Sam woke up only after the sun set and the tournament was over. It was about time the results being announced.
"First Place of the tournament--- Sam" This is the first thing he heard when he opened his eyes. He looked around and noticed that the stage is again back to normal and Principal along with the Count are standing at the centre, while there are nine students standing behind them.
Sam dazedly towards the stage and walked towards the Count who is handing him a plaque along with a spatial ring.
"Congratulations, Sam." Count said with a smile. Sam thanked him and went to stand along with the nine people in the back.
The top 10 places are filed with familiar faces. But that is not what surprised him, instead he was surprised by the fact that Eve and Shor didn't manage to make it to top 10 even with their overwhelming accumulation of points in the second round.
They only managed to get into top 20 with great difficulty.
"Now the prize for the top 10 people is that they are selected to enter the academy in the Marquis city. They can report to that place in three months. This tournament is specially arranged to select these 10 candidates to enter the special class that is being opened in the Marquis academy and this is done on the direct orders of the Marquis himself.
All the spectators were surprised, the candidates who are at the bottom rankings felt envy. The candidates who missed the ranking by close shave felt jealous and the noble children were feeling undeserved. In this myriad of feelings and reactions caused by the announcement, Sam is the only person feeling calm and composed. He didn't show any expression at all. Because, he knew the info from the Principal. Then Castor still continued.
"The remaining fifty people will be taken in as students of the Falcon Cliff academy as a special Elite class, which we are going to open up from this year and every year, the Principals and the City lords of the subordinate cities will be picking the top 10 special students to join in this elite class."
When the remaining candidates heard this, they were immediately delighted. They thought that them coming here is all in vain. Then another announcement came.
"Now, the best team is Starwood city as we have seen the number of outstanding candidates, they provided followed by Falcon Cliff city. From this year onwards the resources of the Starwood academy will be doubled and the tax will be reduced from five percent to three percent."
When Principal Starwood and Starwood city lord heard this announcement, they were quite excited. Principal is even thanking Sam in his heart about this achievement.
Soon, the ceremony ended. Just as Sam was about to get off the stage along with others, he was stopped by Castor and Count.
"Sam, can we borrow some of your time?" Count falcon was polite when asking. Sam gave his consent and followed them, letting his friends go to the mansion first.
They went to a private room inside the academy and sat down as they were served with some refreshments.
"Sam, I will be straight forward with you. Did you receive the last key of Murali's inheritance?" Castor asked as soon as the attendants left.
Sam was a bit surprised. He didn't know that Castor would know about inheritance. After all, it is not his fault to think so as the tower of will has never been cleared before. But Sam didn't say anything and just kept his silent with a confused expression.
Count Falcon and Castor exchanged a glance and latter said. "Actually, it is not much of a secret. You might already know that there are three other keys of inheritance and right now the other three are already owned by someone else.
And one of those three in with the imperial family of our empire. The remaining two are under two different organizations. The thing about this inheritance is an open secret in the upper echelons of the empire and I won't be surprised if some of the noble family heads knew about this."
When Sam heard Castor's explanation, he pondered for a moment and asked.
��What do you want from me, exactly?" He thought that there is no need for him to pretend, since he can't deny it. The other party is not using force which means that there is some catch here.
"Actually, many people tried to clear the tower of will, but this became almost impossible as the difficulty of this is more than that of other three. The three parties who have the ownership of the other three keys came to an agreement that the person who can clear the tower of will cannot be forced to handover the key to anyone.
They felt that since the tower of will is the hardest of all, the person who cleared must be important and might be irreplaceable in the journey. So, they announced to the upper society who has news about this to make sure not to make a move against the candidate who cleared the tower of will or they will be the combined enemy of all three of them. So, you don't have to worry that we will harm you." Count Falcon first explained to make Sam calm down, then he continued.
