Born in Blood

534 Grace

As Liam was subtly scanning the creature from head to toe, the crocodile was doing the same to him.

Perhaps it wasn't a common sight to see a human Zenith withstand such underwater pressure. At least, not with that dead, nonchalant, and slightly dumb look on their face. "Greetings," the crocodile said, his voice grim and monstrous. "I am Zro. Before you proceed, I must ask you for the entry fee."

Direct and quick.

Liam respected it.

"How much?" Liam asked.

Obviously, Liam knew beforehand that the price was 10,000 Shellings.

But he wanted to know if the crocodile would attempt to fleece him for money.

Hey, it didn't hurt.

"Ten thousand," Zro said with a flat voice, "for one hour."

Liam hummed to himself.

Then, he outstretched his ring finger. "In here," he said.

The humanoid crocodile nodded, then pointed his own ring finger at Liam's.

A thin ethereal energy connected the two, by their own consent, then the exact amount of 10,000 Shellings were extracted out of Liam's ring.

Then, Zro cut off the connection.

"Alright," the massive crocodile said. "I'll tell you the rules of Pandemoniumania."

Liam was about to interject, but was interrupted.

"Don't worry, this won't be taken from your time, and they aren't particularly strict rules." That was exactly what Liam was going to ask. "First, you're expected to wear this pin," Zro took out a tiny black needle from his ring.

If one squinted, one could see intricate lines of etchings lining it from tip to base. Inscriptions.

"It's just a small mechanism that disables some powers that go against the rules. Like teleportation, empowered regeneration, and enhanced thinking." That…sounded like all of Liam's best abilities. Oh well.

Liam took the pin…but paused. "Where do I pin it?" he asked. "Clothing's fine," Zro responded casually, adjusting his ring. "We'll be sure to remove it right after the course ends." Liam nodded.

He grabbed the needle and thread it through his sleeve. A second later, he felt something coil around him.

It was as though a warm snake had slithered around his very soul, restricting some of his most profound abilities. It reminded him a bit of a Binding Oath. His physical strength and general powers were untouched, though. Then, the crocodile looked towards the distance, and pointed a sharp claw at what looked like a red spire, jutting from a faraway plateau. "Please head there. It's the starting mark, and where Asta will instruct you. Thank you for participating in Pandemoniumania." Liam nodded.

And that was that.

Liam began swimming towards the red spire.

From the sides, he could actually see a few vague figures doing the same. They were all converging on the red spire.

Honestly speaking?

He had no clue what to expect.

He was going on a whim here. Maybe this was a bad idea…

After all, what could he expect from a guy named 'Asta' of all things…

Oh well. 'Let's see where this goes, I guess.'

Slowly, the spire was growing in Liam's vision.

And so was the plateau.

And so were the destructive booms that echoed from every corner of the place. It came to a point that each second—

BOOM!

—a boom would—

BOOM!

They happened way out in the distance, away from view. At that point, the waters grew hazy, and even Liam's King's Eye couldn't penetrate through. Before long, he had arrived at the red spire.

It was a giant, twisting tower of stone, which seemed to have some sort of magical power that caused it to pulse with red energies. 'It has no special ability as far as I can tell.'

'It's just shiny rock.' A small but powerful crowd surrounded him, numbering seven. Each of them had a few glaring features that Liam recognized, which sharply stood out to him.

They all looked like caricatures and utter crazies. Disproportionate body parts, giant fists, long arms, mutilated skins, mismatched eye colors, mismatched eyes, and much more. The sea creatures at this Quadrant looked like dark experiments gone wrong. One was a hammerhead shark with their hammerhead shaped vertically, and not horizontally.

However, it was very clear to Liam that they had one thing in common. A murderous, bloodthirsty intent deep rooted in them. It practically tainted the waters dead. At least, to his eye. Even now, Liam was getting glared at fiercely. Out of everyone, though, there were just three people who Liam deemed relatively strong. The weirdest, and the one that looked most out of place, was a blonde, long haired, flamboyant looking woman that seemed to favor beauty, grace and style over power and efficiency. In every sense of the word, she looked…colorful.

Her aqualine eyes were sharp and pronounced, with long eyelashes that glistened like diamonds, despite being submerged in water. She wore a long, glamorous cream dress that floated around her like a halo and glittered like the night sky.

Liam creased his brows. He could tell she was strong through her delicate but firm aura. However, Spirit Sight was disabled, and he couldn't peer any deeper than the surface. However, those present were more confused. …What was a fashion model doing here, of all places?

If Liam had to guess, her Qualities would probably consist of Grace, Beauty and maybe Awe, judging by how smug she carried herself, and how unnaturally resplendent she was, even by cultivation standards. But one had to realize the difference between smugness and arrogance.

Smugness was just knowing you were better, but without looking down at others.

Arrogance was the opposite. This one was smug. Not arrogant, judging by how she flashed a delicate but nonchalant smile at those who viciously glared at her.

It had to be said that Liam had no clue whether or not those Qualities — such as Awe, Grace or Beauty — even existed. He was spitballing whatever came to his sick little mind, but if the rules of cultivation were as he thought, everything could be a Concept, Law or Quality.

Even smells. Paths were vast. That meant, possibly, somewhere out there in the cultivation world, a funny little character was making his opponents laugh to death.

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