First Primordial Dragon: I summoned The Strongest From The Start!-Chapter 31: A Little Competition

"No fun at all." Ash chuckled.

’Tch, at this rate, no one’s going to take the bait and attack us.’ He cursed inwardly, already imagining the system points slipping out of reach.

"Why?" Aetherion’s voice cut into his mind, one eye lazily opening. "Disappointed that no one’s falling for your cheap tricks?"

"Is it that obvious?" Ash showed a helpless expression.

"What do you think?" Aetherion sneered. "You’ve read enough novels and comics to know—so, why do you think they’re acting like that?"

Ash pondered for a moment.

"Is it because they’re afraid of our background?" Ash raised an eyebrow.

"And?" Aetherion’s smile deepened.

After a few seconds of thought, Ash nodded slowly. "Because there’s nothing for them to gain and even if there is, it’s not worth the risk?"

"Yup, these two are basically the main reasons." Aetherion nodded his head.

Then, with a vicious glint in his eyes, he asked, "Do you want to have some fun?"

"Huh?" Ash showed a confused expression.

"In a nutshell, there would be some people who would go after us and you so that we could have a killing spree." Aetherion smiled wickedly.

Ash immediately became interested when he heard it. "Really? Do you have a way to do that? What is it? Tell me!"

"There’s a certain risk for you in doing this, are you sure?" Aetherion kept his wicked smile.

"Who cares?" Ash scoffed. "If you’re the one suggesting it, then it’s not going to be a hopeless situation anyway."

"Who knows? That’ll depend on you." Aetherion shrugged.

"Alright, just tell me about it then." Ash rolled his eyes.

Aetherion then told him about his plan, which had a high potential in letting some people’s greed take over and making them make a move.

Ash’s eyes lit up when he heard the plan, but then he immediately frowned when he realized something and asked. "Wait... where did you get that item?"

"Don’t tell me you still have a lot of treasures from your past life." Ash giggled as he rubbed his palms against each other, thinking that he could sell some of Aeth’s treasures and become rich overnight.

"Get the fuck off, I don’t have any treasures on me! So, don’t ever think about it again." Aetherion kicked his stomach, feeling annoyed by Ash’s look when he said that.

By now, a few groups had already approached, the air growing tense as onlookers tried to guess what would happen next, especially the Bai family, who could be considered to be in the same boat as Ash’s group.

"May I ask who’s in charge here?" An old man, who was the headmaster of the Evergreen Academy asked politely.

"It’s him," Aetherion said with a chuckle, glancing at Ash. "But if you’ve got something to say, talk to me."

"Is that true, sir?" the old man asked, looking to Ash for confirmation.

"Whatever." Ash just got up and waved his hand in annoyance because Aetherion had kicked him just now.

The elder gave a nod, then turned back to Aetherion. "The reason we’re here is to inquire about the opening of the secret realm. According to our calculations, it shouldn’t open for another few days."

"Well," Aetherion chuckled, "let’s just say I have the means to open it early. Is that answer enough for you?"

"Can you—" An old man from the Stormcloud Sect chimed in as he wanted to ask Aetherion about the method but was cut off by the old man from the Evergreen Academy. "It’s enough, sir."

"What are we waiting for then?" an impatient elder from the Golden Lion Empire asked. "All the necessary parties are here."

"That’s because," Aetherion said with a slow smile, "I have something fun to do before we open the secret realm. Something you might want to join in on."

Everyone knitted their eyebrows when they heard it, thinking about what Aetherion was up to.

"What is it?" Another old man from the Stormcloud Sect asked with a curious expression.

"I’m thinking of holding a little competition," Aetherion replied.

He then continued after pausing for a second. "Don’t reject it first. Hear me out and let me finish first before doing something stupid because of your greed."

"So, I’m going to give you guys a chance at winning this treasure." Aetherion said as he smashed his hand to the side and created a small spatial crack.

He then pulled out his hand and brought out a black sword nonchalantly.

The moment Aetherion took out the sword, all of the strong awakeners above the half-saint rank opened their jaws in shock.

The sword’s jet-black surface gleams with a glass-like gleam, yet its edge radiates a deathly chill. A faint, oppressive aura surrounds it, causing weaker awakeners to instinctively lower their heads, unable to meet its presence.

"Emperor aura? Is that an Emperor Rank sword?" The old man from the Golden Lion Empire blurted out.

"Half right," Aetherion said with a smile. "It does have a trace of Emperor aura—but only a trace. This is a Half Emperor Rank sword."

"You’re not... planning to offer that as a prize, are you?" The old man from the Evergreen Academy knitted his eyebrows.

"What do you think? It’s just a Half Emperor rank sword anyway." Aetherion sneered, his gaze sweeping across the crowd casually.

"I know you guys must be wondering what kind of competition could possibly have such a reward, right? It’s actually simple."

Aetherion paused for a moment, then continued as he glanced at Ash. "There are three people on our side beside him, as you can see."

"There will be three rounds. Starting with her since her rank is the highest. You may send anyone you wish to challenge her. In fact, you can even send three at once." Aetherion pointed his finger at Xue Ying.

"If there are no people who are willing or able to win against her, it will continue to the next round." Aetherion then looked at Li Jian as he continued. "This time, you can only send two challengers, since he’s just at Peak Half-Saint."

"As for the last round... You guessed it right because it will be my turn. However, you can only send one person, and that’s going to be it, since I’m still at the Peak-level Sovereign rank." Aetherion said it confidently with a smug expression that made people have different expressions.

After a moment of silence, the old man from the Evergreen Academy finally asked with a serious expression.

"Sir, you didn’t specifically mention the people who can participate in the challenge. Does that mean that I can even participate in it?"

"Of course." Aetherion smiled calmly, then continued. "As I said, you can send whoever you want, but do remember about the participants’ limitations."

"Can you tell us the conditions of deciding the winner, then?" The old man asked again.

"It’s simple, since we’re the ones who are hosting the competition. We’re going to be the ones who make the rules, and you guys can only win by two methods: either making us surrender or not getting killed within a period of time." Aetherion answered with a smile as his gaze swept across the crowd again.

"What if we accidentally killed someone from your group instead?" A woman’s voice coming from the crowd afar could be heard.