Chapter 36

"Trust me, if my mother and I knew, we would have already begun searching for whatever would be needed to cure him. One day while working hard in his room, my father collapsed on the floor. His body became very pale and he coughed out several mouthfuls of blood before losing consciousness." Jacob replied with a very angry look on his face as if just by asking, Timothy really hit a sore spot.

"The doctor in charge of our clan members, examined him and told us that even with the medical knowledge he had, there was no way for him to figure out what type of illness he had. It is very strange because that doctor is one of the top doctors of our Boulder Village, so if he does not know, my mother and I just have to wait as we watch him suffer in his bed, unable to even eat by himself!" Jacob with yet another tear running down his face told Timothy as he looked up towards the heavens and said a curse to himself.

"I do not have the best medical knowledge, but I studied a book by a supreme expert before. I am wondering if after the tournament, I could come over and examine him to see if anything matches the different illnesses that were in that book?" Timothy asked Jacob while patting him on the shoulder.

"It is at least worth a try!" Jacob replied as a weird look appeared on his face. Since Timothy had been constantly helping him and his family, Jacob started to feel very strange accepting so many of these things. Becoming friends with another cultivator was not out of the norm, but Jacob started to feel as if the debt he felt he owed Timothy began to continuously rise.

"Look Jacob, I will try my best, but it is not a guarantee that I could personally cure him. The only reason I want to examine him is to at least see if I could come up with a proper diagnosis. The rest would be up to you and your mother which is why you should not take this as an impossible favor to repay." Timothy told Jacob since his master explained to him the things that would be going through Jacob's mind.

"Well, this does not mean that I will be going easy on you!" Jacob said while puffing out his chest. "There may not be any prizes for winning a tournament like this, but I refuse to be beaten selflessly by an opponent who may even be weaker than I am!" hearing what he had said and seeing his reaction, Timothy could not help but to chuckle.

"You should get used to this youngster making statements like this one and refusing to bend at someone else's will. This is the type of lofty and prideful personality that comes with having the Aura of the King. So if you cannot deal with it, you should begin to slowly distance yourself from him." Master Sei told Timothy as he himself let out a chuckle.

"Do not worry master, if someone is this prideful, would that not mean that they are also very trustworthy? If I were to distance myself from such a trustworthy brother, that would simply be a waste!" Timothy mentally replied to his master as he heard the governor announce that the next round would begin in five minutes.

Hearing the announcement, Timothy began to prepare himself by sitting down cross legged while concentrating. He wanted to potentially take it easy on the opponents he had during the first round of the tournament, but after the first fight, he realized even if he tried, it would be difficult to learn anything new.

What he really needed right now, was a way to temper his strength properly and to learn how to become as strong as he could before leveling up once more in his cultivation. The good news for him was that the remaining forty seven contestants were eyeing him and wanting to take him down themselves.

Even though it was not necessarily considered impressive for Timothy to place within the top forty eight, there were still several dozen cultivators who were bitter about him doing better compared to them. How was a kid who came from a very poor household, able to outmatch them on such a stage?

However, all that they could do, was watch bitterly and cheer for the opponents he would face. The same was for Jacob but somewhat better placed because at least Jacob was not an outsider of sorts who had recently moved into their village. And so the first round began and it was the shining star of one of the major clan's most powerful youths facing off against an outer clan member of a noble clan.

At first, even the spectators who had the most experience felt that it would be a long drawn out match compared to the previous rounds, but their predictions were wrong as the youth named George completely dominated his opponent by only using his force.

Force was commonly used by those who would wield weapons in a fight to have an edge. By pouring their force into their weapons, cultivators were able to dominate even the strongest of ordinary experts who did not cultivate or those low enough in level to be directly affected. Force was invisible, and for someone so young to have come only several steps away from controlling his, proved just how unrivaled he would be in the future compared to his peers.

Usually, if a cultivator was extremely talented, it would take them until at least the Intermediate stage of cultivating for them to even understand how to wield their force, let alone actually being able to control it to such a degree. Unlike the other spectators, the elders of Boulder Village and the governor were not surprised since George was known to be a very capable swordsman. Even if he could not awaken his sword aura at his age, using force in his attacks proved just how talented he was.