"Of course I'd like to participate!" said Nova with fervor and a burning gaze.
Grand Elder Ria was happy seeing him act like a kid. It reminded her of her son, whom she lost to the demons.
"Okay, also one more thing. The prize for winning first place is 10-star points, for second place it's 3-star points, and for third place, 1-star point." She told Nova another few details about the tournament before preparing to leave his abode.
Hearing this Nova was stunned, remembering how hard it was to gather a single star point.
He felt even more motivated to be the first and to be honest he stood a chance considering his battle prowess.
After saying goodbye to Grand Elder Ria, Nova walked to the cultivation room.
He was surprised to feel the energy in the air that could almost be breathed. It was at least twenty times denser than the room he was in before.
Contemplating for a while Nova once again entered his Soul World.
-----
Somewhere in the deep expanse of the universe, a throne floating in space with a man sitting on it could be seen. Their destination, the human region Nova was currently in.
'Wait for me, wielder of 'Apex'...' The man's eyes lit up thinking of the future. He could barely contain his excitement that he suppressed for who knows how many billions of years.
-----
Once again in his Soul World, Nova was a little sad about losing his Space-Time Bloodline, well, more exactly 'devouring' it with the 'Apex Bloodline'.
He doesn't even know what mayhem he created in the Space-Time Shrine after every elder saw his Bloodline disappear from the Bloodline Tablet. It was purely panic from Martin and Arin, as well as the elders close to them that wished to meet Nova.
Still, the Shrine Leader assured all of them that Nova was probably fine, as a youth like him had a great future ahead. What he didn't say was that he certainly knew that Nova was safe by using a certain thing left from his parents, Tiazul and Kiana, the two progenitors of the Space-Time Bloodline.
------
Feeling for a few seconds, Nova realized that his connection with Apex was strengthened by a large margin.
Leaving all these things behind, he concentrated on his consciousness and thought about what the Apex asked him.
'Why are you holding back?' This question bugged Nova for a while and he thought he knew why.
He considered himself a normal person, but deep down inside him, he knew it wasn't true. It was because of that event that changed everything.
From his point of view, Nova thought that he could heal over time and not think about it anymore. Inwardly, he knew he was only fooling himself to feel better.
Even before the 'Awakening', or the 'Apex', he knew that he was special. Not even trying, but becoming the best in everything he did.
He always suppressed himself from when he was young and never did he want something so badly, as he wanted right now.
Power. What he wanted was power. A short but all-encompassing word.
When he heard about how this region is constantly engaged in war with the demon race, or the Star Beasts creatures that appeared randomly, he was furious.
Furious for feeling so small and insignificant, furious for being pushed in all directions. Nova was thinking from humanity's point of view, not only of Earth's one.
This day he decided to make his goal become true one day, to clear the entire Human Zone of foreign threats.
If the other races were peaceful or at least didn't antagonize and kill humans, he would let them be.
But, if they were unkind towards humans, then may their souls rest in peace, because this little monster in the making will one day show his fangs.
'I, Nova Calypso Apeiron swear to never hold back towards my enemies! From this day onwards I'll rise to the peak and beyond!' Nova tried to encourage himself to forget the past and look at the future.
After clearing his mind completely and finally feeling the ambition of a new goal, Nova felt reborn and as if in sync with him, the 'Apex' also released golden rays for him to absorb.
Slowly absorbing the golden rays, Nova was surprised by the energy they had. 'At this pace, I should reach Stage 7 before the tournament starts.'
Forgetting anything else Nova was completely immersed in cultivation.
-----
Five days later...
Nova opened his golden eyes that glowed even fiercer than last time.
'Stage 7... Even faster than I thought, maybe I should focus a little on my techniques too.' Thought Nova before closing his eyes once again.
.....
With a few hours before departure, a beauty made her appearance in Nova's palace, the servants were shocked at who it was that arrived.
"Where is your master, Nova?" asked the beauty wearing a smile on her face that only made her more beautiful.
"Greetings to Miss Elura, Shield of Dawn! Currently, our master is in seclusion and he told us to announce him when there was one hour left before departure." The lead servant, Manu, responded respectfully to Elura.
"There was a change in the schedule, and so, we must leave early. You can go and call Nova now." Said Elura.
Hearing this, the servants hurriedly made their way to Nova's cultivation room.
Before they opened the room though, it actually opened by itself. Standing behind the doors was Nova wearing his trademark smile.
But the servants, and even Elura didn't have time to observe his smile because they all felt a pressure bearing on them. It was worse for the servants, as they weren't as strong as Elura.
All the servants were Stage 6, but because they were so old, their talent stopped there and they will never grow stronger.
They were now serving a master, while also being paid by the sect. This way they could continue to cultivate and hopefully reach a new stage.
But not only them, even Elura felt a slight pressure causing her to be shocked. She could feel that Nova was only a Middle Stage 7, but she was an Evolver Stage.
So how could it be possible for Nova to give her this much pressure just from exiting his cultivation room?
It also seemed that he wasn't doing it intentionally, as he quickly stopped emitting this pressure.