Chapter 160: [X] - 160: Across the Empire
The news moved through Winterfang Kingdom faster than any official announcement could have managed.
In the capital’s taverns the conversations started before the evening crowds had even filled the tables.
A man near the counter raised his voice over the general noise, he was holding a half empty cup as if it lent weight to the words.
"He registered! The Third Prince actually walked into the CBI hall on the last day and put his name down!"
Someone further along the bar laughed once and it was a short and disbelieving laugh.
"At twelve? That is not bold. That is asking the Institution to make an example out of him."
A third voice cut in from a nearby table, this one was steadier than the first two.
"Or it is the only way anyone has ever challenged this tradition and meant it, he has already broken every other timeline they tried to put on him, so I believe if anyone can walk into that place early and still stand at the end, it is him!"
Similar exchanges repeated themselves across the city.
In shops the customers lingered longer than necessary to finish the same discussion with the owners.
In public squares multiple small groups had formed and dissolved as the information passed from one set of mouths to the next.
Inside private houses the talk was quieter but no less persistent.
Parents repeated the news to one another after the children had gone to bed.
Guards on night rotation carried the story between posts.
What surprised many of the listeners was the tone that settled over most of the conversations.
Pure mockery was present but it did not dominate.
A larger portion of the voices carried something closer to anticipation.
The Third Prince had spent years becoming a name that refused to fit the usual patterns.
Early awakening, unusual growth, public attention that never quite faded.
Now he had placed himself in the one arena where those patterns were enforced most brutally, and a significant part of Winterfang wanted to see what happened next.
"I hope he shows up," one woman said while packing away the last of the day’s goods in a small side street shop.
"If he does, at least we will finally have something real to talk about instead of another rumour that dies in a week because another crazy rumour just came out!"
In Sakura Kingdom the same news arrived a day later, carried by merchants and message talismans that had already crossed the border.
The reactions split more cleanly into three camps.
Some dismissed it outright.
"He will not appear, the registration is easy easy part, but walking into the Proving grounds when the observers are watching is something else entirely! This is only hype to keep the Winterfang name in circulation."
Others took the opposite view with equal certainty.
"If he does appear, the CBI will use him."
"Early entrants below 18 exist so the Institution can remind everyone what happens when their recommendations are ignored."
"He will become the newest example, and the lesson will travel farther than any formal decree."
A third group showed open interest rather than dismissal or prediction of failure.
"I want to see it! A Winterfang prince against the ones we send."
"If the reports about his growth are even half true, the first real matches will be worth watching."
"Its better to see the truth than keep guessing from rumours."
The discussions continued in the tea houses and training yards of Sakura’s major cities without reaching any single conclusion.
Some arguments lasted long enough that the tea went cold.
The only point of agreement was that the Proving this year would draw more outside attention than usual, and that attention would not be limited to Winterfang alone.
Stonehelm Kingdom received the news with a more measured skepticism.
In the fortified towns that characterized much of the region, the story was repeated with the same careful tone people used for reports that had already changed twice before arriving.
"He generates a new rumour every few months," one older fighter said while sharpening a blade in a public workshop.
"First that early awakening of his and then the stories about him handling early level recruits and then recently defeating multiple mid level recruits at once! And now this? So you are telling me that the pattern is consistent and the scale keeps increasing? As if!"
A younger voice nearby answered without looking up from the workbench.
"Well, consistent does not mean false, it only means we should wait until the Proving actually starts before deciding how much of it is noise."
The general mood remained cautious.
Stonehelm had little patience for spectacle and less patience for claims that could not be verified through direct result.
Most people who heard the news filed it away as another item to watch rather than something that required immediate belief or dismissal.
"We will know when the lists are published and the first matches begin," the older fighter finished, setting the sharpened blade aside.
"Until then it is only noise."
The Third Prince of Winterfang had become a recurring name in their conversations.
They preferred to see what the next verified report would add to the list.
In Sol Kingdom the response carried a clearer edge of interest.
The Third Prince was already spoken of there as one of the more noticeable anomalies of the current generation.
The combination of early Mana Core formation, the public attention that followed, and the steady stream of unusual reports had given his name a weight that ordinary young talents did not carry.
When word of the Proving registration arrived, the reaction was less debate and more practical planning.
People who followed the major competitions began arranging schedules.
Training halls that usually ignored distant events made quiet note of the dates.
A few of the more ambitious younger fighters openly stated that they wanted to measure themselves against whatever the Winterfang prince had become by the time the Proving opened.
The interest was not universal, but it was focused.
Sol Kingdom had produced its own share of early talents and unusual growth patterns.
They recognized the shape of the story even if they reserved judgment on the final outcome.
By the time the news finished crossing the remaining borders and reached the Imperial heartland, the scale had changed.
What had begun as a single registration in a Winterfang hall had become a continental topic.
In the districts surrounding the Imperial capital, in the administrative centers that coordinated the larger human territories, and in the private rooms where higher ranked households tracked the movements of potential threats and opportunities, the same name appeared with increasing frequency.
Alexander Abyss.
The Third Prince of Winterfang.
Registered for the Proving at an age no one in recent memory had attempted.
Across the Human Empire the attention settled into a single shared direction.
The upcoming Proving hosted by the Curse Bloom Institution was no longer only another cycle of the regular competition.
It had become the stage on which the first true public debut of the anomaly from Winterfang would either confirm the rumours or end them.
In private rooms and public halls the same questions repeated with only small variations.
Would he appear?
Would the CBI’s arrangements break him early?
Would the reports of his growth survive contact with the actual conditions inside the Proving grounds?
People waited.
The Proving would start soon enough.
And then the talking would stop and the results would speak.
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End of Chapter 160: Across the Empire
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