He washed his face quickly and opened the door. The same young woman from the last day greeted him and asked him to accompany her back to the waiting hall. Amon smiled wryly as he took the stick from his bed and followed her.

Most of the rooms in the white hallway were already vacant as Amon pa.s.sed through them. He could only imagine how much the sect spent on medical care just in the first day of the Promotion Compet.i.tion.

As they reached the door leading to the waiting hall, the woman politely opened it and gestured Amon to go ahead. He gave her nod and a smile as he walked in.

The s.p.a.cious waiting hall was almost empty, an absurd contrast to the way it had been the day before. There was a grave silence in the hall and a strange tension was in the air. Amon could feel the floor at his feet shaking lightly, making him wonder how many people would be spectating the compet.i.tion that day.

There were only thirty or so people in it, keeping their distances from each other as they carefully looked at the other compet.i.tors. Not to Amon's surprise, almost all of them were wearing expensive clothing and had arrogant looks on their faces. Clearly, they were Inner Ring members.

The only exceptions were a tall and slender woman that was sitting by a corner, looking at the ceiling a bit distracted. Her clear eyes were a bit hazy and unfocused. Her blonde hair fell over her shoulder and glistened in the light as she moved her legs up and down, clearly bored. Her gray clothes seemed to be in tatters, showing a lot of her white skin through the holes ripped in it.

The other exception was a man wearing black from head to toe. A black cloak covered his whole body, and a hood hid his face in shadows. He didn't seem to be particularly tall, but the cold aura emanating from him made people shudder and feel apprehensive.

Amon felt odd looking at the man. He could sense a familiar feeling hiding in that oppressive coldness. As Amon walked through the hall, the man also turned his face to look at Amon, making him feel chills. Amon could see the man turning his head to follow him with his gaze as Amon tried to find a place to wait.

While Amon was distracted, someone b.u.mped into him. He raised his eyes and saw a handsome boy looking to him with cold eyes. The boy had a pale face and his long brown hair was tied at the back of his head. The boy's red clothes fluttered as he turned to face Amon. He didn't have the usual sneer on his face he used to give when facing Amon, only neutral expression.

"It really is you, Old Grandpa." The boy said as he glared daggers at Amon.

Amon locked eyes with him, not even blinking as he faced the boy. A slight smile formed on the corner of his lips as he said, "Nice seeing you, Erin."

"A pity you stopped with the black nuts." Erin Drey said in a cold tone. He had no derision in his voice, not a hint of sarcasm. It was a half-hearted insult that Erin had thrown as he tried to a.n.a.lyze Amon's reaction. "It hurts my eyes seeing this awful hair."

"One more reason to keep it that way." Amon retorted, not hesitating in the slightest.

Erin narrowed his eyes, carefully looking at Amon from head to toe. There was something strange. Erin couldn't believe when he first heard that a ashen-haired boy with golden eyes had beaten both Cecilia Faye and John Lucan in a three-way battle.

He didn't believe it because there was no such boy in the Inner Ring, and he knew how tough Cecilia and John were. This meant that a nameless kid from the Middle or Outer Ring had managed to defeat two of the most powerful compet.i.tors from the Inner Ring, and Erin only knew of one person that fit the physical description of such boy.

The problem was, the boy he knew was a talentless failure that had never been in a proper fight and was so weak and frail that he gave the impression that a breeze could blow him away.

Erin remembered a day a few months ago when Amber came crying to him, with a deathly pale face and trembling like a leaf, making Erin incredibly worried for her. He didn't hide the anxiousness in his face as he hurried to her.

"What happened?" He had asked as he tightly embraced her, trying to comfort her. Her voice was weak and trembled as she spoke to Erin.

"Old Grandpa… he tried to kill me." Amber said sobbing.

"What!?" Erin had asked, dumbfounded. There was simply no way such a pathetic brat would be able to reduce Amber to such a state.

"It is true, Erin." Amber said as she hugged him back and trembled even more. "Somehow he got to Body Tempering. His result was five hundred units!"

"This… how?" Erin was shocked as he looked at Amber. To his surprise, all he saw in her eyes was confusion. She clearly had no idea of how it happened.

"I was certain he had cheated, so I was asked him what he had done, and them… them…." She couldn't finish her sentence as she started sobbing even louder. Erin patted her back slowly as his eyes turned cold.

He knew very well that there was no way to cheat the Measuring Pillar. If Amber was not exaggerating, Amon had soared in strength in nothing but a few weeks. Worst of all, his results had been better than Erin's.

There was certainly something fishy in the situation. As Erin was about to do something, the Drey family received the invitation for the Promotion Compet.i.tion. He was forced to put the matter on hold as he did his best to rush to the middle stages of Body Tempering and trained like a mad man for six months nonstop.

Still, even if Erin refused to believe that such a brat would suddenly be able to stand shoulder to shoulder with people like him, but the truth was there, right in front of him at that very moment.

That being the case, Erin wouldn't hold back anymore. One thing was messing with a weakling just for fun; another was when someone tried to hurt his girlfriend like that. He looked at Amon with nothing but hatred.

"I'll be sure to make you pay for what you did with Amber." Erin said with a voice as chilling as his gaze. Amon's eyes narrowed as he looked at Erin.

"You are welcome to try." He said in a firm voice, showing no fear at all. Erin's eyes turned even colder for a moment.

Amon was indeed different from the past. There was no way Erin would let him run rampant after he obtained some strength. Erin would beat Amon into submission and teach him a lesson.

Erin turned his head away and moved to a corner. He sat with his legs crossed, and started breathing deeply, trying to calm himself. He had beaten people stronger than him to get to the second round. He had proved that, despite his young age, he did not lose in talent to anyone in the Inner Ring. Losing his mind to the rage he felt would only drag him down in his next fight.

Nevertheless, behind all of the blazing rage he felt, there was surprise and some apprehension. Whatever Amon had done was certainly not orthodox. This meant that he was dangerous. Erin would not let his pride blind in a fight with a opponent of unknown strength. He would take Amon out with all he had.

"Congratulations to all of you for advancing to the second round of the Promotion Compet.i.tion!" A serene voice echoed through the hall. It was the same voice from the day before, but this time its owner appeared in person.

It was an old man with a long white hair and a beard that reached his chest. He had a pair of lively black eyes and a gentle, if wrinkled, face. Seeing him, everyone immediately bowed.

"We greet the Third Elder." They said almost in unison. An almost imperceptible hint of annoyance flashed in Richard Layn's eyes. He really hated when people reminded him that he was a High Elder. It immediately brought him memories of all the boring deskwork.

He gave a light cough, looking at all the partic.i.p.ants. "The second round will be a standard duel. The thirty-two of you will draw lots to decide the matchings. The sixteen winners will advance to the next round."

"You may all go now, just form a line and wait by the platform that was set up." Richard said as he dismissed them. He almost s.h.i.+vered thinking of all the work he had avoided to be able to partic.i.p.ate in the Promotion Compet.i.tion.

The compet.i.tors quickly formed a line and crossed the golden gates, being cheered by the crowd. Richard's eyes narrowed as he looked at the man in the back of the line. He could use his divine sense to probe through the hood, looking at the familiar face.

"It's good to see that you are fine." He said in a low voice when the man clad in black pa.s.sed by him.

The man stopped for a moment, turning to look at Richard. He then gave a deep bow and turned away without saying a word. His black clothes were engulfed in light as he walked to the interior of h.e.l.l's Keeper Arena.

Pity was all that showed in the eyes of Richard Layn as he watched the man walk away.

"Truly a stubborn family. All of them" He sighed, shaking his head. All he could do was wish him luck.