Chapter 26 26. NEW FRIENDS
The person in front of him was a tall 6.12ft man, he wore a blue shirt and black pants with what one would call sandals.
In terms of looks ,he was average at best, he looked something around 26, and his demeanor was that of someone who was confident.
"Sorry what?" Noah asked in astonishment.
" I said ,dead guy what\'s up" the man said.
" Why are you calling me a dead guy?" Noah asked with one of his eyebrow raised.
" You look new here how long have you been here" The man asked ignoring Noah\'s question.
Noah frowned at this but still answered.
" I just got here today, at most an hour or two ago" Noah replied.
" An hour or two, and you managed to get yourself into trouble ,dude I think you\'ve broken a few records" The man said laughing at the ending.
At this point Noah was pissed ,he was about to turn and walk away when the man introduced himself.
" I am James , forgive my rudeness" The man said , stretching his left hand for a hand shake.
Noah turned and introduced himself " I am Noah , why did you call me a dead guy?." Noah said ignoring the outstretched hand.
Noticing that Noah wasn\'t going to return his hand shake, James put down his hand before saying in a seriously tone , "Well the reason is because of the young man you just offended" he said.
"But I didn\'t do anything " Noah asked though he had an idea of where this was going.
Shaking his head James continued "That man is the third son of the \'Culcrow\' noble family, they are a middle sized family that have domain here in Vonol." James explained.
" They have multiple tier 2\'s in their ranks, while the power of head of the family is unknown" James explained.
Noah was beginning to get the point ,and he did not like where it was going.
Seeing the understanding in Noah\'s eyes James continued, directing Noah to leave the road due to the passerbys.
" The third son whose name is Milo, is especially known to be very notorious, though no evidence has been found against him, so the law can\'t hurt him, but we citizens know his bad deeds" James explained, saying the last part with anger filling his voice.
\'Aish! this isn\'t good\' Noah said in his mind.
" So do you understand what you\'ve gotten yourself into, you aren\'t the first to cross paths with him " James said.
"What happened to those that did?" Noah asked knowing the answer.
James answered, by placing his thumb on his neck and moving it until it got to the other side of his neck.
\' Yikes !" Noah exclamained in his mind.
The day wasn\'t going well at all.
With that done Noah asked a question that puzzled him, "If you know what will happen to me why are you talking to me, so far everyone is avoiding eye contact with me?".
Noah said test his theory, he shot a stare at a middle aged man, who promptly turned and walked away.
Laughing at the almost running man James replied "Well ,that would be because I need you" he said.
"You need me?" Noah said raising an eyebrow.
"Yes I do" James stated.
"For what ?" Noah asked.
"I want us to enter a game together",James explained.
Surprise was written on Noah\'s face.
" Why can\'t you choose someone else?"
Noah asked, "And besides I don\'t know you " he added looking at James suspiciously.
"That would be because you are strong, he may not look it ,but Milo is a peak tier 1 that is why he is prideful. So for you to block his punch so effortlessly, you are definitely stronger." James explained.
Heaving a light sigh ,Noah was about to once again refuse, when James said something that seized his attention "And oh, the prize money would be 10 small gold coins each" James added.
With that Noah\'s attention was fully on him. "Ten small gold coins",Noah muttered In surprise
"Yes, it\'s a lot right?" James asked with a smug smile.
Heaving a deep sigh Noah opened his mouth to talk, "How am I sure you aren\'t making this up" He asked.
A light smile appeared on James face as though he heard what he wanted "Follow me I\'ll show you"
James took Noah to a massive poster-board , apparently one was assigned to each district in \'Vonol\' due to it being a relatively big city.
On the poster-board there was a red poster that took the most space on board.
On the poster there was a drawing of two men standing back to back in an offensive pose, and surrounding them were the drawings of multiple beasts.
Under the art, a name was written "Bozolom".
Requesting the meaning of the word, James explained that \'Bozolom was a biannual event ,where people in a team of two will battle hordes of Magical beasts in different phases, with each phase the number of magical Beasts will increase
The highest tier that could enter for the game was tier 2 middle stage.
It was a game held by the royal family itself, so the prize money was guaranteed.
