13. The Bridge
When Nova came back in the city he collected the additional 5 bronze from the quest in the quest hall and bought 20 red pills and 40 yellow pills with the rewards he got from the quest. He also sold his 400 white rank pills. After that, he visited his friends Robin and Shiva to pay his debt back and explained about his new learned skills and the adventure he just experiences for the past 1.5 months. Nova, Robin and Shiva are sitting in the room of Nova on the floor behind a wooden table that is round.
Robin:'' I have been thinking if you have actual God speed cultivation. Why haven't you told the sect master yet? You would be placed directly in the 1st wall?
There are more ways to advance a wall. The first one is if you get a certain rank in a determined time. This is how most people advance form the 5th to the 4th wall. The other option is if you already are talented with genius speed/ green speed you can advance to the 4th wall already if you base white rank. If you have the blue speed you can even advance to the 3rd wall without practice. This was the case for Robin and Shiva. But they decided to wait for Nova till he turned 12. Another option was when you win a big duel or tournament then the sect can allow you to advance to the next wall, but this rarely happens. Then you also have the possibility that one of the sect masters personally brings or acknowledge a student and brings him to the sect that the master lives in. This one rarely happens, because most students who are worthy to be acknowledge have already a green or blue cultivation speed.
Nova:'' NO I won't do that. I want to reach the strength by myself and make a name because of my powers and not because of something I can't do anything about. But how did you both became top orange rank? You were both top red rank when I just left?''
Shiva:'' You are not the only one who has trained a lot haha. But to be fair we were never top red rank but already middle orange rank. We haven't told you because if we told you that you would have told us to move to the 4th or even 3rd wall after we knew your cultivation speed''.
Robin:'' But now we know your actual cultivation speed we can't leave you behind so you can decide if you want to go to the 4th wall or 3rd wall after you reached the orange base rank?''.
Nova:'' Thank you, friends! I plan to participate in the tournament and after that, I hope I will advance to the base orange rank and go to the 4th wall.
After talking for a few more hours they all go to sleep. The next day Nova goes to the elders to receive his new belt. Even everyone could feel the cultivation level of Nova by seeing him it is still useful to have the belt to indicate your level so there is no mistake. For the next days before the start of the tournament Nova starts to train again in his new skill. After the remaining days, Nova can make a web of a radius of 200 meters around him without overly exhausting himself but still be able to determine precise who is where.
Finally, the day of the tournament starts. The test consists of 2 parts. In the first part every sect select 10 disciplines they find worthy for the tournament throughout 3 rounds. The second parts consist out of 3 rounds too and there will be one winner in the end. For this big event that is only once every 2 years, the whole city is decorated in memorial of this. There are everywhere food stalls and the whole event takes normally 2 weeks with celebration included. The tournament happens around the whole kingdom and the winners of the tournament advance to the next wall most of the time. This also is true for the second and 3rd placed.
All students who wanted to practice for the tournament of the bluebird sect had to stand in the big cultivation room. This year there were a total of 500 students who wanted to participate. To keep it fair as possible only those who were under the orange rank are allowed to participate, otherwise, way older students who just have lived longer would automatically win. The main purpose of the tournament is to find new young students who have talents that are not based on cultivation speed but more on brainpower and motivation. All the students who participate where red rank, because a white rank could never win in a tournament against a red rank in 1 vs 1. The most promise ones were the ones who were 15 years top red rank and had a high chance to advance to the 4th wall regardless if the won or not. There were a total of 20 of them. Nova ranked currently number 101 because of how fast he did become the middle red rank.
David:'' Welcome everyone to the first day and first trial of this tournament!''. All the students begin to scream and cheer for their fellow students.
David:'' For the first trial, we will be a test of courage. As you all know courage is important in battle. Those who fear death will never truly live''.
Elder:'' The test will be to walk over a robe between two buildings we have made out of wood. Beneath the buildings, there will be spikes with a little bit of poison on it. The building is 15 feet high so falling won't kill you but with the spikes, it will surely hurt and you won't be able to cultivate for a month or 2 at least. To make it a little bit more difficult we will set the robe on fire when you start walking so you can't take all the time for it. If you want to quite please put your assigned badge in the bucket at the left door and for those who want to continue to follow me.
The whole crowd looks at how many people will quite and in total there are 100 we won't do it. Most of them are base red rank.
Participate 453:'' I am not going to risk 2 months of my life for this tournament I was too foolish to even try''.
Participate 489:'' Brother I agree this is ridiculous for the first test!''
Participate 421:'' Do they think we all have pills? Not everyone has a rich background''.
While all giving back there badge.
At the grass field, you see two wooden buildings. It is just 2 stairs and are high but not big and formed as 2 high squares with a robe between them. They are 60 feet apart. The number 500 starts at first and then 499 ext. After some time and many failing it is it Nova's turn. Nova climbs to stairs up and sees everyone become small. At the top, he sees an elder with a torch in his hand. Upstairs Nova takes a look around himself. On the left, he sees the big sect buildings and behind that is the city. On his right are some glass fields and the way to the 4th wall. In front of him is the robe and beneath the already sees the spikes even they are only about 5 inches they are all tipped with poison and there is no way you can avoid them. Then Nova starts walking with his arms spread. After 2 steps he feels the heat of the torch and the robe is on fire. Now Nova has to hurry he knows. Despite the robe being 2 inches, it is also made or dry materials so it burns quickly. Nova let himself fall on purpose till only he holds the robe with his two hands. Then the quickly uses his strength so both his feet are on the robe too. Now the hangs upside down and starts using his hands and feet to climb the remaining 18 meters he has to cross. When almost reaching the end he swings his feet again so he lands on the other side still on time before the robe snaps because of the weight of Nova. After the other participants have witnessed what Nova did they all doing the same. In total out of the 400 200 of them did past and mostly because of Nova's technique.
