JacQuarius and Tela arrived in front of a huge casino.
They walked in ready to wreak havoc, but after a short walk through the casino's lobby, he received a text message.
It stated," We know you're about to attack the Tanaka Family, and we also know about your ex-family member Ian, stealing your girlfriend's soul. We'll help you on one condition. You have to accept our condition first or else the offer is off the table! Looking forward to your answer!"
At first, JacQuarius didn't know how to react.
But why wouldn't he accept? An unknown enemy is watching him, accepting the condition could give him more information on this unknown enemy!
So he instantly replied," I'll accept it but on one condition of my own: Tell me your identity."
He received a reply instantly like they could read his mind or something.
"Excellent choice! There is an upcoming tournament in 2 weeks, the prize is an abundant amount of cultivation resources for the winner. Your arch-enemies, Ian and Daniel, will also be participating in it! Our condition is for you to beat Daniel and Ian, if you fulfill it then we'll return Kiyomi's soul to you as compensation. Sounds amazing right? But here is the bad news, if you lose then we'll destroy Kiyomi's soul and allow either of them to kill you. Keep that in mind, and also keep this in mind. Our identity is the organization that Ian works for."
JacQuarius was extremely confused, he had so many questions.
How were they watching him? Is a secret expert following him around and reporting all his actions?
He also thought why would they want him to defeat Ian and Daniel?
It was such a weird situation, he couldn't do anything but ignore it for now.
JacQuarius then informed Tela of the situation, they decided to head somewhere safe and begin training.
They had to get cultivation materials first, so they stopped at a shop along the way.
Cultivation materials are incredibly expensive, with various price ranges.
For example, a bronze rank material could range from 100k-300k, a silver rank could range from 250k-500k, etc.
Emperor and legend-rank materials were invaluable, no one even thinks about selling those.
He managed to come out with 500 silver rank materials, 1,000 bronze rank materials, and 3 Heaven animal corpses for Jimmy.
He haggled the store owner intensely, nearly engaging in a fight. If the store wasn't a gold rank expert, they probably would have robbed him.
He talked the store owner into selling, both the silver and bronze rank materials in bulk. Silver ranks at 350k/per material costing 175 million, and bronze were 150k/per material costing 150 million. He managed to talk down the price of Heaven Animal Corpses as well, they're way more expensive, starting at 100+ million, but he managed to talk the man down into selling them for 75m/per corpse, totaling 225 million.
So in total, he spent 175+150= 325. Then 325+225=550. A total of 550 million!
That left him with around 50 million as pocket change.
I know what you're thinking," 50 million is a huge amount to be pocket change."
For the cultivation world, 50 million is an extremely small amount, most Silver-Gold Rank Cultivators were sitting on at least 1+ Billion, especially the gold rank experts, their wealth was billions, literal billions, not singular either.
Diamond and above rank cultivators didn't even need money in most cases, as everything they would receive was considered a "token of appreciation" but don't get it wrong, their wealth is unmatched with no estimate.
Okutama, 2 Days Later
Tela and JacQuarius were hard at training, while Jimmy just ate and watched.
Tela had just finished his intense workout, so he began to cultivate his body with his remaining materials.
Cultivation materials are like steroids, they improve your cultivation faster, but it's still a slow process, and continues to get slower the higher rank you achieve.
After using around 700 materials, Tela finally made a breakthrough!
His body rose from Bronze to Silver rank!
All his senses greatly improved, it's like he drunk an energy drink with a ton of caffeine.
JacQuarius then congratulated Tela on the achievement.
"How about we throw them hands nigga? You and Jimmy vs me."
"Fuck yeah, nigga."
They both retreated 25 steps away from each other.
Turned around.
And began charging at each other!
Two Piece Style: Crossfist Blast!
A huge fist-like blast flew at JacQuarius!
Tenfold Draconic Style: Dragon's Flight!
He flew into the air dodging the blast.
"Jimmy get that nigga!"
Jimmy fired off a few fireballs at JacQuarius.
JacQuarius dodged 2 and took the 3rd one directly to the chest, crashing to the ground.
Tela quickly took advantage of the situation!
Two Piece Style: Blazing Phoenix Strike!
With the inspiration from JacQuarius's old fiery fist technique, Tela created his own!
His fist was enshrouded with a bright red fire, inching closer to JacQuarius every second.
Tenfold Draconic Style: Draconic Shield!
JacQuarius immediately activated his defensive skill, trying to block Tela's attack.
IT BROKE THROUGH!!!
The shield immediately crumbled, and JacQuarius took the attack head-on.
JacQuarius got up, with his clothes half destroyed, bleeding from his mouth, and his fake eye missing.
Why didn't he use his artifact?
It's a friendly spar, just testing each other strength, artifacts are for life-or-death battles. Artifacts aren't invincible, imagine you use an artifact in a spar, and it breaks then you've lost an artifact for no reason.
"Damn Tela, your strength is crazy. You broke my fucking nose. Now it's my turn nigga, take this head on if you not pussy!"
JacQuarius then used his Malevolent Wyvern transformation, turning into the evil dragon.
Tenfold Draconic Style: Decadragon's Wrath!
JacQuarius charged his Heaven Qi into the dragon's mouth before firing off a Draconic Aura sphere, flying at Tela!
Weave Weave Style: Golem!
Tela's body immediately hardened to like a Golem's state!
Tela took the attack head on, his defensive skill minimized the damage, barely burning and scarring his chest.
But it was too late!
He didn't realize Jimmy and JacQuarius Swapped places!
Tenfold Draconic Style: Omega Wyvern Strike!
Tela's defensive skill immediately broke, he fell to the floor in sheer pain.
His back was heavily damaged, gushing out lots of blood.
It was alot more than a flesh would, you could practically see his spine!
And the scary thing was that it wasn't even the full power of his attack, he actually held back!
His dragon transformation ended, and he collapsed to the floor.
His attacks are very powerful, but they're also very exhausting!
He needed to get more Dragon-style cultivation materials, so he could turn his Heaven Qi into Dragon Qi.
The transformation of Heaven Qi is something that normally happens after reaching Gold Rank, turning into the cultivator's main style.
For example, if a Metal Style cultivator reached Gold rank, his Heaven Qi would evolve into Metal Qi, complementing his Metal Style.
But it can happen before Gold Rank.
If a cultivator got enough cultivation materials of his style, he could nourish his Heaven Qi with it, evolving it early.
That was JacQuarius's plan, but the store didn't have any dragon-style materials.
After regaining his energy, he got back up, and him and Tela began training again.
After all, it was a life or death situation coming up!