"I should have come here earlier," I sighed as I glanced at the long queue in front of me.
Today was the opening ceremony for the annual competition between the main academy and outer academy and despite I arrived three hours early, I was still stuck in this queue.
"Everyone should back off, only participants are allowed to enter," one of the instructors at the entrance shouted as he shooed all the other students who were not participating in the contest.
~We should have come here since last night; a boy told his friend as they prepared to leave.
"What makes you think there wouldn't have been a queue here last night?" His friend said looking gloomy.
"We could have at least given it a try though."
"Yeah, you're right," his friend said, "but, instead of waiting here, why don't we start cultivating, it's not like we're going to watch this year tournament."
~So, people have been standing here all night long, I muttered, "thank goodness I wasn't coming as a spectator."
~Ah, it's prince Saniel, some girls squealed in delight.
"Senior Elara is also here," a random person shouted, "with these two participating, the first and second spots have already been taken," the person said with a sigh.
"It's not like you were planning to get among the top 5, you know it's impossible to make it to the top 5," a student said, "I have a brother in the main academy, and he told me they give a large number of resources to those who make it to the top 5."
"But why didn't anyone in the outer academy tell us any of that?" a student asked.
"You think them allowing you to enter the main academy is not already good enough?" Another student asked as he glanced at the person with a deadpan look.
"That's true though, entering the main academy for us is already like heaven for us coming from the outer academy so, I'm not really concerned with making it to the top 5 so for now, I'm only focused on making it to the top 20," a student said, "but maybe after I get into the main academy, I can start thinking about getting a spot among the top 5 in the annual competition."
"It seems this competition is not going to be a walk in the park," I mumbled.
Although I was confident that I could defeat an initial Master stage cultivator if I used my vampire form alongside some other abilities of mine, I was not still feeling confident enough to make it to the top 5 besides, I couldn't use my vampire form carefreely. Even though it was not easy to spot the difference between my vampire form and my human form, I still decided to use it as my trump card or if I sensed a very dangerous attack since I didn't know how everyone will react if they found out there was another life form apart from humans living with them.
"May I have your participation id?" The instructor at the entrance asked.
"Here it is," I said as I handed over the participation id I got during the registration.
"Alright Kai Everette, you are participant number 94," he said as he handed the id back to me, "and you don't have to bring it here anymore."
"Wow, this place is really huge," I muttered as I walked into the battle arena," but, I don't think they are any seats left."
"Can't you watch were you're going? What do you think will happen if the academy administrators hears that a student from the outer academy disrespected- ah, Kai' it's you," Sophie said as she looked at me, "What are you doing here? Or don't you know that this tournament is recommended for those that are at least peak Advance stage cultivators."
"Seriously, this is why I consider you as annoying sometimes," I said with a deadpan look, "Can't you sense my cultivation level and as for what I'm doing here, don't you know I'm still in the outer academy?"
Honestly, I felt Sophie was deliberately trying to make me angry and show her superiority. She already knew I wasn't in the main academy since we entered the academy on the same day, and she was also trying to rub off the fact that she has a higher cultivation than I do on my face.
"Anyway, what are you doing here?" I asked, "are you here to watch the tournament or participate in the tournament?"
"Of course, I'm here to participate in the tournament, otherwise why else would I be here," Sophie said as she looked at me as if I was brain dead or something, "besides, I'm hoping to make it to the top 5, they promised us a peak soul beast Overlord core good if we make it."
"Soul beast overlord core," I muttered, "seems like the boy from earlier wasn't lying."
A soul beast core was very rare to find and could only be found in one out of a thousand soul beast so the academy giving out 5 soul cores was already extravagant. A soul beast core was 100 times more effective than a soul shard so using it for cultivation was a very good option but due to their rarity and cost, people could only abandon them and continue with soul shards.
"I have to get my hand on this stuff," I said.
Although I felt I was already close to making a breakthrough and I knew it wouldn't take to long for it to happen, getting a soul beast core could reduce the time by about 97 percent.
"Stop dreaming, only students from the main academy are qualified to receive this reward," Sophie said, "besides, they are different powerhouses from the main academy competing for the soul cores. Even with my outstanding talent, I'm only confident in making it to the top 10 and as for making it to the top 5, it depends on my luck."
"Besides, with your current strength- what!!! How did you become a peak Advance stage cultivator in just 3 months? You're a monster, first you killed a soul beast overlord while you were just a mid level Advance stage cultivator and now, you're a peak Advance stage cultivator," she said with a wry smile, "your talent is even more shocking than those of the noble's."
"How do you even cultivate?"
"What do you mean by how I cultivate, I cultivate like every other person you idiot," I replied with a deadpan look, "besides I told you to sense my current strength earlier."
~" Tsk, trying to get information about my precious system, how shameless can you be?" I snorted inwardly.
There was no way I was going to give anyone information about my system besides, no main character would do something as dumb as that.
~" All competitors from the outer academy should come to the podium, failure to do so will result in immediate disqualification," an instructor announced.
"It seems like we are needed now," I said, "I'll see you later Sophie."
"Alright, see you later."
"Hmm, I better give them a good show," I said with a smirk as I walked towards the podium.