Ezra arrives at the designated venue with moderate pace.
Here, he finds a gathering of at least a thousand Transcendents gathered.
Of them, at least a hundred would not be returning.
’Well, that’s none of my concern’
Looking around, his gaze stops on the largest group gathered-the party of the black dragon race.
From his talks with Musad, Ezra had been able to gain more clues as to the black dragon he was looking for.
From a quick scan, he pinpoints six dragons with the sa scale pattern and his eyes shone.
’Now I hope he’s among them’ he thought.
’Well, I’ll find out in the secret realm’
But as he looked at the black dragons intensely, he noticed that another set of black dragons were likewise staring at him.
And none of their eyes radiated good intentions.
’This is new’ Ezra remarks with a slight frown. ’I don’t think I’ve offended anybody yet...’
As his thoughts lingered up to this point, one amongst the set of hostile black dragon walks up to him until there was only a foot of distance between them and begins to blatantly size Ezra up.
Ezra on the other hand, was simply curious as to what nonsense this fellow was trying to pull.
The black dragon had the biggest physical size amongst the set of dragons, so Ezra sizes him up as well.
’A rank five’
Gaining a grasp on his level, Ezra’s expectations deflate completely.
"I heard you’re from the red dragon clan, but you don’t look anything like one" said the black dragon, sounding tough.
Ezra curtly ignores him.
If the one in front of him was of so pedigree, then Ezra would’ve heard of him from Musad.
Instead, he looks behind the black dragon into the set of dragons staring at him.
With the size of this guy and the way he composed himself, one would say he was the leader.
But Ezra thought differently.
’That’s what they want to think’
His face darkened. If before he could pass this off as people trying to intimidate him, now he concluded that there was at least a sixty percent chance that this set of dragons would attack him inside the secret realm.
’How annoying’
Now, he had to take this set of dragons into account as well.
His thoughts were interrupted when the black dragon began to release his energy to pressure him.
"Are you ignoring right now?"
’This again?’
He looks to see the black dragon glaring at him.
Ezra just shook his head in dismay, infuriating the dragon even more.
Beyond the fact that his pressure was far too weak, the gazes of those around were now gathering on them both.
Ezra was trying to avoid entering the lilight like this, yet this bastard went ahead to do this?
This pissed him off.
Despite this, he only stared back at the black dragon.
Taking out his own energy to crush the opponent would only have him registered in the minds of those who saw him as a strong competitor and he’d rather not have that.
So, for now, he endured and held himself from crushing the black dragon right here.
’I’ll settle this inside the secret realm’
The black dragon withdraws to his group seeing that the commotion had beco too noticeable.
As to who could be behind them, there was one person who was most likely the culprit.
’Avaken’
No matter what, Ezra knew black dragons weren’t the type to be ordered by anyone who wasn’t a higher-up in their sect, so Ivesa couldn’t have hired them.
But...
’Or does she have connections to a higher up?’
There was also this possibility.
Ezra smiled.
On his way out of the elder residence, Musad lent him a weapon to use inside the secret realm, told him to ’give it his all and co back stronger’ before telling to ’watch his back’ with a serious tone.
’So this is what you ant by that’ he realizes.
They already spoke on the aspect of cultivators killing other cultivators, but Ezra thought he didn’t have to worry much about such a thing.
He was wrong.
’Anyways, if they’re sent by either of those two, then these guys aren’t normal either’
Still, there’s no point in prematurely worrying about things.
’It seems there’s going to be a lot of things to do in the secret realm’
Smiling, he looks up to see a black dragon appear above them, floating.
’A Nascent’
"Trascendents’ he begins. ’It is once again ti for you to show the results of your cultivation since last year, and brave mortal dangers to earn treasures"
"You will be...
The rest of the speech blew past Ezra as his mind started going over the details of the secret realm Musad shared with him.
------------
"The Alchemist’s Tomb" said Musad, to which Ezra nodded. "I explored it a few tis myself before I beca a Nascent"
He’d read scant reports on the secret realm sent by the red dragon clan, so he knew the na of the secret realm.
