A tall middle-aged man in a black coat entered the common room. Two guards and a group of slaves were following him. Those were slaves from the 1st and 2nd sectors who'd won in the auction. It was obvious by their ill-concealed smiles.

Kyon could tell by the way the man was walking he was no ordinary person. He had certain abilities.

The people in the crowd parted to make a path on him. The trio who ran the market stall moved closer to the wall to make room on the mini-stage. Their importance was clearly inferior to that of the man wearing the coat.

The man went up to the stage, looked over the crowd with blank eyes, cleaned his throat, and spoke:

«All of you probably know who I am and why I'm here. I'm not going to stay in this place for long. Three people who make the highest bids will be promoted and sent to the estate…»

Although those words were spoken every year, they always caused quite a sensation in the common room.

Each slave takes the promotion and moving to the mansion as something unimaginable that will completely change their life for the better. There will be delicious food, favorable living conditions, a high salary... The chance to become a footman of some gentleman could turn their lives in a fairy tale. Or to become a servant or even a livestock keeper, those are the dreams of the poor. The prospects were unthinkable. The estate belonged to the Stones, the family number one in the Kingdom, no less. The price of the promotion in contrast to the usual freedom was on average three times higher.

The man in the coat, aka the deliverer, spread his hands and said solemnly: - «Let the auction begin! The first bid is five thousand rupees. Who will give me more?»

Arms began to rise followed by shouts: «Sixty thousand!»...«Seventy thousand!»...«Ninety thousand!»

As a result, the first person bought the promotion for 250,000 rupees.

Kyon decided to buy the promotion of the second lot as he believed it would be cheaper that way.

His thoughts were justified: he won second place for 220,000 rupees. Psychology and the mood of the masses were an open book for him.

And yet what a fortunate coincidence it was that people of means came and kindly gave him all their possessions. With the previous sum of money he had, he'd need to toil for many, many years before he could take part in the auction. Or rather he'd have to come up with another cunning plan. Everything worked out for him. He didn't know what was coming for him in the mansion and he couldn't wait to find it out.

The third person won third place for 275,000 rupees. He'd been saving the money for about 10 years. The promotion was worth the money, unlike ordinary freedom. There was no way he'd spend another year as a slave in the mine. He wanted to save some money, taking third place. Oh well, he meant well. Surprisingly, sad and happy tears were running down his cheeks at the same time.

Kyon discreetly gave the rest of the money to already healthy and eternally grateful Mike, shook his hand and followed the man in the black coat outside.

The rupees he’d handed over were not in general use in the mansion.

On the way from the common room, he met a happy strong man. It was Borya. He also shook the guy’s hand and patted him on the back. «The legend of the guy who defied the system, and most importantly won, would be heard for a long time in the mine. Good luck in the future, Kyon.»

John, Kyon's former warden, was standing there in disbelief. The little shit had beaten him up, crippled him, took his money, and then he bought a promotion with it. The world is unfair…

Babil shed an angry tear, clenching his few teeth. The little crook didn’t let him get over on him. He was nobody’s fool, that boy. He was a tiger in the skin of a fool.

Byron called Martha to tell her that the guy was leaving the mine and went to see him off:

«Kyon, I'm so happy for you! I hope they will treat you well in the mansion.»

Kyon smiled:

«Don't forget our conversation. By the way, I left you a surprise. You'll find out tomorrow what it is.»

The big man looked down at Kyon with a great deal of interest. He liked surprises. In the end, he gave him a warm smile and shook his hand:

«All right, kid. Take care of yourself. I wish I could leave you a surprise, too. But there’s nothing to surprise you with…»

«That's okay.» - Kyon patted him on the shoulder. Thanks to that man nobody tried to steal the large amount of money in his pocket all week long and there were enough of those who’d love to get rich overnight. If not for Byron, he’d have to look for a roundabout way to get himself out of the mine and it might take more than a month, and maybe more than two.

Kyon knew well that purifying Byron's keys, even not to the level of the bender of elements, wasn’t going to write off his debt. In the future, he will get him out of here and perhaps even help him to get his revenge. If it isn’t too much trouble for him.

After the guy had shaken everyone’s hand, he followed the deliverer in the black coat. He had the foresight to hide on him the amber crystallized energy, potentially explosive, which in the future could come in handy if anything happened. Besides, it was real money, not like rupees.

