“You’re alive?!” Kel shouted with such passion that the rest of the contestants in earshot cast him a disapproving glance. Several mundane workers who were busy cleaning the area looked at him with suspicion for a moment before continuing with their tasks.

  “Show some respect, turtle boy…!” a young girl in grey robes whispered with an expression Micro had only ever seen on Blue’s face.

  “Of course…” Kel replied with a bow to the girl standing near him but he soon excitedly turned back to face Micro with a smile. He wrapped his arms around him tightly for a moment before releasing him with a surprised look.

  “Your skin…!” he whispered, reaching out to touch Micro’s cheek.

  “It’s great, right?” Micro whispered back. “I mastered some Core Cards on the way here!”

  “What? The Imperial Guards were there, and you…” Kel whispered.

  “They’re here too, don’t worry,” Micro explained quietly. “I’m going to tell them how to find an old friend of theirs after the tournament.”

  “You—You’ll what?” Kel stammered. “When did you come to such an agreement with two sapphire level Imperial Guards…?”

  “After we finished the mushroom dungeon,” Micro replied. “It was a productive detour, in the end.”

  “The what…?” Kel seemed to forget everything around him for a moment as he listened to Micro’s tale, but a loud sound brought him back to reality.

  “You impress me, little girl!” Thea shouted shortly after Tae deflected a powerful energy arrow with her armoured arms crossed in front of her. Her praise was genuine but she looked at Tae with a coy smile. “Are you sure you aren’t the true heir to your sect?”

  “To show such discourtesy to Kel, in my presence…” Tae whispered between hoarse breaths. “Is to court death…!”

  Tae’s armour of aura glowed fiercely for a moment as she kicked off the ground toward the graceful archer in long, blue robes. Thea easily dodged her attack and fired several more arrows into Tae’s side, but her armour kept them from penetrating too deeply into her flesh. Without acknowledging the pain of the impacts, Tae spun around with her wooden shield extended, having coated it with enough energy to more than double its reach, narrowly missing Thea’s head. Thea laughed as she cartwheeled away and summoned yet another arrow from her aura.

  “A turtle shouldn’t be in such a hurry, should it?” Thea quipped as the arrow she had drawn split into three separate projectiles the moment it was released. Tae managed to catch two of them with her shield, but the third flew straight through her leg, armour and all, without losing a bit of speed.

  “You filthy bird…!” Tae screamed as her armour dissipated and she fell to the ground, quickly losing consciousness as blood pooled around her.

  “Tae!” Kel shouted as he jumped onto the stage to join his unconscious comrade, meeting no resistance as the crowd’s cheering intensified.

  “Thea of the Jade Sparrow Sect is the victor!” a man with an impossibly loud voice shouted from an open air booth. He seemed to be surrounded by particularly wealthy cultivators whose golden accessories reflected the sun’s rays in every direction. As the crowd’s cheers finally died down, the announcer continued. “Thea of the Jade Sparrow Sect, nominate the next contestant!”

  “What’s going on?” Micro asked the girl next to him.

  “First time at a tournament?” she asked with a smirk.

  “That’s right,” he replied casually, unaware of her disrespectful stare. “How about you?”

  “Hmph,” she snorted, but she continued with a sigh. “The winner of each battle is allowed to choose their next opponent from the remaining contestants. They also have the right to withdraw from the next match and fight again later.”

  “How do you choose who to fight next?” Micro asked the girl.

  “You pick the person you want to fight most, of course,” she said with a laugh. “But if you’re tired after winning a fight, you nominate another contestant to lead the next round, though there’s no guarantee that they won’t choose to fight you.”

  “So when does the tournament end?”

  “It ends when one person remains undefeated, obviously,” she chided him. “You’re from the Jade Fire Mountain Turtle Sect, aren’t you? Why are you so uninformed? And why are you so late? I thought I’d already seen the worst they have to offer.”

  “Sorry, I was stolen by some guards, then we wound up in a dungeon, and there was some fighting, an explosion…” Micro struggled to explain the events that led him there, but he gave up as the words became jumbled in his mouth. “It’s been a long day.”

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  “Are you insane?” The girl laughed.

  “No, I’m a—” Micro began, but he corrected himself with a frustrated look. “I’m Micro…”

  “Never heard of you,” the girl said as though she’d lost interest. “Go tell your fairy tales to somebody who cares. Oh look, that pathetic attendant of Kel’s is still alive. What a shame… Good fight though…”

  “Hello again, Tae!” Micro shouted as she limped back to the contestants’ waiting area with an arm around Kel’s shoulder.

  “Master…?” she shouted with a wide smile, but her smile vanished as she gripped her side in pain and began to cough up blood. “I thought… You were…”

  “Sounds like your engine got flooded, Tae,” Micro said as he rushed to meet her. He placed a hand on her shoulder and smiled. “You should park somewhere warm for a while.”

  “Thank you, master…” Tae said with a confused smile. “I’ll… yes…”

  Micro nodded to Tae, then looked at Kel, whose face was covered in Tae’s blood. He returned a worried smile, then escorted Tae to the side where several cultivators were waiting for them. Micro then turned to see Thea smiling at him from the stage, deep in thought while the announcer waited for her decision.

