Chapter 55: Opening Ceremony
Sam slept peacefully that night. After what happened to the panthers, this is the only time he felt a little peaceful. His mind calmed down a little as he drifted to sleep in his comfortable bed. Next day early in the morning even before the sun rose, a series of knocking sounds woke him up.
When he went outside, he saw Philip standing there.
"Sam principal came. He said that he has something important to talk to you." Philip sounded fl.u.s.tered. Sam just nodded and walked downstairs and saw the Principal, who is sitting in a chair with a gloomy expression. When Sam took a seat in front of him, he took a deep breath and asked.
"Sam, did you do it?"
"Do what exactly sir?" Sam replied with a smile. When he saw Sam's smile, without a hint of malice and coldness, he wasn't even able to relate to the person he saw a few days back when he came to confront him about Eisen's 'message'. He immediately understood what made this young man feel so happy.
"Why did you have to go too far? We could have talked it over. Will you take every small matter to this extent?" Principal asked with a dejected expression. Eisen is a good candidate for this competition. He is not only a person with good cultivation for his age, he is also a person with expertise in auxiliary professions as well. He is a very valuable person on the roaster now. But he slipped away just like that because his own self- centred egoist actions.
He is also dissatisfied with Sam. Even though, he can understand him being angry, he never would have expected that he would just kill the person because his pets got attacked. If they were killed, he might understand. They were injured badly. If there is any person other than Sam, they would take a huge ransom, and let this matter go. After all, there are lot more powerful beast pets that could be bought with money. Any normal cultivator will do so. At least, he himself would so. But Sam's answer stunned him.
"To be honest sir. I do. I will take every small matter to this extent." Principal was dazed for a bit and said.
"He is a main part of the roaster. He can be used to gain some actual results for the city. Did you at least think about what you have done? How much loss, is it for the academy and the City?"
"And why should I care about that?" This time not only principal, the rest of the team also left stunned. At first, they were confused, but they understood something that this discussion is related to Sam and someone else who was supposed to be the part of the team, but was unable to do so because of Sam. But what Sam said shocked them rather than confused. 'what does he mean, why should I care?' He is part of this freaking team for crying out loud. This is thought that ran through everyone's mind. Without giving a chance for Principal to speak, Sam continued.
"Probably you forgot, let me remind you. This is a part of business deal between both of us. You paid me and I will participate in the competition on behalf of your academy. The deal doesn't include me tolerating what ever your students throw at me and lay on the floor to let them walk over on me. You are here asking me explanation on why I did that? Where were you when your beloved student got so carried away and hired the most notorious organisation in the city to make a hit on my pets. I didn't see you demanding an explanation from him."
Sam asked in a solemn tone. The gentle smile is gone.
"But I would have given you a compensation. You could have healed them or you could have taught him a lesson. Why go to that extent?" Principal asked with an exasperated tone.
Sam just chuckled. Then he took a sword and threw it at the feet of the Principal, then he took a bag full of spirit stones which seemed to be a lot from his storage and placed it on the table. He looked at Principal straight in the eyes and said.
"200,000 spirit stones. Would you be leaving your arm here, please? You can heal your arm at the healer and I will pay you that also. Are you willing?"
The whole seemed to freeze on the spot. All the students felt their blood run cold. Principal also stared at Sam as his aura grew wilder. Sam didn't avert his gaze even under the pressure of the superior cultivator and just looked at Principal straight in the eyes.
Why is he so daring? Because he knew that Principal won't attack him. There is no other option. Sam is the only hope, if he needs to get some benefits through this tournament.
Principal tried his best to calm himself and left after saying. "Whatever happened, happened. I hope you will fulfil your end of the deal Sam. I will see you all at the academy in a while." He then left without even taking a look at the group.
Sam also didn't say anything and left to his room to freshen up. He changed into his usual black vest and coat and walked downstairs. By now, all the members in the group are ready to go.
The group started their walk as they went to Falcon Cliff academy.
The Falcon cliff academy is also part of the northern region of the falcon cliff city. Sam and his group came here and sat with the people from the Starwood city.
