two to the living room, only to find his uncle and his parents waiting for him.

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The room was lit with warm yellow light, with three people sitting on fancy couches. Tenn's uncle sat to the side, sipping a cup of something.

The middle aged couple that were Tenn's parents were sitting in the middle. The woman was knitting some clothes while the man was reading a book.

The middle aged woman had pitch black hair tied in a bun and wearing floral pink gown that seemed to be made through knitting as well.

The woman looked up and saw the three walk in. Her eyes shined with excitement as she immediately stood up.

"My son! Come here," she excitedly spoke the moment Tenn entered.

She hugged him tightly without any warning, and squealed like a 13 year old girl seeing her favorite celebrity. "I saw your matches yesterday and today. You were so cool," she shouted. "I heard you were out celebrating your team's victory with your friends. You should have stayed out longer."

Tenn side-eyed his uncle who nodded almost imperceptibly. "Yes, yes, mother," Tenn said before prying his mother's arms away. "Sorry I was a little late."

"No, no, don't be sorry," his mother said. "Hmm, are these your friends?"

"Yes," Tenn said. "This is Kaleb, and this is brother Ning. They are both in the same year as me."

"Oh," the woman walked up to the two and smiled. "Thank you for being friends with my son."

"No, no, you don't need to thank us for that," Ning quickly said.

"Yeah, miss. Being friends with Tenn is not a very big deal," Kaleb said.

"Is that so?" the woman said. "Please, come sit. You guys must be tired after today."

"It was only Tenn who fought. Our competitions ended a few days ago already," Kaleb answered

The middle aged man that sat in the center finally put down the book he had been reading and looked at his son. "I saw your matches. They were quite good," he said.

Tenn smiled slightly. "Thank you, father," he said.

"Continue at this rate and you'll achieve big," the man said and went back to reading his book.

Tenn smiled slightly and shrugged at his friends.

"Come on, you three. Sit," the woman said. "I have so many things I want to ask you guys."

Tenn's mother was a sweet woman who was simply overly excited at hearing every single thing about her son from his friend's mouth.

Ning made sure to say every good thing about Tenn without ever mentioning a single bad one so the woman would be nothing but overjoyed.

Even Kaleb who was barely friends with Tenn made sure to say what he could think was good about Tenn.

Tenn was embarrassed the entire time, but that didn't stop the others from talking about him. After a while, a servant came to let them know that their rooms were ready.

Tenn quickly dragged the two of them away under the excuse that they needed to return back to the arena early tomorrow morning to meet with the academy.

"I'm sorry. She likes talking a lot," Tenn said once they were alone.

"It's alright," Ning chuckled a bit. "She's your mother and is proud of you. Nothing wrong with that."

Kaleb agreed.

Tenn gave an awkward smile in the end. "Right, you guys can take a bath or go directly to sleep. I'm so sorry we couldn't go visit the city though. If not for Uncle, we could've stayed out until late midnight."

"That's alright," Ning said. "I didn't really want to visit the city that much."

"We still have quite a few days, don't we?" Kaleb asked. "We can visit whenever we want to."

"I suppose you're right," Tenn said. "Then, I guess you guys can—"

A guard came rushing into the mansion screaming, "Young master! Young master, where are you?"

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Tenn was surprised to hear someone calling him, so he quickly called back. "I'm here, what's wrong?" he asked.

"Young master!" the guard came up to him. "Young lord Nalen is here for you."

"Huh?" Tenn's eyes narrowed in surprise. "Cousin Nalen is here? This late? How does he even know I'm home? I didn't stop to talk to anyone."

"I do not know, young master, but he is calling for you and these two friends of yours," the guard said.

Tenn was even more surprised. "Why does he want to—"

"TENN!" a man slightly taller than Ning, with long blond hair, wearing a magnificent white set of robes walked into the mansion. He had come in without the guard's approval at all.

"Cousin Nalen," Tenn quickly walked up to him. "What are you doing here this late?"

"I'm here to see my favorite cousin," Nalen said. "I saw your matches today. Congrats on almost winning."

"Thank you, cousin," Tenn said. He found it slightly weird how Nalen worded the congratulations but didn't give much thought to it. "Have you eaten, cousin? I can have the servants prepare some light meals if you haven't."

"No, I'm not here to eat," the man quickly said while eying both Ning and Kaleb.

