Chapter 16 - The Bounty on My Head
The eye in the clouds blinked.
Lightning struck the arena barrier.
People screamed and ran.
I did what any sensible person would do.
I stayed for the final.
"Kai!" Mira shouted.
"Quest says midnight!"
"The sky is trying to murder you!"
"It's been doing that all week!"
My final opponent fled.
The tournament master declared me champion by abandonment.
The system refused to count it.
[Victory without defiance grants no progress.]
I hated it.
Then masked assassins entered through the evacuation tunnels.
Their leader held up a poster.
My face.
BOUNTY: 5,000 SPIRIT STONES.
DEAD ONLY.
"Now that," I said, "feels useful."
We fought through the empty arena while lightning shattered seats around us.
Jace took two assassins.
Mira took three with wind blades she claimed she could not use while sealed.
I took the leader.
Body Tempering 8.
Then 9.
The tribulation hit me at the exact moment I punched him.
White light swallowed us both.
When I woke, the assassin was unconscious and my skin was smoking.
[IMPOSSIBLE QUEST COMPLETE]
[Foundation Seed acquired.]
A golden seed appeared inside my dantian.
Then a second message followed.
[Warning: Foundation Seed is contaminated.]
[Source: Heaven.]
Mira looked at my face.
"What now?"
I swallowed.
May you like
"Apparently even my rewards are trying to kill me."
