Ruben didn't dare to tease Gracie anymore. He wasn't in the mood anymore because he knew what would happen after seeing her result. He took a deep breath and, with a gloomy expression, began to walk on the stage.
Ezekiel saw Ruben coming and was about to greet him like Gracie but stopped in his tracks because he noticed Ruben's stiff mug and only said politely, "Young Master, please."
Ruben forcefully calmed his wavering emotions, placed his trembling hands on the crystal, and poured the Qi.
The cultivation measuring crystal began to change, and a bright yellow color door was formed.
When Ezekiel saw this, he sucked a breath of cold air. Now, he understood why Ruben's face was like charcoal and didn't want to say it. But alas, he has to, "1st Gate of Qi Gates Realm, High!"
The crowd clamored after hearing this, even the Grant family's juniors and elders alike.
They exclaimed that this was the first time that ranking had changed from the start of the meeting, and the change also happened in the second and third positions!
"Didn't they say Ruben was more talented than Gracie? Why is he weaker than her?" Asked someone in the crowd in a low voice.
"He was winning the second rank for the last two meetings, but it seems he hit a bottleneck in his cultivation this year." Answered someone knowledgeable.
The crowd was bursting with the same kind of discussion.
On the stage, an elder was sitting behind Rylan and Caden's seats. He was currently clenching the chair arms tightly. There were some cracks on the chair's arms; it seemed he was pretty angry.
He was Ruben's father and 3rd ranked elder of the Grant family, Milok Grant.
Milok's rank was only below Caden, and Ruben was his pride and joy. Ruben even managed to win Felix's friendship and, with it, Rylan's attention as well. Milok was quite satisfied with all his son's achievements.
Milok's relationship with Caden was always a little sour. That's why he encouraged his son to suppress Gracie and make cracks between Felix and Gracie's relationship, and Caden could do nothing to him openly because of Felix and Rylan.
However, Ruben had now lost his second position to Gracie. That's why Milok was extremely sullen; he had always eyed Caden's position, and now he had no choice but to change his plans.
Milok was mulling when a sneering voice entered his ears from the front, "Third Elder, my condolence."
It was obviously Caden looking back at Milok with a wicked smile on his face.
Milok's long beard quivered a litter, and he nearly vomited blood in anger. 'This Bastard!' He cursed in his heart.
Milok was, after all, an old fox and forcibly controlled his anger and said with a forced yet ugly smile, "Master Caden, I'm pleased about little Gracie's performance, and she finally defeated that arrogant brat. This ought to teach him a lesson."
Those other guests sitting around them didn't dare to say anything. They didn't want to offend either of them.
Caden laughed heartily when he saw Milok's ugly face and didn't press the matter anymore. He knew this old sly fox and his ways very well. If Milok saw the situation was against him, he would even call a donkey his father to get out of it.
Gracie saw Ruben coming back with an ashen face and felt her mood becoming quite good. How could it not be? This guy always teased her and didn't show her respect at all. Yet, this time, she beat him fair and square. She had a lucky breakthrough this year. That's how she managed to open the second gate.
Even if Ruben challenged her, she would clean the floor with him because she was a stage higher than him.
"New 'Number Three' brother, will you challenge me?" How could Gracie let this chance slip by to humiliate Ruben this easily?
Everyone turned silent after she asked Ruben, and their focus shifted to Ruben. Even Felix, who didn't show any emotions, was now looking at this scene with amusement.
Ruben became pale as a ghost with all this attention on him. He really wanted to challenge Gracie, but before exiting the stage, he saw his father's special signal. Milok was clearly telling him to stand down.
Milok knew that the odds were not in his favor. If Ruben challenged Gracie, he would lose even more miserably. That's why he signaled Ruben not to challenge her.
"H.ha.haha." Ruben laughed dryly and said with a forced ugly smile, "How can I challenge little sister Gracie? Since we are family, we shouldn't fight with each other."
He was grinding his teeth in anger. If not for his father, he would've challenged her already, so he could only sit silently like a beaten dog.
The crowd was very disappointed. They thought watching the fight between two top juniors of Grant's family would be very amusing. But Ruben chickened out in the end.