Tenn noticed that too and quickly spoke up. "Ah, these are my friends from the academy. This is Ning from the Frolane empire and this is Kaleb from the Hass family of the Greendove region."

"Hass?" Nalen's eyes narrowed a bit when he heard those words. The ruling family of the Greendove region was no joke after all. "Do you have any relation to the direct line of the Hass family?"

"I can fight for the position of the ruler in the future if that's what you're asking," Kaleb said without hesitation, surprised Nalen. Ning was surprised too since he hadn't known that about Kaleb, but then again, he hadn't been friends with the guy before the last few days.

"I see, it's good to see you then," Nalen said, almost sounding sincere. Then, he turned toward Ning. "Are you from any big families in the Frolane Empire?"

"Nope, mine is as small as it comes," Ning said. His fake background did have a small noble house in it, but he wanted to see how this man acted when not dealing with a noble. Tenn's uncle had made some implications that this person wasn't a good person at all, so Ning wanted to see that for himself.

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"Huh?" he turned to look at Tenn. "Why are you friends with a peasant?"

"Huh? No, brother Ning—"

"So what?" Ning asked. "Do nobles only have to be friends with other nobles?"

"Heh," Nalen gave half a smile. "You can talk back huh? At least you're not a coward. I can feel good doing business with you then."

That caught Ning off guard. "Business? What sort?" he asked.

"I want to buy your sword," Nalen said. "Tell me the price."

"My sword?" Ning looked at the man. "Which sword are you talking about exactly?"

"The one you left back with the guards," Nalen said. "I want to buy it."

"Is that so?" Ning smiled a little as he looked at Nalen. "May I ask how exactly do you know about that sword? Do the guards of the Foreman family have a tendency to talk about what their guests have or don't have with their masters?"

"Maybe," Nalen said, not getting offended at all. "I've advised the guards to let me know whenever something interesting happens, and they mentioned your sword. So, I am here to buy it from you."

"Cousin Nalen, that might not be a good idea," Tenn said. "It's brother Ning's sword. You shouldn't take it from him."

"Take it? You make it sound like I'm stealing his sword," Nalen said while clicking his tongue. "You can't make me look bad like that little cousin."

Ning placed a hand on Tenn's shoulder. "It's fine, I don't mind," he said.

"See?" Nalen was more than ecstatic to hear Ning say those words. "You don't have to worry, Tenn. Just stay back."

He then turned around to Ning and said, "I won't beat around the bush. Sell me the sword and I'll pay you whatever you want for it."

"Is that so," Ning said. "You sure sound generous."

"I am generous," Nalen said.

"Well, in that case, I am generous too," Ning said. "You don't have to pay anything for my sword at all. You can take it for free."

Nalen's face produced the most magnificent smile when he heard that he could take Ning's sword for free.

"Really?" he asked with the same excited face, like a child who had been told that their parents were going to give them that one toy they had wanted for the longest time.

However, when the reality of the situation hit Nalen, his smile disappeared, turning into a frown that clearly held anger within it.

Ning smiled a little when he saw that. "What's wrong? You don't want it?" he asked.

"You must be aware that I can't pick it up, aren't you?" Nalen asked. "That's why you tried to taunt me."

"Oh," Ning said. "Not only were you notified about my sword, but you also already went to take it, huh? I must say that's quite rude. Is that what the main branch of the Foreman family does?"

Nalen's anger only increased. "You dare talk about my family with your peasant's mouth?" he asked. "Do you want to die?"

"Do you want to kill me?" Ning asked.

"Brother Ning," Tenn said worriedly. "Please, don't—"

"Tenn, stay out of this," Nalen spoke and even used a bit of wind essence to push him back. Kaleb tried to move, but Ning simply put his hand up and stopped him.

"Oh? You actually aren't afraid of me," Nalen said with a surprised look.

"There's nothing in this world that will make me afraid," Ning said. "But, you're free to try as much as you want."

"Oh? You think you can't be scared?" Nalen asked. "When I'm done with you, you'll jump at every shadow and shriek at every gust of wind."

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"I'll look forward to it," Ning said. "Now, since you're aware that I won't be selling you my sword, you can go back and let us rest."

Ning turned around to walk away, but the man grabbed him. His hold was strong, but to his surprise, it didn't hurt Ning at all. Thanks to having a superior physical body to the ones in his own rank, Ning's body could compare with those from a rank or two above him as well.

