Jake was seated in his room, meditating.

A while back, they had arrived at the Capital. They drove around in the carriage and Jake got to see the unwarranted beauty of the Capital.

The teens livened up upon seeing the wonderful sceneries, and the lively and composed streets. Jake remembered one of them comment on the Capital's denizens, "It is like a higher class. The way they dress. The way they walk. Their lifestyle is truly different from other cities. So this is the…... Capital"

Even Jake agreed with him on that. In his past life, he had seen a lot of lusciousness. He had seen a man buy a large island just so his children could play around, but this was different...

The Capital felt more alive, with street lights, powered by some unknown crystals, adding more to the beauty of the Capital.

Sadly, their joyride was caught short when the carriages stopped at a guest house. The drivers unloaded all the teens while Todd Elliot gave a few words. He introduced himself to those who might not know him and told them that he was the representative the Elliot family sent for the King's Celebration.

Seeing as they journeyed overnight, Todd ordered the teens to take the morning off. He advised them to take a rest, and they should all gather at the guest dining room in the afternoon for more information.

...….

Currently, Jake was seated on his guest room bed, in his favorite position, the lotus position. While others were outside busy dashing through the Capital's streets, Jake decided to cultivate.

Through Gavin's words, he realized that the difficulty of the competition was abysmally high. He understood that he had been treating it light due to his improved cultivation. He thought that he would be able to snatch a winning position with his strength. However, the truth was far from that!

Jake knew that he had performed an extraordinary feat when he advanced one cultivation realm in three months. Nonetheless, that did not guarantee his win. The people in the competition were said to possess excellent talents and were backed up by noble families. They possessed fighting experiences, cultivation resources, cultivation techniques, and many more.

For example, they had access to a cultivation pill, an item that could increase one's cultivation base permanently. What Jake would be facing on the competition stage wouldn't be some spoiled brats, but instead seasoned fighters!

So, Jake desperately tried to break through to the next stage, but was it ever that easy?!

Perhaps because he had been fueled by his previous success, Jake had expected a smooth breakthrough, but what he experienced was something opposite.

Following the cultivation process of the [Morning Dew Realm], Jake tried to find ten other spiritual gates, but he couldn't find a single one. It was like looking for a needle in a haystack

To top it off, he had expended all his spirit essence trying to find the spiritual gates. Now, he had to patiently absorb spirit essence again before he could continue his search.

Jake sighed, 'what a sad life.'

However he wasn't discouraged, instead, he was motivated. How can one find perfection in a single shot? It wouldn't be worth it if it was too easy. Jake sought perfection, his path was doomed to be filled with thorns and roadblocks, but that's what made it interesting.

It was like a game of cat and mouse, thrilling.

Jake took one look out of his windows, looking at the stars flitter-free in the sky before he went back to mediating.

...

"Jake, it's the time!" a shout, accompanied by an intense door knocking, woke Jake up from his meditation.

He opened his beautiful blue and purple eyes calmly before he stood up from his bed. Wearing a jacket that was provided in the guest room, Jake left his room.

'Hmm, I need to do something,' thought Jake. Even after all his efforts, he had not still advanced a stage.

Even though his thoughts were ridiculous, as breaking through stages was not like butter, it was not easy. Jake had exhausted all his reserves to break through the first stage, now he needed to have patience.

Unlike three months ago, Jake did not feel that his talent was of a lower quality now. Something within him had increased his talents. With his smart mind, Jake knew what it was.

It was the Purple Whirlpool! The mysterious whirlpool that came out of his body. It wasn't a hard deduction for Jake. The Purple whirlpool had sucked something out of the demonic beasts that Jake killed. It wasn't spirit essence as Jake did not feel it, it wasn't something different.

Over the three months, Jake had experimented on the whirlpool. He had learned to control it. While he might not have fully understood its nature, Jake had grasped some of its 'rules'.

He had sketched three major rules. One, the purple whirlpool would only come out after Jake had made a kill. It would absorb mysterious energy from the corpse. Of course, over the past few months, Jake had learned how to control it, he could decide whether or not to let it out of his body.

Two, the purple whirlpool does not absorb spirit essence, hence, it does not help him with his cultivation, at least not directly.

Three, the purple whirlpool, just like the Akashic eye, is intricately linked to him. After each mysterious energy absorption, it increases Jake's talent, making it easier for him to absorb spirit essence. That was what Jake meant by 'his talent', the main measure of talent in the southern continent, and possibly the rest of the world was the ability to absorb spirit essence.

If one couldn't absorb much spirit essence, they would cultivate slower compared to those who could absorb much faster. Though there were many other factors involved, that was the main one.

All these thoughts coursed through Jake's head as he headed for the dining room.

...

"Master Todd, do we get to see the nobles?"

"Do we get to see the King?"

"I heard the princess is a real beauty. I can't wait to see her."

Murmurs could be heard as Jake got closer to the large dining hall.

Jake walked slowly with an expressionless face, his footsteps, melodious, calmed the uproar in the dining hall.

Facing the stares, Jake ignored it, but inwardly he thought, 'Great. Now, everyone got their eyes on me,' he sighed, 'What a sad life. They can't help but stare at something close to perfection.'

Smugged, Jake took a seat among the many in the vast dining hall. He nodded at Todd, sending his greetings to him before he closed his eyes.

Jake had never cared about interacting with the other teenagers. He won't talk with them unless he needs to. There was no reason, just pure disconcert. There were only a few people he cared about in his life, and all of them were dead.

Todd Elliot watched as the strange kid garnered attention as moved to his chair.

He coughed to grab the attention of the teenagers before he talked, "I'm sure some of you have heard details of our actual reason here…..."

He went on for almost an hour explaining the details that Gavin explained to Jake, and the other teens.

"The competition occurs right after the King's celebration in a stadium beside the Capital Hall. It is grouped into three stages; the preliminary stage, the lower stage, and the ranked stages….."

Todd explained the details of the competition. The preliminary stages are where the largest number of participants are eliminated. The lower stage offers the second-largest elimination rate, while the ranked stage is the main stage, after all the weeds are uprooted, contestants would compete against each other for the final prize.

The preliminary stages occur tomorrow, the day of the King's celebration. The other stages occur the same week, but not just the same day. It was made like that to allow some contestants to adjust and give them a chance to perform miracles.

Todd, with his dominant bearing, commanded the sole attention of the teens, "For the King's Celebration, I will pick twenty of you. For the Competition, only six contestants are allowed from each city. Gavin, Nico, Lola, Jaya, Jake, and Andrew, the six of you will represent our city. So, you will be represented for the King's celebration, joined with fourteen other teens."

Todd said as he called out the names of the fourteen other teens, who were happy to be present for the celebration.

Soon, the dining hall was filled with noises, some teens were happily shouting, while some teens were sad.

"Silence! The twenty names I have called, after breakfast, come to my room for further instruction. The rest of you, don't worry, you will be able to witness the other stages. The stadium reserved special seats for us, just that you won't be present for the King's celebration."

Todd said some other things, but they were lost in the noisy crowd, as the hearts of teenagers were always in the moment.....