Chapter 330: The Stele

On the screen right next to Mateo and Antoine Blanc’s, King Alexei was wreaking havoc like a maniac.

Watching the large dude go, Uhtred realized this was the first time he’d seen Alexei truly go all out, and understandably so. Just like Black Sun Mateo and Antoine Blanc, King Alexei was also being assaulted by a team of another race — Beastkin, to be exact.

But unlike Black Sun Mateo and Antoine Blanc, who were having an easier time against Goblins, the Beastkin King Alexei was locked in battle with were much more difficult. They were organized, attacking with sharp tactics and playing directly to their strengths.

Still, King Alexei was a menace. His already huge body had grown to nearly double in size, making him tower over the Beastkin like a man-titan. He tore through their ranks, mowing them down with terrifying savagery.

His fists struck with blistering flames, creating explosions upon impact.

The sight filled Uhtred with deep intrigue. This was the first time he’d ever seen someone physically grow in size. He had witnessed King Alexei fight before — back in the Trial of Ages — but this was something totally new.

These guys have grown so drastically...

The King Alexei he was watching was totally different from the guy he had seen two weeks ago.

"Well, this was inevitable anyway," Uhtred muttered. "Alexei’s the only Unique Grade talent Earth has. It was only a matter of time before he’d begin to separate from the rest..."

Aside from Zara, who was a Legendary Grade talent, and Uhtred himself, who was a Primordial Grade talent, King Alexei was the next most powerful ascender, based on talent grade.

The rest of the top human ascenders were either Epic or Rare grades. Which was why, for a while, Uhtred had always wondered how Perfection was able to top King Alexei in any ranking at all.

Surely, Perfection had his own secrets, but he was still either an Epic Grade or even a Rare Grade. Uhtred leaned more toward him being an Epic Grade. But even at that, it was only a matter of time before King Alexei’s talent difference would begin to shine through... and based on what Uhtred was watching, it was already happening.

Speaking of Perfection, where’s his own screen? Uhtred thought, frowning slightly. Of the four human Champions to remain in the Tower, only Perfection wasn’t on any screen.

Maybe getting aired here is voluntary? Perfection is a very secretive guy. I reckon he would choose not to have his fights broadcast if it were possible.

Uhtred moved around the viewing arena to gather more information, casually slipping the question into conversation with some of the rowdy spectators around him. Just as he’d deduced, the choice to broadcast one’s fight was entirely voluntary.

The local audience around him had described it differently, but from what Uhtred had gathered, he realized the real truth of the matter on his own.

Basically, these were just the feeds from every Champion’s multiversal streams. Each Champion’s stream had been somehow routed to these screens, but unlike their real multiversal streams which couldn’t be turned off, a champion could freely turn off this local broadcast if they wished.

The Tower had no issue with that since these local spectators weren’t a part of a Champion’s official multiversal audience.

In fact, the people here had no concept of a multiversal audience — they simply thought the broadcast they were viewing was a result of a collaboration between the Champions and every kingdom’s ruling powers... a natural occurrence tied to the lofty Champion competition.

It served as a reminder to Uhtred again that this was a Scenario world. The people here weren’t real, in a literal sense. More importantly, everything he had seen so far, the Champion Competition included, was all a part of the surface-level scenario.

The sub-scenario still remained hidden, and he hadn’t even made a step towards deciphering what it could be yet.

Refocusing his mind, he watched the ongoing fights for a bit more, particularly King Alexei’s and also those of other races.

Notably, none of the screens showed fights of the higher races, like the Dragonkin, the Elves, or even the Half-Dragonkin Half-Elves. Instead, they focused mainly on Humans, Trolls, Beastkin, Faeries and Goblins.

Perhaps the Champions of the "superior races" had all turned off their streams to the scenario world audiences, or perhaps the "lesser races" simply weren’t allowed to watch the fights of the so-called higher races. Either way, Uhtred wasn’t able to get a glimpse of how they fought.

