Arilit City, a rank B city located several miles from Moroc City and could be said to be on the other end of the kingdom, was the designated location for the National Tournament.
With the rank 6 beast Seth had subdued having started flying since the afternoon of the previous day, only taking a few stops and going as fast as it could, the ever-awakening sun of the afternoon met Seth and Gudzil, closing in on Arilit city and about to reach it in half an hour.
With the boredom of the journey, Gudzil had gone about cultivating, while Seth, who was very much burning to test out the immortal qi stones, could only rein in his desires.
Though he figured immortal qi stones might work just as well as mortal qi stones, Seth didn't want to take the risk of an explosion occurring when the Earth's weak atmosphere collided with that of the immortal qi.
Though peeved at the constraints, Seth looked on the bright side and decided to use the opportunity to sleep.
Having been extremely active over the past months, sleep was one of the few luxuries he got to enjoy, even being rarer than sex, and though with the increase of his cultivation, he was beginning to find himself needing it a lot less, a good dose of it was still always good for the brain.
Getting comfortable and going off, it was Gudzil's restraining voice that woke Seth up. "Sir, sir, we have an issue," Gudzil said. Though Seth had no qualms with being woken up, he couldn't help but raise his eyebrow at how low the man's voice had been, almost like he was whispering.
"What is the problem?" Seth asked, not feeling interested in pursuing the issue. Hearing Seth's words, Gudzil breathed out a sigh of relief and then spoke, "Sir, sorry for waking you up. It's just that we will soon arrive at Arilit City. It's time for us to come down."
"Why?" Hearing Seth's question, Gudzil's pensive expression changed to a difficult one; a complicated look claimed his face as he racked his brain for how to reply to Seth, believing that he had messed up.
"Stop overthinking things. I'm just asking why do we need to land. We can just soar into the city."
Gudzil's mouth opened and closed a little for a few seconds, and then he spoke, "the city's shield, sir."
"What about it?"
"Well, unlike lower cities, B-grade and above cities keep their barrier active at all times, so if we were to fly straight, we would be violating their airspace and also find ourselves colliding with the barrier, a situation which would put us in trouble with the authorities."
When Gudzil spoke about trouble and authorities, he shivered and considering they were talking about the authorities of a rank B city, Seth could understand why.
"Of course, you don't have to worry about all this if you have a pass," Gudzil suddenly said with a nervous laugh. But all Seth did was yawn a little, stretch his arms, and then speak.
"Take us down."
Though his words were low and drowned out by the blistering sounds of the winds as they shot through the air, the blue beast heard Seth's voice loud and clear and with a low scream of acknowledgement, the beast began its descent.
Though Gudzil was actually surprised that they were descending, having been more expectant of Seth having some kind of pass, he kept his mouth shut and prepared to land.
A minute later, the blue beast was now on the ground, having landed on a rather grassy plain and enjoying the cool breeze that blew and caressed its feathers.
"Good job, you can go," Seth said as he floated up from the back of the beast and began moving away.
"Screech!" the beast screamed, and Seth had to look back at it, scrutinizing it up and down, internally commending its intelligence and being quite surprised at its request.
"You're right, I'll soon need to travel again, so hang around. I'll call you when I need you."
With those words, the beast gave a nod of acknowledgement and took to the skies, while Seth quietly floated to the ground and joined Gudzil, who was waiting for him.
"Let's go."
Quickly nodding his head, Gudzil took point and began moving, doing one of the last jobs he had never expected to be doing, especially in this situation - navigation. One would think a powerhouse like the man before him would have it all and know it all, but to Gudzil's surprise, he was beginning to realize that Seth wasn't just a random everyday powerful cultivator.
Being cultivators, it didn't take long for Seth and Gudzil to begin speeding across the fields. Though Seth had the option of flight, he had no issues with running. Given Gudzil's speed, the pair ran across the grassy plain for close to 5 minutes, and then after a few more seconds, they came across a group of houses.
Made with wood and surrounded by fences where one could hear the sounds of beating and mowing, any sensible person would understand that it was a farm. Though Seth's face tightened, he said nothing else and continued his run with Gudzil.
For a few minutes, the duo ran past several wooden houses, and then brighter and more flamboyant ones. By the time they came to a stop, they had joined the long line of people trying to get across the city gate.
"This is rather lengthy," Seth commented, and after some thought, Gudzil spoke.
"Perhaps I can fix that. Please follow me."
Not against the man's idea, Seth followed behind Gudzil, saying nothing as the man moved out of line and walked right till he was at the gate. Then, he spoke with the guards up there. Minutes later, Gudzil turned to Seth with a smile, inviting him over. The guards only gave Seth a keen stare up and down and then shifted for them to pass through the gates.
With all that went around it, and a huge splendid white gate, Arilit City was one that would have all its first-time visitors in awe. But while Seth was also a first-time visitor, he could feel none of this appreciation as his mind was on something he had been noticing for a while.
"Gudzil, I thought you said the country was embroiled in a civil war?"
"It is," Gudzil said with a bit of confusion in his eyes. But when he noticed Seth's stare, he elaborated.
"Well, everyone had also thought the entire country would be devastated, but when Lady Dorian joined the rebellion, everything changed."
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