Royal rumble

Nick reached the capital a few days later shortly before dawn , or rather he arrived at the back of the line of people going into the city. the reason nick as a cultivator didn't simply skip the line is because when he tried another cultivator who was native to the kingdom stopped him and explained that even cultivators must wait in line. as a result nick is standing at the end of a ridiculously long line with mortals who seen to have mental problems. why does nick think this? well after being informed by the native cultivator the rest of the people in line learned of his foreign nature and have been glaring at him ever since. the reason this makes him think that these mortals are mentally challenged is because even a weak cultivator could erase them with ease much less someone like nick. to pass time nick has been reading a novel he picked up in a mortal store about a mortal who was wronged by a noble clan and has sought revenge. this didn't mean that he wasn't paying attention to his surroundings. so when one of the mortals thought they could get away with throwing a stone at him he noticed immediately.

The stone flew through the air and nick didn't even bother stopping it but instead chose to make an example of the mortal by having a bolt of lightning strike them at the same time as the rock hit him. to a cultivator that bolt of lightning was laughably weak but to a mortal the only outcome was death. as a result it came as no surprise that the mortal burnt into charcoal on contact with the bolt. nick acted like nothing happened and even flipped the page of the book for dramatic effect , needless to say the mortals quickly put their behavior in check. the native cultivators loudly mocked the dead mortal for seeking death and interestingly enough seemed to have no problem with nick being a foreigner. a few hours later and it was finally nicks turn to enter the city at which point he had to show his pass as well as was reminded by the gate guards of the laws before being let in. once inside the city nick found a decent inn located far from anywhere that a royal might visit since he had no intention of coming across any of those.

Ironically it was after getting a room in an inn that nick learned that he had arrived within the time of the royal anniversary. this was the time of the year when the entire royal family gathered in the capital to celebrate the founding of the kingdom. this meant that the likelihood of nick coming across a royal skyrocketed to the limit.