406 A Change of Plan (2/2)
”I did.” Responded the man with a ghastly voice.
”What do you think?” He then asked.
This simple question was able to quiet down both explorers and army general, who turned to look at him. It was clear that this black-robed individual had a very important role within the government, and was a person whom even the man in royal clothes had to respect to some degree.
”I agree with the two youngings. The numbers for the team fights are limited to twenty cultivators per team. Even with the soldier gift, only in the thousands can the army show its prowess.” Responded the black-hooded man.
”SIR! This is ridiculous! We have hundreds of thousands of years of history behind us. The government would not exist the way it does without us!” Said the general with indignation, after turning to look at the man in royal clothes.
It was only at the mention of the government's history, that the man in royal clothes raised his head, and asked, ”Twenty of your most talented soldiers, against a team of twenty explorers. Can you swear on your cultivation that the army would come out on top?”
This simple question was enough for the army general to feel dumbfounded. Even as a representative of the army, he knew perfectly well that a soldier was not comparable to an explorer. By nature, an explorer was required to be an excellent warrior even on his own, while the soldier was dependent on his group. Similarly to the judge's gift, the soldiers would become stronger with numbers.
Yet, unable to simply give up, the general said, ”Sir, this is an unfair comparison. The explorers are expert cultivators. These are just kids.”
”Kids who come from the same group. Kids who know each other, and excel in both individual and team fights. Do you deny that?” Asked the man dressed in royal clothes.
Unable to insist on his point, the army general's only option was to yield. ”Very well. But we can't allow the government's main force to be unrepresented. We are the face of our civilization, as well as the main deterrent to an all out war.”
The army general was not in the wrong. The team fights had been conceived in order to test the power of the main armies of the two civilizations, and if all of those fights were fought by members of inferior factions, that would reflect negatively to the main power of the government, increasing the chances of a war between the two massive powers.
”We will present them as elite members of the army.” Responded the man in royal clothes with a reassuring tone, before turning to look at the old explorer, and adding, ”The same goes for you. Give up a few individual placings for the Tamer's legendary beasts, and the outcast's best fighters. They will participate along with the strongest members of the academies.”
While this was a great humiliation for the army general, for the old explorer it was only normal that the stronger individuals were allowed to represent the government in such a delicate situation. So instead of protesting, he quietly nodded in agreement.
”Very well.” Said the man in royal clothes before turning to look at the black robed cultivator, and adding, ”After the event, please keep both the Teacher and the Outcast here.”
The black-hooded cultivator responded with a faint not.
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For the following day, the event went on smoothly, until finally, only a handful of participants were left. Of these twenty cultivators were the three legendary beasts that were part of the Tamer's group, ten students, and finally, seven individual participants.
Each of the last seven participants had shown a great predisposition towards their own factions, and powers that allowed them to counter the unique abilities of the otherwise favourites 'followers of Iewah's children'. Each of them belonged to the major factions of the universal government.
The plan of the organizers of this event was to put all of the greatest talents in the known universe together, and despite the name of the event, never to simply find one that was above all. So even though the event had ended with the legendary beasts finding themselves at the top three positions, all of the others were asked to stay as well, as each of them would receive similar invitations.
At the end of the day the event was concluded, and after giving out the rewards and a long speech that was particularly focused on the importance of the universal government, the participants were sent back to their factions, and together with their carers, they were sent out of the spatial formation.
The numbers of booths around Daniel's quickly started to decrease, until finally, only his, and the Teacher's were left.
”Why haven't they let us out along with the others?” Asked Cynna nervously.
”I thought we were too small to be in the government's scope.. Yet, it looks like they have something they want from us.” Said Daniel casually, and without showing the slightest hint of worry.
Just as he finished speaking, the two booths moved closer to one another, and as their confines touched, they merged into a single, bigger one.
There was only enough time for Daniel and Nilo to respectively nod in greeting to Romah and Tianna, before a small portal was opened right in front of them, and the seven organizers of the event walked out of it.