Mystical Journey - Arena 1

“My stuff isn’t something anyone can take,” a seemingly young male voice rang out loud.
    

“The stuff I want is not something anyone can deny me!” A cocky female voice calmly said.
    

What followed was a loud and violent shockwave.
    

Garen was awakened from his calculations. He let out a big sigh and looked up at the ceiling that was flaking dust. The shockwaves continued one after another, seemingly never-ending.
    

He stood up, walked to the window, drew open the curtain and looked down where two small silhouettes were standing facing each other on the street below. In between the two silhouettes, a red and a blue shadow kept rapidly colliding with each other. From the looks of it, the blue shadow seemed to be at a disadvantage because every time it got hit it would let out a loud moan.
    

It could clearly be seen that the two silhouettes were both below the age of 20. The boy was in a blue shirt, with a silver bracelet around his wrist, emitting multiple spots of silverish light. The blue shadow in front of him seemed to be getting forced into a corner.
    

On the other hand, the girl was waving a golden can in her hand, giving off a prideful aura. She was instructing the red shadow to attack continuously, almost as if the waving was conducting the red shadow’s every move, like a whip continuously whipping forth.
    

The willpower shockwaves from their battle caused ripples that were at least Level Three in strength. Looking at the core of the battle where the strength was most intense, it was even at Level Four degrees of power.
    

There were many Energy Machinists surrounding and watching the bout. In this location, it was impossible to bring out large-sized Self-Defense Evolved Creatures. One could only carry super-small-sized strong types or utilize space equipment, but both of these methods were far too expensive. Even if this was the city of Nagadako, a super-small-sized evolved creature was not something the average energy machinist could afford.
    

This was comparable to having a person earn tens of thousands bucks per month when the average monthly income was two or three thousand bucks. Everyone would be using a cheap ten buck wallet, whilst the person would be using a pure leather wallet worth thousands.
    

It’s the same in this situation. Those who own super-small-sized evolved creatures would at the very least be from a wealthy household. It was considered a brand and a status symbol after all.
    

However, at this point, the two were displaying an unmovable arrogance in their actions. The boy was being suppressed so much that he had started to lose his breath. His blue shadow started to move slower and slower, becoming clearer and clearer. Slowly, the shape of the shadow could finally be made out, it was a tiny hummingbird that was completely blue in color.
    

As the hummingbird’s movements slowed down, the other red shadow also slowed down its attacks in response.
    

Surprisingly, the red shadow was a palm-sized red skeleton. The red skeleton was floating in the air, with a pair of red wings flapping rapidly on its back.
    

“Hand out the stuff,” the girl put out her hand. “Your hummingbird is no match against my skeleton.”
    

“Red skeleton! Hmph!” The boy coldly sighed, his face pale. Finally, with a toss, he threw a brownish ball to the ground, turned around and left.
    

The figure of the hummingbird slowly started to fade away, then disappearing into the boy’s body.
    

“Looks like you at least have some tact!” the girl chuckled as she picked up the brownish ball. She glanced around at the surrounding energy machinists, then returned to her cold emotionless expression as she turned around and left the area.
    

Garen let out a breath in amazement.
    

“This is indeed the central city, where the energy machinists are the most advanced. The elites from all around the universe have gathered here. To be a Level 4 energy machinist at the age of 20, this degree is far crazier than me.”
    

Garen did some calculations and it would take more than 10 years for him to successfully get to Level 4. However, in this 10 years, there’s no telling how far these geniuses would have already progressed.
    

“This time, the body I got was certainly average in the willpower aspect…” Garen let out a sigh, closed the curtains and continued his calculations. All achievements relied on slowly accumulating small steps.
    

Word of the battle between the hummingbird and the red skeleton started to spread. Soon, a recorded video of the two’s confrontation got uploaded to the Internet. Garen took out some time to use the inn’s public computer to watch the video, but he couldn’t learn anything from it. The skills used by the two were one tier higher than his capabilities so it wasn’t something he could learn at this time.
    

The elite evolved creatures they used were at least Level 4 or 5 in terms of combat power. He might not even be able to withstand their attacks even back when he was in his strongest state and in a mech.
    

After all, he was only testing the waters.
    

After an uneventful night, early in the morning of the next day, Liz and Accord came over and knocked on his door. Garen had already washed up earlier. The three then proceeded to make their way towards the selection tests.
    

At the time, plenty of youths planning on taking the selection tests had already gathered at the Star Core Plaza. Almost all of them were below 20 years old, with barely a handful of people in their 20s.
    

Walking amongst the crowd, Garen and company did not look anywhere out of the ordinary.
    

Bong!!!
    

A melodious clock bell sounded from within the Star Core Plaza.
    

The fence started to vibrate and instantly faded away, almost as if it was never there in the first place.
    

At this moment, a mustached man in what seemed to be yellow royal garbs walked out from inside. He pridefully surveyed the people in the crowds who were eagerly awaiting their entrance.
    

