253 First day

Everyone got ready and went downstairs. Once everyone was gathered, they left. Most of them were returnees, so they knew where the competition took place.

The group walked for about 15 minutes, going through the busy streets of the west side of the capital, all the way to the east, where the competition was being held.

Right inside the wall on the east was a massive coliseum. People stood in front of the coliseum entrance in a line encompassing a large area.

They were all different people of different status, coming to watch the once in a year competition between the various sects from around the empire.

They all wore clothes of different colors and types, according to the current fashion of the city they were from. There were also hundreds of different disciples with robes of myriad colors.

"Will they make it in time?" Alex asked his master.

"Yeah. There is still a small briefing to be done by the Royal Fu Academy to tell us about the different competitions today. These people will make it in time by then," Ma Rong said.

"Royal Fu Academy?" Alex was a little confused. "Aren't they the sect run by the royal family? Is the competition set by them too?" Alex asked.

"Yes. They are the competition holders for each year. And are also the winners most of the time," Ma Rong said.

"Hmm… they must be a 1st-grade sect then. Oh yeah, by the way, master, how many 1st grade sects are there in the competition? Any numbers that have been revealed by now?" he asked.

"There are around 12 by now. Also, there are 36 2nd grade sects and some 80 3rd grade sects that will be taking part," Ma Rong said.

"Woah, that's a lot. Won't the competitions take too long?" Alex asked.

"Don't worry, it won't. Most of the sects will only take part in some of the competitions, not all. Especially since their limited disciples have a limited number of times they can take part in."

"I mean, just look at us. Even if we were to put a single disciple in a single competition, we would only take part in 45 of them. However, we don't have that luxury. We will only take part in as much as it is required to get 1st grade," Ma Rong said.

Alex nodded and walked into the coliseum with the rest of the sect members. They were freely allowed entry once Ma Rong showed a card.

They were soon led to an open area inside the giant coliseum. As Alex and the rest walked out, they finally saw just how massive the coliseum was.

'This is bigger than most sports stadiums back in the real world, isn't it?' Alex thought. He hadn't been to any, but he had seen them on TV, and this looked so much bigger.

'I could probably fit my farm in here,' he thought. 'Although… if they are going to have multiple competitions at once, won't this space actually be really congested?'

A man got onto a temporary stage. He had a head full of white hair, all tied up in a knot, and wore a black robe with white linings. He stood in front of the hundreds of sects and started.

"Good Morning everyone. My name is Fu Zhen. I welcome you all to the Annual Sect Competition. You must be pretty excited about the competition, so I will skip the actual speech for later. "

"We have learned that everyone is here, so we will start the explanation for today's competitions."

"The theme of today's competition is ingredients. It's mostly focused on the production and specialty sects, so the competition will have to do with ingredients required in these fields."

"Please look at the screen, These are the competition for today," Fu Zhen walked to the side and an image popped up behind him. There were a bunch of texts written on it.

Everyone in the competition started looking at the screen and reading it. The list contained the different competitions and their descriptions as well as the time they were going to take place.

'Oh, there are 2 alchemy competitions huh,' Alex thought in surprise.

Ma Rong looked back and said, "Alright, aside from alchemy, is anyone confident in any of the other ones?" she asked.

A male and female disciple spoke up from behind.

"I can do the formation ingredients, sect leader," he said.

"I think I can do well in the poison ingredient competition," she said.

"Okay, good. As for alchemy, Fanfan and Wan Li will take part in the pill ingredients recognition, while Yu Ming and Meimei will take part in the raw ingredient recognition," Ma Rong said.

Alex looked towards the screen once more. The Pill Ingredients test, according to the explanation, was where the participants would be given a mystery pill and would have to recognize the ingredients in the pill from the effects it provided.

These pills were usually new common rank pills made exclusively by the royal alchemist for the competition, so there wasn't any way for others to really know the recipe beforehand.

The second ingredients test was the raw ingredients test. It didn't mention the exact procedure of the test, but given that it dealt with ingredients, Alex was sure that he would be able to do well in the competition.

"Sect Leader, I want to take part in the second test too," Fan Ruogang shouted.

"No. There are only 3 competitions a participant can take part in. I want you to take part in only a single one today," Ma Rong said.

"Okay," Fan Ruogang said with a dejected voice. However,  her voice immediately got cheery as she said, "Let's do well okay, Wanwan?"

"Mmm," Wan Li said nothing more.

Ma Rong chose the third participant for either competition. Alex didn't really know them or care about them. Ma Rong looked back to check on the screen once more.

"Since the first one is at 8, and the second one is at 11, we have ample time for preparation. Okay, let's go register your lot in the competition."