It has been two days since Lars arrived at Bandung. Nothing much really happened, he sometimes accompanied Indah to go shopping at the mall, and sometimes help Jaka in his training. Jaka, Indah, and their friends live in the same house. The house itself is pretty big and has a lot of room for people to sleep in. Because there's a spare room on the second floor, Lars decided for that room to be where he rest temporarily. At least until he can find his own house.
On Lars third day in Bandung, he stayed at the home with Indah while everyone else is gone to complete a mission that has been assigned by their organisation—the Jager.
Lars didn't do anything either. Just watching television or reading books in his own room. It could be said that Lars is recuperating his power right now. To be precise, recuperating his Mana. Making a portal leading Earth consumed a lot of Mana, but that doesn't mean he depleted all of his Mana. It's just it will be not enough if he want to use a high levelled spell.
"Two months, in the meantime, I should find a safe place to summon them."
By 'them' it means the people of his Empire in Gaia Zero. He already considered a lot of places, but he's really interested at summoning his people in the Bermuda Triangle. The reason is because there's not a lot of people dared to go there. The Bermuda Triangle are shrouded with many mysteries. A lot of planes or ships dissapeared when they went into the Bermuda Triangle. Until now, nobody can explain what's inside the Bermuda Triangle.
He also decided that he will establish his Empire on Earth too. The place will be in the Bermuda Triangle. He could place it anywhere in the Earth, because with his power who would dare to stop him? The America? He could just annihilate them with a single spell. The Country of Apes? He could sent his Dragon Riders to deal with them, easily.
But he still decided to establish his Empire in Bermuda Triangle. Because it's not time for his Empire to be revealed. A lot of factors are the reason for it. One of it is because Lars still need to learn about the hidden power all around the world. Another reason is because it's better to hide his Empire, at least for now.
Though Lars didn't really mind if the whole world turns againts him.
The door to his room then opened, Lars looked at the door and saw Indah standing there. What is it again? Does she want his help to clean the house?
"What's wrong? Need me to clean or cook?"
"No, I need you to do something different for me this time."
"Okay, what is it then? Shopping?"
"I want you to participate in an upcoming tournamet. It's a competition that involved the Transcendent, you will fight againts other transcendent from other provinces in Indonesia."
"Why? Why me? You have Jaka, right? Why would you want me—a man you just met a couple days ago—to participate in this tournament?"
Lars frowned when he heard Indah's request. He will not refuse to participate, but he still needed reasons as for why he should join the competition.
"Because we need money, and we also need the custom weapon made by the forger from the Jager organisation."
"Wha—? It's because you needed money?" Lars almost slapped himself when he heard Indah's explanation.
"Well of course we need money, do you think we don't need to pay the electricity and water in this house? We also needed the money to buy other things. Because you're an inhabitant in this house although temporarily, you still need to find way to earn money to help us pay the bills."
He should've expexted that. But what he can really do? He knew that even if Jaka and the others is in the house, Indah will still chose him. The only reason is because he's ridiculously strong. Strong enough to beat a Four-Armed Gorilla with ease.
"Alright then, I know that I can't even refuse you if I want. So where and when the competition will be held?"
"The tournament will be held in Gelora Bung Karno, Jakarta. For the time, it's tomorrow morning. So you should prepare your belongings now."
"Wait, what? We're going now?"
"Of course, the tournament is held in the morning so we should spent the night there. We'll take the train, it will take around four hours anyway. Oh yeah, I already booked the train before, so it doesn't really matter if you rejected me before."
Lars didn't really mind it. Beside, sooner or later he will go to Jakarta anyway. Either with Indah, or alone, he was confused with what he will use to get there. But now that problem is covered. He's going to Jakarta using the trains, and he doesn't even need to spend a single money.
"Well, let's go then, I don't really have any luggages with me anyway."
With a spatial storage ring, why should he bring a suitcase or a backpack?
"Unlike you, I will need to prepare clothes and other things, so wait for a lil' bit, will you?"
Though Indah said that, Lars spent almost an hour to wait for Indah finish packing her things. He wondered why women always takes a long time to get ready.
"Now everything is set, we're good to go! Come on then, we don't want to be late to catch up our train, right?"