The only problem about the event was the high death rate.
Hundreds of people would register but only a handful would actually survive till the ending.
Most people didn\'t just register for the money, no some registered to showcase their talent, there would be many dignitaries , so one could get the chance of being admitted into the royal family or a guild.
The game would last for three days, with each day there would be an increase in the strength of the magical beasts, the first day would be solely tier 1 middle stage, almost every one would succeed in this stage, the second day would be peak tier 1 and a lower stage tier two, once again most people would succeed this day, while the third day which would be featuring tier 2 lower stage and middle stage, this was where the death happened the most.
The winners would be those that survived the third, regardless of their numbers, And also if a partner dies then the other would be left to die as well, there was no backing out immediately they were in.
There were a totally of five phases per day, but the number of beasts were determined by the royal family.
With that explanation, Noah couldn\'t help but fall into deep thought, with his power the first two days would be child\'s play, but on the third one there were bound to be surprise, since the total family would want to reduce the numbers of those that survived the first two days, and he would have avoid using his speed force .
After about five minutes of consideration Noah decided to check a crucial information.
[James]
[Tier: 1 ]
[Level: 24]
[Chances of death: 7%]
Noah raised an eyebrow at this, the fact that his his chances of death wasn\'t zero meant that, James was strong.
The he asked a crucial question "How long will it take you to advance" he asked.
"I feel I should advance in about a months time" James replied with a thoughtful look.
Nodding his head Noah said" That would leave a whole month before the event starts".
Wait how do you know I was about to advance" James asked with an eyebrow raised.
Noticing his mistake ,Noah searched for an answer, finding a suitable one he answered "That would be because I am a tier 2" Noah stated, he remembered that those in higher levels could Inspect the power of those who were weaker than them, Noah simply didn\'t use that natural ability, opting to use the system Instead.
James eye widened in surprise " You are a tier 2" he said with a tinge of jealousy.
Then his expression turned dark before he asked "Are you from a noble family" James said taking a step backwards.
Noah noticed this and was curious though he didn\'t let it show.
"No I am not" Noah stated simply " Why would you even think that ,do I look like someone who comes from a noble" Noah added with an eyebrow arched while pointing at his burnt clothes.
Seeing Noah\'s honest curiosity, James gave an embarrassed laugh before saying, " Well only the offsprings of a noble family can be as young as you ,and be this powerful ,due to them having access to resources, that will speed their cultivation" James explained.
"There are resources that can help one speed up their cultivation?" Noah asked surprised.
James shot a confused glance at Noah, seeing that he was really surprised, he explained.
"Yes there are, why do you think people join the guards of noble families or the royal army, even the three great Guilds allow that to their members."
"Ahh", Noah exclamained, understanding why Melissa called him interesting, well he simply didn\'t know that such privileges existed, and now that he did, he doubted they were as efficient as the system.
After discussing for a while , James took Noah to a restaurant, Where he was served something like spaghetti and tomato stew sauce ,served with a cup of orange juice.
He ate till his stomach begged him to stop. During his one week in the forest, he had only eaten pieces of the meat he had in his inventory. So now that he was in proper city, the food way better than in Mariwa , though it cost him 10 small copper coins per plate and he ate five ,it was worth it.
They discussed about the event, and what they were to do, honestly Noah still didn\'t trust the James, but he was starting to like the guy.
Soon night arrived, the stalls were already almost fully packed, the streets were already empty of passerbys, the restaurant had even kicked them out.
James had invited Noah to his house , but he refused, how could he sleep in the house of someone he met that day.
Instead he had asked James for direction to a hotel.
"Let\'s meet at this restaurant tommorow, you need to change those clothes, and go take a bath" James said , wearing a irritated expression at the last sentence.
Which hurt Noah\'s pride, staring at James like he was monster, Noah turned ,and walked away , going to look for the hotel by himself.
And also because he had noticed that they were being followed, he didn\'t want to put someone he just met in danger.
Walking down the street ,Noah looked for a dark alley suitable for their meeting, and soon enough he found one.
Stopping halfway into the alley, Noah turned around to welcome his new friends.