Kill The Old Ones!

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"There it is! The panic! Ah, how nostalgic!"

One of the kings exclaimed as they watched the participants panicking over their missing clothes, equipment, and underwear.

That’s right, the kings and the emperors themselves could see what’s happening over the secret realm. They are watching the activities of their representatives in real time.

This wasn’t mentioned to anybody, especially not to the representatives themselves. This is to keep things fair and honest. Only those with authority could see this anyway.

Not every king and emperor were in the same place to watch, though. They can do so in a private location within their respective territories. They could freely switch perspectives, but of course, their main concern is the performance of their own teams.

"Clothes made of leather and inventories sealed..." Another king sighed, "At least they landed on a relatively safe spot."

"Yeah, that’s already fortunate. During my time, we landed straight at the mouth of a lair; it was a nightmare!"

"Damn, that’s unlucky. And that’s not to mention that the monsters in there come from the 1st floor too. Even the weakest field boss in there is in the 3rd Transformation of Inhuman Realm."

The kings freely discussed their own experience. And that’s normal because they were once considered geniuses of their own accord, and they have lived long enough to see their subjects experiencing ’The Stairs.’

As for their entourage, they’re just here to watch and learn what they can. Even though they, too, looked old enough physically. In truth, they were way younger than the monarchs.

The kings and the emperors weren’t simple beings, after all.

When the part where a Sky Demon Hawk appeared over the representatives of the Heavenly Bronze Empire arrived, the audience went silent and the tension rose.

Next, they watched the heavily tatted young man’s performance.

He killed the threat with a single punch, then proceeded to harvest its value. He then crafted things from its remains and shared his insights with his girlfriend loud enough for everybody to hear.

As he revealed his discoveries, the map of the immediate area gradually revealed itself at his mention. When he spoke of the creek, the map revealed its location. When he spoke of the lair north of where they landed and the nest of the demon hawk in the east, the map revealed that too.

And finally, the west portion was shaded in a blur to represent how foggy it was according to his description.

To be honest, what he revealed in the map wasn’t even a percent of its whole size, but considering that not even an hour passed since they arrived there, that’s already incredibly impressive.

Then, the rain of merit points trickled in...more came after he hunted some more monsters and made more stuff.

They heard him slapping his teammates awake to their current situation before taking his girlfriend away.

"Damn it, Petyr! Be honest! Did you cheat?" The King of Sea Serpent Kingdom grunted as he looked suspiciously at his friend.

"Absurd!" Petyr snorted. "If I had, would I still be here, talking to you? I’d be dead before I could cheat!"

"Then share your prayer format, at least." Another king interjected, "You must’ve prayed and worshipped your family’s ancestral tomb until there’s purple smoke coming out of them to be this lucky. Because there’s no way such an impressive young man could come from your kingdom!"

"BAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" King Petyr boomed his iconic laughter and said, "Nope! That one came out of nowhere; he surprised me too! Sucks to be you guys, but hey! Better luck next time, I guess! BAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!"

The other kings rolled their eyes at his boasting, but deep down, they were truly jealous—but not to the point where they would scheme against their fellow monarch.

They knew that, at the end of the day, it’s the empire’s fortune to have an impressive representative like this.

The Emperor might not be looking their way, but that doesn’t mean that their schemes could escape his calculations. They wouldn’t dare, too. Especially since this concerns the fortune of the empire as a whole.

As for Emperor Christopher...

He was wearing a small smile on his face. He felt gratified that at least there’s someone sensible in the whole group. He stared at Ren’s face and committed it to his memory.

Obviously, he also paid attention to his daughter.

Diana watched Ren like a hawk, and the Emperor almost laughed at that. He knows what his daughter was like, and he knows that Diana had never been afraid.

She was observing and learning. And most importantly, she was already calculating.

An amused smile appeared on his face as he thought, ’Go on, then, girl. You insisted on this, so you better impress me. You can’t allow that young man to hug the spotlight forever.’

**

Still unaware that they’re being watched, the representatives of the Heavenly Bronze Empire did their best to adjust to the reality of their current situation.

Ren’s words served as a wake-up call for them.

Being disarmed doesn’t mean that they’re useless. Sure, they can’t exactly go out looking for monsters to kill just yet, but wild game was plenty.

They’ve seen an expert work with them in real time; they weren’t exactly just for food. Some parts of their bodies could be used for other things as well.

The ones that adjusted the fastest were, undoubtedly, Ren’s fellow representatives of the Letter Kingdom...well, most of them, at least.

Adrian, Lucian, Elena, Darius, and Kael spent the previous three months learning wilderness survival. They learned little bits of crafts, not perfectly, but enough to get by.

And in their current situation, these skills proved their incredible worth.

They learned how to track, how to skin and butcher wild game, and also how to craft essential tools to help them survive.

They were the first to finish gathering enough to support their immediate needs and follow the direction where Ren said he’s going to be.

He was their leader, after all. And he had shown that he’s skilled enough to lead them to survival.

Aurelia, Aria, and Sieg, however, were suffering.

The ladies were now regretting it. They recalled Lily’s e-mail; they even heard her sincerity and concern in that e-mail. And what did they do with it?

Ignored it, that’s what.

They snorted in disdain and forgot about it the next second, thinking that she was exaggerating.

Aurelia continued her pampered and fancy lifestyle. Aria did the same and dragged Sieg with her, spending the past three months in decadence and ignorant bliss, much to the disappointment of her father.

And Sieg, well...to be honest, he blamed himself.

He should’ve listened to his instincts. He should’ve been more firm. He should’ve done more.

It hurts even more because he’s once promised himself that he’d never slack off. He’s of low talent, so he could only make up for it with effort.

He saw the signs, but he ignored them in favor of experiencing bliss with his beloved. He even momentarily forgot about his master’s situation.

The old man was in deep slumber. He spent a little too much of his soul power when helping his stupid disciple and had fallen into a recovery mode.

What’s fortunate is that he doesn’t need to siphon Sieg’s chakra to recover; he could directly absorb energy from the surroundings instead. Therefore, not draining Sieg’s martial realm or causing his practice speed to slow down to a crawl again.

The unfortunate part is that while the old man was asleep, Sieg was incredibly vulnerable. The old man can’t be vigilant in his stead and protect him from threats. He also can’t mitigate Sieg’s stupidity by offering him a broader view.

This, on top of their last conversation leading to this bitter outcome, undoubtedly fractured their master-disciple relationship.

Sieg knew that it was him who caused this, and he still felt guilty about it.

That guilt was amplified on its own and fueled by his inferiority complex, especially after watching as Ren displayed his incredible skills before everybody.

This time, Sieg truly had no excuse.

Because while he spent the past three months frolicking with Aria, Sieg was preparing for the worst with Lily.

Yeah, those two were in a relationship, by the way. How that happened eluded him, but he couldn’t say that he’s happy about it. In fact, the idea made him uncomfortable.

He felt like he lost to Ren from a different angle in comparison, because now, he too has a girlfriend.

Lily’s e-mail reached him too, but like his girlfriend, he too ignored her goodwill and warning. He allowed himself to be dragged into complacency by Aria. He willingly went with her because...’reasons’...

And now, both of them were suffering because of it.

They didn’t know where to begin. Sure. They can kill their prey, but they didn’t know how to skin or harvest the meat from their captures. They don’t even know how to properly drain blood from them.

They see trees but don’t know what they’re called. They see herbs, mushrooms, and berries, but doesn’t know which ones are edible and which ones are poisonous.

Simply put, just the rest—they were completely unprepared for this. The difference is that this could be blamed on them because someone gave them a heads-up, and it was them who didn’t listen.