Sacred Arts

42. Ascended Realm Rank Four

Amon sat crossed-legged on the floor of his room. He placed a seal over his room, so no one would be able to sense him breaking through to the next rank. Amon began his breakthrough. Deep in Amon's mental space, lightning flashed around. "Breaking through won't be as difficult as I thought it would be," Amon whispered to himself. Amon's body began to become stronger, and all his abilities began to grow in power. Amon's spirit force began to surge, higher than it ever had before.

Amon spent four months breaking through to the next rank. "Finally, I did it," Amon said happily. "I feel like a whole new person," Amon thought to himself as he stood up. "I have two months left until the tournament begins," he said out loud. Amon left his room and walked out of the inn. "I want to see a little more of the capital," Amon said, as he began to walk around the city.

Amon continued to walk around the city for quite some time. Amon passed by many beautiful buildings, stores, schools, and more. Many hours had passed, and the sun had already begun to set. "The capital is huge," Amon said as he headed back to the inn he stayed in. "I need to work as hard as I could here," he said with a determined look in his eyes.

Amon continued to train and sharpen all the moves he had cultivated so far in his journey over the next two months. The day of the tournament finally came and Amon made his way to where it was being held. Amon made his way into the colosseum. As Amon entered the Colosseum, his jaw dropped. The building was giant and made of the finest materials. Giant stone pillars were all around the building as it made a strong foundation. There were hundreds of seats above the area where the warriors would fight.

The seats were set up in a way that the spectators would look down at a fight. The king had a special section where he could watch the battles with ease. Many people sat in the seats above waiting for all the warriors to step forward onto the stage. In total, there were about one hundred young men hoping to be recruited into the king's forces. All one hundred young men were called onto the stage, and faced the king for his announcement.

The king rose to his feet. "You young men are this kingdom's next generation of warriors," the king said proudly. "Today I sit upon you all so that I may bare witness to all of your talents," he continued. "This tournament wasn't for recruiting, but I am willing to recruit the top five warriors of this tournament," the king added with a smile. The crowd cheered loudly as this tournament would give birth to five new soldiers that would fight for the king.

"Great, this is exactly what I needed," Amon thought to himself with a grin on his face. "No matter what, I will make it into the army," he muttered as he clenched his fist tightly. The king sat back down and the tournament's referee began to speak. "This tournament will not be solely based off of fighting," the ref said. "You all will be put through a fitness test, showcasing your speed, strength, and mental capacity," the ref continued.

Out of curiosity, Amon began to scan many of the tournament's other participants to see who he'd have to be weary of. To his surprise, most of the other participants were at the very beginning of the ascended realm. Amon didn't know that most people who wanted to join the king's army had to reach the minimum requirement, which is to have a cultivation level equivalent to the ascended realm rank one. "This shouldn't be too bad, since I'm already at the middle stage of the ascended realm," Amon thought happily to himself.

"Even with me knowing this, I must still be careful," he thought. "Someone could be suppressing their cultivation," he thought cautiously. "Everyone will break off into groups of ten and begin their tests like that," the ref instructed. "A staff member will come down and divide you all momentarily," the ref informed everyone. After a short while, a staff member came and had each participant say a number in order from one to ten and start over once the participant before them got to ten. It took about an hour to go through all one hundred participants.

"Alright, whatever number you all spoke, you will meet with others that spoke the same number," the ref said. After about thirty minutes, all one hundred participants were organized into ten groups all in neat lines. Amon was in group seven. "Now that we have our groups, let's go over the first part of the test a little deeper," the ref said. "First, we will be testing your mental strength," the ref said. "You all will be placed in an illusionary type realm, and you will have to break free," the ref continued.

"You will all be given twenty-four hours to free your minds from the realm." "Those who don't free themselves within the time limit will not advance forward in the tournament," the ref said bluntly. Amon looked eager to begin, because he'd never been under an illusion before. The thought of it made him want to learn more. The truth was, many of the warriors were worried, because many of them had never even trained their mental energy. So a lot of them didn't know what to expect.

Many of the spectators had begun chatting amongst themselves regarding the first part of the tournament. "What kind of illusions will we all face?" Amon stepped forward and asked. The crowd had fallen silent and everyone focused their attention on Amon. The ref looked down at Amon with a confused glance, as though he didn't expect anyone to ask that question. "Well um," the ref began to stutter before the king stood and answered the question. "You'll find out when you begin," the king said coldly.

"Everyone could see the same thing or even different things," the king continued. "But rest assured, everyone's test will be equal in difficulty," the king added before sitting down. "Thanks my lord," the ref whispered to the king. "No problem, he is an interesting young man," the king said. "Alright everyone you may find a seat and prepare yourself," the ref announced.