The Medallion

"Will you attend?" Sabina asked as she looked at Rocky.

"Mmm, no. The invitation says that they want me to attend a contest of some sort. That I'm not interested in." Rocky shook his head in negative.

"Oh. But do you know what the messenger said when he brought the invitation? According to him, Erica claimed that if you didn't attend, she would come out to the Holy Dragon Empire in person to get you," Lucilla reminded him.

"Oh, really? So she hasn't given up yet," Rocky said thoughtfully. He was already aware of the fact that the thought of him defeating and humiliating Erica haunted her to this day. It was obvious why she wanted an opportunity to get her revenge.

"Yes, and that's not all," Sabina grumbled and then continued hesitatingly, "Basil, don't you know? The Magic Phoenix Empire holds this martial arts contest but its name is a farce. The real purpose behind it is not the display of martial arts." Lucilla blushed a little when she noticed that Rocky knew next to nothing about the contest.

"Then what is it?" Rocky asked in a curious tone.

"To pick men." Sabina completed the sentence, raising her eyebrow.

On the face of it, the martial arts contest was held by the Magic Phoenix Empire for martial arts exchange. What was kept on the down low was the fact that it was actually an excuse for the empire to select outstanding male spirit manipulators.

The way it went, a rather sexist tradition had been going behind the masks of this contest for a long time now. There were two reasons as to how the female spirit manipulators of the Magic Phoenix Empire had a place in such a men-dominated profession. The first was that they had the support of the high-class Phoenix Master Clan. More importantly, they had always followed the principle that women should be self-reliant. This had been rooted into their minds ever since the foundation of the Magic Phoenix Empire had been laid. From those very days, they had been cultivating all kinds of excellent female spirit manipulators vigorously. Naturally, these spirit manipulators had to carry their profession forward, and also needed to increase their number.

more outstanding spirit manipulators. For this reason, they would have

greatly increase the chances of a girl being born. Whether it worked or not was a matter of opinion, though most of these one-night stands gave birth to girls. And if a boy was born with excellent enough qualifications, the Magic Phoenix Empire would train him as well and use him

Phoenix Empire now

martial arts contest was just one of

not go then!" Rocky refused as

she specially asked for you. That clearly means that you have a better

what, men always think in one way and behave in another. I can tell that you want to go even though you

Genome Research Institute, the emperor

Rocky was at a loss whether to cry or to laugh. He had been ordered to go to the Magic Phoenix Empire on behalf of the Holy Dragon Empire and attend the martial arts contest. Originally, the queen of the Magic Phoenix Empire had sincerely invited the emperor to participate in the contest, but because of his declining health, he was unable to travel that long. What was more, he couldn't just send anyone else. If he did, then the Magic Phoenix Empire would think that he looked down

could go on his behalf. If that happened, then the queen of the Magic Phoenix Empire would be satisfied,

matter was related to the reputation of the Holy Dragon Empire, which meant

took the three women with him as he went to attend the martial arts

arrived at the Magic Phoenix Empire, they went straight to the capital, which was aptly known as the

Phoenix Empire would pay special attention to those men who were young, strong, and between the Earthly and the Heavenly Stages. Apart from

also invited, but he had no intention of attending the martial arts contest this year. His sole purpose was to represent the emperor of the Holy Dragon Empire