Dyon walked slowly along the marble and jade paths. He had deviated to Heaven’s Wine to take advantage of Ice Petal’s Dance’s calming effect, and now it was already midday and a good time to head to the formation guild.
Although Dyon had no idea where it was, because of his 6th sense, he could blanket the city and look for a high concentration of formed arrays. The city itself was only about 10-20km in diameter considering much of the buildings had inner worlds, so, with the use of his crystal will’s amplification, he could cover a good percentage of it at a time.
Soon, he came to a bustling tower. People constantly moved in and out – shouting could be heard as orders were sent in and received, and there were even some nervous examinees flipping rapidly through the thick books in their hands.
Because of the noise, Dyon didn’t attract too much attention walking in. His black sweat pants were still pulled up to his calves, and his clean and crisp white t shirt clung to his lean torso. His hands were in his pockets and seemingly matching his lazy appearance, his eyes were dull, lifeless and uninterested in everything around him.
Noticing there was a line to the information desk, Dyon stood at the back, patiently waiting.
Looking around, he diligently took everything in.
He stood within a large circular lobby with dozens of doors around the edges. He could faintly feel some space type wills behind them, so he was sure that each led to its own inner world.
At the center of it was a large and hollow centered information desk. There, at least 10 beautiful employees took the questions of each customer, respectfully sending them to the proper inner world.
Yet still, at the center of the desk, a large glass tube shot upwards before branching out into hundreds of smaller tubes. Cylinders that seemed to contain scrolls flew in every which way in the web of glass. Dyon immediately understood that this was how they communicated here. He watched with interest as the flow of messages never seemed to stop. Whether going up or coming down, they never ran into each other.
Finally, it was Dyon’s turn.
One of the beautiful employees looked up at him with interest. They all wore stock uniforms that made them look almost like human world flight attendants. A low-cut white blouse matched with a grey mini skirt and black stockings, all wrapped up with an elegant white bow around their necks. Even their hats were adorable.
But, even knowing how good she looked, the beauty’s brown eyes couldn’t help but sparkle when she looked up at Dyon’s handsome face. Despite something telling her that he was dangerous, she couldn’t help it.
In spite of seeing the elegantly pointed ears of the formation guild’s attendant turn a furious shade of red, Dyon paid no mind.
“I’d like information of taking formation guild tests, please.”
Dyon’s deep voice made the attendant shiver, but she immediately shook her head and focused on her task.
“common level tests begin at 1 common intent fruit, or 1000 profound stones. The price is multiplied for each successive level, corresponding with the stage you’d like to enter. So, a 9th common level test costs 9 times more than that of the base price. If you’d like to skip levels and save time, there is a penalty of 10 times the original price. Basically, if you didn’t have an 8th common level badge, but wanted to take the 9th common level test, you’d need to pay 90 common intent fruits, or 90000 profound stones.”
Dyon immediately realized it would be cheaper to follow the set protocols, especially when he took note of the fact that these were only common level prices. What of practitioner level tests? And what about the master level test he wanted to take after that?
It wasn’t that he lacked intent fruits. How could he lack them with Heaven’s Wine as his unwitting backer? He had access to even saint level intent fruits, let alone common level ones. But, revealing this to the public would cause eyebrows to raise.
Seemingly sensing Dyon’s agitation, the attendant misunderstood that as a reaction to the prices, “I’m sorry sir, but the prices aren’t negotiable. There is the possibility of them being waved, though, if you have a master of high rank.”
Dyon shook his head, “what of practitioner level tests? And also master level ones.”
The attendant seemed surprised, but since her job was to provide information, she went about it, assuming that Dyon was only curious, “practitioner level tests start at 1 meridian intent fruit, the price of which is worth 10 times the profound stones. The penalties are the same if you wish to skip levels.”
Dyon nodded his head.
“The master level tests are special, though. You’d need one of the highest-ranking elders or the head himself to oversee the tests. At that time, the prices are decided by them on a whim. Usually, if they’re in a good mood, a few thousand saint stones would be enough. However, if they aren’t, it can easily climb well past that. Usually, talents are approached by master level experts if they have the potential to reach that level, so the overseer of their tests would have connections to that master. In that way, it would act as a shield. It’s very rare for anyone to reach master level without the help of a master… but, it’s also not rare for overseers to take advantage of weak masters to overcharge their disciples in order to fund their aurora awakenings.”
