Chapter 90

A loud voice, magically amplified, sounded over the crowd, animating everyone watching the event: "Only three contestants are left in the race; everyone else has been knocked out at this point!"

The arena was filled with a massive crowd, closely watching a large video feed projected above their heads from a crystal ball on the floor of the arena.

It consisted of multiple different views showing the perspective of any of the contestants still in the race.

But at this point, there were only three remaining who actually had a chance. Anyone else is too far off from the goal.

"Prince Aeron of the former Dark Elven Empire has the natural advantage over his human competition with his natural nimbleness and stronger body, granted by his elvish bloodline. His slight lead is no surprise." The commentator announced loudly.

Under their former Queen Anya, the Dark Elves had resisted strongly against the newcomers who were conquering the Twilight Zone, especially since they were mostly humans.

Their rule had been in her eyes no different than the previous one, where Dark Elves, Gnomes, and other non-human races would have been suppressed.

But as soon as Anya had been killed by the Demonic Dragon King, they submitted for their own survival and had been integrated into the newly formed Empire ruling over the Twilight Zone.

To their surprise, they were treated equally and no different than the humans. Everyone in the Empire had the same rights and the same chances; the more they contributed to its betterment, the more they received in exchange.

They were even allowed to partake in the current event, the Emeperor's Challenge! While the stakes in this event were high, the price one could earn was incomparable—a Rank 4 meditation technique!

And the dark elves have a really high chance of winning; while the event was limited to only Acolytes, the son of the current Matriarch Alicia is a talent the elves hadn't seen in Centuries.

"His Challenger from the Nature's Alliance, that guild that joined Dragon's Gate, and the honorable Empereor, first, is only a few meters behind. Who would have expected that he would manage to trick the Dark Elven Prince with a clever illusion and close the gap between the two? Should he win, it would only elevate the position of his guild further. Especially since their head is one of the emperors secret lovers, if the rumors are true!" The announcers voices boomed through the arena in excitement.

The crowds were watching the show with excitement. After all, the winner would become a future powerhouse in the Empire!

"Can our favorite Dark Horse even catch up with his two opponents?" Baelin's successes in the event until now are a real surprise. He doesn't belong to any organization and doesn't possess the advantages, teachers, and resources the other athletes have. Only thanks to Empereors Decree of allowing anyone to get access to the Elemental Meditation Techniques and Grand Knight Training Techniques has he even gotten in here. And even with all his disadvantages, he made it to the final round! Will he surprise us again?"

Harry watched the whole event with interest from his Seat of Honor; after conquering the entirety of the Twilight Zone, he had fundamentally restructured it into a pure Magus society with everyone being allowed to practice.

After all, why waste talent? This way anyone could progress his own knowledge base.

He had structured this whole society around progress and competition, starting a phase of high development and resource generation. All for his own benefits. After all, the major gains were all coming to him since he controls all the key positions.

This event, the Empereors Challenge, was the very first of its kind. But it would occur now yearly from now on. Giving a Rank 4 meditation technique away wasn't really a problem.

At this point, after collecting all the available meditation techniques in the Twillight Zone and the tons of additional research, it wasn't hard to create low-grade Rank 4 meditation techniques.

Sure, they could reach Rank 4, which was a powerhouse anywhere in the Magus World. But this was their absolute limit thanks to their unstable foundation and lack of information on higher levels.

"What is this? Baelin speed suddenly increased! I don't recognize that spell. What kind of ability is it? This one was definitely not part of the public repository shared by the Emperor!"

A small grin graced Harry's lips. It was no surprise to him that Baelin had some form of Trumpcard. After all, this boy could be called a main character.

A Child of Destiny was the description he had in the original story.

Leylin had used him to create a divination artifact, the Coin of Destiny, but Harry had no interest in that. To be honest, he only remembered him because he appeared in this event. That technique was part of an Ancient Meditation Techniques repetoire called Bio Booster.

Harry had already stolen the knowledge out of his head during this event.

