Chapter 783 For Nothing
An uproar jostled the arena.
They never thought that such a big shot would appear. Even the two women high in the artificial clouds found themselves becoming serious.
It didn't need to be said that the Flesh Master list was on a completely different level than the Breath Master one. For a Flesh Master to appear here, it was shocking enough. But for it to be Lorien Myst of all people…
Erythra and Nyssa looked toward one another with bitter smiles.
They knew what this was.
It was a set-up.
Lorien Myst was from the Mist Race, a weak Race that was doubly screwed because of their difficulty in reproducing.
The problem wasn't their reproduction rate. They actually had children just as easily as all low-level races did.
The main problem was their Gene Pool.
Because of an odd quirk of their bodies, they birthed females more than 60% of the time, leading to a shocking imbalance of their population.
As a result of this, their Gene Pool lacked diversity and they were losing their roots generation by generation.
The Mist Race had been doing everything they could to stave off these problems, and as a result of those efforts, they had produced an action plan to start incorporating outsiders into their Gene Pool strategically.
In the universe, protecting one's Genes was highly important due to the value of Race and Unique Genes. A lot of one's power was decided right from birth, and unless one was born right in the middle of a Summoning, changing the cards one was dealt was basically impossible.
Unsurprisingly, the Mist Race needed powerful men. And there were none more powerful in the Skai Galaxy than the Thryskai.
Due to this, Lorien had been in hot pursuit of Ulrik for years now already.
She was a talent herself, and she seemed more than worthy of him.
A lascivious man like Ulrik should have long fallen for her honey trap.
But those in upper society knew that while Ulrik seemed to only think with his lower half sometimes, there was no genius of the under-50 rankings that were fools.
Ulrik was very quick to bed inconsequential women.
He would never so easily bed a woman with so many strings attached, though.
Ulrik was very quick to bed inconsequential women.
He would never so easily bed a woman with so many strings attached, though.
The Mist Race might be insignificant to the Thryskai, but amongst the Thryskai, Ulrik's standing wasn't very high to begin with.
He had to be very cautious with who he got in bed with...
Both figuratively and literally.
With this background understood, the bitterness in the eyes of the two women had an obvious explanation.
Lorien had come here to lose on purpose as a favor to Ulrik. At the same time, this would save the Thryskai's face and aid in legitimizing the procedures.
Ulrik was just ranking 334th on the Flesh Master Leaderboard, not much different from his Breath Master ranking.
In truth, this was odd. Normally, only the top 100 of the Breath Master Leaderboard would have a chance to reach Flesh Master before turning 50 years old.
Except in the case of the Thryskai…
"Hold your applause! Hold your excitement! This will be a true clash of titans, folks!
"As you all know, an event like this is held every time a new beacon of the coming generation steps into Flesh Mastery. As a promise to the future, our kind District Head breaks out the big guns and produces a true treasure worth salivating over.
"This year, the Treasure is one that you have likely heard of before…
"The Sprinkling Dao Seed!"
The crowd shook, their feet stomping the ground, quaking the air. There was a strong surge of awe and anticipation, as well as waves of jealousy and unwillingness.
Dao… this was a word that wasn't used often. That was because it referred to something before the current system.
Such words were only ever used with supreme rarity, but whenever you did see words like that…
Dao… Cultivation… Heavens…
… These sorts of words were always tied to the most ancient of treasures, carry-overs from a time long past, and often representations of extinct methods of forging, creation, or natural life itself.
In this case, the Dao represented what Comprehension was once referred to as.
Of course, these sorts of details weren't things that the common people knew or were aware of. The matters of the previous system were Taboos to even the Madness Key, let alone the common folk of the Skai Galaxy.
These elites that could afford to take a step into this city were no exception.
However, that didn't mean that they didn't know that when such words appeared, it represented the appearance of a truly shocking Treasure.
And many of them also knew that this meant that this Treasure was about to be handed on a silver platter to Ulrik.
"And now, I welcome the young elite who is the reason why we can witness the birth of such a miraculous Aether Treasure, a young man who needs no introduction from the likes of me at all.
"The number 334th Flesh Master… Ulrik Vecunish!"
Ulrik appeared in a flash of light, his clearly brighter than all the others. A darkness brewed around him not much different from Sylas' own as he entered a completely focused state.
"And now, we will begin with the first round of three! Hold on to your seats or you might miss something!"
…
As the commotion reached a fever pitch, Voxena returned to her station by the gates, looking up at the screens as they began to project things.
"You came back?" Eliza sneered. She had long since wiped away her running makeup and redid it, but the puffiness of her eyes, though subtle, wasn't able to escape the attention of these women. "All that work for nothing, huh?"
A flash of pity sparked in Voxena's eyes before she squashed it.
That said, there was no need to lash out at a wounded animal either.
'For nothing?' Voxena thought to herself, looking up at the screen. 'Not necessarily.'
She had certainly bet correctly, and that bet would come with its share of benefits very soon. After all, how many of these girls could claim to have saved the District Head 10 billion Hero Points?