Except for Claire who had previous experiences in a secret realm and knew what to expect, Nick and the rest were all new to this experience and had no idea what was waiting for them past the door, even Loyd had never entered a secret realm before and only knew general information about them.
But as soon as they passed the threshold a blinding light flashed by that prevented them from opening their eyes, and when Nick finally managed to open his, he found that he was no longer on the Silver's saddle, and there was no one beside him either, he found himself alone in a barren desert!
"Maggi! Dean! Peter! Sandwich thief! Silver! Little coy alchemist!" Nick tried to see if anyone was in his immediate area as he called everyone one by one while using his robust cultivation to amplify his voice.
"Don't bother brat, this is the effect of a secret realm, it usually separates everyone and sends them into different parts of the realm." The Old geezer gave out some overdue information.
Ding! Entered a secret realm, the system has initiated the Death arena protocol!
[Ding! Death arena- You have entered a secret realm, and according to system guidelines, this realm has been transformed into a death arena by the system, for the next few weeks, you will live and fight in this arena to gain the supremacy of an Emperor.
As you proceed through this challenge you will be forbidden from using any of your skills, and techniques, no weapons above the transcendence realm will be allowed, and, your cultivation level will be capped until you finish this challenge. After the completion of this challenge, your achievement will be ranked and you will be rewarded accordingly!
During this challenge, you will also be unable to use the storage space function, but storage rings are allowed.]
"Little shit snatcher!" Nick was furious, why did the system enjoy making his life hell, why did he need to fight in order to become Emperor?! Can't he just silently cultivate until he reached the peak and take the throne then?! Why was there a need for an emperor to see blood so much?!
But no matter how Nick howled and crowed all the system used to reply was silence, and even the normally chatty geezer was quite. This wasn't because the geezer didn't want to speak, but because he had nothing to say!
He had never had a system host live long enough to make him remember their names let alone entering a secret realm, so this death arena thingy was news to him as well.
At this moment the secret realm that had always followed a strict set of rules was being hacked by the system, first, the cultivation restrictions were removed, and anyone and everyone were allowed to enter! The system was creating the perfect Death arena!
Immediately the crowd outside the doors of the secret realm saw the words which were engraved on the doors that contained the restrictions and guidelines of the realm vanishing and with them, the doors of the secret realm began expanding rapidly, and before the power cultivators on the premises could react a powerful suction force appeared that sucked in every cultivator in the area into the secret realm!
But this wasn't all, the system still wasn't done yet, it was still determined in making Nick's life more miserable as doors to this particular secret realm appeared right in front of every city and Empire in the continent!
And yet again the system was not done, as realm tears appeared in random locations of the secret realm from which countless powerful beasts kept gushing out.
But Nick had no idea that the system had made his life a thousand times more difficult, all he knew was that the system had restricted him heavily, practically all he could use were his fists! He couldn't even use his precious deception fist while he was in here.
And without relying on his incredible skills Nick's fighting ability had just plummeted, and what made matters worse was that he couldn't even use the storage space which was recently packed with so many essentials he would need to survive, like his water bed, and his suntan lotion, not to mention the 'insightful' magazines he usually needs to read before bed!
'Well, might as well go and check what my palace looks like, maybe there is something incredible inside that can help me tide through this war.' Nick was no longer the big shot he was, he had no Disguise skill to hide him, no death monger skill to make him twins that would keep him company, and no cooking skill to keep him fulfilled.
Ding! Does the host want to enter the True Emperor palace?
"Yes." Nick was trying his best to contain his expectations, he had driven an Emperor to insanity to get those materials, so he hoped that it was at least worth it. Thinking of the Emperor he realized that he may never get to see that crazy bastard again, which made him relieved, at least one good thing came out of coming to this crazy realm.
The Emperor was currently standing in front of a large forest with confusion written all over his face, when did he get here, and how?! But before he could contemplate any further, a door that looked like the miniature version of the one on the Secret realm Nick and the others just went into, pop up right near him.
"Daddy!" And the Emperor ran into the door without hesitation, and thanks to the system lifting the cultivation restriction he was not stoped either, it was just Nick's luck that the system had sent doors all around the continent and one of them just happens to be right near the forest the Emperor was teleported to.
The husband and wife from earlier had also been sucked into the Secret realm and were looking for Nick with fever, they were humiliated today and they would make sure to return the shame back to Nick a hundredfold if not a thousandfold!
