“Is that the troublemaker you were talking about?” A bald man with yellow eyes and a slender figure asked, standing atop a tall building. Beside him were Gate Master Mara and Camilla.
They were staring at Kent, who was approaching the Archer Gate with Ingrid.
“Indeed, he is the disciple of the Sword Saintess,” Gate Master Mara answered, looking at Kent with an unreadable expression. At first, she had looked at him with anger in her eyes, but not anymore.
“And you’re saying I should let him pass, else he will create a ruckus?” the old man asked. Gate Master Camilla and Mara nodded.
“If you want your event to go as planned, then be sure to let him pass. You can take it as us owing you a favor each,” Gate Master Mara said. After conversing with the sect master, they had come to the Archer Gate to do as they were told.
They had come to peacefully ask the Gate Master of the Archer Gate to cut him some slack. Of course, they knew it wouldn’t be that simple, but they had to try. And, well, it’s safe to say it wasn’t going well.
From what they were seeing in Gate Master Ezra’s eyes, he wanted Kent to cause trouble so he could base his actions on it and take some drastic measures.
Kent’s legend so far had made them uneasy.
One more genius from either gate that wasn’t theirs was a threat to their disciples having a chance to be among the seven to represent the Athea Kingdom in the kingdoms Genius competition.
They could only sigh and watch as Kent and Ingrid entered and walked toward the elder, who was checking the merit badges.
Of course, they saw the core disciple from the Sword Gate, who had told the elder to cause trouble for Kent. Gate Master Mara knew the bastard and planned to handle him after the events.
Since that was the case, they could only pray and hope Kent would play it cool.
So they watched as the elder allowed Ingrid in and then blocked Kent’s path. Using a tone that everyone could hear, he said the magic words:
“Only those with merit badges can pass… If you don’t have one but want to enter, you can join the normal queue.”
Kent paused and raised his head, looking at the Elder, who was rather tall for someone his age. Kent had risen to 6’4″ when he awakened his bloodline, but the bastard Elder was much taller.
[This is the time you use the catchphrase, Master.] Gaia giggled after saying that. Kent had already made up his mind, so he decided to use the catchphrase like any spoiled brat from a rich background.
“Do you know who I am?” Kent asked, staring at the Elder in the eyes.
“I don’t care who you are. Only those with merit badges can enter here. If you want to enter and don’t have a merit badge, join that queue,” the Elder said, pointing at the normal queue with hundreds trying to enter.
“Of course, you can also scram from my sight if you think I will offer you a privilege,” the Elder added. The Core disciple from the sword gate, now standing a couple of meters away, smirked at Klaus, having offered the Elder a generous reward.
“Allow him, Elder. He is with me,” Ingrid tried, but the Elder didn’t budge. She was disappointed, but her reach was limited since this wasn’t the Spear Gate.
“How disappointing,” Kent said, shaking his head. He took out a golden apple, bit into it, and began chewing.
It looked juicy, and from how everyone began staring at him with widened eyes, it seemed they wanted some.
Too bad Kent wasn’t in the sharing mood…for he knew what he was doing, and it took just 3 seconds for the result to start showing.
“That is a Golden Ambrosia Apple!” someone in the crowd gasped, their voice trembling with disbelief.
The moment the words left their lips, the atmosphere shifted. Eyes widened, jaws dropped, and murmurs rippled through the crowd like wildfire.
“A Golden Ambrosia Apple? Impossible! The cannot be the golden Ambrosia Apple…No I don’t believe it.” A disciple said, looking at the apple Kent was eating with widened eyes.
“Look at the glow! The way it shimmers—it’s real! How does he even have something like that?”
“Those are worth a fortune! No, not just a fortune—they’re priceless! Only the most powerful families or ancient sects could possibly possess one!”
“This is not real, right? This is clearly a dream.”
“Yes… This is a dream you will never be able to achieve. Look at the glow. It clearly is a golden Ambrosia apple.”
In truth, they are right… The apple Kent is eating is the golden Ambrosia apple, a spirit fruit that, when eaten, enhances one’s cultivation talent to some degree.
Of course, one might wonder why something that affects someone only to a degree is useful. Shouldn’t it be treated like other ordinary fruits? Very ridiculous.
However, that wasn’t why people were drooling over it. The Golden Ambrosia apple has a secondary effect: it upgrades the spirit root of anyone who consumes it by two grades.
Green, Golden, Dark Golden, Jade Diamond, and Celestial White Ambrosia Apples. Those are the categories they come in.
The Green raises the spirit root by 1 grade, Golden by 2, Dark Golden by 3, Jade Diamond by 4, and Celestial White by 5.
Of course, alchemy can help upgrade it too, but with this fruit, once every 100 years, if eaten, it can raise one’s talent and spirit root grade.
The catch is that if the Golden is consumed today, even after 100 years, it wouldn’t have any effect when consumed again. You would have to consume the Dark Golden or higher.
But that is beside the point…
The last time a Golden Ambrosia apple appeared was 57 years ago in the annual auction, and the bidding war lasted for 13 straight hours before the sect master of The Lotus Bloom Valkyrie Sect won it by bidding a whopping 4.3 billion spirit stones.
And here is Kent, chewing on one so casually that everyone was drooling… everyone, including Ingrid, the elder, the bastard core disciple, the normal disciples, and even the three Gate masters.
Everyone wanted it…but nobody wanted to make any sudden moves. Nobody wants to anger Kent, who is the center of attention at the moment…
And then it happened… Kent took out another apple and threw it at Ingrid.
“_”
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