A young boy dressed in red clothes was kneeling in the floor, looking to the s.h.i.+ning tiles bellow him with a regretful look. His long brown hair was neatly tied to the back of his head with a golden thread, and his eyes were misty.

In front of him, a middle-aged man sat in a scarlet cus.h.i.+oned seat. His brown hair had streaks of gray on it, and a few wrinkles were starting to appear on his face. Even if he looked to be in his forties, the man was actually reaching his third century of life.

Age was coming for Claude Drey, whether he liked it or not. He never went past the late stages of Body Tempering, but with his keen mind and business sense, he managed to fight his way into the Inner Ring, eventually securing his spot as the richest man in the Outer Sect.

He was used to the ruthlessness of the Inner Sect. He accepted it, and he used it. Because if he didn't, he would still be nothing more than another face in the Outer Ring, slowly waiting to die as life went past him without accomplis.h.i.+ng anything. Claude Drey knew what kind of world he lived in, and he was not afraid to play by its rules.

He looked at his son while lightly tapping the golden armrest of his seat. Erin Drey was his pride. The Heavens had blessed his son with good affinity to fire and a strong will to improve. not only that, his son was born with an ambition even greater than his own.

While Claude Drey didn't want to stay in the Outer Ring during his youth, Erin Drey didn't want to stay in the Outer Sect. His father provided him a solid foundation through which he could soar to the skies.

Erin Drey was not only ambitous, he was also very arrogant. Claude closed his eyes for a moment, thinking. Maybe having had a setback now was not a bad thing. He glanced at Erin, but his gaze was gentle. "Do you know why you lost?"

Erin seemed to freeze for a moment, before he sighed. He raised his head to look at his father with a look of regret appearing in his eyes. "I overestimated myself."

"It is good that you know." Claude nodded hearing these words. "You grew too arrogant, son."

Erin looked down again, ashamed. His father was right, he had been arrogant. He let his streak of victories get over his head, and faced an enemy stronger than him head-on. Naturally, he lost. Still, it was hard to accept. He gritted his teeth and said, "If I was at the late stages…"

"You are not at the late stages." His father interrupted him. "You should never count on things you don't have. You work with everything you have at your disposal, nothing more. How many times have I told you this?"

Erin didn't answer, just lowered his head further. Claude gave a sigh. In the end, his son wasn't even thirteen years old. Making mistakes like this was natural. "Don't lower your head. You still have a chance to reach the top ten tomorrow."

Erin silently nodded at his father's words. Hope was not lost, he still could get one of the remaining two slots for a direct promotion to the Inner Sect.

"You will have to keep your head in place and never look down on your enemy." Claude had a serious look in his face as he spoke to Erin. "Arrogance will bring us nothing but hate. Look at what happened to that Amon kid."

At these words, Erin flinched. His father had a cold look in his eyes as he continued, "What did picking on that kid bring to you, Erin?"

"He always minded his own business, but you had to show off. Now you have an enemy, and a powerful one at that, from what I heard." His father shook his head in disappointment. "No teacher. No guidance. No easy path. He is now on the same level as you, relying on nothing but his own efforts and has nothing but hate towards you."

"He is now someone that can block your path to the Inner Sect." Claude gave a deep sigh. "Your arrogance brought you trouble yet again."

"I will strike him down." Erin said, not hiding the rage in his eyes. "When he attacked Amber he made it personal."

"You made it personal! She made it personal!" Claude hit the armrest of the seat in anger, making Erin flinch. "Don't waste time doing such pointless things as flaunting! This is not what I taught you!"

"I will deal with it." Erin said, averting his eyes.

"I hope you do." Claude couldn't hide his disappointment. "I'll tell you this, do not look down on the son of Rebecca Skoller. Anyone that ever underestimated that woman or anything related to her paid dearly. And that is not mentioning his father. We don't know what he was taught."

"His father is a traitor and his mother is nothing but a cripple." Erin tried to argue, but his father turned livid as he heard it.

"That is now! Before that, his father was the d.a.m.n Fifth Protector and his mother was months away from becoming a High Elder!" Claude shouted as he got up, towering above a cowering Erin. "Time changes everything. We must understand these changes and follow the flow. This way we will never have a loss in business or in life."

"Before he was an ant, now he can stand up to you. We have no idea what he will be tomorrow." He said with an exasperated look on his face. If his son did not learn the lesson now, he would only suffer when he left Claude's protection.

"I'll say this again: do not look down on your opponents." Claude said with a weary voice as he sat down again, looking incredibly tired. "I expect to see a performance worthy of the Drey name tomorrow."

"Yes, father." Erin said as he clenched his fist hard.

"I mean it, son." Claude looked at Erin with a loving gaze. "You won't always be the strongest, and the world does not lack wolves in sheep's clothing. I am afraid one day you might really offend someone you can't afford to."

"It pains me to say this, but we bear the Drey surname. We are the richest family in the Outer Sect, nothing more. In the grand scheme, we are not even p.a.w.ns. Your arrogance has no ground to stand on." Claude sent his son a deep, meaningful glance. "If you ever want to change that fact, you need first to accept it."