There are separate seating arrangements for them as well as other cities under the jurisdiction of the Falcon cliff city. Other than those five groups, there are another group from the Falcon Cliff academy themselves. All the groups which comprised of total of 60 candidates along with their supervisors sat there.
Sam observed other city lords and he was surprised a bit. The other city lords are at most at middle stage of Novice stage and so were principals of the academies. Some principals are at most at the level of elders of the academy. This left him surprised and confused at the same time. He observed something else that is the other people are looking at their group strangely, the principals and city lord of other groups are looking at them and whispering with in themselves. Even though, he felt it was weird, he didn't think much of it and waited as his gaze was fixed on the seats at the top most platform.
The seats were for the Count and the Principal of the Falcon Cliff city. The two strongest of the people in the territory.
After a while a huge bird screech could be heard and everyone looked at towards the sky. There is a huge Whirlwind falcon, which is obviously at the Level 3. On top of the falcon, a middle-aged man with a dignified countenance stood proudly with his back straight. He is none other than the Great Mage Falcon also called Count Falcon. He is the superior of the territory of not only the Falcon Cliff city but also the other five subordinate cities.
He is followed by a group of Novice warriors and Mages riding on level 2 Whirlwind Falcons. They are called the Falcon guards, the elite guards of the Falcon Cliff city.
Sam looked at the various people standing up in respect for the Count and he also stood up. He is in distaste for bowing and kneeling, but standing up as respect is still not overboard and neither did, he feels undeserving.
Great mage or Great Warrior is cultivation stage above Novice stage and Falcon Cliff city has at most a handful of them. They might even exceed ten people and strongest of the Great Mages/Warriors is undoubtedly the Count followed by the Principal of the Falcon Cliff academy.
While everyone is deep in their own thoughts, an entourage arrived from the depths of the Falcon Cliff academy lead by a Middle-aged man with extreme scholarly aura. He has a long beard and long hair which reached his shoulders. The second most powerful person in the Falcon Cliff city is here.
Both the big shots gave each other a warm hug as they exchanged greetings, they seem to be rather close. After sometime both of them took their seats and gestured to the audience to take a seat. They didn't expect everyone to bow. Sam heard from whispers of the spectators that the City lord doesn't like people bowing to him at all and mentioned in many occasions to not to bow.
After everyone settled down, Count Falcon came forward and addressed the people.
"Dear citizens of my territory. On this auspicious moment, I am very happy to see that the City lords and the Principals of the academies from the subordinate cities brought the candidates for this grand occasion. I appreciate the candidates who came to this event and I wish them all the best for their future.
Today the young talents from all over my territory are here in order to participate in a tournament that is going to be held by the joint administration of Principal Castor and me. This tournament is to assess the younger generations with potential and give them new opportunities, such that they will excel in the future. I hope all the candidates give their best in the tournament and strive to be the best. The tournament rules will be explained by Principal Castor.
After finishing his speech followed by an applause from audience, he took a seat and Principal Castor took his place and waited for a moment for audience to settle down. After the audience came to silence, he started speaking.
"As our Count Falcon said. The young people will be participating in a tournament. The qualifications to enter the tournament are that the candidate must be younger than or at twenty years of age and he must be one of the chosen ten of the respective cities.
We also conducted a tournament a few days ago to select the top 10 people in our city who will compete along with the other five groups of the sub ordinate cities. There would be an age assessment later on to proceed with and the people who didn't pass the requirement will be eliminated immediately and the respective cities must find a substitute themselves. If they don't have a substitute, a candidate from Falcon Cliff city will take his place.
The tournament is for a very important cause, so you the evaluation will not only be diverse, but also considers all traits of a person not just focussing on the battle prowess.
There are two types of final rankings. One is the team ranking which will be ranked by the c.u.mulative performance of the team of city. The second ranking is the individual ranking. The rewards for both the rankings will be given adequately.
The candidates will be assessed in three rounds.
The first round will be an endurance challenge. The challenge is to travel in a tower as high as possible. The tower is filled with various formations, obstacles and other restrictions. The tower is a part of our testing ground, which has thirty levels. The higher level a person climbs, the higher the points they will obtain.
I wish you all the best." Principal concluded his speech.