Chapter 165 - Rift

"This should be good. Put down the tents here," Hyson stood in front of a small clearing and told the others.

"Why do we have to stay in this place?" Rong Li asked gloomily.

The spot Hyson had chosen was towards the far left of the 'settlement'. The opening of 'Riona' was located in the middle of this area.

Upon finding the location of the realm, Mei soldiers were dispatched to clear out the surrounding 1-kilometer area and make a temporary wall around it. This area would be used by everyone that came to try their luck in the realm.

Although the wooden wall looked shabby, it was only used as a foundation for several other formations that acted as the main defenses in case of a beast horde. But even beasts weren't dumb enough to waltz into an area with thousands of powerful cultivators from the surroundings hundreds of kingdoms.

There were already some proper buildings erected towards the back of the settlement. These were low-level treasure's that could be stored at will like a contracted beast. Only powerful experts at the Spirit realm or higher had the ability to use them and they were extremely expensive to boot.

As compared to Hao Xuan's portable camp, well, there was no comparison to speak off. These buildings were owned by powerful cultivators from some of the Kingdoms and other powers like cultivation schools, clans, and Academies.

The other spots closer to these buildings were also taken by people that had the power to hold on to them. And since they didn't have treasures of their own, they used normal tents since the stay wasn't going to be more than a few weeks anyway.

Some weaker rogue cultivators saw this as an opportunity to sell their wares and set up stalls near the entrance. These people would probably not have the chance to enter the realm themselves but there were more ways to profit than just one.

"Because we aren't strong enough for other areas. You're lucky to find a place at all. Just be glad you don't have to camp in the rain again," Hyson smacked him on the head and started setting up his tent.

The formations around the settlement kept the rain outside so the area was in much better condition. On the journey over, they had to sleep in the trees because the ground was too muddy. Even having a hot meal was a luxury.

The princess chose the best spot, closest to the buildings, making the other look at her with animosity. Once everyone was done setting up, Hyson called them over.

"You can go around and explore a bit, but make sure not to cause any trouble. We can NOT afford any mishaps, understand?" he emphasized each and every word, giving even the princess an extra look.

"Yes yes, we know," Rong Li waved his hand and quickly walked into the crowd.

"Kramson, follow him, make sure he doesn't get himself killed," Hyson patted the red-haired boy's shoulder.

The remaining twenty divided into several groups and went their own ways.

"Mind if I tag along?" the princess came up to Kramson and smiled.

He frowned but couldn't find an excuse to say no, "Whatever you want," he said coldly and ran after Rong Li accompanied by three other people.

"I'll be near the rift. If there's any problem, go there," Hyson shouted at their backs and went towards the center of the settlement.

The opening of a realm was called a 'rift'.

Initially, it would look like a vertical or horizontal slit that would get bigger and change shape as time passed. Each rift was different and there were a few ways of finding out the level of the realm it led to.

One of them was just by looking at the size and color of the rift. The bigger the size, the more dangerous it was.

The color White was for the weakest Grade1 rifts, Blue for Grade 2's and Green for Grade 3's.

A Grade 3 realm was the most anyone from a 2nd-grade kingdom like Mei could handle. The dangers lurking within were usually at the profound realm.

This 'identification' method was also not always correct. Many times a lower graded rift would lead to a Grade 4 or even Grade 5 realm, leading to the complete massacre of everyone that was unfortunate enough to enter.

At most, it would be accurate around sixty percent of the time.

If a rift of a different color than three mentioned appeared, the overseeing Empire would take control of the area.

Hyson walked for a few minutes, maneuvering between the hundreds of different tents and finally came out in a clearing. There were dozens of people standing around in a circle staring at the rift.

There were six people with masks standing around the rift as guards. Each of them had different armors on but the one thing common in between them was their strength.

Every one of them was in the Spirit realm, exuding powerful energies and aura's to keep the spectators at bay.

Hyson looked at them a few times and then turned towards the rift. At first, it looked like a simple fracture in space, not much different from a cracked mirror. But it would occasionally change shape and color, although White was the predominant color.

"It's already open, why aren't they allowing us to enter?" he mumbled quizzically.

"Its been open for three days now. They're waiting for some of the younger generations of Mei heroes to arrive. They will go in first, followed by their allies. Then come the other powerhouses, and after that maybe us," a person next to Hyson explained. This person had cat ears and a long tail. He was chewing on something, much like a cigarette, while looking at the rift.

"Oh, I thought they would be all here considering they found it first."

"Nah," the cat person spat out whatever was in his mouth, "Someone else found the rift and then sold the information to Mei. And most of the heroes are already here, just two left I think."

"Which two?" Hyson leaned towards the man in interest.

"No idea. But you see those six people around the rift?" he pointed at the spirit realm guards.

Hyson looked over at them and nodded.

"Each of them is from one of the divisions under the great generals. They have called in their most promising geniuses. They are in one of those big buildings and will be leading the charge," he then pointed at the treasure buildings.

****

Authors Notes:

Its pretty easy to imagine what a Rift looks like since crap ton of movies and animes and mangas had them but here you go, just incase:

https://i.pinimg..com/564x/ee/da/e7/eedae7f52f71faa108c60dcca3f3f2a3.jpg?b=t