CHAPTER 3

At those words, Boras turned to his son and he asked him:

“What would you like to drink Mir?

-Soda dad please.

“Disciple Gabot, could we please have two sodas then ?

- Of course !”

After that, the other men at the table started ordering drinks as well and everyone at the table chatted merrily for some time. They asked many things to Gabot regarding the school and such. Mir was enjoying himself as well and learning lots. It had to be said that all those men at the table were at least forty years old. He felt like he was surrounded by colleagues. To the men, however, he was only a five-year-old child with weird eyeballs. None made a fuss about it. He learnt that there were many people with strange appearances and even beast folks so appearance didn’t mean shit to martial cultivator. Time passed by and the tavern became crowded. Before it even began, the whole place was filled with people so much so that they had to close the doors and refuse entries. There was a total of twenty table for ten people and it was full. There was one disciple at every table so in total, there were one hundred and eighty participants. Quite a few challengers. Because there were so many people, the atmosphere inside the tavern was lively to say the least. After some time, a young girl went up on the scene. She was quite the little beauty. Around seventeen with good looks. She had brown long hair and brown eyes but a sweet smile. She wasn’t an incredible beauty but she was a cute young girl. She faced the crowd and using some martial skill or something, she loudly said :

“Hello everyone !”

Everyone stopped talking under the solicitations of the disciples and all eyes were fixed on her. She didn’t seem to mind it but rather to enjoy it. And so, she went on :

“My name’s Lyla and I am a member of the Herbalist Group. I will also be your host for today’s quiz ! I would like to welcome you all in our maple tavern as a representative of our group !”

There were some cheers and she kept going :

“It is earlier than scheduled but since we already have the number of players, what you say we start the show ?

-Hell yeah !”

Many old men answered her with loud cheers once again and that made her smile. She was cute, no wonder the old men kept cheering louder. After a few seconds, she went on :

“So, you probably all guessed it by now but since we are the herbalist group, we are obviously related to herbs. We are a group focusing on the growth of plants…And mostly martial plants ! This means that…The prizes for today’s games are going to be related to martial plants : Martial Pellets !”

After she said those words, the cheers were endless. Many old men got up and even clapped their hands. It was as if they had already won the lottery. But who could blame them ? It was their incredible luck that had led them to participate in this quiz. One must know that single martial pellet of the lowest quality is already worth a few gold coins. And today, they could play a game to earn some after having paid an entry fee of only a silver. The girl giggled and said :

“Uhuh, while it’s true that a single pellet would be worth more money than all the entrance fees together, to us, they aren’t valuable at all. And that is because we can craft them ourselves. However, it is true that we would generally not give them out like that. This is a special event to celebrate the genius tournament, everyone, be sure to enjoy yourselves !”

Cheers, again and again. But now, rather than feeling annoyed, Mir was also cheering. Those pellets were really too valuable. He had never seen one but he knew by his father that they were worth a lot of money and they were the only tools to improve martial cultivation. The demand was high and the prices as well. If he could get a single pellet and sold it, he would have turned his father into a rich man back in his town. And soon, the game was going to start. The young girl took out a small white ball from her bag. It was perfectly circular and was somehow strange. Mir looked at it with his eye power and instantly breathed in a mouthful of air. This was no ordinary circular ball, it was a rank 1 first realm pellet of high quality. A 1.1 martial pellet. As it appeared in the hand of the cute girl, everyone was stunned and silent. The girl was grinning and said :

“This is our first prize for today and obviously the smallest one. It is a way to start things ? Anyway, we will be playing for this pellet first. The rules are simple. When you have the right answer, place your sign on the rocks in front of you. The rock on the stage will display a number, if it’s yours, then, you will have a chance to answer. If you fail to answer, a second number will appear and so on until we find a winner. Also, if you fail three times to give the answer, you are game over and your ability to participate is revoked. Make sure you think twice before using your plate !”

After that, everyone’s expression became serious. After all, it was one thing to fail but they couldn’t bear to reach game over. They were going to play for real. It would be dumb to use the plate and failing to answer. What’s more, if the rules considered the game over to appear after three failures, then, it meant that it was hard enough so that people might end up failing three times… They were all concentrating. Then, five men walked on the scene. They were all disciples of the Imposing Thunder Mountain School. They were of different ages though. The girl looked at them then to the crowd and she said :

“The first question is : What cultivation levels did those five reach ?”

After the question was spoken, one would think people would quickly try to answer but no one dared to right now. The reason is simple, it’s not that easy to find out the martial cultivation of someone if he is hiding it…Even more so, right now, they had to guess five of them right. Then, a man from a different table asked :

“Aren’t they going to show their auras ?”

And the girl laughed at him then answered :

“Of course not ! This is a quiz. Did you think it would be that easy to get the prizes ?”

Many people were frowning upon hearing her answer. Apparently, they thought it to be difficult. Too difficult. Then, the cute girl spoke once more :

“However, after someone answer, if he fails, I will let you know if he had a right answer out of the five.”

And an old man then said :

“Oh, so this isn’t really a quiz but rather a game between us guests and your herbalist group in the form of a quiz. Interesting indeed !”

She answered him :

“You’re right elder. While the prizes are incredible, it doesn’t mean you will be getting them. All our questions are rather difficult and every guest can only fail three times. We believed it would make for a far more interesting challenge this way ! So please, dear guests, try your best to find the answer to our questions !”

