...…

Real World, Soaring Continent

Central Region, Capital City.

In the garden of the Springfield Household, a young man was currently sitting peacefully in a lotus position. Around him, was a bunch of pebbles that were silently floating in the air.

That state lasted for a few seconds before the floating pebbles started to move and revolve around the young man. At first, the movements of the pebbles were quite slow but it started to accelerate little by little as the time went by.

Few more moments later, another batch of pebbles were starting to float from the ground before circling around that young man in the opposite direction of that previous match batch. And just like earlier, it also started with a slow pace before picking up the speed a little later.

And after that, another batch of pebbles flouted up. Then they also started moving just like the previous two batches. But this time, this set of pebbles were moving up and down while circling around the young man.

He repeated that process for a few more times all the way until he was controlling a total of 5 different batches of pebbles. And he was controlling each of those batches in a different manner. Due to that, there seemed to be a small tornado of pebbles circling around this young man.

The young man continued this for quite some time and only stopped when he felt that he was reaching his limit.

And the moment all of the pebbles fell on the ground, a voice suddenly sounded from the side.

"Looks like you are quite busy at training your Mentalism control this time, huh? Too afraid of being left behind, Shin?

"

The young man that was training earlier who was actually Shin, turned his head at the source of the voice and said.

"I still can't practice any martial-art skills now since my body is still assimilating with my 'Sacred Diamond Bones'. And that Old Fatty was right, I am really using my Mentalism Techniques.

"

"I just took a look on it and realized that there are really a lot of things hidden in the 'Four Symbol Scripture'. And if I want to fully take advantage of my Dual-Practitioner talent, then I need to re-learn everything that I already know about this Mentalism Technique first before moving up.

"

He paused for a moment to stand up from the ground before tapping his pants to remove some dust from it, while saying.

"What about you, Arthur? I heard that you are going to be supervised by Uncle Nathan on how to properly use your Bloodline Powers.

"

Arthur shrugged his shoulders while saying.

"Well, I am instructed to thoroughly study the 'Imperial Tactics' before getting tested every weekend.

"

"It is quite troublesome but I need to do it since I can't let myself be overtaken by you in no time; especially now that I am finally up ahead of you. And guess what, I discovered quite a few new powers along with this bloodline.

"

Shin suddenly chuckled when he heard that and sneered.

"Heh! Do you even know how to count? I am up by one, remember? So, it's me who is up ahead of you. And don't forget that you are not the only one having new powers. Your 'Dragon Core' may be super strong, but my 'Yin-Yang Core' will not lose either.

"

The corner of Arthur's mouth suddenly twitched the moment he heard those words before rebutting it.

"You know, I really want to beat you up once again, right here right now, and even things up but you are being guarded by your 'health excuses'.

"

Shin started laughing when he saw the expression in Arthur's face before saying.

"Alright, alright, let's go back. It is already time for us to have our lunch and I am also pretty much starving for food right now.

"

"Tsk! Says the one who is to focus on training and only remembers when to eat he is reminded,

" said Arthur as he clicked his tongue.

After that he followed after Shin who was now going back to the mansion with both of his hands being placed inside his pockets.

And when he caught with Shin, Arthurs said to the latter

"Hey! I heard that you are invited to the Shadow Ranking Cup.

"

Shin pursed his lips and thought for a moment before saying.

"Well, yeah. I have been invited since I'm still in my Tier 1 class, but I am already in Tier 2 Class now and that tournament still hasn't started yet.

"

"Oh~! You don't have to worry about that since the Tournament will surely start tomorrow based on the time schedule that the game has,

" said Arthur as he placed both of his hands at the back of his head.

Then he suddenly formed a huge grin with his lips and said.

"Heh! And you better be ready for this upcoming tournament since I also heard that there are a lot of strong players that are invited for this Shadow Ranking Cup.

"

"Huh? Now that I think about it, from where did you get that information about me being invited? And how did you know that schedule for it?

" asked Shin while knitting his brows.

Arthur suddenly clicked his tongue when he heard that and said.

"Tsk! You know, I am starting to doubt your intelligence now. Of course, I heard it from Leo and he got it from the God Slayer's team.

"

Then he released a helpless sigh before saying.

"And how can you not know a lot of things regarding the game despite playing for almost a month already? Aren't you supposed to research everything before jumping in the game? It is so much unlike you.

"

Then he immediately added after a little pause.

"Anyway, for someone that has an in-game status just like mine, being invited to watch such a good tournament is pretty much common. And how can I miss such good entertainment? Of course, I am going to attend it to see some interesting stuff.

"

Shin knitted his brows before saying.