Dyon continued to nod, “and what if I’d like to take a master level test today?”
Although Dyon didn’t have saint stones, he had 10s of transcendent level weapons, to the point where he could equip 100 demon generals. What was a few thousand saint stones, to a transcendent level weapon? In fact, Dyon was certain that they’d settle for a high master level weapon easily.
The attendant gave Dyon an odd glance, ‘is he serious?… he’s not even 20?… he’s lucky he’s handsome or I would call someone over to chase him out.’
The attendant sighed, but still answered seriously, “today is a bit of an odd day. Our common level and practitioner level disciples are butting heads with those of the alchemy guild because it seems like our Head, Grand Elder Kroak, got into another argument with the head of the alchemy guild, Grand Elder Cormyth, over which occupation was more important… In fact, I hear the argument started because a boy from Acacia Academy showed a high affinity for both professions, because, get this,” she leaned forward as though this was a juicy bit of gossip, “he has an innate aurora! Can you believe that?!”
Dyon immediately recognized those names. Grand Elder Kroak was actually the grand elder of Acacia Academy, while Grand Elder Cormyth fulfilled the same role for Mathilde Academy. It seemed as though they had opposing secondary occupations as well. He didn’t care too much for his fame, but it would make it much easier to swing the sub families to his side.
The beautiful attendant continued, “so, nearly all of the elders are occupied with the spectacle. If the heads are there, why wouldn’t they take the opportunity to join too, right? Unfortunately,” she smiled bitterly, “this leaves all of the work today to us lower ranking officials…. And obviously means that there’s no one to oversee a master level test. They’re all instead fighting over who gets first rights to this mystery man with the innate aurora.”
Dyon nodded, “what do I need to do to participate in this “spectacle”.”
This question was at least more reasonable than the last, so the attendant answered happily, “you only need to be at the first common level, having obtained a badge from us, in order to fight with us.”
That was all Dyon needed to hear. His ring flashed, and a blood red fruit about half the size of his palm appeared in his hand.
“this…” the attendant shivered. Although she had said 1 common fruit was enough for the first common level test, many weren’t willing to give up intent fruits for something like that, let alone of demonic type intent fruit.
Dyon didn’t care, but not all intent fruits were made equal. He had never eaten an intent fruit because his master’s memories told him it might stifle future potential. But, if their juices were processed along with other demon type fruits and were channeled into his body, they were great for integrating more of his demon qilin and demon sage essence blood.
The attendant took the fruit in her hands, slowly and gently. Placing the fruit within a pre-made preservation box, she noted Dyon’s payment and pointed towards one of the doors.
“That’s where common level tests up to the 3rd level take place. You can go in there. It may take you almost a day to clear the necessary trials, but the competition between the guilds should continue for at least another 3 days, so take your time.
After you’ve cleared it, the overseer will give you a badge. After which,” the attendant pointed to another door, “you can head to the competition square to participate if you’d like to.”
The attendant smiled gently, “I hope I was of help, good luck!”
Dyon nodded, still not showing any fluctuations in his emotions.
The attendant could only sigh as she watched Dyon lazily walk to the first door she pointed to.
Suddenly, one of her friends poked her side, she giggled lightly, “stop it, you know I’m ticklish.”
Another beautiful attendant with blond hair smiled at her friend, “he’s handsome, do you think he’ll be a good formation master? He’s at most 15 years old. Although he isn’t as talented as Erlan and Luvon, it’s still excellent that he’s ready for the first common level test at such a young age. Maybe one of us could lock him down early.”
The attendant who advised Dyon pinched her friend’s butt, “listen to you. You’re at least 5 years older that him, and you’re looking at him like a husband already? Have you no shame?”
The blond haired attendant grinned widely, “5 years may mean something now, but what about when we’re both hundreds of years old? How could it matter then?”
The brunette-haired attendant rolled her eyes, “cradle robber…”
“you’re one to talk. I can practically smell your hormones from over here.”
“pft, whatever.”
Just as the brunette attendant was about to call forward the next customer, she froze.
The blond attendant looked over at her friend oddly, “what’s wrong…”
The brunette attendant audibly gulped, “say… how long do you think it’s been since he left?”
The blond attendant smiled mischievously, “missing him already? It couldn’t have been more than half a minute to a minute.”