Lars nodded. He got up from his bed and walked to the front door following Indah from behind. Outside, there's already a taxi waiting for them. Probably waiting for a long time just by looking at the driver face.
"Sorry for making you wait for a long time, to the Bandung Station please."
The ride to Indah's home to the train station took around 15 minutes. Luckily, they didn't get stuck at a ttaffic jam. Lars sighed in relief at that.
After they arrived, they paid the taxi driver and hurriedly walked to their train. They almost missed the train, only five minutes remaining before the train depart. If Indah takes any longer to prepare her belongings, then they probably will be left behind.
"Luckily, we arrived in time, right?" Said Indah, while laughing awkardly under Lars' stare.
Just like Indah said before, it took four hours to go from Bandung to Jakarta by train, perhaps longer if they used the cars. When they arrived it was already six pm, they took off from Bandung around two am. Lars immediately stretched his body, it's been a long time when last used the train to go somewhere. Somehow, it made his back sore.
"I already booked a hotel room for us, it's near the Gelora Bung Karno—GBK—so we don't need to travel far."
"The competition is held in GBK?" Asked Adam while he carried Indah's luggage.
"Of course, it's a big tournament, so it will be held in GBK. Because the fighter came from other provinces in Indonesia, they need a big place for the participants to fight and a lot of seat so people can watch it."
"Ah, I see."
There's around 33 provinces in Indonesia. The biggest province is no doubt Kalimantan, but Indonesia population are concentrated in Java, specifically in Jabodetabek—Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang, and Bekasi.
Lars knew there's going to be a lot of people with amazing abilities will show up at the tournament. Who knows, maybe Wiro Sableng descendant will participate in the competition. This made his bloods boil in excitement. When was the last time he participate in a tournament like this?
Of course, Lars will control his power so he can fight at the same level as his opponent. Because with his power, he can easily destroy GBK just with a point of his finger.
And that's not even the limit of what he can do.
They still need to ride a taxi to get to the hotel. The got caught in a traffic jam, not a surprise because Jakarta almost always have a traffic jam.
Luckily, the traffic jam are not really bad, it only takes them around half an hour to arrive at their hotel. After Lars and Indah got to their own room. Lars told Indah that he want to go out to buy some cigarettes. He wanted to try some now that he's back on Earth.
After walking around outside the hotel. He found a small street stall, he quickly bought a pack of cigarettes using the money he borrowed from Indah. Because it's still too early for him to go back to the hotel. He decided to sit on the bench in the park not far from the street stall.
At this time, Lars knew very well that there will be a lot of people soon. Usually to go on a date or just to hang out. In fact, he already saw a couple of people in the park. Mostly a group of people that gathered at the park before heading somewhere else to have fun.
He took a cigarette and light it up using a fire that he made on his finger tip. After he took a puff of the cigarette, he immediately exhaled the cigarette smoke into the air.
He just sat there doing nothing but smoking his cigarettes. Couple of people passed by him, they looked at him with a weird look. Not because his appearance, but because he sat there alone doing nothing, not even playing his phone. Though, some women actually liked that and saw Lars as a 'cool guy'. Lars know what they're thinking, but he just didn't and simply shrugged it off.
A group of men then arrived to where Lars sat. Just by one look, anyone can see that they're a group of thugs. But you don't usually see them at the park in this hours, usually when it's getting late, then they started to show up.
So why now?
"Need a help, gentlemen?" Asked Adam.
"Yes, we do. And it's for you to get up from that bench over there."
"Huh, why? I found this bench first, so go sit at other places."
People around them looked at Lars as if he's an idiot. Why would he tried to argue with a thug? That's just a bad move.
"Because, this seat is reserved only for our boss. No one can sit here except for him."
"Oh, then is his name carved in this bench? No? Is he the owner of this park? No? So, tell your boss to find another bench, because I'm still sitting here."
The group of thugs are now angered by Lars. In this area, who didn't even know who they are? Almost everyone know them, they always make trouble, but police never came. Why? It's because their boss is a powerful Cultivator. And their boss always come to this park to smoke or just wasting his time looking at girls passing by.
