Somewhere on the Island, a black-robed silhouette held a token in its hand which glowed red as it thought.
’Fifth Island? Why is it red now?’
That silhouette then looked into the sky and thought.
’I wonder if he is in the arena? Hmph! I’ll surely pass through this preliminaries and meet him there!’
It then returned to its teammates who were some few hundred metres away.
....
That solemn voice then echoed again.
"Now for those of you got the First to Third Island tokens, head to the north end of the Gote Island and board the ship which carries you to your designated Island."
"Next, for those of you got the Fourth to Sixth Island tokens, head to the east end of the Gote Island and board the ship which carries you to your designated Island."
"Then, for those of you got the Seventh to Ninth Island tokens, head to the west end of the Gote Island and board the ship which carries you to your designated Island."
"Finally, for those of you got the Tenth to Twelfth Island tokens, head to the south end of the Gote Island and board the ship which carries you to your designated Island."
"The rules will be explained once you reach your designated Islands!"
The whole Island was silent for a moment before some people scrambled to get to their destination.
Davis who was already on the east end of the Island, laughed wryly while looking at the incoming ships.
The ships docked on the shore as the participants began to board the ship in a hurried manner.
Davis and Ellia also casually boarded a ship which was designated to go to the Fifth Island.
Sometime later, that silhouette also boarded the same ship.
The ships hosted about a million youths each, which then set sail to their designated Islands after a period of time.
It was already noon by that time.
The ships then reached their destination when it was almost night.
It was starting to get dark when Davis and Ellia arrived at the Fifth Island.
The solemn voice echoed again to all the twelve Islands.
"I shall explain the rules now, the tokens you have carries each one point. Some of you may have a red, blue, or green token. These tokens contain a hundred, fifty and ten points respectively. These tokens are distributed randomly and the one who possesses these tokens may have a headstart from all of you. But it may also be a disadvantage if a weak cultivator possesses it."
"The preliminaries will go on for ten days, earn as many points as you can and distinguish yourself from the other cultivators!"
"The Top 100,000 on the eleventh day will be qualified to participate in the second round of the Grand Sea Continent Meet!"
"The preliminaries will officially start in the midnight, so scatter throughout the Island for the time being."
"Young cultivators of all the empires, the stage has been set for you to achieve your glory. The strong will advance while the weak will lag behind. Your fate depends on your prowess. So if you don’t want to lag behind the others, give it your all even if you have to die for it!"
As the voice echoed, all the youths were filled with renewed vigour.
Davis who heard that couldn’t give a shit about it while Ellia couldn’t help but get nervous.
"So, this is the Fifth Island?" Ellia muttered as she looked at the eerie forest from the shore.
"Stay with me, don’t get lost though..." Davis casually said as he yawned. He almost got bored by this tiring trip.
They then headed into the forest, so did the other young cultivators.
Many followed after them as people thought that two kids were easy targets.
But Davis and Ellia managed to easily leave them behind with their speed. But some managed to follow them, but only by managing to use their full speed.
Those people who followed them were astonished by the fact that these two kids were faster than them.
"That’s right, Ellia. If someone wants to take something away from you, don’t let them get away with that. Just plunder them back!"
"If they want your life! Then take away their life! Don’t leave anyone behind as that might come to be fatal one day."
Ellia kept nodding her head as she learnt how to survive from him.
"There are about 8 people who are following us. When midnight starts, you will face them."
Ellia who heard that was astonished.
She asked, "You are not coming?"
"I will be near you but I won’t help you. Since it’s your first fight, depend on yourself. Win with your own power."
"Alright, I will do as you say..." She narrowed her eyes as she said. Faint fighting intent emitted from her eyes as she clenched her little fists.
Davis had already measured their pursuers strength, so he was confident that she should be able to handle it.
Davis nodded his head in satisfaction. If she threw a tantrum right now then he will have no choice but to give in as he couldn’t force her to do something that she doesn’t want.
Time passed as the chase continued through the forest. Davis even identified many Mortal Grade herbs as he thought wryly, ’As I thought, looks like the high-grade herbs had already been cleared a long time ago...’
Just when it was about to become midnight, that solemn voice echoed again.
"Now young participants, whether you rob or kill, work hard to accumulate your points as your fate depends on it. I hereby declare the start of the preliminaries!"
"It’s time!" Davis said as he disappeared from Ellia’s view.
’How did he do that!?’ Ellia widened her eyebrows at his disappearance. She hurriedly stopped at a place and climbed above a tree and stood upon its branch.
The eight youths arrived at that place and looked like they were searching for something.
"Shit, where did that little boy go!?"
"Haha, little missus. It will be better if you hand over your token. We don’t want to hurt you after all."
"Look, even your friend who was with you got scared shitless and escaped."
"Yes, it would be better if you hand over your token. Then we’ll be on our way..."
These 8 people teamed up to advance in the rankings and coincidentally, also noticed Davis having a red token, which was why they decided to follow them.