Chapter 207: Convergence Of Races 1
Somewhere in the Tinubu estate, a young man stood in the middle of a training room.
Bang! Bang!
The sound of small shockwaves resounded as circular pressurized wind gales pushed outwards from the point of contact between his fist and a numerous automatons that were trying to beat him instead.
"Haa!"
Letting out a cry, drawing a beautiful arc in the air, the instep of his foot collided against an automatons head, shattering it on impact.
Bang—!
This time, a louder sound resounded as an even more powerful shockwave swept through the private training grounds as the last of the automatons were defeated.
Fwhooosh! Fwhooosh! Fwhooosh!
Before the body of the last automaton could even touch the ground, countless arrows streaked through the air from all directions, each aimed at the young man.
Wat happened next was like a dance of art. The young man swerved through the space between the hailstorm of arrows, or outright knocked some away before they had the chance to reach him.
His dodging skills were so impeccable that he literally became a blur in the middle of the training room. It took another minute of the young man dodging the arrows before the storm finally stopped.
"Level 17 cleared!" An almost robotic voice sounded from everywhere around the young man.
Lowering his head and staring at the hailstorm of arrows embedded into the ground around him, Aric heaved a sigh of exhaustion. Having spent the most part of the day training under increased gravity, he was understandably tired.
As he walked towards the exit of the training room, he could feel the fatigue settling deeply inside his bones.
"Here, young master." A woman in maid clothes handed him a towel.
"Thank you."
Grabbing onto a towel that the maid offered, Aric thanked her. Then, putting it on his face, he wiped the sweat that had accumulated on his face.
It was only after Jin was done drying up that the maid lady finally spoke up. Her tone was extremely respectful.
"Young Master, the family head calls for you."
"Hmmm? What does the old man want now?" Aric raised his brow and stared at the maid. Wearing a black suit and having long blonde hair that perfectly complemented her emerald-colored eyes, she looked very beautiful. But of course, Aric wasn’t in the least bit interested in her beauty.
"Where is he at the moment?" He asked.
"At the moment, he’s at his office." She replied respectfully.
Without saying anything else, Aric handed the towel back and headed for the family head’s office.
A long walk later, Aric pushed open the door of the family head’s office.
"What do you want from me, Old man?" Aric asked the moment he walked into the room only to quickly duck as a pen zoomed past where his head had been and struck the door.
Boom!
The door shattered and got blown off its hinges almost instantly.
"Don’t you have the slightest bit of respect for your father?" A man who looked like a similar but older version of Aric asked with a frown.
"I could have died." Aric muttered absentmindedly.
"Well, if you had died, that would have just meant you are too weak." The man waved his hand in dismissal. "Now come take a seat."
As soon his father said that, Aric suddenly found himself seated on the chair opposite his father, with a desk separating them. But Aric didn’t panic, he was already used to it.
"I was in the middle of training, why have you called for me, father?" Aric asked.
"You little brat, I know full well you were done with your training before I sent for you." Aster Tinubu said to his son.
"Okay, you got me, father." Aric surrendered. "Still why am I here?"
Aster composed himself, his earlier laid-back personality fading away. "I have something to tell you, the Grand Templar should be announcing it soon, but I guess it wouldn’t hurt to tell you ahead of time."
"What is it?" Aric asked excitedly.
"Calm down will you, I was just getting to that." Aster huffed. "It’s been almost exactly one hundred years since the last Convergence of races....
"Wait, you mean the convergence is happening very..."
"Yes, the convergence is happening next month, and as usual, the host will be the demon race."
The convergence of races was usually held every one hundred years at the demon continent. It originally began as a way to fight for resources of the divine tree after the demon race was forced to share its benefits after the formation of the alliance against the Darkwalkers.
Since then, every one hundred years, the convergence was held. Each race’s younger generation would compete in tests to win the resources of the divine tree where the winning race would continue to get the resources of the divine tree for one hundred successive years, up until the next convergence of races.
The competition was extremely brutal, young talent died like flies. The competition became a literal death match, especially since the young talents felt the weight of their entire race was on their shoulders.
It was during these times that most young talents of the four races died prematurely, before they could reach their full potential. It wasn’t until after the first three hundred years, after the Darkwalkers had long been gone, and most of the powerful heretics they left behind had also been finished that the convergence grew mild.
That wasn’t to say young talents still don’t die, but at least it’s way less gruesome than some previous convergences where only the winner is the survivor.
Nowadays, apart from the competition for the divine tree’s resources, the convergence has become a way for each race to show off their young talents as a way of intimidation to the other races. It had somewhat become something of a friendly exchange.
Out of the nine convergence of races held so far, the human race had won a total of three. The humans won the first one, after which the demons won themselves two in succession, then the Elven race won one, then the humans won two in succession, after which the merfolk won one, then the Elven race again, and finally the merfolk who won the last one.
The humans have lost the convergence of races three consecutive times, which means it’s been three hundred years, or rather four hundred years since the humans last won.
"It’s best you start to prepare, the human entourage will be leaving in one month." Aster told his son. "I have no hopes of you winning it, so it’s better you focus on surviving."
"That’s a severely disappointing thing for a father to say to his son." Aric grumbled.
"Its a fact." Aster shrugged. "Your confidence must have come from fighting your peers equally, but let me tell you, you haven’t even began to see how monstrous the other races are. I can assure you, I am not sure even if that brat from the Drake House with the Omega ranked physique stands a chance." Aster said seriously.
"..." Aric tried to form words, but his mouth just opened and closed without a single word escaping.
"You do know you’re supposed to be encouraging your son right?" Aric asked after the moment had passed.
"Go prepare, and also, go take a shower, you reek." Aster said, and suddenly, Aric found himself outside the office.
As Aric walked back to his room, he thought about what his father had just said. Especially about the part where he said he wasn’t even sure if even Alistair could win the convergence despite having an Omega ranked physique and being a complete monster from the others and Aric himself.
"How monstrous must they be?" Aric muttered, thinking of the other race’s young talents. But at the same time, he suddenly thought of another person in their generation.
’Maybe of it’s her then...’
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The same was happening at the Stormbreaker household. Levi left his father’s office. Since he was already the designated heir, he was treated with immense respect by the servants and even other branch members.
Every servant he passed greeted him, but they weren’t even registering in his mind. Only two things were going on in his mind. ’Convergence of races?’ he thought as purple lightning flashed across his eyes.
’No older than twenty huh?’ His father had said that all the the young talents competing would have to be less than twenty years old, meaning they would all be around the same age.
Rather than trepidation, Levi only felt excitement. If they were all of the same generation, Levi didn’t believe he was any less than any prince or princess of any race.
’It would be exciting to say the least.’ he thought with a smile.
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