“Routine maintenance inspection has just been completed. Please prepare to enter the arena. Today, we will open five big arenas and all small arenas, so please make your choice wisely. Let me give you a word of warning, do not be overambitious. Try to select an arena of a sect that is most appropriate for your personal growth, and not based on the overall strength of the sect. Of course, stronger sects will naturally give you more advantages and benefits, but you will also have to take up the corresponding duties. If you do not have the mental preparation to take up these duties, you may leave.”
    

He paused briefly.
    

“Everyone will only have the opportunity to select their arena of choice once. In the end, the combined ranking competition will be held.”
    

After he finished talking, he slowly raised his hands, turned around and shot up into the sky, disappearing into the distance in a flash.
    

At the gate of the Star Core Plaza, the crowd stood there briefly in shock, before slowly funneling themselves into the plaza. Everyone who entered the premises would have an internal map of the plaza appearing in their hands.
    

Garen also received one, the map clearly stated all the specialties and characteristics of the arenas, what sect they belong to and where their actual location was.
    

As the three walked through the masses of people whilst Garen was looking down at his map, Liz suddenly patted him on his shoulder.
    

“Look, it’s the hummingbird user!” Liz said softly, looking at the direction of the person on her right.
    

Garen and Accord, followed suit to see that it was indeed the hummingbird user from the battle yesterday. The boy in the blue shirt had a cold and sour expression, his silver bracelet looked matte and dull, it was not as bright and shiny as it was in yesterday’s battle. It seems like it wasn’t activated yet.
    

In front of him, there was naturally a small sized area being created as he moves. This was not because people were intentionally making space for him out of respect but rather because his body was emitting a slight willpower energy field that forcefully parted the crowds in front to him like the red sea.
    

“It’s a Level 5 energy field… There’s no doubt about it, he’s one of the big three seeded participants in our competition area,” Accord said as he adjusted his glasses once more.
    

Garen nodded, he could also feel his opponent’s strength. For him to attain a Level 5 energy field at his age was amazing. Moreover, it seemed like he was not a Level 5 energy machinist, but rather just a Level 4. He used an experiment platform to create his own evolved beast to reach Level 5.
    

“He was the one who fought against the red skeleton girl yesterday night right below where we stayed. He lost the match though,” Liz muttered softly.
    

“You guys saw it too?” Accord asked. “Him, the red skeleton user and another person, they are considered the prodigies of our competition area. We need to be cautious of them during the combined competition.”
    

Garen and Liz nodded in agreement.
    

These types of geniuses amongst energy machinists all have terrifying calculating prowess. A lot of the tactics used by them would be very hard to be assessed by their opponents and all of them would already have a fully prepared a counterplan and battle tactics. They most likely have already been through countless simulation battles. So in that battle, they’d much rather skip all the tactics and just fight through a clash of strength.
    

In these situations, for rookies who have to face the hummingbird user, they would be out of luck.
    

After assessing his current strength, Garen came to the conclusion that if he faces this person, his chances of winning were extremely slim. The speed of that hummingbird was too high, there was no conceivable way for him to dodge it. Furthermore, that Level 5 energy field was not something he could break through easily.
    

“Let’s go,” he said with a frown on his face.
    

“Mmm.”
    

The two others followed closely behind as they proceeded to the arenas deeper in the Plaza.
    

The Star Core Plaza was filled with countless dry and withered trees of all shapes and sizes. The dark blue color of the dried tree bark made the trees look like weird evolved creatures, neatly stationed at two sides surrounding the plaza.
    

In the plaza, there were also a few minotaur guards patrolling the area. They looked the same as the ones from Figures Plaza, with the only difference being the lack of advertisements on their axes, giving off an intimidating aura.
    

The crowds slowly separated into the respective branching roads in the plaza, the people walking around Garen and company has also visibly decreased.
    

“Where are you guys planning to go? Which sect do you plan to choose?” Accord asked while seemingly recording something into his PDA.
    

Liz grinned, “I’m headed to the Dragon Light Sect. I’ve been admiring the Dragon Light of the Dragon Light Sect for ages now, it’s very pretty and strong.”
    

“I still haven’t decided,” Garen shook his head whilst looking at the major sects listed on the plaza map. The list was completely filled with the names of countless sects.
    

Accord kept his PDA and chuckled.
    

“It must be fate that the three of us would be here together today. I’m planning on going for the Star Cloud Sect. I don’t know if I’ll be able to make the cut or not, but this has always been my dream since I was young.”
    

“That’s one of the Big Three Sects… How ambitious!” Liz said in admiration. “Too bad I don’t have the confidence to try it. We don’t have absolute God-given talents, our willpower is also not strong enough, the odds of getting into one of the Big Three Sects are too low.”
    

“Well, that’s still better than me, I still have no clue about what sect I want to join,” Garen chuckled bitterly. He looked towards Accord and asked, “Do you have any suggestions for me? Accord?”
    

In this trip, the three could be considered fellow students of the same level. Accord had great knowledge of theoretical aspects, Garen was filled with combat experience, and Liz was good in a linguistic aspect. With that, the three managed to help make up for each other’s weak points, forming a decent bond through their interactions. Energy machinists are mostly rational people, there would not be anyone who would want to decline these types of mutually beneficial relationships.