Chapter 187 – Challenged
Heral Venn was mostly known for the fact that if there was one thing he hated, it was interruptions to his routine. Being on the Paragon list helped minimize such interruptions and allowed him to keep his favorite training room available at all times. Just like many mornings like this, Heral stood in the center of the private terrace up on the mountainside, with both hands behind his back, watching a thin wall of ice slowly rise from the stone before him. As it did so, he stood firm, watching without blinking.
It formed without noise, perfectly clear and smooth like a mirror. When it was as tall and wide as he was, he let out a long, somewhat tired breath, finally blinking, regulating his breathing. When he was back to normal, he waved a hand and a second version came out of the ground, followed by a third, identical one.
As for the other two, they all formed and appeared much faster the moment he began using his hands, which was no wonder. For the past year or so, Heral has been trying to perfect his control over his own affinity, to make it flow through his blood, obey his will, and take shape without elaborate movements, simply through his thoughts. However, controlling his essence and blood flow without moving his arms has made the process... slow. Too slow to be used in a real battle at the moment.
In the end, he raised one finger, tapping the air as the entire structure split apart and all the ice collapsed into pieces and scattered over the stone floor, rolling away while melting down.
“Haaah... Again.” He said to himself after a long exhale, and his voice was calm, without any overflow of emotion.
He was just about to start when his silver sash felt warm against his robes, and his mind quickly stopped, refocusing on it, finally showing some emotion on his face. Who would be disturbing him at a time like this? However, the moment he pressed a finger to it and the thoughts appeared in his mind, his eyes narrowed considerably.
[PARAGON CHALLENGE ISSUED]
[CURRENT POSITION: 80]
[CHALLENGER: SELORYN VEYRA]
[CURRENT POSITION: 88]
"..." For a long time, Heral just stood still before finally blinking his eyes, realizing that his current mental state was no longer good enough to continue training. Searching his memories, all he once looked up about the other Paragons came flooding back. He always kept an eye on those whom he deemed dangerous, countering his affinity. What he remembered of Seloryn was mostly focused on her affinity and prowess she showed in previous battles. At the same time he was recalling it all, new thoughts were intruding into his head, too.
[DEFENDER MAY SELECT THE ARENA AND DATE]
[DATE MUST BE WITHIN SEVEN DAYS]
[SELECTION REQUIRED WITHIN ONE DAY]
Heral dismissed all the unnecessary thoughts, focusing on the fact that Seloryn had a rarer type of affinity.
“Eight positions.” He muttered, tilting his head, feeling a slight respect swelling up in him, because that type of jump was noteworthy even for a Paragon. “Haaah... This may be troublesome.”
A hint of uncertainty appeared in his otherwise cold expression, as his mouth moved around a bit. Abandoning his previous plans, he turned and walked toward the edge of the terrace, where a small stone table held his belongings, beginning to dress up. There was nothing noteworthy amongst his possessions, nor any clues as to whether he was part of an association or not. In actuality, Heral had belonged to two associations in the past, but he left both. There was just too much talking, and everyone wanted too many favors. All those people believed that recruiting a Paragon somehow entitled them to his time... all the time.
He preferred to work alone.
After dressing up, he summoned the challenge notice again in his mind, deciding without too much hassle.
[FOURTEENTH FLOATING ARENA: MIRROR PLATFORM HAS BEEN SELECTED.]
[TIME SELECTED: IN SIX DAYS.]
Just as he finished thinking, he was about to leave when, to his surprise, Seloryn didn't try to submit any request to change the arena... She was ready, and apparently, confident.
[MATCH ACCEPTED]
[HERAL VENN — RANK 80]
[SELORYN VEYRA — RANK 88]
[SIX DAYS]
[FOURTEENTH FLOATING ARENA]
Heral dismissed it without bothering with the details, already walking in a hurry, because he needed time to read more on abilities that used resonance...
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Unlike Heral, Kal Torrent loved interruptions, especially when they involved fighting, because they made it more exciting.
“AGAIN!”
He yelled, facing three disciples who were jumping away in a hurried panic, but one was still too slow.
“SHIT—!”
As he yelled out, a wall of fire, like a wave on a beach, rolled over him. Just as it happened, the formation around the field flashed, absorbing enough power behind the attack to prevent serious burns, but it still sent the poor bastard tumbling through the dirt with half his robes smoking, and part of his hair missing from his scalp.
“COME ON! THAT WASN'T EVEN THE BIG ONE!” Kal yelled over his still-roaring fire.
“You said the last one was the big one!”
“I LIED! WE ARE BATTLING, YOU IDIOT! OF COURSE I LIE!”
