Chapter 717: Altus Sky Solar System; Red Stone Planet
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The rest of the way towards the Altus Sky Solar System was smooth...
Although Cedric did sense a couple of stragglers—hired mercenaries, assassins, etc.—with Philip at the helm of the ship, they experienced no hiccups. Philip took care of them before they became a problem.
The entourage eventually arrived at the Altus Sky Solar System a week later. It was Philip who calculated the latest position of the realm and drove the ship there.
Although it’s called a solar system, Altus Sky was actually bigger than most cosmic realms Cedric had seen so far. Moreover, it’s also rich in resources and life. Rumor has it that the Altus Sky Solar System had already existed even before the Chaos Realms were defined.
It’s also said that this realm has given birth to many strong individuals, mostly human or allies of humans. Because of its prosperity, it has become a core location of the Heavenly Star Chaos Realm and is heavily protected.
Gaining entry to this place would normally be extremely difficult. The only way someone could come and go in there freely is if they’re born in that realm, a privilege that’s only available to the locals. Otherwise, it would require tons of permissions, which could take years or even decades to be approved.
However, because of this once-in-a-millennium event, the security was adjusted. Cedric and his entourage were allowed in pretty easily, and that’s only because of Cedric. If they didn’t come with him, then it would be extremely difficult to get in here.
The breadth of concept laws here was thick and also strange, which wasn’t at all surprising given how long this place has existed, according to rumors. It actually gave him a feeling that he’s much closer to it compared to elsewhere, and this is probably why many strong people came out of this place.
Because of the tournament, Cedric was led to a special room prepared for participants like him. He had to part ways with his entourage at some point since the rooms were only reserved for participants like him. He assumed that they’d be provided with different accommodations throughout the rest of the tournament.
Cedric didn’t worry too much since Philip was with them. Even with the backing of the organizers, these people wouldn’t dare provoke an Empyrean like Philip even if they were given ten times the courage.
As for his accommodations, it’s quite nice.
He was taken into a ’Galactic Hotel,’ as they call it. His room had a nice view of the moon where the hotel was built. Food and necessities were provided for free, and the atmosphere within the hotel was light and relaxing. From what he heard, an ordinary room here costs about 15,000 Bangles a night, which is pretty expensive already. As for the VIP rooms like the one he’s in, it’d be 50,000 Bangles per night at minimum.
This room was provided to him for free during the tournament only. Once the event ends, he’d have to leave not just this hotel but this realm too. Unless, of course, he had another valid reason to extend his stay.
There’s still about two and a half weeks left before the actual tournament begins. Plenty of time to relax before things become hectic again.
Since he’s already at the venue, Cedric has nothing else to worry about. So, he decided to use this time to round up his gains from the preliminaries.
Particularly, all the skills he learned from the 2nd round.
Because the time between the 2nd and final round was short, Cedric didn’t have enough time to summarize everything he learned in the 2nd round. He had to postpone it until later because he had to focus on the final round.
Now that that’s over and he had a considerable amount of time left before the actual tournament begins, Cedric decided to settle this now instead of later. It’s no big deal if he couldn’t finish it all in one go; he could always continue later, but since he had nothing to do now, he might as well start.
And that’s what he did.
Cedric didn’t go out in the remaining two and a half weeks; he stayed in shallow meditation within his room, integrating the tricks and skills he learned from the 2nd round of preliminaries.
He got rid of the parts he had no use for, retaining only the ones that could be used. Most of it was fused to his sword arts, allowing him to exponentially advance his mastery of it.
With many of his thought chambers digesting information at the same time, his progress was fast. In the end, all 100 skills he learned in the 2nd round were analyzed, digested, and integrated into his current skill set just before the announcement of the tournament resuming landed in his e-mail.
This e-mail includes a list of the participants who passed the preliminaries. The majority were lit up; a few were dimmed. According to the e-mail, the dimmed names were the participants who unfortunately couldn’t make it on time and thus were automatically disqualified.
So, from 1032 finalists from the preliminaries, only exactly 1000 were left. 32 people were disqualified.
Seeing this caused doubts to rise in Cedric’s mind because it just so happened that all 32 of those disqualified participants just happened to be the ones at the very bottom of the list.
Was this on purpose or just a mere coincidence?
Sigh...
’No use in speculating too much; it’s none of my business anyway.’
Aside from the list of names, the e-mail also included instructions on where the remaining participants should go to attend the opening, which happens a few hours from now.
’Oh, it’s that planet over there,’ Cedric mused to himself.
According to the instructions, the participants were asked to locate and go to a planet called Red Stone, which isn’t far from the moon this hotel was in. That’s where the second part of the tournament will take place.
Upon learning this, Cedric made his way out of the hotel, making sure to check out properly. Then, he began flying towards the Red Stone Planet to get there early.
When he got there, he discovered that he wasn’t the first one.
He did sense multiple energy signatures. Some were coming from what he assumed were the staff, and others were definitely coming from the seeded participants. It wasn’t really that hard to tell them apart, especially with how obvious the difference was to him, at least.
Upon arriving at the Red Stone Planet, the system AI greeted him and confirmed his identity. He was then told that he could stay anywhere he pleased within the planet under the assumption that he’d behave. A non-aggression rule is currently imposed to prevent chaos right before the beginning of the 2nd stage of the tournament.
After being notified, Cedric was left to his devices, and so he began roaming around freely as he waited for time to pass.
The Red Stone Planet was just as big as Prime Earth. However, it’s way more dense and richer in minerals and crystal ores; some could even be found bursting from underground. The concept laws here were dense and apparent, making it harder for anybody to easily exert their influence over them.
Contrary to Prime Earth, though, Red Stone Planet was barren. Sure, it’s rich in minerals and ores, but that’s about it. Cedric couldn’t see any patches of grass, trees, or any flora or fauna...he couldn’t even sense the presence of small animals or insects at all.
It’s like this planet couldn’t breed life at all.
That may be why it was chosen to be the stage for the second part of the tournament. Because at worst, the locals of this solar system will only lose a mineral-rich world, which, under the right circumstances, could be recovered early.
Unfortunately, Cedric’s leisurely time admiring this world was cut off by a sudden wave of hostility aimed at him.
He’d give it to them. Had it been any other people, they might not have sensed this hostility at all, but he wasn’t most people. They concealed their intent very well, no less than expected from seeded participants, truly. Unfortunately, they couldn’t hide it from him.
Still, Cedric pretended he didn’t notice. He already knew where it’s coming from. He could even guess what the other parties were thinking.
Yes, the hostile intent wasn’t just coming from one person; it’s coming from everybody. And it would seem that these people were irked by his presence, not as a human, but as the most brilliant genius of this tournament thus far.
’How cute, really.’ Cedric wanted to laugh but chose not to.
He made his way to a cave and chose it to be his temporary shelter as he awaited the start of the second part of the tournament, all while silently enduring the hostile gazes and intent of the Seeded Participants.
Actually, he was waiting to see if there’s at least one of them who would step forward and confront him.
It would’ve been fun if there was one; alas, there have been none so far. All they did was glare at him from a distance, and that’s it.
’Soon, we will see if you guys are truly worth the hype.’