Death... and me

2941  Destiny Attraction

At the Royal Palace, a woman looked through the window and smiled gracefully. "As always, they sure know how to make a display."

A man kneeled on her side, his head down and eyes closed. "They are all afraid of showing to anyone else that they are weak. It is all about politics and deception. They are not worthy of Your Majesty's concern."

The woman was none other than the queen of Rusbav, Amelia Rusbav. Not only was she a Transition Realm expert at the Peak Stage, but she was also considered the strongest expert in Rusbav, surpassing even the late king, who died mysteriously a long time ago.

Amelia turned to her subordinate. "Let's go outside, Karev. It is not nice to leave our guests waiting."

At the top of the Royal Palace, an enormous platform existed. The queen appeared there a few minutes later, accompanied by Karev and a bunch of other Royal Family members. From above, several other experts made their way down from their airships and paid their respects to Amelia.

In the Werdlem Empire, things are a little different. Although one called them the Royal Family, the Royal Family wasn't something decided by blood. Instead, it was through prowess. However, there was a way to guarantee the continuity of one's reign, and that was to use the resources allocated to the Royal Family.

Thanks to that, the Royal Family was able to raise their experts better than the other powers in the country. Once the test of succession happened every thousand years, a Werdlem Empire Representative came to carry the tests, and all the main powers in the country took part. The Rusbav Royal Family has taken the top spot eight times in a row already. The fact Amelia was considered the strongest in the country showed the advantage that extra resources and better techniques provided.

"Welcome, everyone," Amelia spoke to the leaders of the various powers. "It is always good to see you here during the festival. It happens once every ten years, which isn't much for experts at our level. In any case, let's enjoy these next days together. The auction is sure to provide you with some entertainment as well."

She then walked to the border of the platform and looked at the crowd in front of the palace. Countless experts registered for the same event as the twins, and their numbers continued to increase. "Now then, how about your own kids come down and join the festivities?"

As if an order was given, even more experts began to fly down from the airships in the sky. They quickly covered the area in front of the Royal Palace and increased the queues to register even more. Several Royal Palace workers came out and added more terminals for the crowd to use, increasing the speed of the event.

Meanwhile, Rean and Roan had already registered and watched the situation. "Now, that's a lot of people."

Roan didn't seem to mind. "This event has a cultivation limit at the Nascent Soul Realm. But then again, the lower the cultivation, the more experts there are. It makes sense there are so many here. Everyone, including the Gondel Clan, wants to show their youngster are also progressing."

Rean nodded and waited patiently for the registration time to end. Finally, almost two hours later, everyone who wished to take part in it finished their registration. Experts floated in the air and the ground, everyone looking in the direction of the palace with excited expressions.

Suddenly, a woman's voice echoed in the entire Royal Capital. It was Amelia, using her Spiritual Energy to make her voice reach far and wide. "Our country's future seems stable as I look at all the excellent prospects in front of me. However, tradition dictates that only ten of you can have one of your wishes realized by me, thus this little competition of ours."

She continued. "The rules of this year's Royal Prize Contest are as follows:"

Immediately, everyone's CD received a message. Rean and Roan quickly opened their own and got to see the rules.

-Royal Prize Contest: All cultivators at the Nascent Soul Realm and below or intelligent races at Stage Six or below can take part in this year's contest.-

-Of all this competition's participants, ten will receive a special tag at random. Only those with this tag can be accepted into the Royal Palace and make a wish to the queen.-

-Objective: There are ten open platforms floating near the top of the Palace. Each of the ten initially tagged experts will have to stand on those platforms and select a challenge category on the terminal left there. From there onwards, anyone can challenge the ten tagged experts. If they win, they will acquire the tag for themselves. If they lose, they will not have another chance to try and are out of the contest. The contest will be officially over at Midnight. The ones holding onto the tags at that time will have their wishes listened to by the queen.-

Everyone got confused with these rules. They seemed simple enough, but there was one big problem.

"I know what you are all thinking," Amelia spoke again, seeing everyone's expressions. "There are hundreds of thousands of participants. There is simply not enough time for everyone to give it a try... and that is correct. There isn't enough time. Whoever wishes to challenge those who have the tags will have to make their way into the platform before others. Each platform has a protection formation that only accepts two experts inside at the same time. How will you get to enter first and challenge the expert with a tag? That is your problem! Strength, Money, Deception, Alliance, it doesn't matter. Find a way yourselves."

Simply put, anyone who didn't have the tag would have to fight the others or find some other way to be the next to enter a platform. What does that mean? That meant many might die on this day... and the leaders of the various powers on top of the palace seemed quite happy about it. They all wanted to watch the show. If you were afraid of dying, all you had to do was not get close to the platforms. Anyone could give up straight away if they wished to.

Rean and Roan looked at each other and narrowed their eyes. Yes, they were definitely strong, but could they fight everyone and get inside of one of the platforms? That would be ridiculous. No doubt, many alliances, especially those of experts from the same powers, will take place here.

However, their worries didn't last much longer.

*Din!*

Both Rean and Roan's CDs received a new message.

-You have been selected to receive a tag. Please make your way to any of the open platforms.-

'Sure enough, the system's destiny attraction ability is working as well as always...' Rean and Roan sighed while countless eyes turned in their direction. They got a tag, but they now had to hold to it until the end of the contest.

And as always, any Golden Tickets and Stones are welcome. ;)