Despite her friend’s teasing, the brunette attendant didn’t snap out of her daze, “how long do you think it took him to walk to the door?…”
This made the blond attendant raise her eyebrow, “what are you –“
Suddenly, the blond attendant saw exactly what her friend saw.
Under the astonished eyes of the attendants and the test overseer, Dyon leisurely walked out of the testing room as calmly as he had entered.
He had not a bead of sweat on his forehead. Not a wrinkle on his crisp white shirt. Not a scratch of his soft tanned skin.
Suddenly, an ax flew from within the room Dyon was about to walk out of.
Everyone froze.
The attendants screamed.
“WATCH OUT!” The brunette attendant could only watch in horror as a free ax from a defective killing array flew out towards Dyon’s head.
Despite all the commotion, Dyon didn’t seem to notice. His eyes flashed with golden lights as a magnificent defensive array appeared behind him.
BOOM!
Dyon’s array didn’t even shake. The ax was ground to dust as though Dyon’s array disdained having even been touched by such an inferior creation.
The brunette attendant covered her mouth in shock as everyone watched Dyon stretch out his hand towards the room’s overseer.
“badge please,” he said faintly.
The overseer snapped out of his stupor, brushing back his sweat and brown hair with a hand, looking at Dyon in shock.
“H-here you go,” The overseer handed Dyon a bronze plated semi-circular badge with the Roman numeral (I) on it.
Dyon nodded his head, “you should deal with that defective array. Not everyone would have survived that…”
Not waiting for the overseer to answer, Dyon lazily walked to the second door the attendant had pointed out.
He walked in as though he didn’t notice the once bustling tower become deadly quiet… as though he didn’t feel countless prying glances at his back.
Click*
The door closed with a soft sound as Dyon disappeared.
The brunette attendant took a deep breath, “he’s the one… the one with the innate aurora…”
It would be a while before everyone in the tower snapped out of there surprise…
It seemed a genius had come to their guild…
**
Dyon continued forward down a long and dark corridor. However, at the end, he could clearly see a blinding light.
Soon, he reached that light, stepping out and into the upper regions of what appeared to be yet another coliseum. Why the martial world was so infatuated with ancient Rome? Dyon had no idea. But, he felt his anger boiling due to the familiar environment. He could only try and reign himself in as best as possible.
The stadium itself was smaller than the usual scale, only being about 200 meters in diameter. This allowed for only 5 levels of seats, which drew people’s attentions to Dyon’s arrival. But, once they noticed the first common level badge in his hand, some nodded and looked away. It was quite impressive for such a young man to succeed in becoming a formation master, so he wasn’t looked down upon.
However, not everyone was so nonchalant to Dyon’s arrival. Grand Elder Kroak’s and Cormyth’s eyes immediately shone with something imperceptible. They hadn’t thought Dyon would show up here, especially since the competition had already gone on for a few days now.
The elders themselves sat in an exclusive section, in their usual lofty positions. It was almost like an entire section of the seats were cut out and shifted upwards. However, Dyon didn’t pay them too much mind although he found it interesting that Elder Flyleaf was also there. Instead, he focused his gaze on the center arenas.
There, a familiar duo could be seen. Erlan and Luvon stood side by side, working through a set of problems together as two unknown alchemy guild geniuses did the same. Well, they were unknown to Dyon. To everyone else, they were twin sister geniuses of the alchemy guild: Tamara and Verrona.
After scanning the situation for a few moments, Dyon immediately grasped what was going on.
In a competition between guilds, it was often difficult to find accurate comparisons since both professions were indeed different. In fact, Dyon found the very fact this competition was taking place to be absolutely ridiculous. Array Alchemy was named as such for a reason, it was meant to be a singular entity. Only then would you obtain the best results. And yet, not only did these people insist that one was better than the other, they even competed to test their theories.
In the end, many of the competitions centered around aurora control and theory, rather than application. For example, alchemy used the soul as a power source to project a flame from the aurora. Then complex and subtle control could be taken in regards to that flame to form the necessary pills, concoctions, elixirs, etc. However, array theory used the same concept, but to instead project that same aurora substance that produced aurora flames, into the lines of an array. Both required high levels of control, it was just that the form of the medium, lines versus flames, was slightly different.