Erin stood in silence, before nodding his head firmly. He looked at his father's eyes and said without hesitation. "One day, the Drey name will be the greatest name in the Central Continent, nothing less."

His father smiled as he heard Erin's words. He gave his son a nod and allowed him to leave. Erin still had to rest for the third round of the Promotion Compet.i.tion the next day.

---

Amon woke up the next day with a smile on his face. He was feeling really happy. He and Daniel had exchanged stories and had chatted and laughed all night. They were both different from a few months ago, but they also weren't. It was a strange feeling, knowing that even if they had been apart, they were still close.

Amon jumped from the bed in the Medicial Center and stretched his limbs. He washed his face with the water in the basin and looked at the interspatial beside it. He out it back on his finger, and looked at it intently.

"Good morning, Lya!" He greeted in a happy voice. He felt light, as if a weight had been lifted from his back.

"Morning." Lya greeted back. "Are you ready for today?"

"Yes, I am!" Amon nodded as he recovered his stick from the floor, swing it in the air.

"Good." Lya's voice sounded cheerful as she said, "Here, a gift."

The ring flashed and the stick disappeared form Amon's hands. In its place, Windhowler appeared in its leather sheath.

"Really?" Amon asked, sounding even happier. Maybe Lya was in a good mood today, just like him.

"You need to take the next matches seriously." Lya said with a grave tone. Amon could picture her blue eyes glaring at him. "Plus, I think you are ready."

Amon didn't say anything, he simply nodded. If he lost even one more match, he would be done for. From now on, there was no room for mistakes.

He left the room and walked to the waiting hall. It was still early, so no clerk had to come call for him. The white hall was mostly empty, but to Amon's surprise, the Third Elder was already there, looking with reminiscing eyes to the platforms on the other side of the golden gates.

Amon walked silently, trying to not disturb him as he sat in a corner. He held Windhowler in his arms, almost hugging the sword as he also looked at the platforms. He didn't know who amongst the compet.i.tors had lost their fights, so he also did not know who he could face, nor how they fought.

"I shouldn't have left like that…" He thought to himself. He had been a little too impulsive after he conceded his fight with Daniel. He lost a precious chance to gather information. As he was thinking, a familiar voice hang in his ears.

"You know, must people would take this chance to try and get on my good side." The Third Elder spoke as he looked at Amon. He had a strange expression on his face as his eyes shone.

"Well… I just didn't want to disturb you, Third Elder, sir." Amon said, averting his golden eyes as his ears reddened in embarra.s.sment.

"What a polite kid. Just call me Richard." The Third Elder laughed. "May I ask you something?"

Amon nodded quietly, still feeling somewhat embarra.s.sed.

"What happened to your stick?" Richard wanted to ease the mood a bit, but only made Amon feel awkward.

"Well, I managed to get a good sword. I don't need the stick anymore." Amon mumbled. "Also, I can't lose anymore."

"Then why did you concede that fight yesterday?" Richard asked with a curious expression.

"I wanted to." Amon said as his ears reddened even more. He didn't want to speak about his relations.h.i.+p with Daniel or how he owed him. He didn't feel it was right.

"You just made your path to the Inner Sect harder." Richard pointed out, looking at Amon with increased interest in his energetic eyes.

"As I said yesterday, some things are more important to me than the Inner Sect." Amon repeated the words he uttered to Erin, looking at Richard Layn's eyes. There was no hesitation nor regret in his golden eyes, making Richard somewhat surprised.

"A strong mentality. Not a bad way to think, I suppose." Richard spoke while stroking his beard, thinking. "Nevertheless, you might want to know that those words certainly cut off all possibilities of an Elder taking you in as a disciple."

"If such words disturbed them in the first place… then I don't think I will regret not becoming their disciple." Amon didn't know why, but he felt he could be honest around Richard. He didn't measure his words as he uttered what was certainly be an offense to the Elders of the Abyss Sect.

To his surprise, Richard laughed heartily as he heard it. This kid certainly had courage. Nevertheless, Richard felt Amon was right. If he really thought like that, sooner or later he would have a fallout with whoever took him in as a disciple.

"An interesting kid indeed." His gaze turned sharp as he looked at Amon. "What will you do if you lose the chance to get in the top ten?"

"Keep working hard." Amon answered without hesitation.

"Rebecca did raise a good son." Richard smiled, making even more wrinkles appear on his aged face.

"You know my mother?" Amon was taken aback as he looked at the Third Elder. He was not surprised at the fact that Richard knew his mother, rather, that Richard recognized who he was.

"I do. A pity what happened to both of you." Richard gave a deep sigh as he shook his head. "I know that neither of you had something to do with what your father did, but still…"

"I wish you good luck." He said, looking at Amon with a serious expression. There was pity in his eyes as he turned away and walked to the platforms.

This was all Richard could do. He hated politics and had no wish to get involved in them. He also had no heart to tell Amon the truth of his situation. All he really could do was wish him good luck. No matter what happened, there was only a harsh path ahead of him.