While there was no way for him to compare in Essence, he could hold his own if it was just a physical body.

He grabbed Nalen's hand and pried open his fingers with relative ease.

Nalen was surprised and tried to pull away his arm, but Ning wouldn't let go. He kept a tight grip and even squeezed a bit.

Nalen felt a slight pain in his hand and couldn't help but be surprised. He couldn't understand how someone that was clearly weaker than him was so much more powerful.

Anger flared in him and a green scythe split itself from his arm. The scythe which looked similar to a mantis' arm was illusory in nature and seemed to be made up of wind essence.

Ning quickly let go and jumped back as the scythe cut past where he stood previously. "Ooh!" he couldn't help but comment on what he saw. "Is that your Essence soul? It looks like a mantis' arm. No way, is your entire soul like that of a mantis?"

Ning taunted him, knowing that the man was already angry.

"You!" Nalen only got angrier. He poured out his essence, ready for an attack when suddenly he felt a pressure on him that came from the Essence of a person of a higher rank than him.

Footsteps sounded through the hallway while Ning smiled as he had already noticed the man's movement before any of the others had.

"What is going on here?" he spoke.

Tenn turned around. "Father!" he called out.

Kaleb moved to the side and let the man of the house walkthrough.

Tenn's father walked up in between Ning and Nalen and looked at the both of them. "What's happening?" he asked. "Why did I sense your Essence soul flare up?"

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"Uncle Genn, I want you to hand him over to me," Nalen said as anger raged in him. "I want to tear him apart with my own hands."

"Why?" Tenn's father asked.

"Because he's been disrespectful to me since I came here and has done nothing but try and provoke me into a fight," Nalen said.

"And you got provoked?" the man asked while glancing at Ning from the side. "By an Essence Manifestation rank kid?"

"His rank might be low, but his ego isn't," Nalen said. "I want you to hand him over, so I can give out a punishment on my own."

Tenn's father turned toward him and asked him to explain. Tenn hid nothing from his father as he told everything as it was, from Nalen's overbearing attitude to Ning's arrogance.

"All this because of a sword?" Genn looked disappointed. "You came here to buy his sword?"

"Yes, Uncle Genn," Nalen said.

"You, do you want to sell your sword?" Genn asked.

"No, I would like to keep my sword," Ning said.

"Alright, then this conversation is over," Geen said. "Return to your house. He does not wish to sell you his sword."

"This won't do, uncle," Nalen said. "We're way past the matter of the sword. He disrespected the family, so he must be punished."

"Nalen Foreman!" Genn shouted at the man, making the house shudder for a moment with his loud voice. "You come to my house at night and demand me to hand over my guest whose only crime was to talk back to you. Do you hear yourself?"

Nalen took a step back in fear. "I… " The words froze in his mouth.

"Leave! You have no more business here today," Genn spoke.

Nalen gulped a bit and quickly nodded. He glanced at Ning and glared for a moment before turning around to leave.

After he was gone, Tenn's father turned to the three. "It's late already; go and rest." After saying that, he left as well.

The three watched the man leave back to the living room with a look of awe on their faces.

"Woah!" Kaleb couldn't help but say. "Dude, your dad freaking rocks."

Ning went to his room and took a cold bath before going to sleep. He could have absorbed some Essence through the window, but he felt like sleeping as he was feeling lazy.

He woke up early the next day and left his room to go meet his friends. Tenn was already up, but Kaleb needed some knocking to get him to wake up.

"You guys will be staying for lunch, right?" Tenn's mother asked. "I will make my best recipe for you guys."

"Sorry, Mom. Just have the cooks make some simple ones. We will need to return to the arena soon," Tenn said.

"Ohh… that's a shame," his mother said. "Alright, I'll have them prepare some simple ones."

Ning and the rest had a simple meal before leaving the mansion.

"Can't we go around this place for a while, roam your family's very own city?" Kaleb asked.

"Sorry, but we won't make it in time if we don't leave," Tenn said.

"It's your fault for sleeping in. Had you woken up earlier, we could've gone around," Ning said.

"Hey! Don't make this my fault. You know I sleep a lot," Kaleb said.

The three reached the gate where Kaleb and Ning took back their weapons. The guards seemed hesitant to see Ning take his sword away, but they had no choice but to let him go.

"Your cousin must have told them to stop me or something," Ning said. "They are at least supposed to let him know when I take back my sword."

