The other boy sized Esteban up with a curious gaze. “You’ve got a pretty decent cultivation, but most people that compete are at the Integration stage. You’ll just be wasting your money.”

“Really? But we don’t even know what the challenge is yet.”

Nolan laughed as the old man suddenly stood up and raised his arms, which instantly quelled the thousands of conversations that filled the curious crowd. Yeah right that he stands up now.

“We’re about to find out!” The other boy had wide eyes the same brown shade as his mother’s, with straight black hair down to his shoulders and a thin, narrow nose.

“I wonder what it’ll be,” said Esteban, only to get shushed by the other boy.

Once the old man had everyone’s attention, he waved his arm and a large mass of ebony metal appeared in front of him. The metal gave off an odd aura that was slightly suffocating to the spiritual sense, a small boulder with a matte black body.

“Is that black halmite?”

“So much?”

“Black halmite!”

The crowd burst into an uproar the moment that the ore appeared in the air.

The old man motioned for everyone to quiet down. “As many of you might have guessed, this is black halmite that I harvested from the heart of a nearby mountain a few decades back. For those that don’t know, black halmite is incredibly rare, to the point that even a fist-sized supply is worth upwards of a few hundred spirit stones. Because of its unbelievable density this metal is dozens of times heavier than iron.

“This year’s challenge is simple, though it’ll be limited to those in the Profound Entry and Integration stages, of any age below thirty. Whoever can lift this chunk of black halmite above their heads without making physical contact with it will get to keep it. Essence Fusion objects, medicinal pellets, talismans and martial skills are prohibited so you’ll have to be creative.”

The man gave his arm another flashy wave and the large ore of black halmite crashed to the ground with a tremendous impact. The plaza floor was completely crushed for a radius of about five metres around the platform, which was strangely unaffected by the force.

“Dozens of times heavier than iron? Look at that thing! Even if it were iron it’d still be too heavy to lift with just projected inner essence.”

“Martial skills are prohibited? Is it even possible for anyone but some grand elder to lift it?”

“I’ve got some skill as an arrayment practitioner, but I doubt I could come up with an arrayment that could hold that up for more than a second.”

“A second—stop being so generous. You probably couldn’t lift a log!”

“What did you say?”

Conversation swept the crowd once again as dozens of Integration-staged cultivators within the specified age group suddenly began to gather around the platform. One of these was a young man dressed in a loose tunic and tight leggings beneath a similarly silver robe. He was the first to stand directly in front of the high-rising platform, shadowed by four people who wore the same clothing. Each appeared to be in their fifties, all at the fifth level of Integration. As for the young man, he was in the middle phase of Integration’s second level, a respectable achievement considering that he was barely in his twenties.

Nolan overheard a duo of young cultivators that stood a few dozen metres to his left.

“Those robes, could they be from the Silver Snake clan?”

“Of Ransom Mountain?” said the other.

“Yeah, though I don’t recognize that kid.”

“What would you know anyway?”

“Did you forget that I went there with my uncle a few years back? I saw Menny, the patriarch’s son, and he’d already been at the second level of Integration back then.”

“Seriously? He’s only eighteen or so, isn’t he? I just got to the first level a month ago and I’m twenty-five!”

“It’s best not to compare yourself to geniuses like that. Besides, who would dare to bother us if we were back home? It’s better we count our blessings.”

“Still…”

The youth in the silver clothing suddenly addressed the elder with a respectful bow. “Esteemed elder, I take it that we’re supposed to lift this boulder with our inner essence?” Seeing the light shrug that he got in response, the young man bowed once more and suddenly expelled a large amount of translucent-grey inner essence which quickly engulfed the massive ore and the space within a metre of its surface. The boulder began to shiver just a bit, but otherwise didn’t budge from the centre of shattered tile.

“How strong is he, Mother?”

“His talent isn’t bad.”

“Is he stronger than Brother?”

The woman let out a gentle laugh. “Just watch and see.”

“I hate not being able to sense—”

Esteban shushed the boy.

The young man’s face distorted into an expression of struggle and his energy abruptly doubled, which caused the boulder to shiver a bit more but otherwise remained in place. Reluctantly, he recalled his energies and tossed a spatial bag to the old man, who stowed it away in an instant.

“Humph,” said a large young man as he passed the previous contestant, narrow eyes looking down in contempt. “What, did you forget about physical strength, or are those from Ransom Mountain just weak?”

The youth in silver clothing simply ignored him and returned to stand beside his companions.

Turning to face the crowd, the new arrival produced a spatial bag and tossed it to the silent elder. A curtain of confidence over his face, he bellowed, “Everybody take a long look at how I, Alen of Smolen, beat this challenge!”