"Actually, what we want is a favour from you. According to the prince of the imperial family who is one of the inheritors, an inheritor can bring four people along with him. So, we are wondering, if we could use two spots." Count Falcon's voice seemed rather hesitant at the end. After all, asking for two spots is not a small matter.
"What is your offer?" Sam asked without change in expression. But inside his brain was spinning. He didn't know that the thing about an inheritance is such big of an open secret. He didn't even see the point of being careful anymore. If something happens to him, the three organizations will make hell to the one who made a move on him. So, Sam directly went to the business. He wants to know exactly how valuable this spot for inheritance can be.
Count Falcon and Castor are silent for a bit and gave him a number. "1 million spirit stones." But Sam was not moved by it at all. After all, he earnings were almost this much when he did some business in a subordinate city like Starwood city. Sam stood up and said.
"Sir count and Principal. I actually have quite a good impression on both of you. But I can't agree if you want to treat me as a gullible person. Even though, I don't know exactly how valuable a spot is and the importance of this inheritance, I do no whether the 1 million spirit stones is worth is or not.
Before you offer me, please check on my background. Earning a million is not a big deal for me at all. So, please be more sincere next time and I will only give you one spot. So, you guys decide what you want to offer and who wants to take the offer. For now, I will be taking my leave." Sam said and paid his farewells.
Sam went to the mansion after that. He took a nice warm sleep that night. Next day early in the morning, the first thing he did was to check on the panthers. When he observed their bodily changes, not only they broke through and became level 2 beasts, there is some changes in its beast core and blood line.
When he closely observed the situation, he realized that the fire poison is trying to merge with the beast core and the blood line.
Sam was both excited and worried at the same time. Because, this is a great chance for the panthers to have a qualitative change in the beast core and the blood line, but he was worried if the constitution of this beasts will be able to withstand the evolution in this blood line.
He thought about it for quite sometime and went through the information in Blood refinement and Evolution technique. "So, there is only one way." Sam got an idea. He came out of the mansion and went to the cave where Yanwu and Sky are staying.
When he went there, he was surprised to see a number of scrolls at a corner. Watt immediately stood up and greeted him, when he entered. Both Yanwu and Sky aren't in the cave.
Before Sam could say anything, Watt said. "The shadow mice brought these scrolls from somewhere. Yanwu said they might be useful for you." Sam nodded at his words and just as he was about to reply. Yanwu and Sky entered the cave.
Sky is in a good state now. His feathers are shiny and he is full of vigour. When he saw Sam, the great roc was quite delighted. Sam first embraced Yanwu and then greeted Sky.
"Sky, you might know about my contract with Yanwu." Sky nodded at the statement.
"Actually, I can evolve your bloodline. If you are willing, I want make the same contract with you too."
Sky nodded in consent without hesitation. Sam was also delighted and said. "I will lay a formation here, which will allow your blood line to evolve to that of Sky sovereign roc. Your blood line will be of same level as Yanwu's.
But from the amount of the blood line you possess, you might take sometime to achieve that. It may take three to five days.
Sam said as he started writing the runes needed. The entire cave is almost filled with the runic drawings and he took the formation flags to place them at some important nodes.
After that he took a huge amount of wind element spirit stones from Watt and placed them at various nodes in the whole setup. After more than three hours of hard work, he was finally done.
"Sky, since your case different from the shadow mice who only needed to clear the impurities in bloodline, you only have to absorb the wind elemental energy and let it go through the flow the formation will direct.
The formation will deal with the rest. It will use the wind element energy by condensing it and will excite the latent potential of your bloodline. Actually, since you have the genes of the sky sovereign rock, you can directly evolve into one as long as I excite the genes with the wind element energy which is your blood line element.
I don't need to participate in it directly. So, I hope you will endure and don't put any resistance."
When Sam finished his words, Sky didn't reply anything and walked towards the node where he has to stay.
Sam activated the formation and turned to Watt.
"Do you have any problems with your cultivation?" He asked. Since, Watt is his follower now, he has to take care of him.
"No problems at all." Watt immediately straightened his back.
