“Sir, Varen was killed.” An imposing man sat there, meditating under a tree that filtered the moonlight straight to where the man was seated.

“I’m not surprised, the fool probably overestimated himself again and paid the price this time. Still, it’s worrying, wasn’t he on a mission for the patron?”

“He was sir, and last report said he’d found the girl traveling with a youth who was startlingly strong.” The meditating man shifted.

“How strong and how young?”

“He was estimated around 14, with a cultivation of the peak True level.”

“Experts like that… Only four every ten thousand years are born. There’s no way that child could have survived, right?” The man shook his head. “I want a full team prepared, we must complete the mission ourselves. If that child is who I suspect, then he must be eliminated with haste. Not to mention the girl.”

“Sir, if you would let me lead them. I have the power of the mid Earth realm, that should be more than enough to take them on if I surprise them, regardless of her treasures. Besides sir, you are on the verge of breaking through.”

He frowned a moment, before waving him off. He would allow his subordinate to lead a party, but he would himself be prepared. The kid shouldn’t be alive, so the Heaven’s had to of favored him, there’s no other way he could have made it. At least, that’s what the bandit thought.

-----

The town Audun was in was the biggest one he had ever seen. Not even the capital of the Baste Clan was as large. Every building was large and made of a type of stone that seemed to shine, and the streets full of people. Along the buildings were shopping carts, where merchants would shout out assorted deals and products in a hope to sell someone something. All of this left him wide eyed, and his childlike desire to explore kicked in, but he held it back, he could tell Avari was anxious to leave.

Even restraining himself, he couldn’t help but look around and wander. Perhaps the most shocking thing was the cultivation of the people around him. The average person doesn’t leave the Nascent realm, yet everyone that was in the town seemed to be at least the early True realm.

“Why is everyone here so strong?” Avari took a moment before she realized what Audun said.

“This is a border town, and would be the first place to be affected by war, so everyone here tends to be at least the True realm. Once we move to a richer area, we will see more people of the Earth Realm and above.”

Even though Audun grew up in the capital of the Baste clan, surrounded by countless experts, Sky experts usually were out training armies or slaying those few demon beasts who were able to reach that level of power. Even Earth experts only stayed around the Noble’s. Audun’s own teacher was just an Earth expert, although higher experts were scheduled to speak with him before his disability was discovered.

“So when will we have that ride arranged for us?”

“All I have to do is speak with the town leader, and a ship will be immediately prepared. Speaking of, we should be arriving soon.” Audun could tell something was wrong with Avari, but he felt uncomfortable with the thought of bringing it up, so he let it die there.

Time passed, and they had stopped for lunch at this point. It was true that the further you go on in cultivation, the less you need to eat, but it wasn't a noticeable effect until the late Earth realm. Avari ordered a dish that was apparently made from some rare demon beast that was of the Earth realm, and Audun ordered the same. She paid with a currency that was made with a special type of metal found only in the Joka territories. It was a new type of currency, but the power of the Joka’s made everyone accept it.

The food looked absolutely delectable, and Audun was finished almost before the waiter was even all the way gone. He offered a sheepish grin to Avari, in apology for the bit of a mess he made. She only shook her head and offered a small laugh. She still seemed very distant.

That was, until she saw a poster on the wall.

“What? There’s no way that they could have…” Audun looked over at the poster, seeing what was on it. It said ‘Come participate in the Arena! Slaughter your way through weaklings to reach the top! And receive our grand prize, a mystical set of gloves from the ruins of an ancient site! Only True realm cultivators may enter.’ Accompanied with a picture of two gloves, with an aura you could feel through just an image. Not the best written or most persuasive piece, but on the way here, he heard lots of people talk about The Arena. It’s reputation alone must bring hundreds.

“What are the weapons, Avari.”

She took a moment to throw up a sign that prevented others from hearing their conversation, before speaking. “Those gloves, they are weapons made by the sacred ancients, old Saint rank experts far more powerful than today's While their own power isn’t too great on their own, they are said to be a piece of a suit that, when put together, can put one with no cultivation above a saint rank expert.”

“That sounds a bit far fetched, don’t you think? Even the most powerful of weapons require a powerful wielder.”

“That’s just it, it can make a normal person rise above the Saint realm. The more powerful you are, the more powerful the suit. The only person to wear the suit was the son of one of the ancients, who had no ability to cultivate. The suit wasn’t able to make him immortal, however, so before his death, he hid its pieces and scattered them. But the gloves are now found, and if they are procured by someone who knows their origins, they can be used to find the other pieces. We can’t let this happen… But the tournament is set for tomorrow, there’s no way to alert the elders, nor can we alert anyone to the gloves origins.”

“So let’s enter it tomorrow. I’m sure that between us, no one in the True realm can beat us.”

Avari looked away, dejected and a bit sad. “I suppose we have no choice.”

Audun lightly touched Avari’s arm, and offered a look of comfort. “I could do it alone, you know. If you want to go, I can meet up with you when I win.”

Avari’s face lit up, and even though the sadness was not completely gone, she looked better. “Thank you for offering, but how could I let you try this all on your own. You’d probably screw it all up by trying to show off. Besides, the tournament is only three days, not much will happen in that time. I can wait. But we can’t anymore, let’s go get signed up and find a nice hotel to rest in.”