Death... and me

As Rean went back with Clansto, he took the chance to ask. "Senior Clansto. What is this competition about? Do we have our talent checked?"

"Talent checked?" Clansto's confusion was evident. "Was there such a thing from where you came from?"

Rean was taken aback. Even in the most remote settlements in the mortal realm of Lisan Universe, the talent check was a common thing. How come they don't have it here? "Errr... More or less. They checked who could run the furthest or who could lift the heaviest weights, things like that. They said it was to check the talent."

Obviously, Rean didn't mention about the Talent Checking Orbs. Who knows if the orbs were something from the Lisan Universe only? Talking about them might only cause trouble for himself, so he came up with that excuse.

"Oh!" Clansto nodded. "On the day of the competition, you will be checked for such things. I guess it does count as a talent check. Anyway, the competition is as simple as it goes. Just a quick brawl between the kids of the same age. It is a pure test of strength and nothing else. We need strong warriors to help protect the village if anything wrong happens, after all. Two stones are reserved for the women, while two are reserved for the males, so you and your bother better give your all."

Rean pondered a bit and spoke. "How do you decide who will take the stone in the end. After all, a twelve-year-old kid is definitely stronger than an eight-year-old. It wouldn't even be a competition."

"That is decided by the Village Chief," Clansto answered. "We will have fights between kids of the same age, and then the Chief decides between the victors of each age category. Simply put, you have to impress him, not only win."

"Oh!" Rean nodded, satisfied. The only trouble would be if the chief became biased towards the kids of his village. If that happened, they would have to find another way. In any case, the next step was obvious.

'Alright, I will fight,' Roan spoke.

'Like hell you will!' Yet, Rean immediately rejected the idea. 'You don't know how to hold back. You will end up scaring the kids and the elders themselves. Leave it to me. I won't hurt them too much.'

'Fine!' Roan didn't mind. It wasn't like he wanted to fight kids anyway.

During the next weeks, Rean and Roan helped Clansto, Titia, and got to know the people of the village. Well, Roan just helped with the work. The one who did all the talk was Rean, and he was very good at it. Years of experience helped a lot in this scenary.

Rean was walking through the village one of these days when suddenly, he saw an enormous shadow covering the village. He quickly looked in the sky's direction in response. There, he saw an airship descending. Rean didn't have cultivation anymore, so he couldn't enhance his vision. Yet, he was surprised how it made absolutely no sound even though he could see the Spiritual Energy Waves caused by it. 'Not too shabby...'

A cultivator jumped from the ship and quickly flew down, entering the Village Chief's House a moment later. He didn't stay there for more than ten seconds before he shot out again, returning to the airship. The airship then departed as fast as it had arrived. The residents around didn't seem surprised, so it was probably a common occurrence.

"Senior Clansto," Rean spoke with an eager expression.

"Yes," Clansto nodded with a smile. "They came to deliver the Werdlem Stones."

"Who are they?" Roan asked on the side. He wasn't a Formations Master, but he could tell the airship was quite advanced.

"Do you remember when I talked about our home?" Clansto asked back in response.

The twins had inquired about the place they were in. They were left in a region called Travil, and their village was located in the southwest, quite far from the central area of the region. "Yes, we live in the Travil Region."

"Exactly," Clansto nodded, satisfied. "The Travil Region is governed by the Gondel Clan. That was an airship from that same Clan. Remember, if you ever see anyone wearing similar clothes to the man that came from the sky, do not cause trouble to that person."

"Understood!" The twins were already used to such things, so they just agreed. In any case, neither Rean nor Roan were planning to stay for much longer, so it didn't matter if they knew more or not.

"Let's go home," Clansto gave up on what he came here to do and turned around. "Tomorrow, Didi will definitely call all the kids in the village to fight for the Werdlem Stones. I already talked to him, so you can participate as well. Now, let's go back and rest."

Neither Rean nor Roan had any complaints.

Sure enough, the call came in the next day morning. Rean and Roan were already waiting with Clansto, who would be responsible for the twins. Later that morning, everyone gathered at the open field, with Didi overseeing the crowd.

Yet, there was another thing that caught Rean and Roan's attention. Floating at the center of the field, there was a green crystal, quite similar to the one on Clansto's body, doing nothing. It's just that that one was a lot bigger. "Senior Clansto, what is that crystal in the center?"

"Crystal?" Clansto looked in the direction Rean pointed at, but he couldn't see anything. "What crystal?"

Rean and Roan were taken aback. The crystal stood out quite a lot, so how could he not see it? "Oh, sorry. It was just a bird. Hehehe! It is already gone now." Rean could only pretend he was wrong.

Clansto wondered how Rean mistook a crystal for a bird, not that it mattered anyway. "Just focus on the fights."

"I won't fight," Roan stood to the side.

"You won't?" Clansto was taken aback. "Are you sure? It is not obligatory, but you will have to wait six months until you can try again."

"I'm fine," Roan just nodded.

Rean patted his shoulder. "My brother and I decided that I should take the test alone. He will watch from the outside, and if I lose, he can see why it happened, and we can come up with a

plan for the next time."

"Hahaha!" Clansto couldn't help but laugh. "You are putting way too much thought into it. Anyway, that's up to you." He wasn't very confident either Rean or Roan would win anyway, so he didn't mind that much.

Finally, the fights began. The youngest group was the first, made of kids at the age of five.

Neither Rean nor Roan paid much attention to those fights, though. They only looked at the crystal floating above the field. Every time a kid won a fight, the crystal would shine for a moment, and a little bit of energy came from inside the crystal before entering the winning

kid's body.

'What do you think?' Roan asked.

'Hum...' Rean looked at that with some confusion. 'It is hard to tell when we can't use Divine or Spiritual Sense. However, I think Clansto was wrong about one thing. It is not the chief who decides who will receive the crystals. Instead, it is most likely this invisible crystal. Didi just pronounces the winners at the end according to what the crystal decides.'

'Indeed,' Roan agreed. 'And, if I'm not wrong, that's how they test talent here.'

is possible.' Rean could see differences between the intensity of the light that came from the crystal every time a kid won a fight.

Roan, on the other hand, paid attention to Didi's expression. Didi couldn't hide his emotions from Roan. Every time the crystal shined more brightly, Didi had some faint reactions of delight that didn't escape Roan's eyes.

The fights by age continued until the afternoon. Finally, those at the age of twelve were called out. Rean stepped into the arena.

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