Without missing a beat, Nolan pulled out the bottle of golden spirits that he had taken from Welson’s gambling house right before they had decided to see what fun could be had in town. When Kendal had the nerve to attempt to summon it over with externalized inner essence, he forcibly dismissed the invasive energy with a thought. This took Kendal by surprise, as he’d evidently assumed that just because Nolan was one level beneath him in cultivation that it would be a breeze to snatch things away from him.

“Those spirits are expensive,” said the young man with displeasure. “They’re for everyone at the party, not for you to hoard for yourself.”

Nolan didn’t hide his impatience from his tone. “Look at the bottle, you bird. This is obviously my own liquor.”

Kendal glared at him and then pointed to the area where the front gates were. “What audacity you have, to cause trouble with me at my own home. You may as well take your leave."

“You literally came over here and started insulting me left and right. I don’t care how insecure you are about winning these girls over, don’t make it my problem.”

“Perhaps you’re just feeling sour that you’re here alone, while I’m surrounded by all these beauties like a real man?”

“Oh yeah, I’m really jealous of this whole blackmail thing you’ve got going on here. I don’t know how I’ll be able to sleep tonight, knowing I’m not you.” Having flashbacks of Drasin from the Falling Rain Sect, Barton of the Towering Eaves clan, Brecht of the Bloodhand Sect, and Dartan of Greenwall, Nolan suppressed a sigh and stood up from his cozy little spot, intent on leaving. “Listen,” he said, cutting off whatever the young man was about to say, “I get it. You’re the big boss, you don’t like seeing a lowly water flea like me just existing here in your pond. So, I’ll find a new spot to relax. Anyway, nice meeting you girls.” After all of the things that he’d experienced on Venara, he wasn’t in the mood to deal with another young master.

He stood up and cancelled the barrier arrayment, allowing a rush of warm water to flood the area around the others. Picking up his clothes, he dried himself with another basic arrayment that created a simple breeze before he altered his makeshift bathing suit back into its original state.

Let’s see. Nolan could sense his friends at the front gates, likely waiting in the long line like many of the other hopefuls outside of the estate. Knowing the temperaments of some of his friends, he doubted that they would be waiting long. Just in case, he contacted May and told her to look for the guard from before and to tell him that their invitations had already been provided.

Walking around for a while, Nolan saw that another event was about to begin. He bumped into Katerina on his way over to the western half of the courtyard, where dozens of people were in the midst of placing bets on competitors in some sort of competition. The girl that she’d bid for at the auction was there, keeping to herself in a calm and respectful manner as she shadowed her temporary master.

When asked about what was going on, Katerina informed him that several events had been planned for entertainment purposes, and that the next one would be a competition between arrayment practitioners that was only open to those that knew how to cast attack arrayments. Evidently a series of targets were to be conjured in the sky at different distances and altitudes, and the entrants would have a limited amount of time to attempt to hit them.

“Are you interested in competing?” asked the young woman, a curious expression to her sharp beauty. “If you do, I’ll be sure to bet on you.”

Noticing that Kendal, Melissa and the girls had also arrived at the western area of the courtyard, he shook his head. “I think I’ll pass. There’s a lot of petty people in this world, and I’d rather not deal with them.”

Following his gaze, Katerina kept silent and instead accompanied him in watching the kick-starting of the competition. Overall there were 33 participants of varying age, their dispositions and body language making Nolan suspect that they were hidden guards for the ones that were betting on them.

The host of this competition was an old man at the first level of the Genesis stage, someone who was deeply respected by the others in attendance. Based on the badge that decorated his chest, he was a high-ranking member of the CMA. All of the participants were in the Integration stage, with mid-thirties being the median age.

As soon as he announced the beginning of the competition, the old man began to draw out an arrayment diagram that he activated over a minute later. This gave life to dozens of translucent barriers that had been limited in size to roughly that of a grown man’s torso, all of which were separated by at least a hundred metres, the closest one being over three hundred metres away while the farthest was just under two kilometres above the estate. At an exertion from the old man, all of these barriers began to move around in sporadic patterns, some shrinking in size as the moments passed. These barriers shone like little beacons in the night, giving off the impression that a bunch of drones were flying around while flashing lights of different colours.

“The task is very simple. You will have five minutes to break as many of these barriers as possible. Not only does your aim have to be accurate, but your attack arrayment must contain an acceptable amount of force in order to break them. The green barriers are closer and larger than the others, so they’re worth five points. Following this are yellow, blue, and red, worth ten, fifteen, and thirty points respectively.

“To break the green barriers your attack arrayment must, at the very least, be capable of breaking the defenses of someone at the fifth level of Integration. For the yellow ones, the seventh level, with eighth for blue and peak Integration for red.”

After explaining the rules, the old man gave the green light to the first participant, who set his jaw and immediately began to draw out an arrayment diagram.

“This is quite the challenge,” muttered Katerina, who had crossed her arms in a contemplative gesture. “Five minutes is only enough time to draw out a few diagrams, especially for practitioners in the Integration stage. Breaking just one red barrier is better than breaking five green ones, so I’m sure many will be tempted to try for the more difficult targets.”

“Is there a prize?” he asked. “We got here a little late, I honestly didn’t know much about this party going into it.”

“It shouldn’t be too much. If I recall, it’s something like 120,000 spirit stones?”

Shouldn’t be much, he echoed in his mind while smothering a smirk. These days he couldn’t help but agree with that statement, but just a few months ago in Venara time he would have drooled over the thought of obtaining such a sum.

Thinking that Esteban would surely have entered the competition if he had arrived on time, Nolan watched the first contestant struggle to draw out and activate four arrayments in succession, only two of them connecting with their targets. Of the green barriers that were struck, just one broke while the other simply spider-webbed at the point of contact.

The next contestant, a middle-aged woman with a knobby nose and a wide face, performed fairly better. After breaking two green targets and making contact with a yellow one, she now boasted the highest score. This didn’t last for long, however, as the young man that followed her succeeded in breaking four of the target barriers, two green and two blue.

As the match continued to progress, Nolan noticed a portable booth that had been set up just off to the side of the gathered contestants where several young men in CMA garb had been taking bets up until the beginning of the contest. At least, that was what he could gather from the signs that advertised the area as a gambling station.

Many arrayment practitioners didn’t know a single attack arrayment but rather specialized in specific areas of study. Because of this, most of the contestants were of a similar skill level. The ones that regularly practiced their hands at making use of attack arrayments stood out to a great extent, all of these individuals managing to break five targets apiece, though none so much as making contact with the smaller, distant red ones. Three individuals ended up tying for first, which led to a second round between the trio to decide the winner of the monetary prize.