Morning quickly came as the golden sun cut through the darkness that drenched the world. The light poured upon Asher’s face, waking him up. He yawned as he stretched, then lay there for a moment without moving. The sound of the television was still echoing within the room; apparently, he had fallen asleep during one of the horror movies.

With another yawn, he made his way towards the bathroom, his eyes falling on a digital clock that sat upon a nightstand. It was already 2 p.m. in the afternoon. He had slept through the morning and into the afternoon, which Asher had no issues with, as he had no reason to wake up on time. He planned to enjoy the Thalvorn Empire to the fullest before he returned to his mundane caveman life in the Zarethorne Empire.

Asher bathed, changed clothes, then ordered room cleaning service. He simply stood in the hallway as his room was cleaned swiftly within a few minutes.

As he settled upon his bed to waste the rest of the day, his room’s doorbell chimed. He could already guess it was his friends, so he simply opened the door for them without actually heading to the door himself.

William, Finch, Ryaen, and Vaelric entered with calm steps, the four of them exchanging small talk as they walked.

"Hey!" Everyone greeted Asher as they found seats and sat down. Asher simply returned the greeting and said nothing else as he remained on his bed.

"You seem to have left the ball early. Was anything the matter?" Ryaen asked as she sat with one leg crossed over the other.

"Not really, I just became tired. The gala had been going on for hours, so I decided to call it a day," Asher replied as he shook his head. "Did anything happen that was worth my attention?" he asked, as he wanted to know if he had missed anything.

"Not really, nothing special," Ryaen replied as she shook her head.

"Although after you beat up Hilton Zarik and his siblings, there were a few more people who got into fights within the hall," William spoke with a small laugh as he shook his head.

"Yeah, it seemed everyone was ready to show off after your remarkable display, so they all wanted to draw attention towards themselves and make themselves known. After all, this is a worldwide gathering of power; there is no better place to carve your name," Vaelric added with a light smile.

"So, everyone was basically an attention whore," Finch added with a small laugh.

Asher shook his head before he spoke. "Well, it’s understandable that people clashed. With a gathering in the thousands involving various geniuses and Nobles, obviously pride is bound to clash, and some would want their popularity to skyrocket," his tone calm. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

But throughout the clashes that happened after Asher left, there were no life-threatening ones. No one was dumb enough to kill anyone in front of thousands; that was a surefire way to become isolated and turn into a plague no one would want to approach.

Asher shook his head at the thought. If a normal person had attended the gala, they would have thought that everyone and everything was normal. They wouldn’t know these four Empires were at each other’s throats.

"Anyway, according to the information and whispers I received from the Princess of the Velkarin Empire, it is said we should be getting information regarding the tournament today," Vaelric began to speak once more. "And also, from my sources, the tickets to attend the Inter-Empire Competition live are selling for one hundred thousand platinum coins per head," he paused for a moment before adding, "the tickets are already sold out, by the way."

Asher was rendered speechless when he heard that price. One hundred thousand platinum coins. That amount was so vast that if people possessed it, there would be no need to work again for centuries. Yet, the Thalvorn Empire sold live attendance tickets for that amount, and that was per head. It was literally maddening.

And most of all, they were already sold out.

People were literally too rich.

"But prices were exempted for children between the ages of twelve and below, as parents are allowed to carry them on their laps while they sit," Vaelric added again, as though that was going to soften the blow everyone had just received.

"Such an outrageous amount of money. Can people actually afford that?" Finch spoke as his breath hitched. Although he knew his parents and William’s parents were here due to Asher’s father, could their families really open the family vault and burn two hundred thousand platinum coins? And that was without including their Knight Commander and Vice Commander, who would definitely be there to protect them.

After a moment of thinking, Asher spoke. "Normally, I’m sure no one would be willing to spend this amount of money, but with the betting organizations on the ground, I’m sure people believe they can recoup their expenditure and even make gains," his tone grounded and measured.

"I need to tell my father to go all in on Asher," Finch spoke, his eyes turning to William. The both of them were the poorest in the gathering; they had to make more money.

But unknown to William and Finch, Baron Canestane and Baron Whale had already pulled out a million platinum coins. These were emergency funds for wartime and funds that had been saved through the years since the Baronies were established.

And as for who they were going to bet such money on after subtracting expenses, the answer was simple: Asher and only Asher.

Yes, they knew of Thalric. He was a Wargrave. They might bet on him once in a while, but Asher was a must. As for any other Zarethorne Empire genius, that was a hard pass. They couldn’t risk their funds on uncertainties.

So, Finch and William didn’t need to tell their parents anything. Those two were already ahead of them.

"Sigh, this is insane," Ryaen shook her head with a sigh.

"Has the venue for the Inter-Empire Competition been chosen?" Asher asked after a moment of thought. Vaelric seemed to have a source of information, which was understandable since he was a Prince; his source might as well be his father.

"It has. According to the capacity records, it was built to hold a minimum of two million people," Vaelric stated.

"It seems everything is ready then," William stated with a sigh, still unable to believe that two million people could spend so much money just for live attendance.

"We just need the rules now, and tomorrow it all begins," Finch spoke, his eyes narrowing slightly as he thought of Rachael’s shattered life.

After a moment of silence, Ryaen asked, "Do you think all of us are going to participate?" Her tone curious.

"Maybe, like a form of elimination round," Finch stated. "Removing the stones from the diamonds." He shrugged as he finished speaking.

’I wonder if Lyra is here,’ Asher thought to himself for a moment, then removed the thought from his mind with a shake of his head.

"I suppose we’ll just be waiting for FatelessPen to give us information then," Asher stated as he sighed.

Although he didn’t say it out loud, he was already itching to have a go at these geniuses. Especially Isaac. That guy had golden hair and eyes; how dare he have the same features as his Father? Asher thought to himself, amused. He had nothing against Isaac. It wasn’t as though the guy had chosen his hair and iris colour or anything, he was just joking around.