An eruption of dim black energy covered the boulder in the same fashion as the previous man’s energy, though this time around the challenger approached the boulder directly and attempted to lift it off the ground with both projected inner essence and the strength of his muscles. Remarkably, he managed to lift the ore a finger’s length from the ground, his face strained and exaggeratedly flushed as he continued to lift the load one centimetre after another.

That old dude said not to touch it. Isn’t he breaking the rules? Now that he took a closer look, the young man had cloaked his hands in thick layers of inner essence that made it so that technically there was no physical contact between him and the mineral.

“He’s doing it!”

“The younger generation from Smolen sure are something.”

“I can’t believe it. With his bare hands!”

“Wait, shouldn’t he be disqualified?”

“Look closer you idiot. He’s not actually touching the halmite.”

The small boulder rose nearly a foot before it slipped from the man’s grip and crashed back to the fractured earth with a resounding thump. The youth from Smolen stared down at the boulder and then up at the elder of the royal family. He sighed and then rejoined a group of companions in the crowd.

After Alen of Smolen, over a dozen young adults of distinguishable disposition attempted to lift the black halmite, though none managed to succeed.

“Who’s next?”

In response to the aged voice that had broken the ensuing silence, a hushed chatter swept the thousands of onlookers. Nobody moved to make the next attempt, at least not immediately.

“How many people can hope to win this challenge?” said one of the young men that Nolan had overheard earlier on. “That first guy was at the second level of Integration. The guy from Smolen was at the third, not to mention all the ones that came after.” For young adults to possess such cultivations was quite rare even in the prosperous metropolis of Mason.

“Well, that last fellow got it halfway up to his knees. Maybe someone a bit stronger could…”

Nolan sensed the pair of young men cast a few quick gazes at Ian, who ignored them as he indulged in a fresh helping of ale. It wasn’t just them. Ian had caught the attention of dozens of people, namely those who were able to sense his cultivation level and those that couldn’t but acknowledged the implications of this inability.

The woman and her son had also begun to peer at Ian.

“Mother, what is his cultivation level?”

“It’s rude to ask about such things,” she reprimanded, though she pulled him close and whispered into his ear. “He is at the same level as your brother.”

Nolan rolled his eyes. Why call him out if you were still going to answer his question?

“Huh?” The boy fixed Esteban with a dark-eyed stare. “Hey kid, where are you guys from anyway?”

“Don’t call me kid when I’m older than you!”

“I’m nine, and you clearly aren’t.”

“Yeah, because I’m ten.”

“I don’t believe you. You don’t look it.”

“Well, my body might look—ow!” He rubbed at the back of his head, which Nolan had just given a decisive smack.

“That’s enough out of you. And you’re both runts, so get over it.”

While they were engaged in idle chatter a small commotion broke out on the eastern fringes of the crowd. The source of the disturbance quickly closed in on the central platform, and it wasn’t long before the parting crowd revealed a short old man, a young man just a few years older than Nolan, and a child around eleven or twelve. They all wore renditions of the same clothing; grey pants of smooth silk beneath close-fitting charcoal robes that hung down to the knees. While all were of high quality, the old man’s clothing gave off an aura similar to a talisman, as did the robes of the older youth at his side. With short black hair combed carefully to one side, beady brown eyes and an entitled gait to his step, the young man was a portrait of vanity.

Their robes are Essence Fusion objects huh? Nolan noted that the young man was at the fifth level of Integration, a level above the most recent challenger. That last guy was pretty strong but could only lift it halfway to his knees. I wonder how this asshole will do.

As the eldest of the three began to address the competition’s host, the mother and son began to talk.

“They look important. Do you know who they are, Mother?”

“I think so. If I recall things correctly then they are members of a sect from the islands to the west.”

“One of those sects?”

“Yes, just like the one that your brother went off to join.”

“Really? Haha, even bigshots like them are showing up to our awesome festival!”

The woman remained quiet and smiled at her son before politely returning her attention to the large mass of black halmite at the centre of the plaza.

Now that the newcomers had captured everyone’s attention, the oldest of the three announced that his senior disciple intended to make an attempt to lift the rock.

The young man approached the boulder and began to pace around it. Once he had inspected it for almost five minutes, he sat down in front of it and began to meditate for nearly twice as long. Most members of the crowd remained quiet as they awaited his next move. Before long he opened his eyes and cast out a small amount of spiritual energy, which quickly fell into place around the ore at six different spots that vaguely paralleled the locations of the points on a hexagon.