174 The Aftermath of the Games (1/2)

”I guess that this answers the question about whether you are disappointed or not in my group's performance. Or am I wrong?” Daniel asked with a smug grin on his face.

The green-robed man and a couple of other company heads turned to look at Daniel, and after getting rid of their shocked expressions, one of them said ”There is no need to rub it in our faces Mr. Hiel.. no one likes a petty winner.”

After a bit of banter, the company heads all turned back to look at the arena.

There, the nine-fingered man was handing over a medal to each of the people that had earned a place in the top ten positions, along with the various smaller prizes that they had earned.

Most of the attention was put on the final prize, as the whole point of the games was to obtain that single spectacularly expensive item for which the entire event had been created, but not only the winner would receive a prize.. Many other cultivators would receive one as well.

These prizes, were mostly a portion of the money that the collective had received from the purchase of the tickets for the event, while the rewards for the second to tenth position, along with a set number of crystals, also comprised specifically made essence spheres.

The masters of essence would value the various talents of the cultivators, and after noticing their missing bits of comprehension, they would personally pick the spheres that suited them, and that could grant them the chance to obtain the missing comprehension.

Of course, this was only something done for the first ten cultivators.

Sharing knowledge between companies that competed in a field where knowledge was considered the private product of the company itself, would usually be considered absurd.. but since the knowledge of the essences had evolved to a multigalactic scale, the knowledge of most concepts had now became common, and it was not hard to find it, at least for those who knew where to look.

In the end, with enough money and time, everyone could potentially obtain a perfect comprehension of a specific essence.

Unfortunately, money was not the main problem.

Those who had managed to obtain scores similar to Roley's and Jerigh's, were people which had been taken in by their companies since a young age, and made them spend their life, up to their late forties, studying the essences.

It was not strange to believe that someone with fifty years of age, would have forty-six years of experience with dealing with essence spheres, because that's the way the companies nurtured them.

Along with training in cultivation, these people produced large numbers of quality spheres that the company would then sell. They could quite honestly be considered as the true foundation of the company.

The fact that they could then compete in the collective's events and have a chance to win mind boggling prizes, was only secondary.

Of course, That did not mean that they would not try..

If they could win a perfect essence treasure for their company, they would be able to produce a sphere out of it. And with it, the education of more and more masters of fire essence would become easier, and less expensive.

These methods would also be used by the incalculable other companies that dealt in essence spheres all around the universe.

There were a few worlds where elementals would be treated as slaves for the sole purpose of working as living and talking essence spheres. These elementals would be constantly mistreated, and forced into a weakened state.. Or they would usually revolt, try to escape, and sometimes, even kill themselves or their ”owners”.

Back in the middle of the stadium, once the nine-fingered man finished handing out the prizes to the cultivators that had entered the top ten, he once again turned towards the public, and with his usual loud tone, said ”As per custom, we will help Mr. Hiel, the leader of the 'Golden Karma' company, to deliver their proposal to everyone present.”

He then took an envelope out of his spatial ring, and from it, a sheet of paper.

”Mr. Hiel indicated only two specific offers he is willing to consider as 'Offer to the Champion'. These offers are.. A different type of perfect essence treasure, along with one day of private tutoring of a perfect comprehension of fire..”

When the last word left the nine-fingered man's mouth, various company heads that had anything to do with fire started to walk towards him.

At the same time, many rich cultivators within the stands quickly reported their news through their various methods.

Not only cultivators that dealt in essence spheres would have a use for perfect spheres, in fact, all around the universe, many of the most reputable groups, families, sects, and school whose members had to learn a particular style which would require knowledge of a specific essence, already possessed a perfect sphere.

Of course, when compared to the various groups which did not possess one, they were an infinitesimal amount. After all, what were a few thousands, in a universe which contained billions of groups.

”The second offer that Mr. Hiel is willing to accept, is a hundred and twenty thousand perfect crystals..” Continued the nine-fingered man.

”What?!”

”That's a ridiculous amount of money..”

”..Who does he think he is?”

”That's double of the worth of the treasure!”

The second offer listed by the Mr. Roah lit the spark of conversation all through the stadium.

Nobody expected that Daniel's company would find someone willing to trade with them, after all, a perfect sphere would be found maybe once every fifty or a hundred years.