The Guild Heads came back and told Krune and the others that there was no problem with their slots for the Martial Gathering, much for their relief. That was a Divine Path Sect disciple after all. After Guild Head Lowen left with Arlan, Krune's group went back to do their own things, just to be safe. They decided not to leave the city anymore the next few days before the Spaceship departed.
Days passed, and, finally, a week went by. Today, all the contestants were waiting in front of the Divine Path Sect Spaceship for the external elder to come out. Not long after, the Ship comports opened, and Loni Ravser appeared. He took a look at everyone and then said:
"Alright, you all can enter now. The people inside will show your own cabins. The Ship will leave in one hour. Those who aren't here by that time will not be able to participate anymore. If you have anything else to do, do it now, that's all."
After that, he went back into the Ship, and everyone immediately went aboard. It took only a few minutes for them to disappear inside. Outside, only the people from their own guilds, or whatever who aren't going, stayed looking. The clock kept moving, and, now and then, someone would come rushing into the Ship. Even at this moment, some were late. The last hour passed fast, and finally, the Ship comports closed. A few minutes later, it took off.
Krune's group was looking outside. It was the first time they all left the Planet. It had a special meaning for Krune since he still intended to keep his promise. It could be said this was the first step towards that objective. Of course, in Krune's mind, he still believes that Feifei had long since forgotten about him already, but he didn't bother with such detail at that moment.
The Ship was really spacious. Even with over a thousand participants, there were a lot of empty rooms. The Ship also had training rooms, cultivation rooms, so on and so forth. Arlan had already kidnapped Ao to spare a little with him, on the condition that they wouldn't go overboard. He also asked Krune if he wanted to come, but Krune refused. He wanted to use his free time to get used to his Hexagonal Shields. Several days of hard work were finally paying off. Although it couldn't be considered perfect, he could already make several formations with his shields.
Krune is also a Four-Star Formations Master. So he took a few items from the Mercenary Guild to inscribe protection formations on each one of them. The only problem was that the space he had to inscribe them was quite small, so he couldn't do anything too complicated. Nonetheless, it has already been much better than having nothing.
Shinja and Yusa left together. At that moment, their job was pretty much cultivation or reinforcing their foundation. So they got a cultivation room and practiced together. Now and then, Shinja would practice combat with Yusa. They used the same elements after all, and just like that, their travel continued.
Twelve days later, they finally got to the Garmon Plane. It is a planet used especially for things like the Martial Gathering. The people on the Ship could see several other ships outside. During that time of the year, it was common for several elders to select the Garmon Planet for their own competitions. So, a lot of other Planet's people could be found there. The Spaceship entered the atmosphere, and it didn't take long for it to arrive in one of the few cities of the Planet. As a planet used especially for testing, it didn't have kingdoms, countries, or anything like that, just cities ruled by the Divine Path Sect.
The comport of their Ship opened, and the external elder, Loni Ravser, guided everyone to the building where they would be staying. After arriving there, the people found out they weren't the only ones staying in this place. The building was big enough to hold tens of thousands of cultivators and demon beasts. As soon as they entered, Loni's face changed, because he noticed someone he didn't want to see.
It was another external elder of the Divine Path Sect, a woman called Kirian Lou. The elders Loni and Kirian have always been on bad terms. Whenever possible, they would find a reason to get in the other's way, and that time was not different. The elder Kirian was tasked to oversee the competition of the Ragne Planet, a planet with higher standards than the Makui Planet. She made sure to find out where elder Loni would be going. As soon as she found the information, she immediately applied for the Garmon Planet as well.
"Look who is here, isn't that Elder Loni? What a coincidence!"
Elder Loni's face was as ugly as it could be.
"Coincidence your head! Who do you think you are talking to? It is obvious that you arranged it on purpose. So, speak! what do you want?"
Elder Kirian heard those harsh words but didn't care at all. If the positions were swapped, she definitely would have done the same. So elder Kirian just laughed and said.
"Oh, it's nothing much, I heard that you were coming here to test your planet's contestants, so I also brought mine to have some fun, at the same time, we could make a little bit."
Elder Loni knew very well why she would offer it. The Ragne Planet was stronger than the Makui Planet, and so was the average combat power of their geniuses. She wanted to have their test together, and the Planet with the higher results would win.
"Hmph! You are only taking advantage of the difference in level between the planets that we are overseeing. Are you not ashamed of yourself?"