"You are at ninth stage of initiation. So, your contract time has arrived. Even though, I can afford the pills and medicines, you don't have to rely on them to cultivate in the initial stages. They might be useful in latter stages, but if you use them now, you will have to face some backlash. So, you don't have to worry about it." Sam paused and passed the spatial ring he got as prize yesterday. "They have some pills and herbs along with another 100,000 spirit stones. Go to Vickers' and exchange everything to wind element stones." He gave his instructions and turned towards the scrolls in the corner. There are almost around twenty scrolls. When Sam picked and about open a scroll.
*squeak* *squeak* [Boss, something happened] A shadow mouse came as it shouted.
"What happened?" Sam frowned.
*squeak* *squeak* [Boss, Kelly is kidnapped.] Sam immediately got serious.
"Details."
*squeak* *squeak* [today me 1, 3,5,7 are in watch duty at the mansion and the cave. The remaining are on scout duty. 1,3 and me are in the mansion while 5,7 are here. We saw a black figure inside mansion and we followed him. He took Kelly and ran. 1 and 3 are following them and I came here to report. They said that they will come and look for you at mansion.]
After hearing to the details, Sam took scrolls into storage and said to Yanwu to look out for sky, before running out. Even though he wants to fly, he will only attract trouble, if he was spotted by city guards. He doesn't have permission after all.
After some time, Sam was panting in his mansion. He is inside Kelly's room and all the people in the mansion are already gathered here. There is circular amulet like object and a note on the bed.
There is another person inside the room. It is Hawk.
"Sam, somebody kidnapped Kelly. They left a note that you have to contact them through the amulet." Philip said what is going on.
Sam looked at the amulet with confusion. Then Hawk explained. "This is a communication amulet. It is a very rare articraft. Not may people in the Falcon Cliff city can own them." Sam took in Hawk's words. He took the note saying what Philip just said and then picked the amulet.
He examined it as he sat on the bed. His face was cold and stoic. Freya and Haley are trembling in fear with the thoughts of Kelly being kidnapped and are expecting some reaction from Sam. But there is none. But nobody dared to do say anything.
"What are you doing here?" Sam asked Hawk.
"I am here to meet you. But when I arrived and asked for Kelly and you, we found out that she is kidnapped. I already sent news to the city guards. They might have already heard of it by now."
Sam didn't reply and played with the amulet in his hands. Then suddenly a shadow flew and landed near Sam's feet. The members in the room are startled as they saw two mice.
"Speak" Sam said
*squeak* *squeak* [Boss, there are from a noble family. We don't know which family they are from. But Kelly is trapped in an underground room. She is safe. There is a total of five people other than Kelly. I don't know their cultivation levels. But there is a middle-aged man who seemed to be in charge. A girl. Three guards from the family.]
When Sam heard this, he closed his eyes and seemed to be in deep thought. But the rest of the people in the room were shocked at his conversation with mice. But they didn't make a sound. After sometime Sam opened his eyes and asked Hawk.
"How do I use this?" When Hawk said how to use it, Sam activated without any gap and they heard a voice from it.
#### Haha, Artisan Sam, took you long enough to reach us. As you know your female friend is with us. So, if you want her back, you need to give something in return. ####
"What do you want?" Sam's voice was eerily cold. The members in the room felt like they are standing naked in cold breeze.
#### Well, I heard that you have some spots for inheritance. So, out of four I need three of them. I will send someone for you to sign a blood and soul oath and then I will send your friend back. ####
When Sam heard this, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Hawk was also surprised that someone will use this tactic to gain the spots.
"Let me talk to her first." Sam replied and a trembling voice came through the amulet.
"Sam." Kelly's voice was as sweet as always, but it was full of fear and anxiousness. Sam took another breath and said.
"Kelly. I will tell you something now. Please don't interrupt me. Right now, you are in danger and that too, you are far away from me. I can't guarantee that I will save you.