Some commotion arose but everyone was more excited than angry. After all, this turned out to become a game far more enjoyable than they thought it would be. However, even though everyone was rejoicing, no one dared to answer the question. The reason is, no one knew the right answer and they didn’t want to lose one of their three chances.

The elder who previously spoke then broke the silence and discussed with the member of his table :

“Dear friends, I believe it is fate that brought us together at this table. What do you say we team up to guess the answers ? When alone, one can only have three chances but together, we would have twenty-seven. How about it ?”

After his words, the people at his table began to think and ponder on his words. Th people at the other tables were also reflecting on his words. But in the end, it would not be possible. One of the member at his table told the elder :

“And how are we supposed to share a single pellet among us nine ?”

“We don’t. We only work together to get closer to the answer and the one who manage to reach it first shall earn the reward himself. To prove my fairness, I shall be the first to answer.”

He placed his number sign on the rock in front of him and the rock on scene lighted up. A number in yellow appeared. It was 134. The old man’s number. He was going to answer. The girl on scene smiled and said :

“Mister 134, your answer ?”

The old man got up and said :

“I would say that they are all from the rank 1 first realm.”

It was obvious it was the wrong answer. However, it brightened the atmosphere and everyone inside understood the old man’s intent. He was only trying to reduce the possibilities. The girl on stage smiled mischievously and said :

“You are quite smart old man. Trying to restrict the number of possibilities is indeed the right choice. However, don’t forget that you will have to guess to whom the cultivation belongs to. However, I will keep to my word and tell you. While you are wrong, there is indeed someone on stage who is at the first realm of the first rank.”

The old man sat down under the applause of the crowd. From then on, people started doing the same as the old man and after five more men gave a wrong answer, the people present knew that there was one rank 1 first realm, two rank 1 third realm, one rank one fourth realm and one rank one sixth realm. However, they still had to guess which realm belonged to whom. At that time however, many people tried their luck. But even after they had tried all combinations, the right answer had yet to be given. The old man who spoke first was frowning. He had kept the tab, like many others, and what possibilities were left. There was no one anymore trying to answer as they all knew they tried every possibility. Mir was grinning from the start. Thanks to his eyes, it wasn’t difficult to find out the five men’s cultivation. However, he wanted first to have the people inside lose some chances. It was a competition after all. And it was obvious to him they would never get it right. The old man hadn’t given up though and after some time, he had a flash of insight. He talked to a man near him and the man tried to give an answer :

“There is one rank 1 first realm, two rank 1 third realm, one rank one fourth realm and one rank one seventh realm”

She said :

“There is no rank one seventh realm on scene.”

That made Mir frown. The old man had guessed the answer to the riddle. It wouldn’t be long now until he found out the right answer. Mir had to start now. He took the number sign from his father and placed it on his rock. It surprised his father and angered him a bit. As the number appeared on the rock, the cute girl said :

“Mister fifty-five, please.”

And Boras answered :

“Ah sorry, it’s my son, he’s still young, he played with the sing…”

That’s when Mir said :

“No, I want to play, I know the answer !”

His father reprimanded him :

“Mir, don’t be spoiled. This isn’t a game for you to play…”

However, the cute girl on scene said :

“Don’t worry. Even if he is a young child, it remains that he is sitting on one of the player’s chairs. He has the right to participate as well and has his own three chances. So, young man, what’s your answer ?”

It went as Mir hoped it would go. Then, he smiled and pointed his finger to the first disciple on the left. He said :

“You are a rank one third realm.”

He pointed to the next one :

“You are a rank one third realm as well.”

He pointed to the next one :

“You are a rank one first realm.”

To the fourth he said :

“You are a rank one fourth realm.”

And to the fifth he said :

“You’re a rank two second realm.”

At those words, all the disciples were speechless. However, a few guests were laughing at the child… But then, the girl said while laughing :

“It seems like this young child is today’s smartest guest. Congratulations little guy, this pellet is yours !”

At that many people were perplexed and angered. They couldn’t believe Mir got it right. After all, he was a five-year-old child ! Even his father, Boras, was stunned. Then, the old man who first spoke started clapping his hand. Then, his table joined him and after a time, everyone applauded the child. The girl on stage smiled and said :

“Little guy, who’s the disciple at your table ?

“It’s Gabot !”

“Alright. Gabot, come here and deliver the pellet to the young winner.”

“Yes, right away !”

After a few seconds, the pellet was in Mir’s hands. He was examining with a great smile on his face. Then he turned to his father and said :

“Here dad. That’s to pay for today’s activities. Let’s have more fun !”

“Sure son ! Let us enjoy the festival !”

His father was smiling like never. This pellet was worth so much money…They would no doubt be able to entertain themselves a lot more during this festival.

The girl on stage then continued :

“Everyone, here, let me present you your host and our Herbalist Group head, Tang Sa. Rank two second realm.”

“Good morning everyone and welcome to our Maple Tavern. I hope you enjoyed our first question and will enjoy yourselves throughout the rest of the event. I can see that a few of you are still quite perplexed about the result of this first quiz. Young friend, would you like to explain to your uncles how your reach the answer ?”

Mir was drinking his soda in happiness when this man disturbed him. But there was no reason to not disclose the truth. He had won anyway. So, he spoke :

“Sure. Thing is, the sister over there said every time ‘on scene’. But she’s also on scene so there were actually six people on scene. I believe she is the rank one sixth realm.”