Extravagant Rewards

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Three days passed like a blur.

Sieg was sitting inside the Inn when he suddenly heard a loud sound going off around the city.

"For those who signed up for the second part of the Yearly Sect Recruitment, please gather at the City Lord's Mansion, contestants are expected to be there at 10:00 am those who failed to do so would face immediate expulsion."

Sieg stood up and walked calmly outside the Inn, he closed the doors properly and threw away the back to where he got it. He then went towards the City Lord's Mansion, on the way, he saw some of the people who are gathering there as well. He can even faintly hear their conversations.

"That's weird, there was no second part of the recruitment from what I can remember."

"Well what do you know? It's the decision of the City Lord anyway."

"Did you hear? Someone managed to slay 500 beast yesterday!"

"What's the big deal? It's just 500, it heard that the beast wave is about 100,000, of not for the combined forces of the elites from the city and inner disciples from the four sects, the city might have been already flattened out!"

"No you don't get it. I'm talking about the participants from the sect recruitments! One of them managed to slay 500 beasts before retreating back to the city! I heard that he's only on 8th step of awakening!"

"What? For real? Do you know who it is?"

"I heard he was from…what is that name again…qiu…qin.."

"Qing Xu? Is that her?!"

"Yeah yeah! That's the name! Wait it's a she-?"

"Shh! You dumbass! We aren't allowed to just say that name in public or else it will be trouble. That's the niece of the City Lord!"

"Oh shit…"

Qing Xu? Sieg never heard this name before but he reminded the name itself. He continued listening to others conversations along the way.

"Hey do you think young master Jiang would come?"

"Of course! Young master Li said that he's participating and even announced it in front of him, you know the relationship of those guys."

"Eternal rivals, I bet it would be chaotic if they faced each other."

"I don't get why they are so against each other though, from what I can tell the relationship of Jiang and Li family are okay, but is this two aiming for each other's necks all the time."

"Who knows dude, all I know is that this time, if they do meet in the stage, the battle would be intense and I'm excited to see that."

"Well, me too haha"

…

Sieg eventually reached the City Lord's Mansion while also eavesdropping to other peoples conversations, he never knew that majority of the people he's going to face are famous inside the city. He heard about clans like Qing, Jiang, Li, Gu, Xiao, Xu and many more. He also heard a lot of rumors from listening and found out their specialties and personalities.

He didn't fully trusted this informations though, these are rumors after all, he would only trust on what he will see later.

Upon reaching the core of the mansion, Sieg saw multiple platforms that were made out of gray steel. It was covered by an array which should block the excess attacks from cultivators, not letting those hurt other contestants or audience, at least that's what Sieg guessed from the arrangements.

He also saw that there was a towering column that had an open space with five empty seats, he was guessing that these are for the City Lord and Four Sect Heads. The whole area turned into a coliseum that's brimming with people. All of them had expectations and excitement in their eyes, one could not guess that these were the same faces that wore worried expressions when the beast horde happened, it was like they didn't remember any of those events and just wanted to watch the tournament for today.

Sieg came to an understanding, this might be the reason why they chose to change things up by adding an optional tournament for those managed to pass and willing, to ease up the tension for the people and make them distracted for a bit of time. It was also going to add more activities for the people and make them forget about the incident that happened recently. This was a pretty nice move by them.

He went to the attendant and informed him about his participation, the attendant then looked at the names listed and a soon as he confirmed that Sieg's name was there, he handed a badge over him that has the number '75'. He was then asked to patiently wait inside a room where the contestants are gathered while waiting for the time limit to end.

Time passed and the number of people inside was numbered by exactly 100, these people, including Sieg, are already considered as Service Disciples for their chosen sect. Even though they weren't wearing robes from their chosen sect, they already carried some pride in them and won't absolutely lose purposely as long as it's possible.

A man entered the room and asked the participants to go outside and wait for the tournament to officially start. Some people started meditating and adjusting their conditions while other people are talking with some people they knew. Others are even starting an argument and was already itching for some 'exercise'.

"Welcome everyone to the 2nd part of the Yearly Sect Recruitment! While the contestants are gathered at room we already used a Round Robin to match everyone for the first round of this tournament. The names of the people that will compete against each other would be shown on the screen right now!" The man who called them out of the gathering area started announcing to the crowd using a mouthpiece that is enhanced by inscriptions.

Sieg looked at his name and he was facing number 100, he was trying to see who's going to be his opponent but the announcer talked again.

"I'm pretty sure that every contestants here were already informed but let me repeat the rewards for the 2nd part of the tournament."