  “I think I’ll rest a while!” she shouted to the announcer. “I nominate Gor of the Jade Earth River Sect for the next match.”

  “Very well!” the announcer replied, his voice booming with excitement. “Gor of the Jade Earth River Sect! Take your place in the arena at once!”

  “With honour!” cried a young man in deep red robes. His voice overflowed with enthusiasm, but his face showed great resolve as he quickly jumped up on the stone platform. As he passed Thea, they exchanged a wordless bow, then he continued on.

  “Who do you choose for your opponent, Gor of the Earth River Sect?!” the announcer cried out as the crowd cheered.

  “I choose…” Gor paused as he looked to the contestants waiting for their turn to fight. “Yin…!”

  The crowd fell silent for a moment as a lone young man wearing a black robe with a hood covering his face quickly rose to his feet. He looked at the announcer and nodded, then walked confidently up to the stage. Micro noticed that unlike the other contestants, Yin seemed to be alone.

  “Yin, the sole representative of the Dark Thunder Sect!” the announcer called out to the crowd as their silence gave way to excited cheers once again. “Yin, the reigning champion who defeated Rale of the Earth River Sect in the first round and Tsurum of the Air Moon Sect in the second round, has been called to fight again in the fourth!”

  Micro couldn’t help but get caught up in the excitement of the crowd as Yin silently approached Gor on the stone arena. Gor’s expression was calm, but his aura felt volatile. Yin, on the other hand, looked so aloof that Micro wondered if he realized he was about to fight. He was curious about the various skills the other sects’ disciples might know, but he was distracted by a sudden shout from Tae. He turned around to see Kel kneeling beside her while two other cultivators tended to her wounds. He left the other contestants behind to join Kel by her side.

  “Hang in there,” Micro said awkwardly, but he realized his comment was out of place. He looked up at the two cultivators who appeared to be tending to Tae’s injuries.

  One of them was a young woman, dressed in bright red garments. She wore a weary expression, and appeared disinterested in anyone around her. However, whenever Tae showed signs of pain or discomfort, she focused intently on channelling her energy in a way that eased Tae’s suffering.

  The cultivator beside her was a much older woman who wore nothing but white. Her garments, her sect’s markings, her hair, and even her eyes were entirely white. The aura around her gave Micro the impression of a calm, snowy day, though her completely white eyes made it hard for him to tell where she was looking. Rather than treating Tae, she appeared to be meditating, radiating a calming aura that lightened the air. The calming aura didn’t completely erase the nausea Micro felt when the woman in red quickly pulled a broken arrow out of Tae’s side, but the treatment seemed to be progressing slowly.

  “Those things hurt, don’t they?” he remarked to the half conscious Tae. He then peaked into his pocket and called to Blue. “Blue, do you think you can fix Tae up?”

  “I just healed you all morning,” she said grumpily before yawning. “Need sleep…”

  “She will be alright, master,” Kel reassured him, though his expression betrayed his confident words. “Thank you for worrying about such trivial injuries… Tae will be fine…”

  “That’s enough noise, boys,” the healer in red complained while applying some sort of energy to Tae’s wounds. “Wait with the others. Your anxiety is a poison here. Let us work.”

  “Oh, I’m—” Kel stammered.

  “Apologize silently, and do it over there, and you…” the old woman in white began, but as her eyes met Micro, she suddenly gasped. Bringing her hand to her mouth as if in shock, tears began to fall down her cheeks. “You…”

  “You’re leaking, lady,” Micro said with his eyebrows raised, but he realized his error after he’d said it. “Oh, that’s crying. Why?”

  “I’m so sorry…” the lady mumbled through her hands as she rose to her feet. The woman in red looked annoyed, but she seemed confident that Tae’s injuries weren’t anything too serious. The old woman only seemed to grow more distraught the longer she looked at Micro. “Oh, you—”

  “What…?” Micro replied as he leaned back, then rose to his own feet to take a defensive stance. However, he was certain that she didn’t mean to harm him. And as she approached, she held her arms open wide.

  “You poor thing…” The old lady cried as she wrapped her arms around Micro and held him tight. “There, there…”

  “Oh, thanks…” Micro mumbled, feeling mysteriously comforted by the old lady’s gentle hug. Unsure of the correct response, Micro stood still until she finally released him and took a step back. She looked into his eyes and held her hand out to touch his chest, then she nodded her head slowly. “What are you—”

  “Such a lonely being…” She whispered to him through her tears. “So loved you were… So loyal… So far from home, so far from yourself…”

  “Wait…” Micro suddenly wondered how she could make such claims about somebody she had just met.

  “It’s alright, lost one…” she reassured him, seeming to sense his uncertainty. “I see you. My name is Vera, an elder of the amber Soul Sect. I see to matters of the soul in all forms, and the form of your soul…”

  “Yes?” Micro asked with a suspicious glare.

  “I see so much pain…”