The announcent ca on a Monday.
Míng Xīn was eating breakfast when Liàng burst through his door with the energy of soone who had been waiting for an excuse to burst through a door and had finally found one. She was sixteen now, which had not made her calr in any asurable way. If anything the years had given her more opinions and a stronger conviction that all of them were correct.
"The trial has been announced," she said, placing a scroll on his desk with the precision of soone delivering important intelligence. Then she placed a second scroll beside it. Then a third.
He looked at the three scrolls. Then at her.
"I made notes," she said.
"On the announcent."
"On everything relevant to the announcent. Participants from each faction. Historical results. Notable bloodlines entering this cycle." She pointed at the third scroll. "That one is food recomndations for the duration of the trial because you will forget to eat and I will not be there to remind you during the actual matches."
He picked up the first scroll.
[ NEW MISSION ACTIVATED ]
[ Title: The Hollow Convergence Trial ]
[ Objective: Place first in the inter faction tournant ]
[ Reward: Bloodline Enhancent — Tiān Emperor Vein advances one sub stage. Shop inventory expands. 2000 system points ]
[ Secondary Objective: Do not reveal true cultivation level before Round 3 ]
[ Secondary Reward: Skill Absorption unlocked for tournant duration ]
[ Ti Limit: Duration of tournant ]
[ Note: First place. Not second. First. ]
He read the mission twice. Then set it aside and read Liàng's first scroll.
She had been thorough. She had listed every confird participant from all four factions, their known cultivation levels, their notable techniques where available, and their faction affiliations with brief political context. At the bottom of the list she had written one na with three question marks beside it.
Hún Yuán'er. Shattered Clans. Cultivation level: Unknown. Background: Unknown. Faction standing: Unknown.
"You could not find information on her," he said.
"Nobody could," Liàng said, with the expression of soone who found this personally offensive. "I asked everyone I know. She appeared in the Shattered Clans delegation list two weeks ago. No prior tournant record. No known bloodline on file. Nothing."
He looked at the na for a mont.
Assessnt, he said internally.
Insufficient data, the system said. I cannot assess what I cannot observe. You will have to et her in person.
That is not helpful.
It is accurate, the system said. There is a difference.
He set the scroll down and picked up the third one. It was indeed a list of food recomndations organized by day and al ti with nutritional notes in the margins.
"Liàng," he said.
"Yes."
"This is very thorough."
"Thank you."
"You spent more ti on the food scroll than the participant scroll."
She looked at him with her large calm eyes that had developed over the years an additional quality that had not been there at age three. Still calm. Still observing everything. But now also completely certain that whatever she had decided was correct and prepared to defend that position indefinitely.
"The participant information is public knowledge," she said. "Anyone can find it. The food recomndations required original research based on your specific habits and the tournant schedule. It is objectively more useful."
He looked at her for a mont.
Then he picked up the food scroll and put it in his robe pocket.
She nodded once with the satisfaction of soone whose work had been appropriately recognized and began reorganizing his desk without being asked.
Outside the compound the hollow light did its amber morning thing and sowhere in the Eternal Courts the tournant preparation machinery was already moving, and sowhere in the Shattered Clans territories a girl with no record and an unknown cultivation level was presumably preparing for sothing nobody had been able to find information about.
His grandfather had summoned him for that afternoon.
His father had already sent three ssages asking if he needed anything.
The first ssage had included a list of cultivation resources available through the Tiān clan treasury.
The second had included encouragent.
The third had included a reminder that he was the son of Tiān Yǔ Chen and the grandson of Tiān Xuánmíng and that anyone who forgot this during the tournant would be reminded personally afterward.
Míng Xīn had read all three and filed them.
He looked at the tournant announcent one more ti.
[ HOLLOW CONVERGENCE TRIAL ] [ Date: Thirty days from announcent ] [ Location: The Grand Hollow Arena ] [ Participating Factions: Eternal Courts, Shattered Clans, Remnants, Sealed Ones ] [ Format: Three rounds. Individual combat. Faction team battles. Final trial. ] [ Prize: Faction supremacy rights for the next decade. Access to the Deep Archive. ]
The Deep Archive.
He had read about the Deep Archive twice in the Courts historical records. A repository of knowledge so old and so restricted that even his grandfather had limited access to it. Records from before the hidden civilization's founding. Information about The Hollow itself that no living faction mber had seen in generations.
The Deep Archive, he said internally.
Yes, the system said, with a tone that was different from its usual tone. Quieter. More careful.
You know what is in there, Míng Xīn said.
Yes, the system said.
Will you tell .
Win the tournant, the system said. Then you will not need to tell you. You will read it yourself.
He set the announcent down.
Thirty days.
He finished his breakfast, which Liàng had sohow produced during the conversation and placed beside him without interrupting it, and began preparing for his grandfather's summons.
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