Sam used the dimensional drifter to go back to Planet 1.
He appeared in his residence.
He didn't come out immediately. He freshened him up. Picked his feather coat and went out of the home.
The trio is not in. Sam figured that would happen. They don't have much to do anyway. But when he came out of the home, he was surprised to see that there are very few people on the street.
They are extremely scarce. He started walking around to see if he would understand anything and he noticed that everyone is walking in the same direction and some people are even running in that direction with excitement.
Sam caught hold of a teen young man running and asked.
"What is happening? Why are all people running in that direction?"
The one Sam caught is actually a half-elf. When he looked at Sam asking these questions, he looked at him as if he was an idiot.
"What do you mean what is happening? Don't you know? It is the big fight that is going on for the past seven days."
"Big fight?" Sam got even more confused.
"You don't know anything? Then don't waste my time. I will miss the fight."
Sam didn't stop him and just followed him in that direction.
Soon, he reached the edge of the city and there is a large arch leading everyone into a forest which is surrounded by a wall.
Sam frowned at this. This is the forest that is developed in a certain way. It is only for high-level competitions and challenges. The election tournament that is supposed to have taken place in the past week would also take place here.
But from what learned the tournament should have been already ended. But it seems like it is still going on.
When Sam entered, he saw everyone waking towards the large auditorium that usually holds the hand-to-hand combat.
But now it is showing a large holographic three-dimensional video of the forest.
Sam is a bit confused about all the hype. From what he knew the tournament is just a normal battle tournament that tests the skills in one on one combat.
He sat in the topmost row of seats as he watched the video carefully. There are a lot of people in the forest. The elves, half-elves, centaurs, and humans, and there are many people fighting around.
But soon Sam noticed that everyone's attention is on one particular place within the tournament that seems to be the main focus of the tournament. To his surprise, Sam saw his friends in that focused area.
Watt, Philip, and Jack are currently running within the forest as they escaped the pursuit of a dozen or so people chasing them.
Sam frowned at this. No matter what, this is a bit absurd as dozens of people are pursuing a single person.
This is completely nuts.
He needs some answers.
He looked at a group of teenagers nearby who are looking at it with much excitement. Among them is the half-elf that Sam met on the way.
He walked towards them and asked.
"What is happening in this tournament?"
The kid looked at Sam and his face changed a bit and said scornfully.
"Why are you here, if you don't even know what is happening in the tournament? Don't waste our time."
Sam didn't get angry and just took out a spatial ring and tossed it at him.
The kid caught it and checked the contents and his eyes widened in disbelief.
"That's yours if you explain the situation to me."
The kid walked out of the group and dragged Sam to the side before asking with a smile.
"What do you want to know? I will tell you everything." Sam shook his head at how fickle this guy is and said.
"Tell me from the beginning of the tournament. Isn't it supposed to be a normal battle tournament? Why did it turn into this?"
The kid didn't pass any snide remarks now and spoke.
"The tournament format was changed last minute. It is not a restricted tournament anymore. It is free for all tournaments and anyone can participate at any time.
But it only changed for the Pre-transcendent stage cultivators. Not the rest.
For some reason, the officials changed the format for that one cultivation level and the reason they gave us that they felt like the pre-transcendent cultivators of this era is just too great and too powerful. It is some kind of golden age or something. With that, they threw a new tournament which started two days ago.
Everyone will be given a badge when they enter the forest and out of all of them, three people will have a special ruby badge. For ten days, they have to hold on to those badges. Anyone can try and fight for them. By the end of ten days, the three people that have those three badges will be considered the top three and they will fight between themselves to decide who gets what rank.
And for some reason, those three people who recently become famous in the city got those ruby badges and now they are being chased by everyone in the tournament. Apart from the badges, there are various other treasures and threats hidden in the forest which could help with their survival.
There are fights breaking for those treasures as well.
But that is not the end, there is another absurd rule.
Out of the ten days, anyone can enter the tournament in the first five days and fight for it. After five days, the doors will be closed and only the people already in can fight for it.
This is the third day and the trio already beat the crap out of many people. But we heard that today, the city guard is also joining in and some elites from the army units are coming.
The situation is extremely tense and the fights are great. That trio is making these elites look like some little kids. That is why everyone is interested."
Sam thought for a second and second.
"You can go now. I will ask you if I need anything."
"Sure, sure. You can find me in the fruit street. I live there."
Sam didn't care much and looked around. He felt like the whole thing is a bit suspicious. There is nothing wrong with the tournament. In fact, it is more challenging. But all three ruby badges coming to his friends, this is a bit suspicious.
He is looking for Raunak. If the whole city is here, then there is no way he wouldn't be here.
After some time, he couldn't take it anymore and sat in his seat and looked into the divine dimension to take a peek at the crystal table.
It is easy to find someone in it and he can also send the message directly.
And it worked. Raunak is sitting in the front row and he seemed to be frowning.
He is in an extremely bad mood and at this moment, he heard a familiar voice in his head and all of a sudden he stood up and started running towards the entrance of the forest.
Sam also stood up and went to the entrance where Raunak is already waiting.
As soon as he saw Sam he came running to him and spoke.
"Thank god. You finally came. Where did you go all this while? They said you are in research."
His voice sounded hopeful as if he found an oasis in the middle of the desert.
"What happened?"
"Your friends, they are in trouble."
"Trouble?"
"This is Rajan's plan. He put a bounty on their heads, everyone is so focused on them because of that."
"Bounty? How much is that?"
"I don't know. The ruby badges landing in their hands is also his plan. The tournament is also changed because of that. If I am not wrong, he might even have messed up the escape tokens of the trio. I already told them to not do this, but they didn't listen."
"Why? Is there any special reward?"
"There are rewards, but what reward is more important than their lives. there are dozens of people going after them."
"How did they do in the past two days? Is the fight too difficult?"
"No, they are still doing okay. They didn't have any challenges. They are good with the forest and cutting down each one of them."
"Then it is okay for now. I will deal with it if there is any other problem. Let them stay for now. What about Ramya? Did you meet her yet?"
Raunak lost all the light in his eyes and stayed silent.
Sam frowned and said.
"Don't tell me she is not on this planet and left somewhere else."
"No, she is in a house arrest. They are using all kinds of twisted logic to keep her away from me. I was being given all kinds of diplomatic and bureaucratic work to deal with all kinds of educational institutions since I am the only one 'free' in the department. In the fourteen days I wasn't able to meet her in the morning and every night I was denied entry into the estate.
The situation is not looking good."
"Then, why didn't you meet her in secret."
"There are Consummate level cultivators in their estate. How can I do that?"
"Why don't you put him on trial or something? He did make a contract didn't he?"
"He did, but all the trial procedures are postponed to be done after the tournament."
"Your father-in-law is a fucking pest. Irritating, damaging, and difficult to get rid of. I gave you my word, I will help you with this, so I will stay till the end. Anyway, I have a lot of things that I want you to do for me.
Try in a normal way if you can deal with this. But if you can't then I will help you in my own way.
Let us go and see the battle for now."
