Due to having seen each other twice per year for such a long time, the two of them now were standing a bit less on ceremony whenever they met. The Dragon Family heiress didn't even bother rising to her feet to welcome him anymore, instead happily sipping away at her tea whilst waiting for him to take his seat across from her.
"Go on, have a bite. I tried a new recipe this time."
Noticing the somewhat eager glint in her eyes, Theodore picked up one of the pastries that he hadn't seen before. To his surprise, it was even more scrumptious than what Eleanora usually whipped up. Raising an eyebrow in appreciation, the corners of his mouth rose.
"You've truly outdone yourself this time. This is the best food that you've ever had me taste."
Not putting up any sort of front and speaking from the heart, his words managed to bring a relieved, dazzling smile to her face. Still, after the initial joy faded, she couldn't help but stare at him in amusement.
"I'm glad to hear it. Over this period of time, I've figured out your exact tastes. With this likely being our last meeting for a long while, I thought I'd give it my best shot for you this time."
Taking another bite and relishing in the delightful flavours gently tantalizing his taste buds, he enjoyed a moment of silence, then gave her a respectful nod.
"I truly appreciate it. I won't be forgetting today's meal anytime soon."
Narrowing her eyes a little, Eleanora's smile widened. Simultaneously, a hint of invisible pressure began to bear down on them.
"That better be the case. If it turns out that you were just sweet-talking me right now..."
Rolling his eyes a little, he shook his head, then locked gazes with her.
"I simply told you the truth. But if you'd like me to sweet-talk you, there is always the option of switching to Wooing Mode."
Hearing this, she shot him an almost incredulous look. Thinking back upon all of the times that they had shared together, she found it hard to believe that none of his flirtatious jests were the slightest bit serious.
"So you're telling me that you didn't already do that ages ago?"
Shrugging casually, he once again shook his head, his eyes remarkably innocent–almost unsettlingly so.
"Exactly."
Staring at each other in silence for a while, the two eventually broke eye contact, both smirking in amusement. Stopping the act for now, they continued to eat and chat, waiting for the Heavenly Dao to make itself known.
Over the past century, Eleanora had the opportunity to indulge in plenty of slaughter, allowing her to amass quite terrifying Standard Attributes. It wasn't to the point where she could necessarily measure up to him, but it was certainly worthy of praise.
Naturally, she had easily made it all the way to the very limit of the Holos Acclimation Stage as well. With her army of clones having grown to an outright horrifying extent, she had already become a force to be reckoned with. Until now, however, she had never exposed a single one of them to her business partner–except for the one in charge of communications between them.
And on Theodore's end, he had not once let her meet any of his Subordinates except for Cheong Suhyeon and Vigdis either. These were the bare minimum precautions that they could take against each other.
Of course, it would be easy for them to barge into their associate's territory and espy their secrets, yet neither of them had crossed that line. Doing so would have led to their collaboration coming to an immediate end and hostilities breaking out. Fortunately, both of them were sensible enough to keep it all civil.
A couple of hours into their pleasant chat, the long-awaited time finally arrived. One very lengthy notification appeared in their field of view, soon followed by another. Still, that first one attracted all of their attention for the time being.
[ The first round of the Heavenly Succession has officially come to a close!
Your rank on the Overall Leaderboard is: 1,042,515.
Congratulations on qualifying for the second round, Theodore Winter. ]
[ There will be a one-week preparatory period before the next round begins. Use this time wisely. ]
[ Leaderboards: (See More) ]
Not surprised by his 'low' ranking, he didn't really take it seriously. Far too many of his peers hadn't even begun properly competing yet, and been lying low. Because there was no cut-off point when it came to earning the qualifications to proceed onward, every single surviving Heaven's Chosen would be doing so. Therefore, there was not yet a need to expose one's true capabilities.
Still, that didn't mean that those who had risen to the very top of the rankings in the beginning were anything to scoff at. Rather, it was the opposite–they were either supremely fortunate, or had extremely high confidence in themselves. Without the necessary Talents and competence, they never would have made it there in the first place.
Pulling up the Overall Leaderboard, a list of every single person competing in the competition popped up. Fortunately, there was an option to customize what he wanted to be displayed, therefore after a while of fine-tuning it, this was what he ended up with.
[ Overall Leaderboard ]
[ Rank 1: Casimir Mertis ]
[ Rank 2: Answald Khaos ]
[ Rank 3: Urania Nomos ]
[ Rank 4: Kendric Storm ]
[ Rank 5: Darana Khan ]
[ Rank 6: Mizu Kenji ]
[ Rank 7: Aivana Asili ]
[ Rank 8: Lenai Levana ]
[ Rank 9: Skathi Fjall ]
[ Rank 10: Durante Lucius ]
[ Rank 27: Rheya Gold ]
[ Rank 5,103: Arvystas Rudens ]
[ Rank 1,042,515: Theodore Winter ]
[ Rank 2,278,001: Lucas Lerner ]
[ Rank 2,519,038: Barrett Leon ]
[ Rank 8,655,992: Eleanora Dragon ]
[ Rank 23,997,830: Frey Summer ]
[ Rank 25,060,009: Evangelina Kismet ]
The top ten were more or less what he had expected. Even if he hadn't heard their specific names before, he was at least familiar with their families–because all of them were from Supreme Pillars. However, he didn't personally know any of these people.
