Kill The Old Ones!

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[Cherry Anne]: My father’s healed. Your instructions helped a lot. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.

[Marek]: You’re welcome. If you want to fight or rant, you know where to find me.

[Cherry Anne]: 😀

**

Ren dismissed the system screen and focused on his work.

Deep down, he was glad that he was able to help save Lily’s father and improve her situation. Because even with his interference in the plot, he knows that her life would’ve been very difficult. This world wasn’t kind to her.

At the same time, Ren couldn’t help but wonder what will come out of this direct interference. In the book, Lily has been tested—severely—by life. The fact that she stayed mostly the same as she was and hasn’t lost her sanity was the core reason why she became so popular.

She’s even more popular than Aria, who’s the true female lead of the story.

With his interference, Lily had an ally and was able to improve her situation. This, undoubtedly, would have an effect on her life’s trajectory. The question was, how much?

Well, this isn’t something that Ren could speculate or imagine right now. He just has to wait and see.

Currently, Ren’s focus was aimed at the bubbling cauldrons of potions before him.

It has been a while since he sat down and helped with one of the clan’s main income streams—which was selling potions. He already learned everything Raymond could teach him. He already went to the Lifestyle Guild to register himself as a potion maker. He was tested and he passed.

His skills earned him a gold badge, which is just two ranks below the peak rank of potion makers in this world. The rankings are Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Diamond.

Ren could pursue the art of potion-making higher, but it’s never been his priority. There will be time later. The fact that he had reached the Gold Badge was already very impressive for his age. There was no reason for him to hurry.

His main priority should have been his martial practice, and it was. Ren was certainly not lagging behind in this matter.

It’s been three months since he reached the 1st transformation of the Inhuman Realm. Ren has made some progress, but it’s still too early for another breakthrough, even for minor realm progress.

He’s still at the early stage of the 1st transformation, and even after another three months passed, he’d probably still be in this stage.

That is normal. The further one delves into the path of martial arts, the harder it gets.

The fact that he already came this far is already very impressive. Especially for someone who has a common grade of talent.

[Beep!]

Ren heard his phone ringing in his pocket. He raised a brow and took it out, not really expecting a call from someone. The number of the caller wasn’t someone he recognized, but he answered it anyway.

"Hello? Who’s this?"

"Hello, I am Alice Morgan, secretary of City Lord Gabriel Pierce. Am I speaking to Mr. Soren Marek Vire?"

"Yes, you are. Good morning, Ms. Alice. What can I do for you today?"

"Good morning to you, too, Mr. Vire. I called today to ask you some questions that might affect your participation in the City vs. City Tournament. Do you have time now, or should I call you later?"

Ren raised a brow, again, at this. He wasn’t expecting this. He recalled his recent activities and felt a little bit confused. He didn’t do anything strange or wrong for that matter. He was following his routine, which never got him into trouble before.

Was he even in trouble? Alice certainly doesn’t make it sound like he was.

Out of curiosity, even though he’s still brewing a large batch of potions that requires his close attention, Ren decided to hear her out.

"Now is okay. What happened? Am I in trouble?"

"Oh, perish the thought, Mr. Vire. Regardless of the outcome of our conversation, I can assure you that you are not in trouble. In fact, this might be good news for you."

"Oh? Alright, ask away then."

"Right. So, as you know, we here—at the City Lord’s Mansion—do our due diligence to this city and its people. One of our tasks is to monitor dungeon activities like overflows and clearances."

"It has come to my attention that, recently, you have cleared Stage 85 solo; is that correct?"

"Yes, I did," Ren confirmed as he stirred the cauldron. "I did clear stage 85 in a row on my own. I’m actually planning on clearing stage 86 today."

There was a beat of silence before Alice replied, "I see. That’s fantastic, and congratulations, by the way."

"Thank you. What brought this on, though?"

"I’ll get to that after my next question, which is, how confident are you in clearing Stage 100 solo before the City vs. City Tournament?"

Ren paused to think.

Stages 86 to 90 was home to another dangerous foe—the Death Knights, undead creatures that sit close to the top of their kind’s hierarchy.

After that, stages 91 to 100 were the most dangerous of the dungeon stages in this world, which is the Deep Sea Biome—home to the Flood Dragons and ruled by the Flood Dragon King.

Everybody who reaches these stages will have to dive underwater to fight the enemies, which puts them at an incredible disadvantage and extreme danger. The sea won’t be kind to intruders like them, not at all.

Ren thought of the time he had available. If he wanted to reach stage 100 before the next tournament, he’d have to increase his clearing pace a bit.

"It should be doable. But I’m not exactly in a hurry to reach that stage. I assume that I have more than enough time to get there eventually. Is there a reason why I might have to do it before the tournament and not after?"

"Mr. Vire, if you can clear Stage 100 before the City vs. City Tournament, you can become a seeded participant. You go straight to the semi-finals rounds, allowing you to skip the boring parts."

"Oh!"

That caught him by surprise. He was not expecting that at all. To be fair, this wasn’t mentioned in the story at all. It was, after all, following the perspective and trials of the hero.

"Yes, Mr. Vire. You are eligible to still be a seeded participant. If you can clear stage 100 a week before the City vs. City Tournament, we can submit a request to have you included on the seeded list."

"Just to be clear, this isn’t an order or a request," Alice added. "Please don’t think that we are forcing the matter on you. Regardless of whether you do this or not, we are still happy that you will be amongst the many that will represent our beloved city for this tournament."

"This is merely a notification. A way to inform you of this possibility. Please don’t feel pressured or stressed out. Seeded participant or not, it won’t have an effect on your performance or participation."

"Hmm." Ren sounded thoughtful for a bit.

He removed the cauldron of freshly brewed potions away from the fire and allowed it to steep from the residual heat. He didn’t ruin this batch even though he was a bit distracted.

"I’ll see what I can do. It should be possible, though, but who knows? If I made it, I’m pretty sure you’ll immediately know."

"That’s all we ask, Mr. Vire." Alice sounded relieved, for some reason. "Do you have any questions for me?"

"This isn’t exclusive to me, right? Is it safe to assume that there are participants from other cities who were told of the same thing you told me or have already become a seeded participant?"

"No, it’s not exclusive to you," Alice confirmed. "The option to be included in the seeded participant list is open to those who have come as far as you have, be it in this city, or the neighboring ones, or even the neighboring kingdoms as well."

"As for the confirmed people who’re already on the list, I’m sorry, but we have no way of knowing that for now. I’m afraid that is a closely guarded secret of the people involved and will only be revealed once the tournament starts."

"I see. Alright, then. That’s all I have for now. Thank you for informing me of this. I’ll do my best to qualify."

"You’re always welcome, Mr. Vire. Good luck and have a nice day."

[Beep!]

The call ended there.

Ren sighed and stared at an empty space for a bit. His mind was going through his schedule. He was already adjusting it to optimize the time he had left before the tournament comes.

’One week before the tournament comes, huh? Yeah, time will be a bit tight, but I should be able to make it.’

Ren originally planned to take his time, but after this call, he changed his mind.

Since the option was available to him, he figured that he might as well give it a shot.

It will save him more time in the end.

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