"That… I'm sorry this is happening, brother Ning," Tenn said meekly.

"Don't be sorry," Ning said. "It's not your fault. Although, do tell me, if your cousin comes to attack me and I fight back, will you stop me from killing him?"

Tenn's eyes grew wide in shock and looked at Ning. He couldn't believe that Ning was talking about killing people.

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"Have you killed someone before?" Kaleb asked too with a curious face.

"I've had the misfortune of knowing what it's like to kill someone," Ning said and didn't elaborate further. "So, what's your answer?"

"I… I don't know," Tenn said. "He's still my cousin, my family. So… I will most likely be against you."

"Understandable," Ning said. "Now let's hurry up. If we go back in time, they might let us leave today too. If we get to, we can roam the city today."

Feeling excited, Kaleb quickened his pace, and to not get left behind, Tenn increased his pace as well.

They quickly left the city and made their way toward the arena. It was half past 8 in the morning, so by the time they got to the arena, it was well past 9.

In just a short time, the audience will have fully gathered and the matches would start.

"Please, just consider it," a desperate voice spoke loudly from the hallway that led to the academy's viewing space.

Ning frowned a little when he realized he knew who that sound belonged to.

"Is that… Teacher Hayan?" Kaleb said curiously. They followed the voice and quickly arrived at a commotion that included not just Hayan, but also various other teachers from their academy, including the headmaster who seemed too glum to talk.

There were other adults from various academies, but they were more on the sideline, looking at the drama that was unfolding.

"Please, you have to understand our problems," the teacher said. "Surely you can just think about it."

"What do you want me to do?" the other group he was talking to responded. "Do you want me to stop the competition for just your sake?"

Hayan couldn't say anything to that.

The three newly arrived students were very confused, so they got closer to see what was happening. When they did, the teacher Hayan noticed them.

His gloomy face suddenly lighted up for a moment.

"Wait, wait, we have some," he quickly said and turned around toward the 3. "You guys, are you alright?"

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"Us?" Kaleb looked confused. "We're fine."

"Then do you want to take part in the competition today?" the teacher asked.

"Huh?" Tenn responded. "But teacher, I just finished my competition yesterday. What about the ones that should be taking part?"

"They're incapacitated right now. They couldn't even walk here," Hayan explained. "Because they can't be here, we're without any players for the combat competition taking place today."

"However, since you guys are here, we can have at least 3," the teacher explained.

"Oh, just 3?" Ning asked. "Isn't the total amount 20 per academy?"

"As I said, the others are out for the moment," the teacher said. "So, what do you say?"

"I wouldn't mind taking part," Ning said. "My competition was quite boring, so this would add the bit of spice necessary honestly."

"Great!" the teacher said. "At least we have 3 players."

"Oh… about that," Ning said and turned around.

"Hmm? What's with the crowd here? Did someone start a circus or something?" a young man's voice echoed throughout the hallway.

"Prince!" the teacher shouted in surprise once more. "You're back!"

"Of course, I'm back," the prince said. "What? Were you worried I went ahead and joined a different academy? Haha, don't worry, I won't be leaving the Blackhawk Academy at all."

"He's obviously worried about something else," the princess behind him spoke. "Go ahead teacher, tell us what you want to say."

The teacher looked at the prince and princess, as well as the two bodyguards that remained with her always.

"7," he said softly under his breath. Coming to the arena today, he had expected the academy to be disqualified from the combat competition of the next 3 days, which gave the most amount of points.

Thankfully, he now had 7 people to help him. That was still a far cry from the original 20, but it was still a lot better than the nothing he had just a few moments ago.

"Oh?" a voice spoke. "Do we get to join the competition on our own? Then I want to join too."

Hayan looked at the red-haired girl who had just arrived and couldn't help but smile.

8.

That gave him more relief than anything during the stressful day.

We can join right?" the red-haired Yorsha asked with an excited look on her face. She didn't understand what was happening. All she cared about was the fact that she got to take part in today's competition, which she previously could not due to being a first-year student.

the others didn't show the same excitement as her. The prince and princess were already meant to be fighting today, and so were their bodyguards, so there wasn't a newfound excitement in their eyes.

Instead, they were confused like most of the newly arrived people as to just what was happening.

"8 huh? Any more?" the staff asked the teacher, who shook his head.