When Sieg heard the term 'rewards' his ears pricked up immediately, in fact not only him, basically everyone on the arena focused to the announcer as soon as they heard it.

"First, those people who manage to be placed to rank 50th and above would be officially accepted as an Outer Disciple for their chosen sect. I know that you guys are informed that it is only those who ranked 25th would have this rewards but the City Lord and the Four Sect directors were ever so magnanimous to make late adjustments."

"What! Rank 50 and above? Outer Disciple?"

"Fuck! I shouldn't have retreated! Fuck"

Some people can't help but regret their decisions of retreating upon hearing these extravagant rewards that was offered to this people, in fact even those who managed to pass but was seriously injured also felt regret. The announcer didn't mind any of their reactions and continued.

"For those who will manage to rank within the top 10 would be received as an Inner Disciple for any sect of their choosing and one Foundation Condensing Pill."

"What the fuck?" Some people involuntarily stood up upon hearing this, some even choked and some was left shaken. Their jaws were so wide that an apple can easily fit through them.

"What the hell! God damn it why am I such a coward! If just gritted my teeth maybe I'm the one who's standing there!"

"Those who already passed are already considered as Service Disciples, that was fine for me, but this? This is just too regretful…"

"God damn it!"

It was like rubbing salt to a gaping wound, as if the title of being an Inner Disciple wasn't enough to make them tear up, they added a Foundation Condensing Pill. This pill is basically a dream medicine for anyone including Sieg, though he only read about it from the jade slips his master provided him, he knew just how precious this pill is.

Foundation Condensing Pill could help a person reach Foundation Establishment Realm without any problems. On a normal basis, a cultivator that built a decent foundation throughout the Awakening Realm would only have a 50% chance of reaching Foundation Establishment Realm, if this pill was consumed during breakthrough, the pill would give them an additional 30-40% chance of succeeding, which means that they would have 80-90% chance of reaching it. This is the staggering effect of this pill.

This pill normally cost around 50-70 gold in the market, this amount would even be higher if this pill was auctioned. The reason why is because only Master Alchemists could produce these pills. The recipe also calls for rare herbs and plants, plus the chance of successful concoction is very low.

[A/N: Alchemist

"I'm not done yet…" the announcer said smilingly, it seems like he was liking the attention that the people were giving him. "The one who reaches top 5-3 would be given two of this pill."

"The 2nd place would be given three Foundation Condensing Pill and 50 gold."

"And the 1st place would receive five pills, a Medium Tier-Earth Rank Ki Manual and 100 gold. All of these are on top of being an Inner Disciples of their chosen sect." As soon as the announcer's voice fell, the whole area clamored.

They were shaken to the core, it took them about a solid minute to react from what they just heard.

"That's it, I'm going to commit suicide."

"This is so depressing!"

"Oh heavens why! Why is my luck this bad?"

"I should be one of them…"

"Earth Tier Ki Manual? Even a half step earth tier would be fine for me!"

"100 gold as well? That enough to spend for at least 5 years! Fuck my life!"

"This is…this is just too much."

"God knows how sad I am right now…"

…

They can't be blamed for these reactions, the rewards for being placed at the 1st place is just too extravagant, even a portion of those rewards would make them cry tears of joy. Some of the people unknowingly imagined themselves receiving these rewards, they can't help but to tear up a bit not because they are touched, but because they weren't even a contestant in this tournament.

As many people said, 'Risks and Fortunes inseparable'. These people risked their lives to fight for the beast horde and was rewarded properly. Now they would also risk everything just to reach at least rank 50 or above, although they would work hard tl reach top 10, their chances are very low.

The few people that had some reputations in the city, or the ones that came from prestigious clans are now feeling an intense burning eagerness and fighting spirit. They were itching to start and claim the rewards that is tempting them. What an opportunity really, they felt pretty lucky to be alive this day.

Some of them directly sat on the ground adjusted their mental conditions, some sharpened their weapons, while some sent messages to their clans, informing them of todays events. They also started looking for the enemies, some did it discreetly while some did it like they were waging war.

Sieg on the other hand was stunned for a bit, not because of the extravagant rewards. It was for a completely different reason. He just realized on solid fact that he neglected for far too long. He thought there should be no way for him to forget this but he just did. He felt dumb enough for not knowing this at all. What's even more impossible was for his master to not remind him of this simple fact.

He wasn't thinking about the gold, the title, or even the pill.

He was thinking about the Medium Tier-Earth Rank Ki Manual. He can only laugh bitterly.

'Unbelievable! How could I forget that I'm still using the most basic Ki Manual that is available everywhere! I have two Blade Arts and one spirit cultivation mantra but I still don't have a Ki Manual yet!'