Aside from those control trials and theory, there were also other tasks to complete. For example, a fight against equally strong opponents. Would alchemy be more useful? Or would arrays be more useful? At first glance, the answer was arrays, but that wasn’t necessarily the case. Aurora flames were good at manipulating energies, as Dyon had proven many times with his dual cultivation techniques. Using an aurora flame to incapacitate an opponent was very much possible. You could block meridians, change the flow of energy to force cultivation deviation, you could even manipulate emotions with your flames character depending on your control. This last one was obviously seen when Dyon’s aurora flame gained a healing character after learning the pill condensation technique.
Dyon’s badge flashed into his ring. He didn’t feel like representing either guild now. He only wanted to make his name known, earn a badge appropriate for his level, set up the beginnings of his plan, then leave.
As such, Dyon quietly waited for the right opportunity, not bothering to sit. As time passed and his disdain grew, he heard the avid discussion peak around him.
“Alchemy Head Cormyth’s daughters are quite talented, don’t you think? The poison character of their auroras is so potent. Look at how easily they took that poor guy out.”
The two girls were actually quite petite for their age. They looked as though they were at most 13, but it was clear from the discussions that they were well into their 16th year of life. They each wore light green dresses with purple patterns, making it difficult to distinguish the two. Although, this was made easier by Tamara’s short brunette hair, and Verrona’s long brunette hair.
“Formation Head Kroak’s son Erlan isn’t doing too badly either.”
“Ai, he teams with Luvon well. It seems having high ranking parents really helps you move in the world.”
“Stop sounding so pitiful, I hear Head Kroak rarely helps Erlan out. His allowance is even worse than mine.”
A soft laughter filled the group, “Luvon is much luckier though, the Dior sub-family is quite wealthy.”
“Stop talking about useless things. Look at how they’re diligently laying traps with their killing arrays. Luvon defends, while Erlan takes his time to set the perfect trap. That 7th common level alchemist is having a hard time against them despite their only being at the 3rd common level of formation mastery.”
The crowd sighed, “is it really going to be another tie? They’ve been at it for days… we haven’t even had a chance to see the practitioner level experts go yet…”
Suddenly, Dyon flashed from where he stood, appearing below the stands, but on the outside edge of the arena.
The crowd was shocked into confusion. They had no idea what Dyon was doing. But, it seemed like as soon as he stepped down, the rounds between the twins and the formation guild young masters were over.
Although the crowd was getting tired of watching the same 4 people compete, and many had thought of doing what Dyon did, they couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable. Was watching a competition between first common level experts really more interesting than what they had been seeing?
Dyon didn’t seem to care about the crowd’s reaction, instead nonchalantly putting his hands into his pockets and strolling to the arena.
The four geniuses seemed to have noticed the change in the crowd and couldn’t help but frown. Looking around, their pairs of eyes landed on Dyon.
Luvon frowned, “what do you think you’re doing here? Even if you’ve managed to pass the first common level test, it still isn’t your time to wag your tail around here.”
The twin girls watched Dyon with glittering green eyes that seemed to have flecks of purple in them.
Dyon ignored Luvon. With his enhanced body, he had very clearly heard the words Luvon and Erlan had spoken that day, but he just couldn’t be bothered to care. If they wanted to embarrass themselves, he’d give them the biggest stage to do so.
Dyon hopped onto the arena, before turning towards the elders.
“Elders,” Dyon nodded his head. He had lost his usual casual smile that usually went with his greetings, but as much as he didn’t feel like it, he had no choice but to speak with the elders at this time, “I’d like to propose something much more interesting.”
The crowd furrowed their eyebrows at Dyon’s lack of respect. To them, he could have at least given the elders a slight bow. But, how could they know that to Dyon, these elders were his peers rather than the revered masters the younger generation saw them as? Was Dyon’s mastery not near theirs? So why would he lower his head?
Grand Elder Cormyth seemed to have reigned in his anger. After Dyon displayed his innate aurora, he was much more interested in recruiting Dyon as opposed to putting him down. But, he still found Dyon’s antics to be too much. To him, all Dyon had done was make a really good first common level array. It was something few could do, but it was still only a first common level array.
Luvon frowned even further, “do you think you’re talking to your normal human elders? Show some respect.”
The twins giggled, looking forward to seeing a good show. They thought Dyon was handsome, but his actions were indeed a bit ridiculous.
Erlan looked confused. He could clearly see the smile on his father’s face, so to him, it was clear that his father knew Dyon, ‘could he be?…’ A sudden realization hit Erlan, but, before he could stop Luvan, Elder Dior spoke out.