One of them–Kendric Storm–was the unlucky fellow who had the fact that he had been born with three Unique-grade Talents get exposed. As for the others, only about half of them had been part of the Winter Family's gathered intelligence–although all that he had been presented with was their names.
What slightly astonished him, though, was that Rheya had made it extremely close to the very top. Ever since he had first met her, he had been under the impression that she was rather 'average' amongst his outstanding peers. Sure, she was drop-dead gorgeous, and a bewitching charmer. But aptitude-wise, she hadn't struck him as exceptional.
'Looks like I was completely in the wrong about her. That reminds me... those Ravagers that I ran into right after the first round began... Hmm. She was one of the last people I met, and also the one who–seemingly–hid the deepest. It's possible that she had something to do with that attack.'
Furrowing his brows a little, he recalled the past in detail, carefully scrutinizing every single moment. Yet, there was still no way for him to be even remotely sure of anything. All that he had was a suspicion–and solely because Rheya was showing far too excellent of a performance.
'I'll have to be extra careful if I ever run into her.'
Settling on this for now–until he learned more–he mentally remarked that the rest of the ranking had been mostly predictable. Arvystas couldn't hide his brilliance, and Lucas plus Barrett were doing reasonably well.
Eleanora's performance was better than he had anticipated it to be, making his evaluation of her rise a bit higher. As for Evangelina, he would have been shocked had she actually put any remarkable effort into this competition yet. He knew how she usually operated, therefore he didn't expect to see any change to her maintaining a rather 'low' ranking like this anytime soon.
Lastly, there was the 'brat' from the Summer Family. He was the only foe that he could be sure of facing in the future, which was also the reason as to why he had added him to this list. And to his surprise, he was doing approximately as well as his public image would have suggested. He wasn't a total waste, but nothing extraordinary either.
'Still, there are too many who hide their real excellence, especially this early on. Lina alone is already the best example of this–and she's even doing worse than that brat.'
He wouldn't make the mistake of underestimating his enemy, especially not this particular one.
"Hey, have you had a look at the Cultivation Leaderboard yet?"
Eleanora's question snapped him out of his thoughts. Exchanging a glance with her, he was surprised to see an unprecedented solemnity in her eyes. Far more serious now as a result, he opened the ranking that she had mentioned.
Aside from the Overall Leaderboard, there were plenty of others. During this first round, one could get points for far, far too many things and achievements. In a way, it wasn't incorrect to say that one's every action earned one points.
The most important, comprehensive ranking of them added all of those together, then multiplied them by one's Heaven's Chosen Level. As for the other leaderboards, they didn't include that multiplier at all. Instead, they focused solely on one particular category of points.
Amongst all of these, one of the more crucial ones was the Cultivation Leaderboard. The Heavenly Dao itself would evaluate one's path of cultivation and assign competitors the points which it judged them to deserve for their accomplishments. The ranking would then display both the name of the Heaven's Chosen as well as their Cultivation Stage for all to see.
Normally, the one at the top should also have achieved the highest possible stage which the current round allowed. This time, however, it was different. As soon as he laid eyes upon the one who was ranked number one, he understood why she had looked at him like that.
[ Cultivation Leaderboard ]
[ Rank 1: Theodore Winter | Dawning Numen Stage ]
'... did nobody else choose to do what I did? Seriously?'
Genuinely speechless, he sifted through the ranking, but only found a second Dawning Numen Stage expert a few hundred spots down the list. It was hard to tell whether that person had chosen the same path as he did, or if they had come up with some other outstanding method. Still, no matter what, they couldn't possibly distract from him–he stuck out like the sorest of thumbs.
"I suppose the target on my back just grew a few sizes bigger. Oh well, that's what I signed up for. I'll simply have to deal with it."
Even though things didn't exactly go according to plan, it was useless to feel dejected about it. Many more of his peers would now take him seriously, or aim to take him down as quickly as possible. This was unavoidable, therefore he had to face it no matter what.
"On the bright side, you've got major bragging rights."
Both in an effort to cheer him up, as well as to tease him a little, Eleanora showed a gleeful smirk. The Heavenly Dao notifications that they had got today–including the various leaderboards–wouldn't be going anywhere. Every Heaven's Chosen could access them whenever they wished. This would allow them to judge the competitors who they ran into a bit more accurately, and also serve as motivation for those who were lagging behind.
"... that's a fair point. My future recruitment campaigns will go a lot more smoothly."
Initially, he had been about to scoff at her, but upon further reflection, there were quite a few benefits to this. He shouldn't focus solely on the dangers which came with this outrageously prestigious position, but also on how he could best exploit its upsides.
'I'm glad that I haven't spent my accumulated Attribute Points yet.'
Knowing that there would be many headaches coming his way in the not too distant future, he chose to move on to the next notification for now. It was time to read through the upcoming round's rules.