Spring has come and the snow has retreated. It was now time for the great tournament held every four years around the world. This time, the tournament was going to be held in the city of Buron in the Leisaus empire.
Leisaus was a country held in great esteem for their contributions in the 500 year war, or what they call it there, the demon invasion war. On top of their contributions in that war, they have been known to support humanity's interest long before the demon invasion war. Leisaus has existed over 4100 years, making it the oldest human country that has existed.
For context, The demon territory has existed over 27000 years, with the beginning being when demons first came to the mortal world. The structure has always been that the demon king rules and the demon territory would be molded by the demon king of the era. There are regions that have their own rulers assigned by demon king or someone who has been granted the power to assign them.
There are five places where elves have major control over the region, with two of them being recognised as countries. There are many villages consisting of elves, but they live mostly in accordance with the owner of said territory. The oldest elven country existed over 8000 years, but the current oldest territory that elves have control of is the forest that contains the Yrd tree, the sacred tree of all elves. The territory has been in control of the elves since the elves first came to be, meaning that it is over 40000 years old territory.
There exists only one dwarven country and that is Jult. Jult has to be entered through a gate that dwarves have built, otherwise entering the country is near impossible. It exists in mountains filled with minerals to dig. The capital of Jult is Jilot, which has existed for over 38000 years. The city was founded when the god of creation Luga grew the dwarves out of the fire of the earth and stone, guiding them to the mountains they claimed as home.
Back to the tournament. The tournament is held in a different country each time, which is decided in a meeting between each country's representative. The one that comes after this year's great tournament is going to be held in Ousus, which is in the northern country of Trottain.
The saint Diane's academy will hold classes for those who wish not to go, can't or choose not to. The faculty will mostly stay in the academy and only selected teachers and students will be permitted to go. Non combatants can take leave for this period with the expectation that they will gain something during this leave.
This leave can be financially supported by the academy, but only if the student can convince the person who is responsible for it. Otherwise the leave will be on the student's own pocket.
Lucas was told to go and to go and watch the students who will participate in the great tournament. Lucy has to go there at the end of the tournament to meet up with other important people.
And what is this tournament? It is meant to test the combat skills of people. It is mostly considered a tournament for students, but there also are other people who's age is significantly higher. There are separate great sword tournament and great magic tournament that are targeted for adults. Regardless of which tournaments someone participates in, they can gain fame and glory through it with the side of some money. Most people enter it for the money prize.
There was a separate event held in the Windstone city to select people who will be going to the great tournament this time. Drace, Sonya, Elliot and Hannibal were the ones that managed to qualify to enter. There were other people from the Windstone that qualified, such as Jarim and Rex.
Lucas of course wanted to enter, but Lucy explicitly rejected it. In her words "You have shown your skill through that carnival thing. It became quite the talk amongst people around the world, so if you would enter this tournament, people would end up just forfeiting. Besides, people at S rank and above aren't allowed to enter the great tournament without the approval of the host country's representative. I know you aren't officially even an S rank, but I still prohibit you from entering."
The journey was done via a teleporter that was in the capital, so they first had to go there in order to get teleported properly. Lucy didn't intervene in this, as she thought "Sometimes, you just have to spend some time traveling." And off they went.
While on a break during their trip, the area was suddenly surrounded by a pitch black darkness and the people were on the edge. So was Lucas, but not because he wasn't aware who made the darkness. Then the darkness disappeared and the group was confused for a moment. Then they saw a new figure standing next to Lucas. She was dark skinned, dark haired and she wasn't wearing any clothes as she didn't have any private parts. The boys still looked away as they didn't feel comfortable to look at her.
Then Lucas asks "Why did you have to come here N." Naga said "Oh? You are giving me a secretive nickname? I like it. It is clever, albeit a little racist on the side." Lucas says "I just abbreviated it from your name. Don't make me sound like a racist. Why are you here?" Naga smiled and said "I haven't been able to see you for so long and now you are giving me the vibe that you don't want me here. I feel damaged by your words."
Lucas says "I… I'm just surprised, that's all. But why would you come to see me? And put some clothes on." Naga said "I just wanted to make sure you don't bully these kids too much during this trip. And I don't need clothes, I'm perfectly fine with how I am." Lucas says "What are you, a nudist?" Naga says "I can't be, since all I expose is skin." Lucas says "Just do it. You are making the boys uncomfortable." Naga says "Why though? Since they have permission to look at me as much as they like, why should they feel uncomfortable? Doesn't it look like I'm giving them some free eye candy?"
Lucas says "Just do it." Naga responds quite annoyed "Oh fine. I make myself some clothes then if it's too hard for you to let others ogle me. Oh… Now I get it." Lucas says "It's not…" Naga stops him and says "Fine fine. No need to hide it or anything. Let me just…"
Then Naga summons a black garment on her with magic. Then she says "There we go. Better?" Lucas says with exhaustion "It's like having to teach my mom some common sense all over again." Naga comments a bit seductively "You can call me mommy if you like."
Lucas just says in defeat "Can you please not do this in front of all these people. Especially my students." Naga responds with a smile "Oh why would I? I enjoy seeing you suffer like that." Lucas mutters to himself "Of course you do" then he asks Naga "So why are you really here?"
Naga acts surprised and says "Ah. Why won't you believe me when I already told you the reason darling? Why must you hurt me so?" There is a pause for a moment until Lucas says "So?"
Naga responds "You are no fun. I came here to offer some boosts to your students." Lucas asks with a bit worried look "Boosts?" Naga nods and says "Yes. For example… Drace, come here." Drace does so.
Then Naga asks "Do you want to become more powerful, lizard boy?" Drace looks a bit annoyed and answers "Yes, but don't you dare call me that again." Naga puts her hand on her mouth and says sarcastically "Oh, scary" and then she says "Anyways, are you willing to take a gamble?" Drace says "What kind of gamble?"
