With the announcement of the reward, the crowd started to get fired up, and many discussions were made amongst them.

However, Ray quickly lost interest after knowing the effect of the diamond. Wasn't it just because of the high concentration of spiritual energy that resides in the diamond? If it were just like that, he had a whole ranch for him to helped his spirit beast to cultivate.

After a while, the Maple-leaf city mayor announced the start of the talent show, and many youths proceeded to line up to display their skills.

Some of them sing, dance, or even display their skill as Daoists. But none of them had yet been able to satisfy the Maple-leaf city mayor.

It seems for the maple-leaf city mayor to eventually give up his precious diamond. The talent needed must be extraordinary.

Half of the youth in the ball had been performed their talent, and soon it was one of Ray's acquaintance's turn.

" Hehe, let me show you how it should be done.

"

It was none other than George!

As the only son of the Maple-leaf city Daoist guild, he certainly has the right to attend this ball celebration, and looking at the reward offered by the Maple-leaf city mayor, George would surely want to try his chance.

He summoned up the Green bison, startling everybody else who was watching the talent show.

*Grunt-Grunt*

" A spirit beast which is at the high-level commander at this young age? He surely deserved to be the son of the guild leader.

"

Many people praised George's talents. It could be said that for someone as young as George, having a high-level commander spirit beast was a one in ten thousand talents.

The Maple-leaf city mayor also nodded at George's display of spirit beast. Having a young talented Daoist in their city would always be a pride of their city mayor.

After George displayed his spirit beast, the talent show returned as normal, different youth kept trying their chances by displaying their talent. Still, it was really lackluster if compared to George's Green Bison.

However, just when three-quarters of the youths have displayed their talents, something big happened.

*Click*

All the lamps in the luxurious ball venue suddenly turned off, making the audiences panic.

And when the celebration committee finally was able to cope with the situation and get the light turned back on, they found that the diamond had been missing from its previous location.

" The-the diamond is Missing!!!!

"

The youth that was going to perform was the one that first discovers the missing diamond, and soon the crowd also plunged into panic.

If the one missing was just something like a phone or earrings, then those rich guys would happily slap their money to boost their prestige.

But this thing was different. A diamond that could boost the cultivation of a spirit beast? Even Daoists from the capital would be crazy for things like that.

" Halt!!!! Everybody stopped in their track. We are the exclusive corp of the Maple-leaf city major. We apologized to everyone, but we must perform some body-check to ensure that the thief would not escape from this place.

"

A group of people with black suits appeared and performed their task to make a thorough body check for each guest. Some guests tried to make a ruckus and refused the body check, but they were easily subdued by the man in black.

After that, there was no big problem with the body check. But the real headache was, the stolen diamond hasn't been found yet.

It was finally decided that the guest should have stayed inside while the people in the black suits will go through another round of checks around the surrounding. Even though there were some protests among the crowd, a glare from the Maple-leaf city major easily solved their situation.

Of course, Ray and Kyouko were no exception. They obediently followed the arrangement of those men in black and went into their arranged suit.

Ray knew his stage was not now. He needed to wait for the protagonist to reveal the thief before he would act his part.

Like a side character, he patiently waits for the protagonist to reveal their shine in front of anyone, only for him to drag them back into the depth of hell.

Ray's wait didn't really take that long. Shortly after all the guests were issued to their own seats, someone protested the guards in the black suits.

" I'm not joking. I saw that comrade of yours was acting suspiciously, so why are we the only ones who get the body search? Shouldn't you guys get a thorough body check too?

"

" Listen here, you little kid, we are a trained squad of Mr major, and there's no way we would be doing that.

"

A youth was arguing with the captain of the guards regarding the body check. It seems he found one of the bodyguards was acting suspiciously, so he wanted that bodyguard to get a thorough check too.

The argument kept getting hotter with every member of the people in black suits came to back up their comrade, while some of the guests who were instigated by the youth were backing him in his argument with the guards.

Eventually, the major himself needed to come down to settle down the argument.

" Kid, I like your bravery. But bravery without proof is just an act of foolishness. I asked you once again, are you truly sure that this man stole the diamond?

"

The major stared domineeringly at the youth, who is none other than Ethan. All of this was already included in Ray's calculation, and now Ray only needed Ethan to act his part and reveal the thief.

As someone who was blessed to be a protagonist, Ethan surely inherits the trademark of every other protagonist. Their Hotheaded and recklessness. If not for the blessing of the will of the world, Ray was pretty sure that someone like Ethan would not live past his twenty-five.