Divine Beast Ascension

550 Banquet Balcony

To King Sardin’s surprise, the group of guests wasn’t heading toward the largest, more extravagant building in town, the Iron Hotel. They were heading toward the Iron Colosseum.

But Ingall Sardin didn’t say anything. He just kept quiet and observed the bustling town with gradually-growing admiration.

Many of the young cultivators in the group were doing the same thing.

Oli, however, was trying not to obviously stare at Netra. And it didn’t help that Netra was casually stealing glances at each candidate one by one. It was only a matter of time before Netra examined Oli in human form or that she spotted him looking back at her.

That left Oli with one choice. To steal a single glance at Netra and then just act like everyone else visiting for the first time.

When Netra eventually got to Oli in her scan of the various candidates, she blinked and double-checked how her senses reacted to him. What she felt when trying to feel Oli’s strength was… unordinary. Netra was certain that he was an elder cultivator like every candidate present. But she couldn’t confidently say that she sensed peak-elder strength from Oli, or that she sensed early-elder strength from Oli. All Netra could sense was that Oli should be an elder cultivator.

This got Netra thinking and wondering what could cause such a phenomenon. She had been before kings, perennials, and even gods. And though she was unable to truly sense and determine the strength of such cultivators due to Netra’s own relative weakness, Oli’s strength was hard to determine for a different reason that was unknown to Netra.

She pondered, *I was told he has earth and dark essence. I can’t tell if there’s anything special about his earth essence but I should be able to determine his strength through dark essence. Yet… What kind of essence is that? It’s somewhat like Kraz’s death essence, yet it’s not quite that either… Is this strange feeling because his essence is special or because of whatever is masking his strength from me? … I’ll have to ask Master Vloz about this.*

The huge colosseum was in sight but they still had a few minutes until they would be able to enter the building.

.....

Taking advantage of those last few minutes, Netra telepathically reached out to Vloz, ‘Master Vloz, is it just me or is it difficult to sense the strength of Zelsh’s private pupil, Oliver?’

Vloz already knew the answer to that question but he played along. He glanced at the youth in question and gave the slightest of nods. ‘There is something different about his essence. But I’m still able to determine exactly how strong the boy is. Perhaps because my cultivation is high enough to overlook his tricks.’

‘Master, are these sorts of tricks common?’ Netra asked.

Vloz shook his head. ‘No. At most, people like us can train to control how much essence we subconsciously emit, making it harder for people to determine our strength. But as you know from your training, it will still take you a few more years to master such an ability. What that youth is doing… I’m not certain. It could potentially be an item he’s wearing or a side effect of his essence nature.’

Baffled, Netra telepathically asked, ‘Such essence natures exist?’

‘Of course. They’re incredibly rare, but there are such natures among dark and illusion essence types,’ answered Vloz.

‘... Master, since you can sense him, may I know how strong he is?’ Netra asked.

‘No. For the sake of your training throughout the Mortal Championship, I won’t tell you. Perhaps taking the time to understand the youth’s abilities across the tournament will help broaden your perspective and knowledge of essence.’ Vloz mentally grinned, doing his best to not give away Oli’s identity just yet.

Netra already knew that Oli was alive, like Yeter. However, even Yeter didn’t know about Oli’s human transformation until it became absolutely necessary and Yeter swore upon his life to keep it a secret.

Since something unexpected had happened, the evolution of Oli’s gorilla bloodline into a Roxite Gorilla, they updated their plan accordingly. That meant even Netra would have to wait until she either figured out who Oli was or it became necessary for her to learn Oli’s new identity. With the natural essence-cloaking abilities of roxite now incorporated into Oli’s body, Eeole and those making the plans weren’t as worried as before. Though the effect was minimal while Oli was in human form, it was enough for Oli’s competitors to see Oli as a true rival and not as a weaker cultivator.

But Netra was determined to spot the real Oli. And since she knew that Oli had been in Rot City in the past, she had a hunch that King Zelsh was the person training him. So Netra was assuming that Oli would be entering the Mortal Championship under Zelsh, helping her narrow her search.

This time, though, Netra wanted to keep her findings to herself. She knew Oli didn’t like his secrets being revealed publicly. So Netra wanted to find out who Oli was and find a chance to see him in private.

However, the only person that Oli could possibly be was a human! On top of that, the human in question appeared to be more different than similar after Netra failed to fully sense and recognize Oli’s dark-death essence. This left Netra confused and pulling at straws in order to determine which candidate was the real Oli. “Oliver” was still at the top of her list of candidates but she was no longer as confident as she had expected to be.

“We’re here,” Vloz stated aloud with a smile.

The leopard guided the large group into the colosseum and through the stands. Everyone quickly spotted their destination but was surprised to see such a thing in a colosseum.

“Welcome to Iron Town.” Bowing, Ania greeted their guests. “This is the banquet balcony we’ve recently renovated. Please, find a seat. There are more than enough tables to go around.”

Zelsh and Sardin both bowed their heads to the gorilla. Then, they promptly walked over to the head table to greet their true host.

King Rhyner Trighton stood up and smiled. “Welcome! As you can see, I felt we should intermingle our candidates and let them get to know each other.”

The moment Rhyner said that, a line of young cultivators walked out and bowed to the newly-arrived kings before taking seats at differing tables.

“This way it proves that we’re all friends and potential allies, rather than just enemies wearing the masks of rivals,” reasoned Rhyner. “Do either of you disagree with this method of seating? If so, I don’t mind adopting the usual method of grouping the candidates by their region.”

“I like it!” Zelsh laughed, claiming the seat beside Rhyner.

Ingall nodded and sat on the other side of Rhyner. “This is fine with me. I can only see good things coming from such a decision… Candidates of Sardin, find a seat among the tables. None of you are allowed to share a table for the time being.”

“Yes, King Sardin.”

Without pause, the Sardin Region candidates broke their ranks and diversified among the tables. Most of them were beasts, but the balcony had already been built to accommodate such arrangements. So there was more than enough room for everyone, and plenty of food on the way as well.

“Follow along!” Zelsh ordered before resuming his casual smile and his conversation with his fellow kings.

Yeter sighed but didn’t complain. He wanted to sit by Oli. At least Yeter was excited to eat Mama Ania’s food again!

While the Rot Region candidates each wandered to a table, Oli chuckled when he found himself sitting beside Kako. “Were you trying to save me a seat?”

“I gladly would’ve if you had asked,” Kako replied with an amiable smile. “We’ll be on the same team moving forward, so I’m glad we can get to know each other a bit better.”

“My name is Netra,” the fox girl introduced herself while strolling up to Oli’s and Kako’s table. “What are your names?”

“I’m Kako,” the baboon replied with a head bow, showing Netra the utmost respect. “You’re the prefecture’s perfect candidate, aren’t you?”

Netra nodded and answered, “Yes. I am… And what’s your name?”

Bowing his head in the same manner as Kako, Oli ‘introduced’ himself, “My name’s Oliver. I’m just lucky to be here.”

“Perhaps luck was involved, but I heard that you both dominated the provincial qualifier,” stated Netra. “If only luck was the factor, then perhaps you’d be the luckiest person I know. But I would venture to guess that you’re both also very hard-working. Would it be fair of me to assume so?”

Kako nodded and laughed, “Sure! Since all I do is train, eat, and sleep, I guess you’re not wrong.”

“I suppose you’re right…” Oli shrugged. “But what about you? As a perfect candidate, doesn’t that mean you’ve had a much easier path than either of us? Or do all kings search for candidates with perfect affinity because it just sounds cool?”