Naga then makes a dark red pill appear on her hand and shows it to Drace while asking "Do you know what this is?" Drace looks closer for a moment until he just says bluntly "Some kind of pill." Naga stares at Drace for a moment before she says "I hoped you could tell by a glance what this is, but guess my hopes were misplaced. This is a pill that is made mostly from the concentration of ancient dragon blood with some additional herbs. What this means is that this is basically a level up material for your kind."
Drace looks surprised for a moment and then asks "What do you think, Lucas?" Lucas says nothing at first, but then he says "I think she isn't lying."
Then Drace asked Naga "Are you going to give it to me?" Naga says "If you desire it, then I'm willing to give it." Drace then thinks for a moment before he asks "You mentioned a gamble. What's the catch?" Naga smiles and says "The catch is that should you fail to cultivate the pill's contents properly, the power in the pill will take over and you will turn into a dragon. This way of leveling up does not work on anyone but your kind, so think about your privilege."
Drace thinks for a moment until Lucas says "You have to choose. If you take this pill, you risk your current way of life. Should you fail to do it properly, you have to say goodbye to living in regular society and learn to live like a dragon before you find a way to transform yourself back to your original form. Are you willing to take the gamble?" Naga then says "Oh, by the way, if I give this to you, you will have to consume the pill right here."
Drace thinks for a moment, until he finally has made a decision. He said "I will take the risk. Give it to me." Naga gives a sinister smile and says "That's it. That's the determination that can raze out kingdoms."
Naga then gives the pill to Drace, who then consumes it. For a moment nothing is happening, but soon Drace starts to feel immense pain in his body. Lucas says "Focus. If you concentrate hard enough, you won't lose your current form. Just focus on your current form cultivating the power of the pill and don't let your form be shaken." Drace tries his best to concentrate even though he is in a lot of pain.
The journey to the capital continued even during Drace's cultivation. The journey takes three more days, during which, Drace manages to finalize his cultivation. Naga seemed a little disappointed by Drace's success, but she didn't voice it out. Drace's strength could now be classified as an rank S, but since he is rank A in paper officially, he can still be permitted to enter the tournament. Lucas just thought "If any problems arise, I will say that Lucy failed to evaluate Drace properly."
The group is then teleported to Buron. This area was known to be bit on the warmer side, so the group had some adjustments to do. Lucas just muttered to himself "I would thank the gods for it not being summer, but then again…" He looks at the sky that is beaming with light from the sun. Then he says "Yep. While I can adjust to any type of weather, warmer climates aren't really for me. I mean I can appreciate warmth, but damn does it take some time for me to adjust."
Buron is currently in high spirits thanks to the tournament coming up. The tournament itself is starting in two days, so Lucas shows the rest of the group where they are staying during the trip. After that, he says to the group "You are free to do whatever it is you wish to do during this festive season. Just remember to go and sign yourselves present to the tournament staff before the tournament itself starts. Dismissed."
The group scatters and now Lucas and Naga are left there standing. Naga says "You know, it would have been better for the whole group to go sign up." Lucas says "This teaches them to be independent." Naga says "Is that so."
Then Naga jumps to hug Lucas from behind and says "How about we have some fun ourselves?" Lucas says "What are you planning?" Naga says "Whatever you want. Drink, eat, sleep, go sightseeing, sex, all that kind of stuff."
Lucas thinks for a moment and eventually he says "I don't want Sylvi to see me flirt with another woman, so I think I will pass." Naga then says, while still hanging from Lucas' back, "Come on. What's the issue? Now that I got to be here finally we should have some fun. Who cares if that bitch sees us. You just have to explain our arrangement to her when you two next meet." Naga turns her head to look somewhere else and shows her tongue. Lucas didn't notice this, but from her base of operation, Sylvi saw what Naga did and Sylvi got irritated from not knowing what's going on. Lucas and Naga end up going sightseeing and Sylvi was getting more irritated from them being together like that.
While they were sightseeing, Lucas asked Naga "Why are you in the mortal world in the first place? Don't you need to do your godly duties?" Naga says "I do keep an eye out for anything that needs my attention. Other than that, I let my subordinates handle the rest."
Lucas then says "I didn't know gods had subordinates capable of handling the duties of gods." Naga says "The gods above S god rank usually have ones. You can even see subordinates that work for a god rank as low as C."
Lucas asks "What's your god rank exactly?" Naga smiles and says "I'm god rank SSS. The only other SSS god rank besides Luga." Lucas then commented "This world is doomed." Naga took offense to that and started smacking Lucas repeatedly with a strength that caused pain, but weak enough to not seem out of place. She was saying "How dare you say that about me! I'm a proper deity you know!" The onlookers just thought that it was a wordplay and continued on with their lives.
When Naga eventually stops, she says seductively "I suppose I have to punish you later then." Lucas would give a cold sweat at the moment, but since he is just mimicking a human, he doesn't do so.
Then Naga's face suddenly looks surprised and then annoyed. She gets a straight face and says to Lucas "It would appear that I am needed for something at the moment, so the punishment will have to wait a while longer." Lucas was relieved, but then Naga grabs his collar and says while smiling "But be sure, there will be a punishment when I'm free again. Until then…" She kisses Lucas on the lips and then says "...Keep dreaming for the next time."
Then the area gets all dark again and after a moment, the darkness disappears. And so has Naga. Lucas is just thinking "How am I going to look Sylvi on the face after this. I bet that she is pissed." Then a moment later he accidentally says out loud "Then again, for Sylvi to feel jealous is kind of flattering." Then after a moment he spurts out again "But then, doesn't that mean that I'm hurting Sylvi? This is complicated indeed. I don't know how to feel."