30, 29, 28... 10,9,8...

3... 2... 1...

GO!

*Fwshhh* *FWShhh*

In a flash, at a distance of almost a hundred meters around Ken, strings flew almost haphazardly, but they were tightly controlled by Ken, cutting everybody and giving them not so much as a chance to speak.

No one was his ally in here, and he wouldn't give anyone not worthy of going on the trip a chance.

Not because it was selfish, but because it was doing them a favor.

Inside of the secret realm, there was no such thing as safety, and every rule one could say applied to all secret realms could be changed in a flash due to the indescribable powers of the abominations.

Thus, allowing anyone who wasn't strong enough or had the mentality for that kind of environment would make things difficult for everybody.

That was that, and there was the fact that if he didn't take care of them, they'd think they have a chance, and well, pity didn't work in such tournaments.

The same way he would slam them to the ground in a real-world situation, he would slice their head in a virtual one.

And thus, in a flash, Ken had an entire clearing for himself where no one so much as approached.

Those who were on the periphery of this zone saw the death of everyone near him and thus, naturally, without exception, stayed the heck away.

By now, it was an unspoken rule that when it came to Ken, there were only positive surprises, no unexpected outcomes.

You'd say he wouldn't be able to achieve something, and he'd do it. Yet, when you say there's no way Ken could lose, then that means there's no way he would.

Simple as that.

And thus, time passed by, without anyone stepping inside of the hundred-meter zone around Ken.

And as one would expect, the members who had the most chance of winning all won, and those who couldn't even take care of simple ascension tower trials obviously couldn't win against such monsters who coordinated so well amongst themselves.

And the tournament finished without a hitch or anything unexpected.

And for that very reason there was no need to go into too many details.

Now, there was only one thing stopping them from entering a realm of wonders, endless secrets, and enough opportunities to possibly rule the world the second you came out... Time!

-------------

Ken had spent the few weeks between the tournament and the day they'd take the sect's massive boat to the secret realm organizing himself, improving himself wherever he could, and solely focusing on plans, plans, and more plans.

He had an advantage over everybody else, and nobody else had any such advantage, and it was information.

Information about what was going on and what would happen inside, as well as information about the very enemy they all feared.

In a world where the newly recruited disciples had as much of a chance as an inner sect elder, any advantage was more than that; it was a blessing, a path to absolute power and bliss.

Aside from that, when it came to his actual power, he has finally made some progress, and he was also able to gain a very useful special category skill from the gacha.

[----------Status----------]

Name: Ken Nem

Gender/Age/Lifespan: Male/20 Years Old/140 Years.

Race: Human

Element: Death{10th Grade}.

Stars: Starless

Spirit Path: 2nd Qi Refining Realm/7th grade root.

Physical Path: Apprentice.

Skills: [Faceless], [Combat Talent], [Star Clone(NEW)].

Techniques: [Useful Records (Idle Training-Evolving) {Mastery: Major Accomplishment}], [Perception Mastery (Idle Training) {Mastery: Major Accomplishment}].

Arts: [Art of Spirit Cultivation], [Art of Efficiency], [Art of Spirit Forging], [Xian Liansuo Arts], [Restraining Order Art], [Spirit Vision Art(NEW)].

Traits: [Infinite Providence], [Death Holder].

[----------------------------]

[----------Idle-Training----------]

[Useful Records - Mastery: Perfect —Time to Become an Art: 20+ Days.]

[Perception Mastery - Mastery: Perfect —Time to Become an Art: 20+ Days.]

[Sure-Kill Strategies - Mastery: Basic —Time to Perfect Rank: 2 years.]

[----------------------------------]

A star clone was something he was the most in need of and something he didn't think he could get sometime soon, and lo and behold, providence provided.

At this point it was much of a gacha and straightaway a gift from providence.

Inside of that realm, the Combat Talent skill would be needed more than anything.

And this Star Clone skill, with a little fortune, could even spare him from death altogether.

The star clone skill allowed him to form a clone completely identical to his body, but it only held one of the paths.

For example, he could have two bodies, a main one and a star clone.

The star clone would only have the spirit path to possibly train; using spirit forging, for example, would be completely useless.

And that meant he could leave it in the sect in the future and use his main body to take care of more important plans he had in mind.

That was that. On the other hand, he couldn't use any skills that had to do with other paths.

Spirit Forging was mainly a cultivator's technique; thus, it could be used, but it would be useless. On the other hand, his main body, aside from not being able to train the spirit path, would be completely normal.

Able to use the skills normally, but now that he was a 2nd-stage qi refinement, it meant he had to stay that way until he refused with his clone once it reached a higher realm.

Lastly, he was able to enter the Spirit Tower in time to get the new technique at the beginning of the month, and it had enough time to become an art.

Spirit Vision, a technique that allowed him to sense anything that had spiritual energy inside of it by actively absorbing spiritual energy around his eyes.

In a way, it also allowed him to view things he normally wouldn't be able to when it became an art, including the power of other cultivators and the magnificent, colorful, and utterly terrifying aura of the elders.

He had seen the elder master the past few days after it had become a perfected art, and the entire realm the elder master resided in was consumed by the aura that came out of his body.

But, the same way Ken could notice his aura, the elder could easily notice when Ken did so, and thus, with the help of his hints, he was able to deactivate it before he was bombarded with countless questions he didn't want to answer.

All of this was his arsenal before he took off to the secret realm.

-----End-----