Scant because there were only a few mbers of the red dragon clan who had co out alive after entering the secret realm.
"No one has ever been able to roam its entirety, and if there has been such a person, I haven’t heard of them. That’s how wide it is" he stated.
"As you enter, everyone will be scattered randomly in patches of big and small groups to confront the trials of the secret realm"
"By my experience, it’s better to end up in a small group than in a big one, because you can never know what kind of idiot you’re grouped with and that inevitably causes problems for the whole group"
Saying this, the orc’s fist clenched tight before releasing them.
"Got it" says Ezra, earning a nod from Musad.
Since Ezra was no child, there was no need to elaborate beyond this point.
"For small groups, things are much simpler since you can easily outcast anyone who’s a nuisance"
"Other than that, there are certain treasures you should watch out for"
"You an the soul cleansing pill?"
Nodding, Musad whispers. "This secret is only known to a few clans, there’s a big difference in power between Transcendents who used that pill and those who didn’t"
Ezra was surprised, he hadn’t heard of this.
As stated, the soul cleansing pill’s function is cleansing the soul.
It refines the soul in a way different from that which Transcendents do while cultivating, and instead purifies and strengthens the base form of the soul as a whole.
Granting Transcendents a leap in power.
Yet, while that was most impressive, it was reported that none of those who used it gained an increase massive enough to fight beyond their rank.
Even amongst others in their rank, those fitted with special artifacts or unique abilities would be able to overwhelm.
So overall, even though it was the most popular treasure within the secret realm, it wasn’t considered too mind blowing.
Yet, Musad seems to know sothing else on the subject, capturing Ezra’s curiosity.
"But that difference only manifests after attaining nascent rank"
...!
This was shocking news.
More importantly.
"Why are you telling this?"
While they had beco close in the past few days, that was nowhere near enough to have Musad revealing clan secrets.
To Ezra, this was far too suspicious!
’Have you really been scheming all this ti?’
Staring straight into Musad’s eyes, Ezra braced himself for the worst, ready to cast in a heartbeat.
But Musad defies his expectations.
"Because I want to see it"
"Hmm?" Ezra pauses.
"Sylvester, you’re talented" he says, holding a serious tone "More talented that any Transcendent I know"
"So I want you to beco a Nascent quickly!" he exclaims. "Because then, I’ll be able to spar with you without holding back!"
Musad punches upwards, creating a reverberation in the air to express his excitent as he stares at Ezra with a burning gaze.
"So hurry up and get stronger quickly"
"Sure" Ezra replied with a grin. Musad had not disappointed him.
"Make sure you’re stronger the next ti we et"
"I hope you don’t grow weaker either"
Musad burst into laughter, flexing his chiselled biceps as a response.
"Do you not see these babies?"
Ezra shook his head in response, laughing.
Now he had another reason to beco stronger.
-----------
Ezra broke out of his reverie, which coincided with the end of the five minute speech.
"...now then, let the 363rd Transcendent realm expedition... Comnce!"
With that, the elder went out of sight and a silence enveloped the congregation of Transcendents.
Then, the building wall spilt apart, separating to open up space where one could notice the appearance of a spatial gateway, which in essence looked like a black hole.
But its edges were coloured green, indicating the door boundary, while the door itself shone white not black, and lay calm like a lake rather twisty like a black hole.
As seconds passed, the spatial door opened to full view.
Now at maximum length, it was wide enough for ten people to enter simultaneously with little space between them.
Which is exactly what happened.
The Transcendents entered in rows of ten, pouring into the secret realm in rapid succession.
Taking a quick look in all directions, he finds the set of black dragons staring at him still.
In no ti, it was soon his turn to enter the secret realm.
Without hesitation, Ezra walked in, lding into the spatial door as though passing through water.
Ten seconds later, he finds himself in an unfamiliar environnt.
But one of familiar descriptions.
’An atmosphere filled to the brim with origin energy’
Ezra clenched his fist.
Elated, and then calm.
’I’m in’
The realm expedition had begun!
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