It was a piece of cake for Kyon to hide something from search. All he had to do was hide the little stones under the thick bandage somewhere on his forearm.

The group of people was approaching Sector 4.

Today Mob was alone at the checkpoint as he owed Bob a day off. He was leaning back in his chair, reading a book. Either he was pretending to be an intellectual, or he did not want to be like the other slaves when all of a sudden, he turned around and noticed the group with Kyon.

The question slipped out of his mouth:

«Kyon?! Are you the winner?!»

The guy nodded:

«My adventures are coming to an end in this place.»

The deliverer in the coat hid his surprise that the guy was friendly with the authorities, he approached Mob and told him in a flat voice:

«If you know each other, it makes things easier. Write down in your report that he won and was sent to the mansion. I'm in a hurry.»

Mob bowed slightly. He knew well he’d better show respect for the person in front of him, and quickly started making log entries that would only mix things up later.

He heard someone behind him. Martha came to say goodbye to Kyon. Thanks to the boy, she had the most unusual week in the mine.

Mob, still writing in the log, looked around at the familiar footsteps, and cried out:

«Martha! Hi!»

The woman saw all those present, especially Mob and smiled, embarrassed:

«Hello…»

The man broke into a blissful smile, then coughed awkwardly.

Martha approached Kyon, took him by the hand and said:

«I didn't expect you to have so many secrets! I'm so glad you are getting out of here. I hope you'll be alright in the mansion.»

Kyon looked at her good-natured, pretty face, smiled kindly and replied:

«All that happened not without your help. Thank you for being a partner… in crime as well.» - He gave her a conspiratorial wink.

Martha covered her red face with her hand, averting her eyes. She was indeed an accomplice in Martin's murder, albeit unintentionally.

Mob startled as if he remembered something, then quickly grabbed the boy by the hand and gave him a firm shake, patting him on the shoulder with the other hand:

«Kyon… Well... Have a good time. Alright... Good luck.»

Kyon looked at the man in shock. Was it real that Mob shook a slave's hand? No way! He wanted to impress Martha that much. He turned his eyes to the woman and nodded – it worked! It really did!

Martha covered her mouth with her hand. She’d always hated that Mob beat up slaves, treated them like shit. And now he was shaking hands with one of them! He was smiling! Was it the same man? When he was protecting her from the mad servant, she noticed many good qualities in him, and now... But she hadn't said anything to Byron yet. She hadn't broken up with him. She had to be more determined.

Kyon cleared his throat and replied to Mob:

«I will! Believe me.»

Mob took away his hand and almost imperceptibly wiped it on his pants, his “sincere” smile never left his lips. His little ruse was for a reason. The expression on the face of his beloved woman was incredible.

In the meantime, the deliverer was staring at the boy as if he was an anomaly. It was the first time he’d met such a young slave in the mine. Alright, he might have committed a crime and they put him away at such a young age. Then he was surprised that the slave had enough money to buy his freedom. It took many years of hard work to earn that sum, and it was unlikely that he’d been toiling here since his infancy. He must have cheated. But what could he possibly do, who did he have to deceive and rob to have such a huge amount of money? It was strange. Then it turned out that the boy was on friendly terms with the leader of the mine! Even stranger was the fact that the nurse came out to say goodbye to him! Oh well, he could believe she liked the handsome young boy. But to be friends with the supervisor, who, as far as he remembered from his previous trips, despised slaves?! The young man was too mysterious. It was curious... very curious how he did it. All those facts together had completely changed his opinion about the guy.

The deliverer suppressed his astonishment and said loudly. «It’s time to leave. Unless you want to stay in the mine.» After those words, he headed off to the 4th sector with his group.

Kyon threw a final smiling glance at Martha, waved her with two fingers goodbye and followed the deliverer. He decided he would pay her back in full for her kindness and help but first, he needed to get on his feet and spread his wings.

The woman watched him go with a longing look on her face. Suddenly, his silhouette moving away from her looked a lot like her son. It all seemed symbolic to her. Tears flew from her eyes, her heart was so empty. The memories came flooding back. It was all happening again…

Mob saw his dear woman crying and gently put his arm around her. «Here, here... He'll be ba... He'll miss you, too.»

Martha nodded, wiped her tears, and shouted after him:

«Take good care of yourself!»

Kyon didn't turn, a brief smile played across his face.