David:'' Even this was not a test of brains I am still impressed of Nova to come up with such a quick-witted technique. The next test will take place tomorrow so for those who passed please be at the cultivating hall just as today in the morning''.
Nova walks to his friends and they praise him for his plan.
Nova:'' Guys it was nothing I am surprised no one has taught of it till now on''.
Shiva:'' That is because everyone nowadays is so focussed on cultivating and following the rules that people forget to think outside of the box''. While grabbing Nova by his neck and messing up his hair.
Nova:'' We still have some time so let's go to the city to celebrate today's victory''.
And so the boys are heading towards the city. The city is crowded but that makes it even more fun. The group spends the rest of the day walking through the city and buying food from the various stalls. It is a really fun day and you can see the whole city coming back to life. Everyone is happy and it feels like all problems and hardship people have is gone for a short amount of time. When it is evening they eat at a restaurant and drink till the moon is shining brightly.
The next day Nova stands again in the cultivation hall waiting for the second test to begin.
David:'' Welcome all who passed the test of yesterday. Today we will conduct the second test in a similar way as yesterday. The test will determine your teamwork. We will make 50 groups of 4. Each group gets a token. This token is worth 1 point. To pass this test you have to get 4 points in total this means that in total 12 groups can pass this test, but you can try to get more point. This will be more beneficial for the last test. The way to obtain a token is not by just killing each other because that is not allowed. You have to get the token by stealing it from the other teams. Every team has to hide his token and is not allowed to touch it any more. To make it fair we will make groups of the number 1 with number 50 and 150 and 200. Number 2 with 51 151 199 ext. Nova was for this new rank the got to number 9 and his teammates were number 60 160 and 190. This means that he had to carry the team the most even he was not the strongest of them all. This would make him an easy target for other teams because there strongest was most of the time someone who was strong and not smart in the previous test. His teammates where, Fang, Li and Peng. After Nova found his teammates they got the map from one of the elders. The contest would take place on a high grass field that was an hour from the sect. The grass was so high that you couldn't see anyone approaching so you have to be tactic in finding others. Normal people can only sense someone's cultivating when they see them, but the high grass mates that impossible. The tricky part about the game was that you can only hide your token ones and then you have to look for other people's tokens. If you walk you will make the grass disappear so the moment you leave your token it is a race against the clock to find other tokens. For that reason, it is also useless to fight against others to protect your token. So you have to find a way to find tokens of others faster than others can find. Also, have to stick together with the whole group all the time or you will be disqualified. The main goal is to find the tokens through the combines effort and specialities of your team. To make it not impossible the token are bind with parts of Ying Yang energy from one of the elders. Every group has a necklace and if the token is nearby, the necklace will light up so you know you are close to the token in a radius of 15 feet.
Nova is standing with his teammates in the high grass. The grass is yellow of colour and easy to break.
Nova:'' First we have to think about an away to hide our token. Any suggestions?'' While looking around him.
Li was a small person almost as high as Nova but 3 years older than him. '' I think the best way to hide is by making a hole and put it as deep as possible''.
''That is a good idea ''shouts Fang and Peng
Nova: '' I agree that would be the best idea but to make it a little bit more difficult I think it would be the best to make more than one hole and to place the token, not at the bottom of the hole but make a little horizontal way to it is more difficult to get to it''.
As proceeded the boys start to make 2 holes and in the time they get the make it around 3 feet deep. This is mainly because they don't have a shuffle to use. In the main time, Nova tries to use his web technique to look for the other players. How longer the game is going how bigger the possibility that people just start to rob other people who have already found tokens instead of looking for themself. Then the signal begins and the team can start looking for the tokens. Nova walks in front. The best thing to do in the first few minutes is to try to run as far as you can one way and try to make as fast as possible a big circle so the other team doesn't exactly know where your token is. This is because the token is not hidden in a dead-end but inside an endless circle. This is also what Nova and his group start to do. After completing the circle they start to run out of the circle and make straight lines through the circle to even confuse others more. So they don't exactly remember where they are because of the many routes they can take. This took them around 10 minutes and they already heard people screaming that they had found a token. Of course, this is not smart to do, but in the heat of the game, people forget sometimes to be reasonable. After walking a few minutes from the spot they find another path that is not one of theirs. Now they know the game has officially started and it becomes a race against time. Nova looks around him if he can spot a token but unfortunate he doesn't sense any energy near him. They decide to follow the path to the right in the hope to find the token by luck. As they start walking the begin to see the end of the path and realise that his group decided to do another tack tick. Rather protect your token you are going as fast as possible to find another token. When they arrive at the end they don't see the token.