I will tell you some bitter truths. They might hit you. Torture you. Kill you. Anything can happen.
But I want to say something which may hurt you. I am not going to give into their demands. It is not because that I think your life isn't worth the exchange, but because I think that if I indulge them now, this will only repeat again.
I am telling you now. If I can save you from this, I will make it up to you according to your wishes.
If I can't save you. I will bear the guilt and atone the sin with rest of my life."
When Sam finished his words, everyone felt their heart shudder. They felt that Sam is a complete stranger to them. They didn't expect him to take this kind of approach. Only three people other than him are completely calm.
Philip, Hawk and Jack. Only they understood that what Sam said is right. If it happens once, then it would happen again. This cycle will never stop.
#### Sam, you better think it through. #### the male voice again came from the amulet. Then they heard Sam speaking.
"I don't know exactly who you are. But before you spew a bunch of threats listen to what I have to say."
####Speak####
"The thing is there are three things I hate most in my life and one of them is threatening me and you did that, Let us put it aside first.
You guys are right now in an underground room. There are a total of five people other than Kelly. Among those five there is a lady.
You guys dared to kidnap without regarding the city laws, which means you have someone backing you up. You dared to offend not one but two artisans at third rank. Kelly's uncle and me. That means your backing is quite strong. And there is only one person who isn't afraid of the status of a Count and two rank three artisans.
Miss Maya violet dew. The pseudo rank 4 tailor artisan in the city. The grand elder of the violet dew family, That means you are from violet dew family."
####You#### The voice from the amulet was about to interrupt him. But Sam cut in
"I said listen to me didn't I." Sam took a breath and paused. He looked at the surprised and shocked faces of those in the room and turned his attention back to the amulet.
"There are some possible scenarios which might happen.
First one is that you will send Kelly to my mansion in one hour after our communication is cut and along with that you will send her you will send the heads of the people who abducted her and all the revenue for past six months in your textile business
Second scenario is, you will just send her and don't send the remaining things I said, I will go directly to piranha and place bounty on all the younger generation of your family and the every future generation of your family as compensation for the abduction.
Third scenario is an interesting one. You can kill Kelly." Sam paused to see the reaction. As expected.
#### What did you say?#### the other party sounded quite surprised. Even the people in the room felt their hearts trembling. Then Sam continued.
"What you heard is right? You can kill her. But within an hour, if she doesn't come to mansion, I will escape from the city. You might not know, but I am only 15 this year and I believe my talent is great. I will visit the city in a year or two.
That will be the day, you will see who Sam really is.
I will cover whole Violet dew estate like a dark cloud. You will see the blood bath you never saw in your life.
I will make soil in the estate, the grass sprouted from the soil, plants grown over the grass, the tress towered over their plants and breeze flew through that tree and the people feeling the breeze. Everything. I will make everything reek of death.
That day you will know that
My sight itself will be your destruction
My breath itself is calamity
My call itself shows you the cruelty
My every cell will become a grim reaper out for lives.
But there is something special for you guys in the room. I might not know exactly who you are, but I will definitely find out and trust me, when I am done with you, you will be embracing the death like a boon and you will take a chance to visit hell as if you would get a chance to become immortal. You better make your choice."
Sam finished his speech and turned off the amulet without waiting for a reply.
The members in the room are looking at him as if they were looking at a stranger.
The Sam they knew is Cold, yes but they never felt this much fear and threat from him before. Even Jack, Hawk and Philip who were calm before are now trembling. All the people are now drenched in sweat. Girls already fell on the floor as they fainted due to stress.
On the other side of the communication amulet. Kelly suddenly became unbelievingly calm. She doesn't know why, but after listening to Sam, she felt that these people might not even dare to touch her.
She looked at the faces of other five. They are looking pale as they were drenching in sweat. Particularly, Jessie. She felt her mouth go dry. Even the elder in charge is panicking. He really felt that Sam will do what he said. He stood up immediately but fell on the chair again as if his legs were jelly.