The talk

Hearing his grandmother's voice, Jayce felt mixed emotions. But he eventually went to the door. Seeing how his grandmother asked his permission and did not enter on her own accord, he felt maybe he would get the information he wanted from her.

"Come in"

Clara walked into his room, then Jayce closed the door and went back to the study table, pulled the chair and sat as he gestured his grandmother to sit on the bed.

Clara didn't say anything as she calmly looked at him, hoping she could finally find the root cause of the trust the head had in him.

Jayce, on the contrary, felt like ants crawling on his skin as he saw her watching him with hawk-like eyes.

Eventually, Clara broke the silence.

"You must hate me."

Jayce didn't say anything, no, he didn't know what to say. After all, he indeed disliked what his grandmother had done.

"OK, Jayce. Let me first explain what I meant by you being a possible head of the Roderick family. I'm sure, for a smart child like you, it wouldn't be too difficult to understand."

She pressed the word 'smart' while saying those words, causing Jayce's heart to race in panic.

"First of all, in order to become the head of a paragon grade family, you must win against the chosen one from each paragon family in the realms of Adept, Master and Grandmaster."

"Win?" Jayce's frowned.

"Yes, exactly as it sounds. You must win against them in a fight, with the majority. For example, there are a total of 5 paragon grade families in the Asper Empire, including the royal family. You know that much?"

Jayce nodded at her question.

"So, you have to fight a chosen person from those families in those three realms and win. For example, you must do a 4-0 or 3-1 in order to 'win'. Draws are not considered winning but not considered losing either. So, there will be a rematch in that case."

"Wait, what does me fighting against them have to do with me becoming the head of our family?"

Jayce questioned.

"Mmm.. Have you ever seen our family head?"

"No"

"Do you know what realm he might be in?"

"Transcendent"

Jayce answered without a pause.

'It's quite obvious that even you, a nominal head, are a Monarch,' he thought to himself.

"Correct. In order to become the head of a paragon grade family, one must be a Transcendent. So, this entire so-called competition is just for you to prove that you're someone who could become a Transcendent."

"Again, how come fighting against them can prove me someone worthy of becoming a Transcendent?"

"It's because Transcendents are said to be unrivaled in their generation. By beating them, you're basically beating the best of the best of your generation. So, that's how."

Hearing that, Jayce couldn't help but gulp.

'Best of bests? Seriously, you want me to fight against those guys in a row, not once but against them three times in three different realms?'

Looking at the now pitiful figure of Jayce, Clara felt guilty. She decided to add up,

"But don't worry, there are pros to this as well. The family will spend all the resources we could on training you, and prizes will be given by the Human Federation for the fight you win, along with an opportunity to become a disciple of a Transcendent."

But contrary to her expectations, Jayce's frown became deeper.

'There's no free lunch in this world.'

"Pros, huh? Then what about the punishment or consequences of failure?"

Jayce looked at his grandmother.

Clara hesitated for a while before reluctantly saying,

"There are no consequences..."

"There are none?"

Jayce voiced in shock with raised eyebrows.

"Yes, no consequences...on paper."

Clara smiled wryly, causing Jayce to frown again.

" You see Jayce, I think it's still not something that you should learn n-"

"No, I want to know."

Before Clara could even finish her sentence, Jayce intercepted. After some serious thought and seeing her grandson being stubborn about this, she eventually relented,

"Fine, I will tell you. But, it should be kept a secret. OK?"

Jayce nodded.

"When a potential candidate loses at the end of the competition, then the family that he belongs to will have to pay a certain remuneration to the other paragon ranked families who participated in that. It will be either in terms of territory or other valuable stuff, including our techniques."

"That's it?"

Jayce raised her eyebrows at his answer and made Clara frown this time.

"What do you mean by 'that's it?' There are a total of 4 families which will participate in the competition against us. Even if every family asked for just ten percent of our territory, we would lose 40 percent without ever being able to take them back and giving up our techniques is even worse."

"And also, the family's branch of the candidate, will never be able to become the main branch ever again, irrespective of their contributions. All of this will happen just because of a single person. Now, would you still say 'that's it?'"

Jayce remained silent for a while.

'Well, it's indeed too much to lose, but compared to my life and future, it's still worth enough.'

"What if I don't want to?"

"You cannot not participate. That's the reason this information would first be announced to the Human Federation beforehand. There's no place a human can hide in the human domain if they want to find you."

'Mmm, so running away is not an option. But, they said three realms. Then what if I breakthrough late or never breakthrough to expert or further at-'

"If you're thinking of what ifs, like what if I never breakthrough or never reach those realms? Rest assured, irrespective of whether you reach you or not. If the majority of the competitors break through, you will be forced to fight them within a year from that point."

Jayce was dumbfounded as he stared at her while she said things he was just thinking in his mind.

'Can she read my min-'

'If you're thinking whether I'm reading your mind. No, I'm not. Even though I could, I would never do that."

"Then how?"

"Your face. You're not as good as an actor you think you are."

*Peng*

Jayce's heart thumped loudly as he stared at her with wide eyes.

Seeing his reactions, a conflicted look appeared on her face. She didn't know whether to laugh or cry at her grandson's expressions. After all, he is still a 5-year-old boy.

'Those words... how long did she know them for? I mean, I kinda predicted it might be the case after knowing she was a monarch, but still...'

Jayce was still processing her words, then suddenly his attention was grabbed by something else,

'Wait, even so, all of these are consequences that directly affect the family. Although I will end up being hated and shunned, it still doesn't directly punish me. I don't think it will be that simple."

Jayce looked at his grandmother. Looking right into her eyes, he asked,

"Then... You said what would happen to the family or our branch if I lost, but what about me who actually lost? It surely wouldn't end just like that with only the family being the only one punished, will it?"

Clara looked at Jayce, she looked troubled.

'Even though the head insisted on me saying the full details, should I really do it?'

"Like how winning participants are accepted as disciples, losing participants are given a task by the Human Federation."

"How many people have completed their tasks that were given to them?"

"I... don't know."

Jayce sneered in his heart. It's an answer he didn't expect.

'Of course. If you don't know, then it means they are either dead or have become a Transcendent.'

'But, why would a Transcendent candidate lose in that competition when they are supposed to be unrivaled? Either that information on candidate requirement was false or they're most likely dead.'

This was the conjecture he made as soon as he received that reply.

"Then, has anyone seen them after that competition or knows what task they were assigned to by the federation?"

"...No, nobody knows when that task was given or what those tasks were. They just disappeared from this land like they never existed in the first place."

For a while, no one spoke up, giving way to an awkward, deadly silence to form in the room.

Clara looked at her grandson who now closed his eyes as if deeply contemplating something.

She steeled her resolve as she broke that silence,

"Jayce, I know."

Jayce looked at her and tilted his head as if asking, 'What are you talking about?'

"I know that you're an oddity."

----

A..N:

Hello!

Hope you all liked the chapter. If there are any issues, leave them in the comment box.

If you have liked the series so far, add it to your collection or if you find this good, just leave behind a review.

Thank you!