There is a question that I have at the end for anyone who wants to answer it for me.
*back to our sharky boi who we haven't seen in more than a week*
I look at the vent that's in my room and see that it hasn't weakened much so it's still roughly late at night. So ima keep cultivating and exploring my new core. Hey elder, do you have a core?
(I have 4 cores. I would have more but I stopped at four and strengthened them. You can see them if you look at me with your imagination as I am spiritually connected to you due to gods will)
Ok I won't need to look now but I will straighten this core as I don't wish to have any chance of losing in the arena tomorrow.
(You won't have to, I can guarantee that)
What, Why?
(Because no one in your clan has a core except for your father and his is barely double the size of yours so in a few days or vent shifts time, you should surpass him with your mana with ease)
Are you serious, everyone here is that weak? I really have to thank you for helping me get as powerful as I am now. I would be the runt that would be pathetic if you didn't help me out.
(I appreciate the gesture but I would prefer you to thank me personally instead as when you are able to do that means that you would have the strength and cultivation to come to my den and meet me face to face)
I understand so I will refrain from my thanks until I see you personally.
I look in my core and admire the complexity of it as when I look deeper, it's filled with countless strains of condensed mana that is constantly moving throughout the core. I try to follow the strains but I can't seem to find where they connect together or where they lead before I lose track of them.
This starts to anger me a little bit but I just leave it be as I am just gonna cultivate more due to the fact that I don't want to be tired at all next vent shift. I start cultivating again and watch as I pull more mana in and it goes through my body but instead of moving around freely, the mana moves through my body once then circles around my core before going inside of it through one of the corners like a funnel as mentioned before.
I keep doing this until I hear my fathers booming water waves from the living area calling for me and my sister to come to him. I quickly look to see the vent has been weakened severely but isn't quite dead for the day yet so it must be early morning right now.
I head out and see sister who is looking at me while her mana is moving in random directions which I believe implies that she's confused. We both head to where father is and see him with mother floating near the front entrance. Mothers mana seems to be out of control a little bit like she's angry for some reason but doesn't say anything except looks directly at me with her mana getting worse.
Father looks at us and has us follow him and mother to what I presume is the official arena as when we get there, I see a huge building that is opened on the top and it looks kinda like a football stadium but instead of everyone going through the bottom, there are entrances all around it and many go through them in an order that I don't understand but I hypothesize that it is based on strength and influence.
My hypothesis is proven when our family goes almost to the top through a massive entrance that looks specifically made for my father as it is big enough to fit him but not any more since we all have to follow behind him from biggest to smallest as I am in the back behind my sister.
We go in and the entire place is packed full of countless megalodons, it looks like the inside of the Super Bowl but with a massive arena in the middle instead of a football field. We go and there are metal bowl like spots for us to rest in as we watch the matches go on. I wait for the others to lay before i do as I don't wish to take another's spot. They all lay in their spots but the one between mother and father is still open for some reason and they look at me.
Father looks at me and says in a deep but low voice, "Ever since you became champion, you lay here from now on as you are now my heir to the head of the colony. Now come as the first fights will happen soon."
I lay next to him and take a look with my imagination to see that elder was indeed correct as fathers core is only about a little more than double the size of my core. I look towards the arena and see the first two pups go in the arena. They are a little bigger than me and they look at each other then to me. They both have angry looking manas for me so they may be in disbelief that I'm not in the arena battles with them. Sharks and megalodons alike don't have emotions so I just base my observations of their emotions based on their manas and theirs looks pretty angry.
I look around and there are many who look at me with angry looking mana. Father then rises and starts speaking.
"Welcome all to the arenas, I hope you all rested well as these are not to be missed due to the addition that my son isn't the biggest pup in the colony. This prompts you all to look at him in disbelief and confusion, but I ask that those emotions are to be exempt as I have a reason as to why he is here and not with the others down in the preparation bunkers. This one here has already defeated the potential winner of this ventual arena tournament so i have had him become the immediate champion of this arena. I can already see that many of you do not agree with my decision. Many of you may even spite me for it but I have full belief that the winner will be defeated by this champion. To the extent that if I were to be wrong that I am ready to lose my position of head of the colony to the father of the one who beats my son"
This surprised everyone in the arena including me and my sister. The only one not surprised is mother who just looks at father and me with anger that is in almost absolute control over her mana. She must have had this conversation with father last night when sister was sleeping and I was cultivating.