With his yell, another burst erupted while he was stretching his hands out, summoning them from his palms, or at least, it looked like it. This one reached high enough that several disciples training on nearby fields stopped to look, still not really used to the spectacle whenever the maniac decided to show up. Just like his fire, the man himself was hard to miss, as he was pretty tall, constantly being louder than all the others put together, and wore his dark-red hair in braids, flopping around behind his back, sometimes even smoking and smoldering.
“Again!” Kal yelled, inhaling once again to gather his affinity.
“No!” one of his sparring partners yelled from the ground. "My FUCKING eyebrows are gone!”
“They grow back!” He laughed, his essence already condensing in his body.
He was still laughing, ready to summon another firestorm, when his sash suddenly interrupted his thoughts, and the appearing flames were snuffed out. It happened so suddenly that every disciple around him immediately backed away another step, afraid there would be an explosion.
“What?” Kal grunted, feeling a bit cheated, but then the same message appeared in his mind, and all his annoyance was gone. “FINALLY! I GOT CHALLENGED!”
“Who?”
“What rank?”
Before answering the people from the association he was part of, Kal focused on the name, and his expression froze a little.
[CHALLENGER: RUBEN KOLTO]
[RANK 99]
However, Kal's momentary pause was not because he knew what Ruben's affinity was, or because he cared about it at all... But the number.
“NINETY-NINE?!”
His companions exchanged looks, unsure whether they should or could laugh... Not that there were that many people who could challenge him, as his own rank wasn't that high yet.
“The umbrella bastard!" The one without eyebrows warned him at once. "Senior Kal, you should be careful; he has the polar opposite of your affinity!”
“You know him?” Kal asked, snapping his gaze at the man.
“Of course I know him!”
"Then speak!" He clapped, signaling that the training session was officially over, because Kal barely knew his challenger. After being told the basics, he began pacing on the field, rubbing his chin. “So... The watery fuck thinks he can douse me and win easily, huh?”
“Senior... That's still a bad matchup.”
"..." Kal stopped pacing as he slowly turned, looking at him with a twitching eye. “Bad?”
“For you.”
"..." The moment he said it, fire flared all along his braids, making them all take a step back. “For me?”
"Senior," the disciple immediately reconsidered his wording, striking a different tone. “I mean... strategically challenging a fire cultivator with water is an obvious choice. Everyone... knows that...”
"Heh!" Kal's grin returned and became savage, “Exactly. That's why he went for it. You think I don't know that? But I'm not a normal fire cultivator... I will blow away this Ruben, with his umbrella in tow. Oh, look at me!" He continued in a mocking tone, "I have water; Kal has fire! Obviously, I win! Teehee! BULLSHIT!" He added as his left eye twitched. “I'm going to boil him. EVERY DROP OF HIM! Let's go, time to go back and tell the others. I want to know EVERYTHING about this fucker!”
Storming out, the group began hurrying away, back to their Burning Banner, an association that was headed by another Paragon, sitting at the 77th position. Usually, Kal hated meetings... He was only interested in taking action, but an official challenge like this had to be discussed, and his own senior would know what arena to choose and how to prepare properly.
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Just as the others were getting their challenges, Salen Mor was smiling to herself, sitting before a man kneeling before her, his face scrunched up in pain.
“I can't...” He groaned, breathing heavily.
“You can,” Salen said in a charming yet dangerous voice as she tilted her head. "We still have an hour from what I'm paying you... And you're still conscious.”
The disciple's face had gone pale by then, while his right hand trembled uncontrollably on the floor. He kept kneeling, holding it by the elbow, trying to lift it... Before this moment, he wasn't aware it would be like this. When he signed up to help test another's affinity, he thought it would be a simple job... But he should have suspected it, because the pay was too good to be true. As for Salen, she sat comfortably on a low bench, one leg crossed over the other, watching him struggle to lift his arm.
“There.” She smiled when she saw him twitch his fingers. “Feel that?”
“Y-yes.”
“Tell me.”
“My arm feels... very heavy.”
“Tsk! Wrong.” She snapped her fingers, and the man hissed sharply again. “Try a bit more, and describe the feeling for me.”
"The... Arm... My arm..." He swallowed, doing his best to battle the pain that was like hot needles pricking him. “My blood isn't... Reacting...”
“That's a bit better, but I need to hear you say the words...” She muttered as her finger curled and the man's forearm suddenly flushed dark red, the veins bulging and swelling. She didn't really need him to describe it, because she could sense it... She just liked the sound of him being in pain and struggling.
Years ago, while trying to force water through a wounded opponent's body while fighting, she realized that people were full of it. It was not pure water, but she sensed enough to realize she could use it if she mixed it with her own. After that fight, her cultivation path had changed completely, and she spent years modifying everything.
“Look at you," She smiled, seeing him sweat and moan in pain, "Okay, okay... Release!” The pressure disappeared, and the disciple collapsed forward because there was suddenly nothing trying to weigh his arm down, making Salen laugh happily. "I'll let you rest for a minute, then we start over."