"That's all, I'm afraid. It's a miracle we even have these in the first place," he said. "Thank you for understanding and waiting for us."

"No problem," the staff said. "Go have these kids registered immediately."

"Yes, at once," the teacher said.

Once the staff left, the teacher turned around toward the 8 students with a rather thankful look.

"Thanks to you guys we're still in the competition," The headmaster finally spoke with a sigh of relief. "I am very grateful to each and every single one of you."

"Uhh... Can you explain just what exactly is happening?" the prince asked. "It sounds like there was some trouble."

"Sure," the teacher said. "Come with me, I'll explain while you guys register."

The 8 students were taken away from the place to a hall where over 200 people were already gathered. These included staff and teachers, but mostly it was just students from the various academies that were going to take part in the combat competitions for the next 3 days.

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"Someone poisoned our students," the teacher spoke softly.

"What?" the prince shouted at once, followed by a few gasps from the girls.

"Are they dead?" the princess quickly asked.

"No, it wasn't a lethal poison," the teacher quickly replied. "Just one that caused bowel problems for everyone at night. They had to spend the majority of their time and energy taking care of themselves."

"By the time we got them antidotes, it was already morning and they were already too tired to fight today," the teacher said. "They couldn't even walk to come here and are resting back in the lodge right now."

"Shit, that's quite bad," Kaleb said. "Are you fine, teacher? You must've eaten the same food, right?"

"Yes, but our body is stronger, so at least we could come here," the teacher said. "If I were to fight today, I can't do that either."

"Who did this?" the princess asked. "There must be a culprit. Did you find anyone?"

"No, but we do have a suspicion," the teacher said before slowly turning toward the group of students and teachers who were quite happy right now.

The Essence Heart Academy.

"Was it those guys?" Yorsha asked.

"We are not sure, but there is a very high chance it was them that did it," the teacher said. "After all, no one else benefits as much as they by doing what they did. They have the 2nd most amount of points, right after our academy. If we were suddenly out of the competition, they would rack up a whole lot of points, which would easily push them above us in the rankings."

"That way, they would have a very high chance of winning."

"They might still do it," the princess said, looking around. "I don't want to bring down our morale, but our team isn't the cream of the crop either. Not to mention, we don't even have half the number of fighters that are allowed."

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The teacher sighed when he heard that. "I can't help it," he said. "Only you 8 remain after all."

"We'll have to make do with what we've got," the prince said. "Let's go register."

The group of 8 was taken to the registration place where they were all asked for their names. Aside from the names, however, they were also tested for their Essence rank, which surprised all of them, as that was not something that was ever tested beforehand.

"What's the point of trying to check our Essence rank?" Yorsha frowned as she asked. "Shouldn't we be allowed to keep it a secret so we can surprise our opponents?"

"It's for the seed," the teacher said.

"The… seed?" most of the students there had no idea what they were talking about.

"The competition has a total of 200 participants, but having them fight one on one will at some point leave out single fighters that won't get to compete."

"It's fine early on, but imagine it happens around the semi-final where one person gets to move up without fighting. So, from the very start, they will have to make sure that as soon as the first round of competitions is over, there are only 128 participants remaining in the 2nd round."

"For that, they seed fighters into the 2nd round. I don't know the numbers exactly, but I'm sure we will be finding that out soon," the teacher said.

As soon as he mentioned, a big board of light was crafted using someone's Essence where brackets started forming.

There were a total of 200 spots for names as of yet, of which a significant portion was separated to come in the 2nd round.

"Is that the seed you are talking about?" Yorsha asked.

"Yes," the teacher said. "Let's see…"

He counted for a few seconds before coming up with a number. "56. It seems 56 people will be able to move on to the 2nd round without fighting anyone. Of the remaining 144 fighters, 72 would move onto the next round, making a total of 128 fighters to choose from."

"Oh!" the students said with a surprised look. Names started appearing one after another as names were marked in the 56 spots first.

Their names were there based on strength. From the Blackhawk Academy, only 3 people had their names on the seeded list.

The prince, the princess, and the male bodyguard were the only ones that moved on to the 2nd round without any fights.

As for the remainder, they would have to fight to move on to the next round.

Aside from the 56-strong people, 12 other people were going to get a free pass to the next round. After all, the Blackhawk Academy had 12 people missing.

