Chapter 189 - Road to the duel

Harvesting Eve's yin essence every night since we arrived in the arena city already turned into a habit of ours, yet I decided to simply satisfy her needs and enjoy it as well this time. With no knowledge whether depriving her of her essence would affect her fighting capabilities, I didn't dare to risk it a night before her duels will start!

Indulging in each other took us a good hour before I finally managed to force her to give up and rest. Considering how we were at the very pinnacle of the mortal realm, we could easily go at it through the entire night and don't feel any exhaustion, but I would not allow her to miss her sleep before such an important event!

After sleeping in each other embrace through the night, we finally woke up with the first town's bell, only to be greeted by a beautiful sunrise visible from our window. While we could cover it the curtains to sleep longer, since I was reincarnated in this world, I believed in the rule that the early bird gets the worm!

Feasting on the leftovers that we salvaged back in the restaurant, I made sure that Eve filled her stomach to the brim, with her energy condensed to the maximum before I finally allowed her to leave the room and trail to the ground floor of the lodging.

As we passed the reception window, I could see an embraced look on Lucia's face as she accompanied us to the doors with her eyes. Judging from the easily discernable blush on her cheeks, she was actually feeling conscious about the events that transpired last evening, but without any hint of invitation from me, she held herself back from initiating any sort of the contact. Thinking back, it would be strange if she wasn't self-aware of how she acted after we were done with her cultivation!

Despite how early we left the building, the streets were bustling already. With the first phase of the tournament starting yesterday, most of the city inhabitants and tourists either wanted to see the duel just for the entertainment or actually engrossed themselves in the risky fun of wasting their life savings away on betting!

Walking through the streets it was really easy to discern who was who. If someone was simply excited, they came to watch the show. If someone was visibly depressed, they already lost their money on wrong bets. If someone was either trembling with anticipation or screaming with joy and expressing his gratitude to the world in every action and word spoken, they were either waiting for the results or already cashed them in!

"I won't wish you luck, because I believe you don't need it at all. I hope you will have fun instead!"

Following the example of the grand opening day, we had to separate right before the great gate that leads to the tribunes and inner part of the grand arena. If I ever dared to enter with her, not only would I suffer great pummeling from the guards, my beloved could actually get disqualified for it!

"Thanks, I hope I won't disappoint you."

Kissing me lightly on the cheek, she distanced from me while her lips formed an adorable smile. With this positive accent, she fluttered away in light jumps, as if she was some kind of cartoony character who could disregard gravity for as long as either hidden narrator or some kind of opponent wouldn't point it out!

Making my way towards the tribune thankfully didn't force me into any troublesome situation. If I were to meet Baxhar or my dear cousin on my way there, I would really have to curse my ill fate!

Sitting down on my designated spot, I couldn't help but wonder how the hell the current contestants that were fighting on the stage even qualified to the tournament. From what I remembered, the minimal cultivation stage that one had to reach to join was mind menace, but considering the strength at which they were trying to achieve their victory, I could suppress my cultivation all the way to the embracing energy level and still have a shot at domineering them!

Unable to find any joy in watching this pointless and uninteresting fight, I focused my thoughts on the current stage of my own development. With so many matters taking most of my time, starting with the schemes, through the auction house all the way to crafting and cultivating assets, I actually neglected my own growth!

But before I could even dare to spend a single point in my own attributes, I had to find some suitable skills for Lucia, so that she would feel grateful enough to follow with my future orders. While I still had hope that I would manage to figure out a way to allow others to harvest her yin essence without actually defiling her, if I didn't succeed in finding such thing, I didn't see any other choice than making her a simple prostitute! Way stronger than she could ever dream to be with her own efforts, but prostitute nevertheless!

Immersing my thoughts in the archives of the skills within this silly shop tool of the Bogner, I browser through loads of scrolls before I managed to find anything interesting.

Bonger, would you mind explaining those three skills to me?

"Blop!"

"Spirit concealment ability - allows the common cultivator to counter drive their energy to lower their aura by two to three stages."

"Force push - external premade formation. By engraving a particular formation on one's outer layer of energy, one can drive his own mana through it to forcefully repel anything and everything away. The might of the attack depends on the amount of energy used."

"Cutting palm - by reinforcing one's hand with sufficient amount of energy, one can't use his own cultivation drive to propel it beyond standard human capabilities, making the brim of the hand push on the air so much, that it creates a small layer of void, capable of cutting through most of the matter.

"Cost of the skills are respectively 100, 100 and 50 attribute points."

Oh? Not so bad for the skills obtained from this money-grubbing system! Starting with the concealment ability, it would allow me to actually cultivate Lucia with my full ability, without worrying about her appearing to grow too fast for this world. If I were to use the excuse that she immensely reinforced her cultivation and amassed enough energy for consecutive breakthroughs, I think I could even bring her to a mortal enlightenment level, before stepping down!

Considering how the difference between last two steps of cultivation in the mortal realm were far more qualitative than quantitative, the amount of her Yin essence that I could absorb should be already close to how much Eve could provide me with! Considering how she would be cultivation along with the will of the world, Lucia would also be able to actually challenge the first stage of the spirit realm cultivators, development core fighters!

As I was already ready to celebrate my great idea, I heard the announcement, that brought me back to reality. It seems that I forgot about one insanely important thing!

"Please welcome today's seventh contesting pair, Hubriel Ahegoa and Eve Katenari!"

While the first name managed to put a smile on my face, when I heard the commentator announcing the family name of my beloved, I could see a great commotion instantly starting both in the normal tribunes and even in the VIP lodges from the sheer shaking on their walls!