"Huh? You guys are being invited? Now, that is a surprise.

"

Hearing that, Arthur suddenly smirked and said.

"Heh! Of course, we are. And we are invited for these kinds of events mostly because they want us to be a guest commentator or some sort of special audience to raise the viewership of the tournament.

"

"If there is a bigshot present on any specific tournaments, then there are also a lot of their fans that will love to attend such events. But that is also the reason why most of the invited top players refuse to attend these kinds of events.

"

"Heh! So, that is the real reason why you wanted to attend such events. You will get much attention just by attending and watching some players' battles,

" sneered Shin the moment he heard Arthur's reason.

Then he paused for a few seconds before asking.

"Do you have any other things that you will get if you ever watch any of those battles? Aside from the attention that you want to get of course.

"

Arthur thought for a moment before giving Shin a reply.

"Well, there is nothing special about it actually. The rewards and payments that we could get from being a commentator or as a spectator is not actually good; it is pretty much ordinary compared to things that we already had.

"

"The only interesting thing that we could get from there is we can see who are Godlike Player candidates. That may sound lame, but for someone like me who really likes to battle, seeing these potential Gods are pretty much good information for the upcoming Hegemon Cup.

"

Shin's ears suddenly perked up the moment he heard those last two words from what Arthur had said.

Hepaused his tracks for a moment before asking.

"Hegemon Cup? This is actually the second time that I heard about it. What exactly is that Cup actually?

"

Arthur also stopped his steps and thought for a moment before replying.

"Hmm… To put it in simple terms, it is a tournament that is meant for the Top Players of the game; most of the strongest and famous Godlike Players of that game are gathered in there.

"

He paused for a moment before continuing.

"At first, it was supposedly a tournament that is meant for the Guilds that wanted to prove their strengths to the public, and attract more elite players to join their ranks.

"

Then he suddenly chuckles while saying.

"But unfortunately, they bite more than they could chew. In this tournament, most of these guilds proposed to invite some players that have quite a big reputation under their belts. And that idea is supposedly to use these big shots as some sort of stepping stones.

"

"But they didn't expect that there are a lot of strong players who will get attracted to the rewards for the winners of the tournament. And with that, it is too bad for these guilds that most of the players that join the fun are either Peak-Titled Players or Godlike Players.

"

"And with all of these players, their plan to use these invited players as stepping stones backfired at them as most for the winning places of the tournament are won by the invited players instead.

"

"And starting that time, the Hegemon Cup became a tournament meant for Godlike Players and Peak-Titled Rankers that wanted to test their limits against fellow strong players.

"

"And of course, Peak-Maverick Rankers and Maverick Gods are also welcome to join. Especially when they can finally become Official Titled Rankers and Godlike players if ever they won some places on this tournament.

"

Shin thought for a moment before nodding his head.

"I see. It sounds like an interesting event.

"

After that, he started walking once again.

Seeing that, Arthur shrugged his shoulders and also resumed walking. At the same time, he suddenly said to Shin.

"You know, it is quite pointless for you to think about it for now. There are still 7 months for that tournament to come. What you need to do is to put your focus on the upcoming Shadow Ranking Cup.

"

"This tournament may be quite inferior compared to other tournaments, but there are quite a number of talented players that are popping out from time to time.

"

"What's more, from what I can see, this Shadow Ranking Cup is quite special compared to the previous ones since there are a lot of noticeable players that may get invited.

"

"For example, you,

" added Arthur after a brief pause while pointing at Shin.

Hearing this, Shin knitted his brows and asked.

"You keep saying that there are a lot of strong players that are invited for this tournament. How can you be so sure about that?

"

Arthur suddenly smirked when he heard that question and said.

"I know that you want to catch up with the leading players for as soon as possible. But sometimes, looking for some information at the online forums are also quite helpful for your growth.

"

"Given that, it is also in the forums where I got the information who are the players that are most likely to get invited for the upcoming Shadow Ranking Cup.

"

"And from the list that I have in mind so far, this tournament is going to become a very exciting one. Most of the players that will attend this time are either Peak-Title Rankers from their previous game or some hidden hermits from some old games.

"

Then Arthur suddenly halted his steps for another time before saying.

"And it seems like you are quite in a luck this time since there are few players that are previously ranked at the Godlike Expert List and are planning to rejoin the gaming world.

"

"So, you better get ready for this one; and make sure that your *ss will not get wipe on the floor because of them.

"

"Oh~!

" when Shin heard that, his interest couldn't help but get pique.

Then he suddenly formed a grin with his face and said.

"Looks like this Shadow Ranking Cup is going to be a very interesting event if that was the case.

"

...