Earthling in Uncharted Dimensions

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8 A.M.

28765 Essence harvested.

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[Your Sand affinity is now Greater grade. Total Essence needed to upgrade the remaining 6 affinities to Greater grade will take 895497 Essence. Letting you know.]

Lee nodded to the Sovereign's voice.

"How long do we have to walk?"

Mia was restless and was slightly panting. Though they were walking slowly, they had covered quite a distance. They should have reached the clan premises early, but Gauthama took a slightly longer deroute so that he could let them see the beauty and diversity of the city's shops. Unknown to him, An and Ruella also were feeling discontent. The twin stars had not reached its peak glory, but gave off comfort, and slightly burdened them with warmth.

The density of people walking around increased steadily as they walked towards the Typhoon Clan. Due to yesterday's incident, cultivators officially assigned to oversee the crowd and maintain peace on the streets were positioned on the top of the tallest building in the vicinity. Lee counted 12 of them in his immediate line of sight and 7 more through the Map, as he glanced around through the corners of his eyes. The decorative things hung from building to building showed the importance of the tournament, and craftsmanship behind it. The shops were relatively crowded and the sales of almost all things were on a good swing.

"MOVE OUT OF THE WAY!"

A loud annoying shout made the crowd on the streets turn their heads towards the origin of the voice. The sound of horse hooves can be heard faintly and it grew louder. People can be seen sitting on the slowly moving horses, which were not actually horses. Those wooden structures created in the form of a horse made wooden clopping noise as it separated the crowd into two. The very glance of these smooth and familiar textures reminded Lee of something last night.

"Long Sect."

Lee whispered and Ruella, who was also observing these horse shaped mannequins, heard it and glanced at his face, before staring back at them. As the horse puppets were walking past them, Lee noticed that these puppets were actually not one single puppet, but a combination of multiple puppet parts. Even without scanning, D and Lee were able to identify the mechanical contraptions inside it and the internal positioning of the vital parts.

On 27 horses sat 16 men and 11 women. The one that led the group had a strange aura around him, which D identified as the concealed pressure of a peak stage Emperor Immortal. He also added to not mess with that person for the time being, for his puppet, on which he is presumably seated, might be able to shatter the bones of Lee. Lee skipped his eyes onto the next one's in the queue and saw two persons who had their cultivation concealed, yet which were identified as third and second stage of the Emperor Immortal realm. The 24 people behind them were disciples of the sect and wore robes of the same colour and the design of Long Sect, a puppet in lotus position, etched on its back.

They easily passed the crowd and disappeared into the entrance gate of the Typhoon Clan. The guards of the hosting clan recognised them and let them pass after showing enough respect. Unfortunately for the commoners and spectators, they were not allowed to enter before 10 A.M. and without paying 3 silver coins.

"Let us also enter."

Gauthama glanced at the familiar faces among the crowd and grouped them together, and walked towards the gate. An intense rush of people was experienced, as they moved closer to the gate.

[Lee, 30 degrees north-east to you, a thief is trying to steal.]

Lee paused for a moment, and glanced at the coordinates. Two metres away from him, a man was trying to steal the money pouch of a man who was desperately trying to move forward, and unfortunately, did not notice the presence of a thief.

Without a second thought, 2 Mana materialised in Lee's right palm with strands of lightning in it. It instantly transformed into a thin needle and dashed forward from his palm. Lee did not make any noticeable movements and continued his pace to push through the crowd, as the needle hit the man and gave a mild electrocution. The thief was perplexed and went pale from the unexpected strike. He immediately turned around, but did not sense anyone with hostility. By the time, he glanced back at the money pouch, that man had already walked forward and was lost in the crowd. The thief cursed the person who made him lose his prey grinding his teeth. But was the curse in vain?