Nick suddenly found himself floating for a second and when he landed he was in an entirely different place, the area was surrounded by darkness, and violent spacial storms were raging on by the side which had the power to destroy the world Nick was in, in a matter of seconds!
But right in the middle of this spatial storm stood a tall majestic palace which repelled the surrounding storms as if they were nothing but the farts of an old man, and it was because of the protection of this palace that Nick was able to survive in this weird new space, otherwise, just the chaotic energy in the air alone would have torn him to pieces.
"Hey geezer, where is this place?" Nick was honestly shocked, he had expected green pastures and beautiful wildlife around his palace, but he had never once thought that his palace would be built in the middle of such a dangerous place!
"Hehehe, brat do you like it?! The system asked me to choose the perfect place to build your palace and I can't think of a place more fitting, isn't it just beautiful, baah, you should have seen the other choices, one was a panzy mountain which was teeming with beautiful wildlife, but I knew that you wouldn't want to live in a girly place like that!
The other was in the middle of the Goddess realm, which was filled with nothing but beautiful women, but who would want to live in a place that stinks of perfume and makeup?!" The old geezer was bleeding Nick's heart with every comment.
"What do you mean by that?! This is 2020! Do you know who will come after you if you say words like 'Girly' now?! Do you know that panzy is also not appropriate anymore?! And what is wrong with the smell of perfume and makeup?! One smells nice and one makes the ugly look nice?!!" Nick was furious, who in their right mind would choose this place over the other two?!
"Come on brat, this place isn't that bad, this space is in the middle of all worlds and realms, also known by the most powerful beings in the universe as the realm drift! One step outside the palace's protection zone can kill most cultivators!" The geezer was proud of his choice.
So what if one of the places was filled with women, he wasn't able to touch or interact with them right now anyway!
"I hope you die as a virgin old man!" Nick cursed the geezer, then proceeded to the doors of the palace. The doors were grand and large, their design and beauty far exceeding the one on any door Nick had ever seen, including the one on the secret realm.
And an unknown beast could be seen drawn on the door which looked like a dragon, a tiger, and a crocodile at the same time, making it seem like this beast would be a true Emperor whether it was in the sea, land, or the sky.
While Nick stood there studying the baffling creature the beast drawn on the doors seemed to have come to life all of a sudden as its eyes shone in bright purple light which flashed on Nick and invaded every inch of his body, studying him thoroughly.
Ding! Palace has recognized its master, congratulations host you have now become the official and proud owner of the True Emperor's palace! The palace's grade is currently at level 1!
And following that system prompt, the doors to the palace were automatically opened, and Nick was finally able to see the interior of the palace! And it was...empty! No matter how many times Nick rubbed his eyes all he could still see was an empty palace!
"System, what is the meaning of this?!" Nick was truly angry this time, which anyone could tell since he didn't talk to the geezer but straight to the system instead! And the usually silent system surprisingly responded to his questions for once!
Ding! The host will buy the furniture himself, except the throne, which will be given to the host after completing a mission later on! The other facilities of the palace like the vault, library...etc, will be unlocked by completing missions as well!
"So all I got for all that hard work was an unfurnished house?!" Nick was so angry that he was prepared to take a shit right in the middle of the large hall!
Ding! Currently yes, but once the host unlocks some of the facilities the special abilities of the palace will be revealed with them. Also, the palace exists between time and space so only the host can leave and enter the palace whenever he pleases making it the most secure palace in existence!
The system sure knew how to convince someone, even Nick who usually enjoyed arguing with people couldn't argue with the system, it was indeed worth it having such a save location as his house, now all he needed to do was find Peter, Maggi, and Dean, then with them safe in this palace he would have nothing to worry about.
Nick then left the Palace and the weird space, and returned to the secret realm, only to find himself surrounded by a group of transcendence realm beasts. And although he was shocked Nick wasn't too bothered as he ran to the closest beast and launched an attack.
Deception fist!
Pang!
Nick had forgotten that he couldn't use that skill, and all his attack did was land on the beast's crotch and irritate it, this confused him though, he had followed the exact same patern as he did before, but how come the difference was so huge?!
Bang!
The distracted Nick was then knocked to the ground by a beast that looked like a bull and was trampled on repeatedly.
And so, Nick finally experience his first true beatdown!