Who could blame Felix for feeling like this?
An open challenge for three days implied that he wouldn't be given much time to rest between his battles.
"Although it's called an open challenge, not everyone can apply to fight you." Anastasia clarified, "We have already chosen the best thirty contestants from four clans, who are slightly short from being picked in any of the teams."
"Is there going to be a time limit for each battle?" Felix asked.
"Naturally, we want everyone to have a fair chance."
Anastasia might have worded it like this, but Felix understood that this rule was implemented to avoid the fights dragging out for too long.
It would be for the benefits of Felix since he would have fewer challengers to fight against.
"I see...What was the reaction of the royal dragons when they heard about me?"
Felix wondered in intrigue, not expecting that the white dragon clan would expose to everyone that they had picked him out of everyone.
"We haven't yet exposed it." Anastasia smiled, "Everyone knows that there will be a fight for a slot but not all the details about it. We believe that it's much better to come out with our decision during the test, so there would be less talking and more actions."
In other words, the white clan wouldn't be required to explain themselves before everyone and leave it at the hands of Felix.
If he survived the test and kept his slot, then he would prove that he was the fittest to enter the ceremony.
If he lost, he would be replaced by another dragon and no one would be upset about it anymore.
It was the smartest decision to make to avoid unnecessary backlash.
"Not bad." Felix smirked, "White dragons can be really cunning too."
"We are the considered as the most intelligence clan in the royal family." Anastasia smirked back.
'I want to join the conversation too...' Selphie pouted in frustration, feeling left out by them...She was too nice to interject in such a serious subject.
"May I get the list of the challengers?" Felix inquired.
Since they were all going to be prestigious strong royal dragons, he felt that most of them would be part of the SGPlatform.
"Sure thing." Anastasia offered him a long holographic list of names.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtAs he expected, Felix had found more than ten familiar popular names in the SGPlatform. All of them were ranked at the highest rank of the radiant rank.
"I believe you understand now the severity of your situation." Anastasia shared, "Just because they are still considered as radiant ranked players, it doesn't mean that they are as strong as the ones you dealt with in the primogenitors' event."
"I know." Felix nodded.
Since the empyrean rank allowed entry for only five hundred players and nothing more, this meant that the peak radiant rank was stagnated with ten thousand players if not more.
All of them seek a way to get themselves in the empyrean rank too, but it was ten times harder than climbing from bronze to radiant rank.
That's due to the fact that almost all current five hundred empyrean players were old monsters, who existed for a hundred thousand years and even millions!
Some of them were considered as one of the founders of the entire platform like the Elder Dragon.
So, it was simply almost impossible to defeat even the lowest empyrean ranked player even though he was merely considered as a tier away.
In other words, the peak radiant rank was considered as the true modern summit in the platform.
Reaching it entailed that the player had touched the ceiling of the platform and should be celebrated as one of the strongest beings in the universe.
Felix was going to be fighting thirty royal dragons, who were stuck in this rank for over decades if not longer.
"Are there going to be any empyrean ranked dragons in the ceremony?" Felix wondered.
"No." Anastasia shook her head, "Prince Domino could be considered as one of the few prodigies with enough potential to cross the barrier and secure his spot in the empyrean rank at a young age. But, he has retired from the platform for some reason."
"How about Princess Chozzus and Prince Arentis."
"Well, they are trying each year to qualify themselves for the promotion battle, but they keep failing at the finish line when they face against the empyrean monsters." Anastasia replied.
"Is that so."
Felix already knew that the ceremony wouldn't be having any empyrean ranked players in it...But, it didn't hurt to ask again since many things could happen in two years and a half.
"I believe in you Felix." Selphie cheered, finally finding a way to be part of their conversation.
"I will do my best." Felix smiled back.
"Are you planning to train again?" Anastasia inquired.
Selphie's heart skipped a beat at the sound of that, dreading the fact that he would enter another 'closed training'.
"Naturally." Felix nodded, "I need to complete my integration before the test, so I will be truly at my best."
Selphie couldn't help but sigh in relief. She knew that it was impossible for humans' to integrate every day unless they wanted their minds to snap from the torturous pain.
"Let's grab something to eat in the city." Felix proposed while standing up.
"Sure."
"Really!"
Both Anastasia and Selphie stood up after him, not disliking the idea...They knew that ever since Felix stepped foot in the city, he never truly toured it.
Felix wasn't really that interested in touring the city, he just didn't want to appear like a dick before Selphie and send her away to focus on his training.
He might not be interested in her romantically, but he truly treated her as his friend.
****
Four Months Later...
Felix could be seen sitting on his room's floor while setting up his integration materials and equipment.
For the past months, he was focusing mostly on his integration, poison conversion technique, and perfecting his new air combat.
He had already reached 80% in his integration and was still pushing to 99%.
However, just as he picked the needle, Mistress Candace shared with everyone, "We have finally arrived at our destination."
The moment they heard her, everyone dropped whatever they were doing and regrouped at Lady Sphinx's living room.
Even Felix beamed everything back and logged in the UVR.
"Can you share your perspective?" Thor requested calmly as he eyed Mistress Candace.
"Of course."
Mistress Candace manifested a holographic circular screen and connected it with her eyes...It was like a live stream that operated on a consciousness level instead utilizing the Queen Ai.
"As magnificent and scary as ever."
Felix mumured as he eyed the humongous blue ice world suspended in the middle of nowhere.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmNoah and Mistress Candace were still extremely far from it...Yet, the ice world still seemed to be right in front of their eyes.
"Should we make a move now?" Mistress Candace asked for permission.
Everyone looked at Fenrir, knowing that it wasn't up to them to make such a decision.
"Is the kid good?" Fenrir asked coldly.
Mistress Candace relayed it to Noah and all he did was show a thumb up in front of Mistress Candace's eyes.
He was lucky that he wasn't able to see through dimensions. Otherwise, the sheer size of the ice world would honestly cripple him mentally for a few minutes if not more.
It was like seeing Jupiter instead of the moon from the window of your house...The sight was enough to short circuit anyone's brain.
"He looks ready." Thor eyed Fenrir, "It's time brother."
"It's indeed time." Fenrir narrowed his eyes at the world ice and said composedly, "You can begin."
Without further ado, Mistress Candace approached the ice world in a moderate speed from the void realm, so the consciousness stream wouldn't be affected.
After she reached the surface of the ice world, Felix felt chills course on his spine at the sight of cosmic blue waves being emitted from the ice world.
It was like the sun's released solar waves, except those blue waves were cold enough, not a single material could escape being frozen solid instantly.
Fearless, Mistress Candace penetrated the surface and continued her journey inside the ice world.
Everything around her was just pure ice.
In a short while, she reached the core of the ice world...All of them knew it instantly because it resembled a snow-white sphere.
"I am in the center of it." Fenrir informed.
Mistress Candace nodded in understanding and kept on moving...Before long, she was forced to halt.
Mistress Candace was quite fearless and calm as long as she was in the void realm, knowing that almost no one would harm her.
But the sight before her had truly made her unable to move a single inch forward.
A gargantuan white furred wolf was seen floating in the center with frozen heavy injuries all over his body.
What made Mistress Candace unable to take another step was Fenrir's eyes.
They were wide open and staring directly in her direction with thick murderous intent, she was feeling right in her soul!
'So scary...I wanna go home...' Mistress Candace started shivering in her place, not daring to have eye contact with Fenrir's!
She knew that he was asleep even though his eyes were open...But, her guts still refused to let her get closer.
That's what it meant to be so close to an actual pissed off primogenitor in the real world!