Kirian kept smiling and said:
"Oh, I know the difference between both of them. But if you think that I'm going to take advantage of that, then you are completely wrong. As far as I know, you brought over 1300 contestants this time, right? My Ragne Planet was a little harsher with this year's competitions on their Planet, so I only got fewer than 1000 people. You would still have the advantage in numbers. We both know that my Planet is only one level higher than yours, so it should be very fair, no?"
Elder Loni was conflicted. They had 30% more people than elder Kirian. He also understood that their combat prowess was bound to be higher than usual since the Ragne Planet usually had around 2000 people. Even though he knew that, if he ran away while having the numbers advantage, Loni would be the laughing stock of the outer sect when he went back. After pondering the pros and cons, he showed a determined face.
"Fine, I accept, what are we betting this time?"
Elder Kirian's smile immediately got even brighter.
"Oh, nothing much, I hear that you have just obtained a big chunk of Spiritual Luminous Ore, and it just so happens that I need some of that ore, so what do you think?"
Loni's face immediately contorted. He paid a very high price for that ore, and it wasn't something you could buy just because you had the money. Although he wasn't very willing, if Kirian asked for his Luminous Ore, then she definitely had something on par to offer back.
"And what are you putting against my ore? As far as I know, you don't have anything of that level."
Kirian laughed after hearing that.
"That's where you are wrong, I also acquired a treasure recently, here. I have a bottle of Dragon Essence Liquid I got by chance, and I shouldn't need to say anything else, right?"
Elder Loni's eyes almost popped out of their sockets. He scanned the bottle with his Divine Sense and confirmed that Kirian wasn't lying. That was really Dragon Essence Liquid!
"You! How did you get this Dragon Essence Liquid?"
Kirian put that bottle back inside of her spatial ring and just said:
"You aren't the only one with connections out there, you know?"
"So, how about it, still afraid to bet?"
Elder Loni took a deep breath. He really wanted that bottle of Dragon Essence Liquid.
"Fine, how should we do it?"
Kirian immediately replied.
"Let's follow your arrangements. If I'm not wrong, you were planning to do a team exploring contest, right? It's just that we are spicing it a bit."
Loni kept hearing.
"We will put both planets contestants together and give each team a team token. Their objective is to have at least three tokens by the time they arrive at the other side of the testing zone. With less than that, the team will fail. Let's bet on the best team of each Planet! After counting the tokens of all teams that cleared the test, we will check which team has the highest number of tokens and the Planet they are from. Depending on that result, we will know who won."
At first, Loni was going to refuse. But then he remembered the talk he'd had with Gile Qergil back in the Makui Planet. He didn't know much about Krune's power, just that he was extremely fast for his level. But Gile seemed to be really impressed with him, and Loni greeted his teeth and said:
"I accept!"
Kirian was taken aback. She was sure Loni would complain about that arrangement. After all, it totally benefited her side. But the fact that he accepted the bet without complaining about her idea made her more cautious than happy.
'Could it be that a real genius appeared on the Makui Planet?'
But it was too late to go back on her word now, so she could only follow the flow.
In fact, Loni wasn't very confident in Krune or his group. But he really needed that Dragon Essence Liquid, and it wasn't like he couldn't afford to lose his Luminous Ore either. So he decided to risk this bet.
That arrangement will probably make the number of people of the Makui Planet finish this test to be under the planned 400. That isn't a problem since he can simply adapt to the final number. Not to mention that only the best ten would be going to the Divine Path Sect entrance exam anyway.
Loni gathered all the Makui Planet's contestants and told them about the test changes this time around.
"You will need to leave this city in two days at 10 o'clock in the morning. You are not allowed to leave earlier but can do that later, it's up to you. This time around, you will be competing with the Ragne Planet simultaneously, so I doubt there will be even 400 of you in the end. But I tell you this, if one of your Planet's team has the highest number of tokens among all teams, the victory is mine against Elder Kirian. And I will bestow six drops of Dragon Essence Liquid to that team. Trust me when I say that! It totally worth giving it your all."
Krune heard that and immediately got excited. Not many people know about the Dragon Essence Liquid, but as a Four-Star Alchemist, he obviously had some knowledge. It had several uses, one of them was improving a demon beast's bloodline. As for cultivators, they could use it in alchemy for Breakthrough pill, or foundation reinforcing pills, and many other ways. As far as he knew, such pills would be efficient even for Void Breaking Realm cultivators and demons beasts. Best of all, the pills made of this essence would leave no side effects at all. And Krune knew precisely for what he would use those drops.
"A Soul Healing Pill, I can make a Soul Healing Pill!"