Gracie was also speechless by Ruben's shamelessness and wanted to beat him up, but it was not the place for it. Now that she was more powerful than him, she would not let him live in peace and take her sweet time avenging the past grievances.
"Oh, thank you, number three, brother." She ignored him again.
Ruben became more enraged when he heard 'No.3'. But alas, he can do nothing now, just like Gracie all those years ago. He knew his life was going to be miserable from now on.
Ace curiously saw all this from behind Gracie. This was the first time he had seen this kind of situation.
Ace saw Ruben behaving arrogantly in front of Gracie just a few moments ago when he thought he was stronger than Gracie. But when Ruben discovered he couldn't beat her, he immediately began behaving submissively.
'This is what it means to be strong and powerful.' He thought and couldn't help but be awed by this cultivation world and, most importantly, Human Nature.
Ezekiel only lamented after seeing all this and again spoke loudly. "Now that we know Young Master Ruben didn't want to challenge Young Miss Gracie. We can move on to our final participant of this meeting." He was just about to call Felix regally when he felt intense pressure.
Ezekiel was alarmed and thought it was an enemy attack, but he couldn't move. However, the pressure vanished the next moment, but he was drenched with cold sweat. Ezekiel turned around when he saw Rylan had finally opened his eyes and was looking at him expressionlessly. He quickly escaped the stage because he knew what Rylan wanted to do.
Everyone became puzzled when Ezekiel escaped like a mouse who had just seen a cat. But no one dared to speak because Rylan suddenly stood up.
When everyone saw this, those who were sitting immediately stood as well. No one wanted to displease Rylan.
Rylan didn't glance at anyone and slowly walked on the grand stage. Rylan's eyes suddenly locked on the participant's area. He was expressionlessly looking at Felix.
Seeing his father looking at him, Felix smiled for the first time. He knew his father always evaluated his children on their last competition by himself. This is how Rylan shows affection.
"Come!" Rylan's thunderous voice resounded in the venue.
No one dared to make a sound because they knew Rylan was calling for Felix and didn't want to die by ruining this moment for this father and son.
Felix smiled broadly as he walked towards the stage. He was pleased because his father hadn't forgotten this was his last competition. His mother was dead, and his big sister was already married. Even his elder brother, whom he admires the most, had gone with his nephew somewhere.
Everyone focused on Felix and Rylan except for one person, and that was Ace!
The stage was only ten meters distance from the participants' area, and Gracie was in the front. The moment Rylan walked into the center of the grand stage, he came into Ace's soul sense range.
The moment it happened, the system voice buzzed in Ace's head, and a black panel appeared. He was bewildered by it because,
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[System detects a Storage Space treasure!]
[Did you want to mark it by using 2 TP?]
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Ace was baffled by this and transmission in his mind confusingly, "System, what is this Storage Space treasure?"
Even this name was unique to him.
"[1 TP Required for the answer.]"
Since he has recently earned some TP, he said without care, "Take it."
His 54 TP became 53, and the System's voice sounded again,
"[Storage Space Treasures are used for storing non-living things like weapons, currency, pills, and other treasures. Simply put, it is like having a secret space fused within a ring or similar small objects. You can even store a whole mountain inside a little ring if you have large enough space. Some storage space treasures can also store living things inside them like humans, living beasts, alive medicinal herbs, and other things. It is like a portable treasury. To form a storage space inside a treasure, you must be a Rune Crafter.]
"[The System is detecting a ring of the lowest level; it is unstable. It was clearly made by a novice Rune Crafter and will be destroyed after 500 years.]"
Ace heard system explanations on these storage space treasures and became astounded. He didn't even imagine something this legendary existed in this world.
'If I can have this storage space treasure, doesn't this mean I don't have to carry this bag around, and I can also put these stolen goods and my weapons inside the ring? It is really like a portable treasury. But how can this kind of treasure appear here, and who has it?'
"System marked that treasure!" Ace really wanted this storage space treasure. Because with it, he can do missions or thieveries with ease.
As he transmitted his voice, his TP became 51. He saw a small black panel appearing on someone's hand. It was a blue ring on the finger of a man's left hand.
But when Ace saw this ring's owner, his complexion turned ashen because it was none other than Rylan Grant!