“This isn’t a place for you to prance around as you see fit. Go back into the crowd and watch. It will be a good learning experience for you. If you spent more time doing this, maybe you’d understand the difference between a mere first common level formation master, and one bordering on the fourth.”
Luvon, boosted by his father’s support, began to walk towards Dyon, “either move of your own accord, or I’ll make you move.”
Dyon remained deadpan. When he realized Grand Elder Kroak and Cormyth weren’t planning on stepping in, his annoyance only increased.
“first common level formation mastery can’t match up to that of a fourth level, hm?” Dyon waved his hand.
It was as though he was swatting a fly. He couldn’t be asked to deal with this.
A majestic array instantaneously appeared around Luvon. It was so fast that no one could see where it came from. But, everyone here was an expert. So, the next thing they heard, wiped all thoughts of Dyon using a formation plate out of their minds.
CHIME! CHIME!
Dyon scratched his head in agitation, “how fucking annoying,” Dyon flicked his finger at the corner of the array causing a piece to fly off into the distance.
Suddenly, the arena was dead quiet.
Luvon looked around him, trembling, “a – a gold array?…”
The crowd couldn’t breathe, “did he just call heaven’s chimes… annoying?…”
Elder Dior paled as he watched his son unable to leave the array. At first, he wanted to shame Dyon for hiding his level of expertise, but he held his tongue. Not only was Dyon clearly a year younger than his son, the formation he used was clearly at the first common level. And yet, Luvon couldn’t escape it!
“this is the power of a perfect array?…” Elder Dior shook his head, “no… it’s not even perfect… he cracked it on purpose… what a waste of heaven’s treasure!”
However, what made Elder Dior unable to stop his trembling… was the fact the perfect array had happened instantaneously! There was no way Dyon was only at the first common level.
The twins stopped giggling, looking at Dyon with serious expressions.
“You’re going to let your big sister have this one, right Verrona?”
The long haired Verrona shook her head vigorously, “Why would you get him just because you were born a minute before me? Doesn’t that sound silly to you?”
Tamara laughed, “alright, whoever beats him, gets him then.”
Verrona bobbed her head in acknowledgement, “you won’t beat me.”
“hmph, whatever little one.”
Verrona fondled Tamara’s small breasts from behind her, giggling, “who’s the little one again?”
Tamara slapped her hands away, “stop it, he’s about to say something.”
This interaction between the twins would have been top tier just a few minutes ago… but now, no one could turn away from Dyon.
“Like I said, I’d like to propose something much more interesting.”
Grand Elder Kroak smiled, “oh? And what’s that?” The old man still emitted an unending vigor. And although he was impressed by Dyon’s display, he still treated him like a junior.
Dyon didn’t seem too bothered by this, “I’ve been reading up on Elvin history… and from what I’ve seen, although the Academies are part of the hard-set law… the guilds aren’t.”
Grand Elder Kroak raised an eyebrow, “and what do you mean by this?” his interest had been piqued.
“I mean, that although the sub-families have been conveniently split into 3 groups of 7 for each of the guilds, this wasn’t the original intention of the Elvin Kingdom. Meaning, the structure is tradition rather than a rule…”
Grand Elder Kroak and Cormyth nodded. This was indeed the truth.
“Which is exactly why the heads of the guilds can change simply by winning a guild challenge.”
Dyon’s words brought absolute silence.
Was this 15-year-old boy talking about challenging the guild? What kind of ridiculous concept was that?
Guild challenges weren’t even an Elvin Concept, it was a martial world concept. The Elvin Kingdom had never used such a thing. In fact, Dyon only knew about them because of his master’s memories. After he confirmed that the Elvin Kingdom had no hard-set rules, and he wouldn’t be disrupting Elvin laws, he decided that this would be the first step of his plan.
Grand Elder Kroak frowned, “you can indeed issue a guild challenge… and we would have to accept so as not to displease the guild headquarters, but do you understand the level I’ve reached as head of the formation guild? Do you understand that you’re also not only challenging me, but everyone in the guild willing to face you?”
“I think you’ve misunderstood something Grand Elder Kroak. I don’t intend to challenge your guild.”
A collective sigh of relief spread through the coliseum. This kid was really too much…
But, Dyon’s next words ruined the whole thing.
“I intend to challenge your guild and Grand Elder Cormyth’s guild.”