The various academies whispered to themselves about how the Blackhawk Academy was going to lose, or how unfortunate of timing it was. Some even talked about who could have possibly done this, with a few coming closer to the answer than they could imagine.

To the members of the Blackhawk Academy, none of this truly mattered. They were all simply focused on the competition at hand.

Once the names of the seeded members were revealed on the light board, everyone looked at it to judge who became the lucky one.

12 people immediately cheered as they didn't have to fight anyone the first time around. However, when they looked at the 2nd round, they frowned.

As if on purpose, those who could skip the first round, were pitted against one of the 56 seeded fighters. There was no way in hell these people were possibly winning against these people.

Cries of complaints rang out soon enough, but the staff didn't seem to care.

Ning looked at the board and saw his name come up within the first 10 battles. 'Issin, huh? From the Dream Dust Academy. I wonder how strong he is,' Ning thought.

"That's quite the fair matchups," the teacher said. "No two students of the same academy will have to fight their own people until the 3rd round. They really did a good job with the brackets."

"My fight is the last," Kaleb complained a bit. "Do you think I'll be fighting tomorrow instead of today?"

"No, I'm sure the first round of battle will end today. Even at worst, it will take 10 hours at most for the entirety of the fights, so it's easily doable today. In fact, they might even make the fights last 5 minutes each, with a group of judges to decide who won if neither is defeated," the teacher said.

"Then I guess I'm fighting today," Kaleb said.

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"You can watch the fight from here, I'm sure. Those whose fight is early, start preparing for it. Those who are fighting late, you can rest for the time being, but do strategize."

Once enough of the audience had arrived, the combat competitions finally began.

The first pair of fighters were sent onto the arena, where a barrier sprung up to cage them and their attacks in.

Just as the teacher had mentioned, they only had 5 minutes to fight, with the judges deciding the victor in the case where no one won.

Ning watched the fight take place, but to his surprise, there wasn't much to see at all. Since most of the stronger fighters were already seeded for the next round, the ones fighting today were barely any stronger than the ones that fought in the newcomer's combat competition.

Even the crowd seemed to know this as there was really not much excitement in the air at all.

8 fights went by in a flash, of which 6 were decided by victory and 2 were decided by the judges.

"You only entered the Essence Manifestation realm a month ago and you already have to fight in such a major battle. I'm sorry to have to do this," the teacher spoke to Ning as he was getting ready to leave.

"It's alright. It's not your fault or anything," Ning said. "Besides, getting to take part in such a competition as a first year is not something that happens regularly, is it?"

His was the 10th fight and the 9th was happening right now.

"Are you not nervous?" the teacher asked.

"No," Ning said, looking at the battle that was slowly coming to an end.

"Are you excited?" the teacher asked.

Ning thought for a bit. "Not really," he said.

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The teacher was a little surprised. "You're not excited or nervous?" he asked. "Can I ask why?"

Ning looked at the match that came to an end and smiled a little. "Looking at the matches that have taken place until now, there's nothing there for me to be nervous or excited about."

He stood up from where he sat, ready to leave.

"I'm going to win either way after all."

He walked away, leaving the teacher stunned for a moment. A few 'good luck' were spoken toward him, which he acknowledged before leaving for the arena.

He arrived on top of the stone arena, standing quite a distance away from his first opponent, a late teenage student from the Dream Dust Academy.

Ning looked at the axe in his hand that was made up of Fire Essence. He could sense Water Essence, but he couldn't see it at all.

'He must be wearing the armor on the inside,' Ning thought.

He pulled out his sword, with its sheath still attached, and got ready for the battle to begin.

The young man started with a fireball that flew straight toward Ning. A gust of air sent it off course, needing Ning to do nothing more.

Another ball of fire appeared in the air, a rather massive one. However, this time, it didn't shoot away like the first time. Instead, a ball of water fell on it, immediately exploding into steam that filled the area for a bit.

Ning frowned the moment he sensed another type of Essence appearing all of a sudden.

Rays of light hit him from multiple sides from within the steam. It seemed that the man actually had a Light Essence Core.

Ning didn't use his essence again. Instead, he simply dashed forward, going through the steam to arrive in front of the young man.

The young man hadn't expected a head-on fight at all, and with Ning's speed, he couldn't depend on either.

A single kick from Ning sent the young man flying so far that the referee had to protect him. Since the referee was involved, the young man naturally lost. And with that, Ning's first match was over.

:)