Ryker opened his eyes, his power growing even though his cultivation realm was still the same. This is because he had learned and comprehended almost all of the Cultivation Art to the 1st level of each of them.
That also meant that the corresponding Paths also reached the Elementary Understanding, allowing him to showcase strength far beyond his cultivation realm. Right now, he believed he would be able to showcase strength equal to a 5th Stage Genesis Spring expert, maybe even 6th though he was not sure of the latter.
However, there are still three Cultivation Art he hasn't touched yet, mostly because the Path related to it is the hardest to comprehend, not to mention the Cultivation Art is also hard to learn.
"Heavenly Time Scripture, Unbound Spatial Art, and Universal Control Mantra, all corresponding to Law of Time, Space, and Gravity, respectively. The three hardest Paths to comprehend. You don't make this easy for me, Father, Mother," he thought out loud.
Unfortunately, there are very few treasures with affinity to said Paths, with what is on the market being overly expensive. The best thing for him would be to find natural treasures with affinity to said Paths, but it is easier said than done.
"Who knew, maybe I'm lucky and there will be a secret realm of sort that have all three Paths at once,"
-x-
"You heard, the Duke had announced the opening of the hidden realm in the next two weeks!"
"Really, the hidden realm is said to be filled with anomalies? One that has time, space, and gravitational anomalies?!"
Ryker, who had been close by, almost choked on air. 'H-how!? I just kidding about that!' he thought to himself. But with such windfall, he would be an idiot to not learn more about it.
"Yes! That one!"
"But aren't the number of people allowed to enter the place is limited. If I remember it, the realm needed some time after each opening to gain its energy,"
"That is true, but the Duke had decided to increase the number of participants with some of the entrance tokens will be auctioned in the near future,"
"Hah, that will be impossible for us regular cultivators to get. After all, even if the powerful families already get some tokens, the more the better right,"
"Apparently the Duke had thought about that and decided to not allow any members or associates of the powerful families to enter the auction. But there is a chance the families offer some random people to join in the auction on their behalf so it might not work.
Some tokens will also be the main prize for a tournament the Duke and the Great Families set up. The champion will receive up to 5 tokens if they win. As for the second..." Ryker stopped listening by the time they talked about the second prize winner.
With such an opportunity, he would be an idiot to not compete in the tournament, but he reckoned he should gather more information first before he came to a conclusion.
-x-
As it turned out, the gossip between the two is correct and there is a tournament planned with the champion receiving 5 token entry into the hidden realm. Differing from a secret realm, a hidden realm can be created by even a Genesis Grand realm expert, though the high-level one. From Genesis Spring and above.
The size and benefits of the hidden realm also depend on the strength of said creator or creators if there is more than one person helping create the hidden realm.
From what he could gather, the hidden realm was a gift from the late King of Birak Kingdom, who had created it for the previous duke because of his service in quelling the bandits in his territory.
The King and several of his subordinates had created the hidden realm. Considering the main attraction of the hidden realm is the three most difficult Paths to comprehend, there is no need to guess what the King and his subordinates specialized Paths are.
Although it is hard to learn to master any one of the three Paths, the people entering it didn't really care much about mastering it. Their target is the treasures inside the hidden realm.
Considering how expensive such treasures are, there is no surprise why many people want to enter the hidden realm. They might obtain something valuable in there and sell it, becoming rich instantly.
Of course, there are also people who want to master the three esoteric Paths, as it will secure their future if they can do so. He could be considered one of them, though he had a different reason for it.
To avoid the powerful families obtaining all of the opportunities, the Duke also sent some of his most talented young subordinates to make sure such a thing wouldn't happen. The strength of the people allowed to enter the hidden realm is also restricted, the highest being at the Genesis Source realm.
Because of this, he is not to worry about his chances. But, he still needs to win the tournament, while at the same time holding back a large portion of his strength so the Duke or anyone else couldn't prevent him from entering on account of being too strong.
He still needed to make some preparations and maybe raise the strength of some of his lovers, after all, he could bring 4 more people if he wanted to.
-x-
In a huge mansion, 4 times the size of what Ryker currently living in, a group of people were discussing the tournament.
"Looks like the Duke wants to find some hidden gems inside the commoners' population,"
"Bah! He is looking for gold in the mud then. There are no commoners with even decent talents,"
"True, he should just give the chance to the powerful families, though we still have the biggest chance to win it,"
"Yes, while we don't have many powerhouses like some of the stronger families, in terms of young talents, there is no one that could match our young master,"
"His talent is out of this world. He could likely beat the young master and mistress of the Great Families!"
"Yes, the hidden realm will be the best place to show his strength and raise our family strength even further. And all we need is to win the tournaments and maybe claim the second and third place while at it,"
"But the Duke prohibits members of the powerful families from entering,"
"In that case, find the one with the biggest chance to win the tournament and offer them a large sum of money along with the chance to enter the hidden realm,"