Death... and me

He looked behind him and noticed a young man. From his appearance, he was around 18 years old or so. However, what caught Roan's attention was his red robe sewn with golden threads. Before coming to the Profound Abyss, the Sect warned its disciples about the things they should pay attention to.

That robe represented the power of the Capital, possibly someone directly descending from the Imperial Family. If possible, they should avoid any conflict with those...at least until they enter the Profound Abyss anyway. Once inside the Profound Abyss, no background would matter. Those were the Imperial Family's own words. Of course, Roan wasn't inside the Profound Abyss yet.

"Kid, give me that piece of Yin Ice Ore. I have a use for it."

Roan snorted and then threw it at the man. Soon after, he turned around and left as if nothing had happened at all.

The man looked at Roan's indifferent expression as he passed the ore over. Still, he ignored it and paid for the ore before leaving as well. Why should he pay attention to a kid from an ant-like power? He was too proud to do that.

[Ah! My Yin Energy! Why did you just leave? We found that ore first!]

Roan shook his head in response.

'What? You want me to start a betting war with him? Eventually, it will come to a point where we need to fight over it, creating some deep grudge or whatever? Ha! What kind of shit cliche story is that? Forget it!'

[But...]

'Stop complaining. First of all, considering his background, it was a wonder whether all my Rank Two Spirit Stones would be enough to win this price contest. Second, there is no need to buy a fight against someone of the Imperial Family. Did you forget what the man said? That was a failed Yin Ice Ore being sold for only 500 Spirit Stones. From the looks of it, we should be able to find more of them in the future. Besides, I'm not in the mood to make everyone pay attention to me. We better keep a low profile until the Profound Abyss opens.'

[Low profile? I don't think that's possible anymore.]

Roan was taken aback.

'Why's that?'

[Well... Malaka could be said to be doing anything but keeping a low profile.]

Roan's eyes narrowed. He immediately understood that it had something to do with Rean.

'Where are those idiots?'

Meanwhile, in the place where most of the participants were gathered to compete against each other...

There was a small arena where two bodies of water could be seen. Under them, one could see a formation shining with blue light while being fed by the Spirit Stones around. That was one of the things the young Profound Abyss participants liked to use to compete against each other. It was none other than the Water Element Disruption Formation. Of course, there were other similar ones for other elements around as well.

The objective was to use one's control over the Water Element while being affected by the formation to complete a few tasks as fast as possible. For example, one had to use the body of water inside the formation to attack several distant targets. Or perhaps, use their control to make it assume some complicated form decided beforehand. Simply put, there were several ways to use it.

Cultivation had no meaning in this. All that mattered was one's affinity and proficiency with the Water Element. Of course, it's more or less common sense that the higher one's cultivation is, the more affinity and proficiency one would get. Usually, those challenges would be done between cultivators with similar cultivation levels. However...

"Winner, Inna Malaka!"

*Wow!*

Malaka then laughed out loud as three water models lost their Spiritual Energy support and fell into the pond again. Malaka and her opponent were tasked to create three identical models to a demon beast that was present at the moment. If both parties finished simultaneously, the winner would be the one who made the most life-like one.

"Hahaha! I won again! Spirit Stones, pay up, pay up!"

The other disciples of several sects and organizations around couldn't help but be shocked with Malaka's talent.

"She won against Luvoni Farol of the Sarar Royal Family. He is already in the Middle Stage of the Core Formation Realm, but he still lost."

"An entire cultivation realm's worth of difference? That's crazy!"

"Not only that, look at her appearance. She's still a kid! What kind of talent is that? Does she have a Purple Color Aptitude?"

"Not even close! One has to first show their Aptitude before starting. She is a genuine Blue Color Aptitude!"

"Isn't that crazy?! I heard that Luvoni has a Red Color Aptitude and Water Element Affinity. How did he lose being an entire cultivation level above her?"

"I'm more curious about why she took the challenge. Her opponent was obviously at a much higher level. Could it be that Luvoni held back?"

"Held back? Are you blind? Didn't you see the speed she formed the three models of water? Luvoni definitely went all out, but he still lost by a hair's breadth."

"How many Water Affinity opponents has she defeated already?"

"With Luvoni being defeated, 17."

Rean looked at that and couldn't help but feel excited in response. Turns out they were making a fortune with it. When they arrived, they looked around to see which one Malaka should participate. In the end, he decided to use Water Disruption Formation challenges. Not only that, but he had Malaka hold back against her opponents on purpose, always winning by just a bit.

With that, the challengers kept coming, expecting that to be her limit. Finally, her opponents' levels increased to the point where she was already being challenged by people with higher aptitudes and much higher cultivation. Obviously, the number of observers began to grow as well. Right now, there were hundreds of onlookers watching the show. Of course, that was anything but low profile.

"Well done, Malaka!"

Rean quickly received the Luvoni guy's payment, who obviously wasn't very willing to pay, and returned to her side. Even for Luvoni, Rank Three Spirit Stones were very important. Just now, he lost 100 of them to Malaka. Still, going back on one's words in this place was not possible. These competitions between the Profound Abyss participants were being observed by several elders of all sects and other organizations. Obviously, they wouldn't allow any of the young ones to go back on their words.

Rean and Malaka had accumulated a total of 1256 Rank Three Spirit Stones, a very high number without a doubt. Back in the Sect, Rean could exchange Rank Two Spirit Stones for Rank Three ones. However, Rank Three Spirit Stones were still crucial for the Sect, so there was a limit of at most 100 per month for that trade. In just a few hours, the two of them had amassed an entire year's worth of Rank Three Spirit Stones!

"Hahaha! Rean, I'm amazing, right, right?!"

Rean laughed as he patted her head, much to Malaka's delight.

"Of course, you are my little sister, after all."

Little did they know that Roan had a very dark expression as he looked at them from a distance. What low profile? Those two idiots had basically caught everyone's attention over themselves.