Tera, Ruella, Gauthama, Mia, An and Lee pushed through the crowd and reached near the gates. The cultivator trio did not get their weapons stolen, as Lee used Information Transfer to send the summary of the incident just occurred. Thus the ladies had their arms rested on the pommel of their swords, in guard. They were also alerted by the warning and took caution against any potential perverts and faintly released their aura. Though small and weak, Mia and An were immediately sensed by the nearby common folks and this had a safe passage to walk.

"Halt there! Only contestants can enter!"

The guards at the gate simultaneously restricted the access to the inside, while maintaining the passively chaotic atmosphere. The guards were given orders not to reject anyone who wants to be the tournament candidates, and was thus given a seal to mark the said person as a tournament contestant. This was to prevent people entering early to the matches by claiming as contestants, and lurking and spectating around afterwards. There were multiple times where this had happened, so they decided to implement the seal system, which used the ink of Lion Lily to mark, and does not go off unless a special liquid is applied. But there was also a rule that if more than two contestants are ready to participate in the tournaments, half of their number can enter by paying the usual fees of a spectator, and can enter with them. If the contestants are odd numbers, then the maximum number of people permissible will be half of one number lesser than the odd number.

"We are six in number, in which four people are to participate in the tournaments and two people to accompany."

Gauthama gave a concise response to the guard who spoke just now. Upon hearing the reply, the guard allowed them six people to move towards the gate. There was a desk next to the gate, where people registered as contestants. On it was the seal placed, dipped in ink. Next to it were a few pieces of papers with names of contestants went inside before them.

"Who all are participating?"

The guard who stood near the desk raised the question.

"These four people are participating. We two are here to accompany them."

Gauthama made their roles clear to the guard. The guard immediately calculated the amount of silver coins needed for them to pay.

"9 silver coins for each contestant and 4 coins for companions. Total 44 silver coins."

The guard spoke and stared blankly at Gauthama. He immediately reached into his pocket to take money, but Lee patted his shoulder and said-

"Let me."

44 coins materialised into his left palm as Lee placed his right hand on Gauthama's shoulder. The guard took the coins and counted and made sure the authenticity. Though they were coins used by the Kingdom of Venus, the purity of the coins were greater than that of the Piscerent City. So the guard smiled at this revelation and put the coins inside the desk's draw and closed it.

"State your names and affinities."

The guard grabbed the papers and took the ink brush from its holder. He glanced at the faces of the trio and Lee, with an expectation of a sudden reply. Lee noticed the millisecond changes in his expression and answered without delay.

"Lee. Mana affinity."

"Mia. Qi affinity."

"An. Qi affinity."

"Tera. No affinity."

*ba-dum*

[What?!]

Lee and the ladies could not help but instantly turn their heads and watch the siblings standing like nothing had happened. For Tera to participate was beyond their expectations. Ruella was feeling an uncomfort in her chest as she was the fourth person to state name and affinity. She was mildly happy to hear that Tera was the fourth person, but was flabbergasted like the others to hear that she has no affinity!

The guard did not notice their amazed expressions as he had to stamp the seal on the outside of their palms and then go back to his position. So he promptly placed the paper on the desk and brush on the holder, and took the seal from its holder. As they watched, he applied a little bit of Qi into it and the stamping surface changed its number. The number that was already on the stamp was the previously registered contestant's number, so the guard appropriately applied Qi to change the stamp surface to the next number.

"Hold out your right hands, palms downward."

The guard spoke and An, Tera, Lee and Mia extended their hands. The guard first stamped on Mia's hand, and then changed the stamp to the next number, and stamped on Lee's hand. The process repeated, and An and Tera got their stamp seals. The guards waved at them to enter and glanced at the guard next to the gate and nodded. The small door next to the large and wide gate was opened and the company of six people stepped into the sect nicknamed 'Typhoon Tycoon!'

[Lee, they had to be messing with us. Just look at your stamp!]

Lee simply had glanced over the stamp and did not pay much attention to it. Heeding D's words, Lee raised his right palm and gasped at the number on the seal!