Of course, he’d already battled Elion Silverwood, so he knew how Elves fought, at least. But he’d actually hoped to see the Dragonkin and learn why they were so dominant.

Still, though, he was able to learn a fair bit about the fighting style of the other lesser races — the Trolls, Beastkin, Faeries and Goblins.

He left the arena more informed, heading deeper into the city to continue his search for clues left by Zara or White Raven. More importantly, he headed toward the obsidian spire at the center of the city — the Stele.

Yes, the obsidian spire was the Stele in question. Uhtred moved as close to it as he could without drawing attention to himself, eventually settling into a cafe across the street to sip a drink. In this era of the Champion competition, the Stele was an exceptionally popular tourist spot — though calling it a "tourist spot" felt like an understatement. The people here treated it with borderline religious fervor. Thousands came to view it, and some were even willing to pay a hefty fee to touch it.

Uhtred watched the whole thing from across the street. There were wardens — powerful ones — assigned to collect payment from those willing to pay the hefty sum to touch the Stele. He watched carefully, trying to get a grasp on the exact amount needed.

Of course, by now it was clear to him that if his caution so far held any weight, this "fee" was the exact trap set to sniff out an unregistered Champion like him...

But now that he sat here watching the Stele from so close, he was overcome with the urge to simply go ahead with it and face whatever came next.

I mean, it’s right there isn’t it? The exact Stele I came here for, Uhtred thought.

So what if the rulers know I’m here? Mateo, Antoine Blanc and Alexei are already registered and I don’t see anything wrong with them...

Maybe I’m being too paranoid? To be honest, I haven’t really seen anything to support my theory that the rulers have some ulterior motive... This could all just be in my head...

Perhaps it was his constant motive-analysis and counter-analysis finally catching up to him, but Uhtred felt the urge to just go ahead and see what happened.

...What’s the worst that could happen?

He stood up suddenly and began heading for the Stele. Instantly, his body shifted into a ready state for anything that might happen. His senses spread out around him, taking in the movements of everything he could focus on, trying to catch any suspicious movement.

He just needed to get close enough to the Stele first.

Suddenly, just as he crossed to the other side of the street, a bunch of kids ran in front of him, humming a tune that made him stop dead in his tracks.

Quickly, he caught himself and resumed walking as if nothing had happened, but this time, his focus was no longer on the Stele at all. The tune those kids had hummed played in his head over and over again:

Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down...

The universally recognized rickroll meme song by Rick Astley... A tune only Earthlings would know...

Either White Raven or Zara is here! And they have to be close by! They can likely even see me from wherever they are... the timing of those kids running in front of me was way too intentional to be a coincidence!

Uhtred’s face remained composed on the outside. He acted like he crossed the street to get a closer look at the Stele, but then seeing there was no way through the dense crowd surrounding it, he moved to look for another way.

In reality, he headed in the general direction where the kids had come from. His eyes scanned the entire area, trying to find any familiar essence signatures.

He activated his Gnostic Eye, using his insight ability to pull up the information of every ascender in his view — an attempt that provided no tangible result. Not a single person was out of place, and neither did he find the familiar status panels of White Raven or Zara.

Seeing his attempt fail to provide any clues, he switched to the more general observation of his Gnostic Eye. He began observing threads of essence directly, trying to spot any familiar essence signatures.

That too, provided no tangible result. There were way too many artifacts, arrays and essence powered devices here at the center of the city clouding any lingering trail.

Fuck! Uhtred cursed internally. Does this mean that occurrence was truly a coincidence? Did I "luckily" stumble on those kids? Are Zara and White Raven not here at all?

He continued his search, even retracing his path and following the direction those kids had headed toward, but it didn’t take long before he found his answer. And he didn’t like it at all.

Standing in the middle of the moving crowd was the same elf girl from before. Elion Silverwood’s mate...

Eifrith Ra’Elis. The Fateseeker.