Like the branded Knights, Bio Boosters were a Knight-based branch of the Magi Culture using Bio Armors to progress in power.

Their strength, besides on their body, was mainly based on that armor. A fascinating new concept, but of limited use for Harry at this point. But he took the new knowledge freely; after all, he could strengthen his army with it by granting it to underlings who had no talent for being actual Magi.

As for the Coin of Destiny, it was of no interest for him since he had limited use for it. He had taken a look at Divination, but the whole concept was bound to a universe itself. And Harry, who was planning to leave this universe soon, had only limited use for it.

"Baelin has reached the core formation! He is activating the spell formation! Baelin is the winner of the final event, and like it was announced, the winner takes all!" The announcer loudly exclaimed with vigor, as the crowd was watching the projections on the screen with morbid fascination.

Every other contestant outside of the arena was turned into a cloud of blood by the power of the spell formation.

The requirement to joining this even was the acceptance that one would die if they lost. Only the winner gets a Rank 4 meditation technique; the losers turn into fuel for the human transmutation technique, creating a new high-grade philosopher stone.

Amongst the hundred thousand new Rank 3 acolytes produced every year in the Twilight Zone, there would be still hundreds of participants willing to join this event for a Rank 4 meditation technique.

And this was just the first one; there would be even more participants once the new laws had worked their magic and everyone was a Magus.

The free Rank 1 and trough contribution earned Rank 2 Advanced Meditation Techniques that Harry was granting access to, for everyone wouldn't be enough for the ambitious ones in the population.

Harry wouldn't complain.

Soon Neela approached him with a blue glowing stone and said, "Here it is. The first high-grade Philosopher Stone was created by the Empire. Baelin is currently with Bicky, selecting his meditation technique."

"Good, and every year we will get a new one in this endless circle we have created." Harry said as he watched the stone in the palm on his hand.

It was in fact the base ingredient to reproduce his own meditation technique; though the core ingredient, a bit of an existing Dragon Soul was missing.

A Philosopher Stone was nothing else than a usable and malleable soul container that could be used to create a more powerful soul like he had done.

But it had many alternative uses, like its original use, creating new matter from the energy stored inside.

A high-grade one like this one made out of cultivated souls had an even greater use. It actually is able to recreate magical materials. Of course, the more powerful the material was, the higher the energy consumption.

There were many things that were out of reach for a philosopher stone made out of acolyte souls. Unfortunately, the amount of actual Magi produced by the Empire was limited, and they didn't want to waste their manpower yet.

This one could still produce many ingredients for powerful ancient potions, artifacts, and more.

Harry had even attempted to recreate a Devil Fruit with it. But the energy was too low with the one in his possession. No wonder a Devil Fruit could produce someone with at least the abilities of a Rank 2 to 3 being.

"Here, put it into the Treasury. Only leaders with the same clearance as yourself are allowed to use it. Our supply is still limited." Harry said as he handed it back to Neela, he still had his one in his inventory and another one as part of his S0ul.

His Soul could act in the same way, a side effect of using a Philosopher Stone, but of course the amount of energy stored was limited too.

"Yes, Emperor!" She said cheekily.

"Stop calling me that!" Harry pouted before he complained, "I have no idea who had the bright idea of declaring me an emperor, but once I find that person, they will pay for it. The whole Empereor this, Empereor that is becoming annoying! Is there anything else?"

"Mhh, Bessita sent a message. Maybe you should take a look yourself."

"Wait, is anything wrong with the project?" He asked worried before he disappeared with a plop reappearing at the Headquarters of Dragon's Gate.

He quickly rushed into the core area, towards the base of his now-finished magus tower, into a large central room.

"Bessita, what is it?" He asked in panic as he saw the beautiful girl stand there and watch the project. Then he froze abruptly.

Behind her stood it.

A massive-looking stone archway, giving off an ominous feeling. It was strange since he knew it was new. Just earlier it had looked new, but now it looked ancient.

In between the two Stone Pillars of the Arch was a strange emptiness. But his heightened senses could feel a strange, familiar presence.

It was working!

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