"Start... Over?" The man asked, clearly afraid of her.
"Naturally. I'm paying you, aren't I?"
She preferred opponents who were afraid anyway, because the greater the fear, the more it altered their circulation. As their heart rate increased and their blood pressure rose, it made it much easier to influence their blood. Everything became easier to feel... And more enjoyable to manipulate. That was when her sash warmed, and she automatically touched it.
[PARAGON CHALLENGE ISSUED]
Salen's smile disappeared at once after reading the news. A challenge? Really...?
[RANK 98 — SALEN MOR]
[CHALLENGER: NOKOH WOLK]
[RANK 100]
She blinked, and then laughed, because she saw that it was the dead-last member of the list and the newest addition to the Paragons.
“Oh, that is precious.”
"..." The disciple across from her frowned, wanting to ask what happened, but he held back.
Salen had watched his ranking match, so she knew who Nokoh was, especially because his affinity interested her. She didn't know much about it, but from what the previous 100th had said before getting knocked off the list... he felt as if his body were frozen from the inside. Similar, yet also the polar opposite of her rendition. Not to mention, she could now test if her powers worked on beasts, too... She didn't really hesitate after that, accepting the challenge, marking her chosen arena, giving herself six days to prepare. And then, she just turned back to his current 'partner."
"Well then... Let us continue... Shall we?"
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The first announcement appeared shortly before evening of the same day, highlighting the upcoming challenges on the Paragon List within the Nine Hanging Bells. Most disciples walking past the list did not immediately notice anything unusual, yet multiple names started to glow crimson, etched into a black slab. Naturally, when changes happened, all of their lettering rearranged itself whenever the rankings were disturbed, and when a challenge was issued, the involved names and dates were immediately shown and highlighted. What also made the list interesting was that the names of the Inner Disciples were always silvery, while the Core Disciples were gold, creating two halves of the list that, by now, were pretty much what everyone was used to.
Maybe that was why, when people usually glanced at it, they checked the familiar names they knew of and moved on. However, finally one disciple stopped, noticing the glowing ones...
“Wait... What?” He gasped, and another disciple, coming from the left, nearly walked into him.
“What's wrong with you?”
“T-there... Someone... challenged someone.”
"Huh?!" That got attention very fast, and now everyone was looking at it.
“Who?!”
Within moments, dozens of people had gathered around it, and it quickly began growing to include everyone inside the building.
[80 — HERAL VENN]
[CHALLENGED BY: 88 — SELORYN VEYRA]
[SIX DAYS]
[FLOATING ARENA XIV]
"Nice!" Someone whistled. “She finally woke up, huh?”
“Eight places, though? She's got balls”
“She's a girl.”
However, they then realized there were more challenges...
[95 — KAL TORRENT]
[CHALLENGED BY: 99 — RUBEN KOLTO]
[SIX DAYS]
[FLOATING ARENA IX]
"Damn, we get two challenges on the same day? That's rare... wait! No... Three?!"
[98 — SALEN MOR]
[CHALLENGED BY: 100 — NOKOH WOLK]
[SIX DAYS]
[FLOATING ARENA XVII]
"Something's off... and they are all on the same day, too." Another whispered, and by now, they all agreed that this was not normal.
"Move!" The first to notice it began fighting through the crowd, suddenly in a hurry. "Something is happening, and we are in the dark... Get out of my way!"
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The news traveled faster than any other official announcement could have, as by the next day most of the Inner Disciples were talking about it at every possible moment. It didn't take long to discover that it wasn't a coincidence, because every challenger belonged to the same association, one that nobody had heard about until now: The Spirit Wardens.
“Three Paragons?” many had asked, shocked to learn about a group that had already recruited three Paragons... When did this association come to be? And why didn't anyone notice it was forming?! And who established it?!
Naturally, it wasn't just the disciples who got a headache; all the larger associations noticed, too. Of course, those who had Core Disciples mostly dismissed it, even if they were impressed by the move, which they decided to announce themselves with. To them, it was just another new group trying to make noise, more interestingly, true, but that was it. However, most of the others immediately requested information from all the brokers they knew.
Who founded the Spirit Wardens? How wealthy were they? Why did they have three Paragons already? What was this Gemstone Terrace they had as an HQ?
To Toban's delight, his Golden Scroll brokers began receiving requests he was happy to fulfill, with Siu's permission, of course, for outrageous prices, yet delivering the best scoop possible, furthering his group's name and credibility.
More than that... his information, especially about the Wardens wanting to recruit after their matches, was the greatest advertisement anyone could ever have. Now they just had to win their matches; otherwise, they would be the laughing stock of the Inner Disciples for years to come.