Arriving back on Earth, Moon felt the warmth of the sun casting its rays on his body. It always felt good to be back. Not worrying about the next monster creeping up from a blind spot to take his head off.
"Have a blessed day, sir."
Moon returned the greeting from the guards stationed at the portal and made his way out.
He pulled out his phone. The screen lit up with a flood of notifications that took a mont to finish loading. ssages from Selene, Yara, Kael, and Tom.
Selene and Yara had spamd him. Worried questions, missed calls, voice ssages. Both of them were afraid he would miss the tournant examination. The tistamps grew increasingly frantic the closer they got to the present.
"Right…I forgot to tell them about the direct entry pass I received." Kael's ssage was different. A single text, sent days ago.
"Are you participating in the tournant?"
Nothing after that.
"Did Tom not tell him?" Moon muttered under his breath.
Interesting. Judging by the question, Tom hadn't inford his own son about Moon's participation or the direct entry pass he had provided. Whether that was deliberate or an oversight, Moon couldn't say. But knowing Tom, nothing the man did was accidental.
Moon typed his reply to Kael. "Will see..."
Short. Vague. If Tom was playing a ga by keeping Kael in the dark, Moon would follow his lead. Whatever outco it produced, he would deal with it when the ti ca.
"We will likely et each other soon."
He sent it and moved on.
Tom's ssage was the shortest of all. Two words.
"Surprise ."
Moon smiled and shook his head wryly. He didn't reply. Tom wasn't looking for words. He was looking for results. Actions spoke louder than words could ever speak.
Moon opened his chat with Selene and Yara and sent a quick ssage to both of them. Short, reassuring, enough to let them know he was alive and on Earth.
Then he checked the news.
He had been inside the Second Sanctuary for days. In that ti, the world hadn't stopped turning. Scrolling through the headlines, Moon skimd the major events. Tournant coverage dominated everything, previews, predictions, profiles of the top candidates. A few political developnts he didn't care about. A Second Order B-Rank portal that appeared in Zone D that had been dealt with. New regulations from the Association regarding Evolver conduct.
He wasn't planning to catch up on everything. But staying inford was never a bad idea.
After scrolling through the news, a headline about the Glassy Group having expanded their reach by recruiting an Ascender caught his eye briefly. He closed his phone without dwelling on it too much. His next stop was the tournant.
Moon didn't bother visiting the Trading Center or selling the mountain of beast corpses and spirit bodies sitting in his storage ring. He had plenty of money. His net worth had long since crossed the hundreds of millions, and skimping out on small luxuries with his current status was just being a cheapskate.
He booked VIP quarters on the nearest orbital. A hundred thousand dollars for a comfortable ride to the tournant grounds. It was nothing.
Moon stepped inside, settled into the private cabin, and ordered food from the counter. A proper al. Hot, well-seasoned, served on a platter of gold.
He ate slowly, savoring the taste of food that hadn't been cooked over a bonfire in the wilderness. Through the cabin window, the landscape below blurred past at incredible speed. On the entertainnt screen mounted to the wall, the tournant's preliminary rounds were being broadcasted live.
Moon watched between bites. Evolvers fought in massive arenas against each other, fighting for their way into the tournant. Comntators shouted over each other, analyzing techniques and predicting outcos. The crowd roared with every elimination.
Nobody interesting erged during the ti he watched. Solid fighters, decent skills, nothing that made him sit up in his seat or threaten his award.
The food was better than the entertainnt.
~"Orbital has landed. Please make your way toward the exit."~
The announcent spread across the massive vessel. Passengers began filing out of their cabins and into the corridors. Moon finished the last of his al, wiped his hands, and stood.
He stepped off the orbital and into the open air. The tournant grounds was a five minute walk from the orbital station.
Moon stood at the entrance and took in the scale of it all. The tournant grounds sprawled before him, teeming with thousands of people moving between stages, food stalls, viewing platforms, and registration areas. The noise alone was overwhelming, constant voices, music, and announcents layered on top of each other.
This was just the qualifying portion. The real tournant, the final bracket, would be held in a separate venue that Moon knew would dwarf even this. The kingdom poured billions into this event every year, and it showed.
From the outside, Moon's gaze swept across the crowds inside. Selene and Yara were sowhere in there. He had told them he was back on Earth, but he hadn't ntioned when he would arrive at the grounds.
"Should I call them, or surprise them?" Moon muttered, weighing both options.
Calling was practical. The grounds were massive, and finding two people among hundreds of thousands without a previous et up would take a lot of ti.
He was confident they would be here, since they still haven't replied to his ssage, which ant that they were likely busy doing whatever they were doing inside.
In the end, Moon opted out for the latter option. The look on their faces when he showed up unannounced would be worth the extra effort.
Moon pocketed his phone and walked to the queue. Thankfully, one of the perks that also ca with direct pass, was the fact that as long as he showed it to the workers, they would allow him in without much hassle.
He was already a registered Evolver, and there was no need for any sort of checkup except for verifying identity, to ensure no impersonation occurred. Thankfully, Tom had also taken asure to that, placing his na on it.
After checking his na on the system, matching everything. They allowed him in.
"You may proceed. Enjoy your ti, Mr. Outlaw."
Normal Evolvers in the queue, could only look at Moon curiously, and in envy.
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