I immediately looked at father as this just showed how much faith father has in me as the head of the colony decides everything and has absolute rule over everyone else. This should make me nervous as this puts a lot of weight on my shoulders but instead I'm actually very excited as I'm about to show everyone what I'm made of when I defeat the winner of the arena.
When thinking about my core and when talking to elder last night, I thought why not show everyone that I am the one chosen by the elder in the most spectacular way possible. With a form to show everyone that I have personally seen him before as everyone makes the wings and the horn for he had a massive horn and two gargantuan wings. I will use this with his real form to make them bow to me.
However if they don't then so be it, I don't plan for world domination or anything like that. I just want respect above all else. I just watch as bewilderment and excitement is shown in everyone's mana as they recall the words father has just said.
The two pups look at each other again and get ready to battle with everything they got. Like Japanese families, family honor is a huge player in events like these as those families in the bottom contenders aren't treated as highly as those who made it above them.
Father lays back down and we watch as the pups stare at each other with an adult megalodon above them. He looks at them then gives the signal and they both start at each other. It is horrendous for me to watch as the reaction speed of these two are so slow that it hurts me when the one to the left of my position doesn't see the other one go right at him and headbutts him. The one that was headbutted backs off just over the line and the adult calls it.
They both bow to the adult and leave to their respective families. The losers family leaves while the winners stay. Looks like they left out of shame or because since he lost that he won't be contending anymore.
The previous pup that won goes up again and I see another pup go in that is a tad bit bigger than him.
They both get ready and after a moment the adult gives the pups the signal. They both shoot off and this time is more bearable as the littler one doesn't immediately headbutt the bigger one since that would be foolish. Interestingly the bigger one tries to headbutt the smaller one but fails after the smaller one moves out of the way. The bigger nearly swims out of the arena but stops himself.
After that the smaller one quickly butts the bigger ones tail in hopes to push him out of the arena. This succeeds as the bigger one didn't react in time and barely gets pushed out of the arena.
After the loser leaves with his family, I turn to father and say, "he's doing very well, may I fight him next?"
My father turns to me with a confused looking mana and asks, "do you believe he will win?"
"No but I wish to test his ability to see if he has talent, he may not have the mana to grow anything but he surely has the skill to get far" I say indifferently.
"I see, well when he goes back up to the arena, I suggest you head up first and the next contender will head back and watch. A champion or a top contender can challenge without it being their turn" he says back to me
I look back and he starts heading back to the arena. After he gets back, I swim towards the arena, surprising everyone that's not in my family and the one who was the next contender swam back and started watching again.
I get to the arena and look at my opponent. He is a little surprised to see me and quickly says, "why are you here?" He is definitely conflicted inside as his mana is doing all sorts of things which means that multiple emotions are brewing in him right now.
I respond without any emotion, "you seem promising so I will challenge you myself to see how talented you are"
He is taken aback and anger is starting to fill his mana more than anything else, "you aren't even strong nor powerful, why do you believe you can test my talent when you aren't even showing any potential. I barely see any mana going through you and you think you can win. I trained immensely for this tournament. You should have stayed back up there and waited for your loss at the end." He exclaimed profusely.
Now it's my turn to be taken aback as I wanted to be courteous to him for having any talent but he starts judging me based on my mana circulation? "Looks like you aren't taking this seriously at all...*sigh* fine I'll just end this. Just a reminder, you did this to yourself.
We wait as the adult looks at us once then gives the signal. My opponent bursts towards me as I just watch. He gets right up to me and I just swivel a little bit and go underneath him. Due to his recklessness, he immediately goes out of bounds and the adult calls it. I just turn back to him, "I expected more out of you, sorry that I look disappointing, but reckless pups don't become leaders"
He looks at me with his mana completely stopping meaning that he's absolutely shocked right now. The adult looks at me then to him and says, "he does speak the truth, a reckless leader will doom all those who follow him"
The pup goes to his family and leaves. I look at the adult and ask, "shall I stay or leave?"
The adult looks at me, "you can stay if you wish but if you head back then the next two contenders will fight it out"
I respond with an understood and head back to my family. When I head back, father is the first to speak, "I see what you wanted to do but he had too much of a hard head to understand your intentions. I agree that he did that to himself"
I lay down as he says that and after he finishes, mother speaks up, "even after your father made his exclamation, the pup was too thick headed to not underestimate you. He disgraced his family with those words and actions."
Levien speaks up after mother is done and says shyly, "I think that there isn't anyone in the arena that is close to your age that can beat you"
We all look at her, then father and mother both nod their heads in agreement.