I looked at N'Zerath...
"Pheww" ...
I was getting tired of this the constant information overload.
"Want to go get something to eat?" I took out my gold filled pouch with a devious and a greedy smile
"I'm getting tired of all these training"
N'Zerath looked at me and sighed.
We both went back to the city, surprisingly it wasn't that busy today, I looked around and all of the shops were closed as I walked around the city I passed by the heavenly pavilion, to my surprise I saw Lin Xuan.
"Hey!! It's been a while! How have you been?" I asked Lin Xuan, walking towards him, I thought he'd be surprised by the serpent wrapped around my neck but he had a completely stoic expression about it, he seemed really bored as well.
"Hey there Ace, it really has been a while... Glad to see you in one piece after all that happened." He sighed, giving me a pat on my back.
"What's up? You seem really down today."
I asked, with curiosity and concern for him.
"Of course I am!!" He yelled into my ear with anger.
"Today's the big tournament! Didn't you hear?? There are all the top geniuses gathered at the centre of the Xiangcheng! And I won't be able to see them!" He sighed.
"Well why do you want to see them? You have the strongest youngling of this generation in front of you" I pointed my thumb towards my chest and said with a long nose, praising myself.
"Yeah yeah... Whatever." He said brushing me off
"Anyways, does the heavenly pavilion sell anything to eat?" I asked with curiosity
His eyes flared with anger "What kind of place do you think the heavenly pavilion is?!? A restaurant?" He went on rambling on about how prestigious the heavenly pavilion was as I started picking my left ear not really paying much attention to what he was saying.
"Well? Do you at least know a place where I can eat?" I asked as my stomach started grumbling from hunger.
"Well, you can eat where the tournament is being held, most of the restaurant went there to put some stands since they'll get a lot of business there..." My face flared up with a smile as he gave me directions.
"Alright! Thanks man" as soon as I turned to leave he said,
"Didn't you really know about the tournament? Your lover should be competing in it too" a shiver ran down my body as a blush covered my face
"What?!? What are you talking about? Who's my lover!? We aren't like that! We're just friends!" I yelled at him denying the statement he just said.
"Woah, calm down... I didn't know, you guys seem to be pretty close so.." I calmed down as he explained..
With a sigh I opened my mouth..
"Well fine... Thank you for your info... See you around" with that I left to go to the centre of Xiangcheng. The whole place was packed with people from the outside as I observed and gathered information about the tournament I found some stands to eat as well, I walked around with two skewers in my hand to find the entrance, the cost to get in was a gold coin, no wonder there were so many people outside.
I took out a gold coin from my pouch and handed it to the guard.
"May I go in?"
The guard looked at me thoroughly.
"Are you not a participant?" I tilted my head.
"What do you mean?" I asked with confusion.
"You seem to be young enough to participate in this tournament, You've got a good physique as well..." As he talked about it I cut him off..
"Wait wait wait... I'm not asking about that, what I want to know is, can anyone participate in this?" I looked at the guard curiosity peaking through my eyes.
"Well, you can... But you have to pay the entrance fee of 5 gold over there at the registration. And you also have to sign that we won't take responsibility if you end up a cripple or dead while fighting" as the guard pointed at the registration stand, and before I heard his warning I was already gone.
"Excuse me sir! I'd like to register!" I said eagerly, looking at the person at the registration stand.
The person there looked up at me from his seat with an annoyed look.
"You want to register?" Sighs...
"These people just want to die for no reason these days..."
I looked confused but ignored his rude words.
"Name? Or would you like to conceal your identity?" He asked as he looked at me...
"I can conceal my identity? Well.. then I would like to conceal my identity then... Register me as N'Zerath..." I looked at N'Zerath with a smirk as I registered using his name. I realised it after I came to a more populated area, but people can't see N'Zerath for some reason, that explains why Lin Xuan didn't have any reaction to a serpent coiling around my neck...
The registrar handed me a mask and a plaque after I paid the 5 gold coins.
As I entered, the stadium looked grandiose and luxurious, it seemed to be a colosseum with the higher ups looking from above at the examinees, the total of people competing were 146. I put on my mask and looked around.