But now, there's someone that dared to sit on that very bench? And didn't even know them? This man is asking for a beating.
"Fine, you bring this to yourself. Brothers! Teach this brat a lesson!"
Three people charged at Lars who still sitting on his bench. Lars sighed and took a smoke one last time before he burned his cigarette to ashes.
Lars stood up and looked at the three thugs charging him. From their looks, they're clearly not the usual thugs that only know how to swing their fist randomly. Lars can see it from their eyes, this people are trained, possibly in martial arts or perhaps at controlling their superpower. For normal people, they need to be cautious and face them carefully. But it's different for Lars, because no matter how good they are, they can never compare to Lars. Even if he used one percent of his power.
The thug on Lars' left side jumped in the air. Ten arrows made of lightning then appeared behing him and started to rain down on Lars. But Lars didn't even move he stood there and let the lightning arrow travelled close enough before he redirected their trajectory to avoid him.
The thug that launched the lightning attack are surprised but soon gained his composure and landed beside his comrade. They then charged together. A thug in front of Adam took out a machete from his jacket. A wave of blue energy enveloped the machete blade before the thug used it to slash at Lars head.
At the same time, the thug with lightning attack fired a bolt of lightning towards Lars. While the other one summoned a sword made of fire to attack Lars.
"So, two elementalist and a Cultivator?" Lars sneered. He admire them, really. Though they're not part of a big mafia groups or a sect. They have a good teamwork and control over their abilities. No wonder this group of thug can survive for long. Now he wondered how strong their boss is.
Lars snorted, though he admired this group of thugs, he still need to take care of them. So he send out a punch. No any kinds of energy are used in this attack. It's just an ordinary punch.
The three thugs are surprised by Lars counterattack, but seeing no energy fluctuation coming out of him. They sneered inside their heart but still maintained a serious expression on their face.
'Bang!'
No one knew what happened. They only hear something loud the moment they thought the three thugs attack going to reach Lars. But they never expected to saw three thugs flew in the air before landing at a bush not far from them.
They then shifted their attention to Lars—who still standing with his right hand still held out.
One punch! It only takes one punch to knock out the three thugs! People whose watching can't believe their own eyes. How can a punch knock three people at once? And they didn't even see it happen! Is Lars attack too fast for their eyes to see?
While everyone stared at Lars, a slow clap heard from behind the crowd of spectator. The people then give way to a man that looks in his mid twenties. He has a scar in his left eyebrow and his chin. Making him somewhat look ferocious.
"That's a really nice move, kid." The man spoke, all the thugs who's yet charged immediately greeted the man. A look of reverence can be seen on their faces.
"I assume you're the boss." Facing the boss of this group of thugs, Lars are not even scared. Sure, the man can probably scare normal people and weak people. But trying to scare him? Lars almost laughed at that, as an Emperor, he already seen things far scarier than a monster. So why should he fear a mere thug leader?
"You're right, I'm the boss. Have you ever heard my name?"
"No, why should I?"
"Because, it's either you're a fool or a new people on this place for you to not recognize me. But looking at you, it's clear that you belonged to the latter."
Lars shrugged, aggreing to the man.
"Ah it seems that I'm right. So, who are you and why did you beat up my men?"
"Me? My identity is not really important because I'm not sure that I'm going to be here for a long time. For the reasong i beat up your men, isn't the reasong clear? It's because they're trying to beat me up just for sitting at your 'reserved seat', a ridiculous reason to beat people up. You sure it wasn't because they're jealous at my handsome face?"
The man laughed. His laugh confused the thugs and the spectator. Why would he suddenly laugh?
"Ah that, it is true that the reason they wanted to beat you up is kinda ridiculous. But what can they do? They can only comply to my command to guard that bench because they're afraid to be punished by me. But perhaps they did get jealous because of your face, the bench are probably just an excuse for them."
"Well whatever, are you going to fight me, or are we going to keep talking? Need me to make a cup of tea too?"
The man smirked. He already took a liking to Lars. His boldness made him happy. Since when did people like Lars who have the guts to face him appeared? The man can't even remember it because how long it has been.
"Good! Then let us fight! You better hope that you survived, kid!"