Eventually, the group crossed the border of Sector 3... None of the old acquaintances would bother the guy anymore. When he understood that, he exhaled deeply and somewhat sad.

After the auctions had finished in the other sectors, the man gathered a decent group of slaves leaving the mine. The guards respectfully let him out at the sight of the formation on his wrist.

The mountain wind was blowing. A beautiful mountain landscape opened before Kyon. The sun was at its zenith, and he could see green trees in the distance, a small river, birds... Dear nature which the slaves hadn’t seen for many years.

Their faces expressed delight. They hadn't breathed fresh air for ages.

The man led the group to a large cart pulled by two unusual animals. He sat on the driver’s seat and beckoned to the others to come.

{My journey is just beginning.} - Kyon reminded himself, making himself comfortable.

…

Twenty-four elders were sitting at a large round table in the half-open palace. Half of them flickered like an illusion. If they looked up, they could see a huge blue ball in the sky, the planet called Life.

There was an ongoing discussion of an extremely important issue between two rival factions opposing each other for thousands of years.

The tall illusory man, aka the Emperor, named Mubay with short blond hair, keen eyes and a pair of translucent white wings resembling angelic behind his back, spoke with a voice of authority:

«We have considered the proposal for a competition to win the ownership of the gates to Argus for the next hundred years. We have agreed upon all the points, except the one which states that there should be a hundred of the highest geniuses on each side. We believe it’s better to leave twenty-five people rather than create a bloodbath on the planet of the lower.»

The man named Ryder, the Emperor of the opposite faction, with a pair of dark wings behind his back and an outstanding appearance said with a grin:

«Do you expect me to believe that you care about the fate of the scum? Admit it, you don't have enough young geniuses to match us.»

Mubay's illusory silhouette's reaction was harsh and haughty. «Our geniuses have always been famous for their quality, not quantity! We cultivate grains of gold long and hard, we don’t crank out heaps of rot!»

The opponents started a fierce debate with a single goal to humiliate the other faction and defend their own position. After some time, both sides came up with a compromise: there will be 50 participants on each side.

Mubay, the head of the light faction, summed up:

«Next year, on the day of the gate closing, we’re placing fifty of the best geniuses under the age of eighteen in random places on the planet. They will all start it the third phase of development. Their success will depend only on their intelligence and talent. The losers will strictly follow the terms of the agreement, and the winners will have the gates to Argus at their disposal for the next hundred years. Now let's sign the spiritual contract.» - He looked at the leader of the dark faction.

Ryder signed the document with a confident smile and said solemnly:

«And may the STRONGEST win. I mean US!» - As he finished speaking, he dropped the projection call, leaving the last word to himself.

He waved his hand leisurely, ordering the elders of his dark faction to leave the conference room. Everybody left with reverence on their faces. An extraordinarily beautiful woman stayed. She put her hand on his shoulder.

With an evil smile, Emperor Ryder pulled the gorgeous woman closer and kissed her sliding his tongue into her mouth, pawing her supple buttocks. Then he pulled away from her and said:

«Darling, we don't have much time to prepare. Organize the qualifying tournament all over the Kingdom. I want to see fifty greatest young geniuses the next month. And take care of our son. He must get the best training and resources. He was born to be the first, after all.»

____________________

Dear readers,

It’s the end of the first arc. Thank you for reading! In the second arc, you will witness Kyon’s gradual development in this world, his coming into power, discovering new knowledge, building the foundation for his immense force, making plans for the near future.

P.S. In the second arc, you might get an idea that MC is doomed to fail because of his stupidity or reckless behavior. It would be fundamentally wrong. It’s all author’s intention. You might consider Kyon a demi-god, but he can’t avoid the consequences of the author's arm of justice.

P.P.S. Don’t expect too much from MC. I admit my mistake, I’ve set the bar too high. It’s unreal to keep up with it. My work, albeit not obvious, is aimed mainly at romance and not ordinary relationships with female characters (the flash-forward and tags are there for a reason). I’ve briefly mentioned before that MC has a weakness for beauty, especially for beautiful girls. He is emotional and impulsive, which for many can be the opposite of rationalism and genius. I’ve chosen these qualities for MC to create the plot that I initially planned. It’s not a story about a genius who achieves everything at once. MC has to work his ass off and suffer to reach his goal. Thank you for understanding : )