Chapter 306 The Second Round Of The Competition


    "No, it didn''t cause any trouble. It was well-behaved. Miss Isis did not return to the Isis Pavilionst


    night, so I do not know of her thoughts about Rubygon. And she knew about it since thest time you


    brought Rubygon here, anyway," Sue responded.


    "Thest time?" Rocky blurted out. He immediately remembered that he also came with Rubygon when


    he attended the Army g Contestst time. He felt flustered at a thought that crossed his mind. ''Is it


    possible that Isis already knew that I have two spirit-manipted beasts?''


    "Mr. Bai, are you alright?" Sue asked when she saw that Rocky''s expression suddenly changed.


    "Yes. Of course, I am fine. Watch thepetition together with Rubygon! Well, I have to go now!"


    Rocky said and then affectionately tousled Sue''s hair while smiling affectionately at her. He then turned


    to walk towards the tform.


    In the meantime, Lance walked towards the tform from the opposite side with a group of officers and


    in the crowd then noticed that Rocky was also approaching the tform from the opposite side.


    When Lance saw Rocky''s approach, he walked towards him as the people in the crowd watched them


    both.


    "Commander in Chief!" Rocky greeted politely and bowed to Lance the moment he saw him.


    "I was impressed by your performance yesterday. I am looking forward to another impressive


    performance from you today," Lance said calmly, slightly smiling.


    Everyone who walked with Lance stared at Rocky with a feeling of surprise and envy. It was rare for the


    Commander in Chief of the Crimson Dragon Group to voice out his admiration as well as say


    encouraging words.


    "I will do everything I can not to disappoint you, sir!" Rocky replied calmly, stressing "disappoint"


    deliberately.


    Lance smiled contentedly and slightly nodded. He then continued his walk as his officers and


    Seven spirit maniptors including Rocky were qualified to join the second round. All of them had


    gathered in front of the high tform. Six of them were all deputymanders of their respective


    military camps. Rocky was the only exception.


    Lance slowly walked towards the front of the tform and scanned the entire training field with his


    sharp eyes. He was like an eagle looking across the ins in search of its prey. When the crowd saw


    Lance was scanning the training field, everyone fell silent. None dared move nor breathe. Everyone


    waited for Lance to announce the rules for the second round of thepetition.


    "Two red spiritual crystals are hidden at two separate ces within the camp. The two contestants who


    can bring these two red spiritual crystals here will be the winners and will also be qualified to proceed


    to the third round. All participants are not allowed to attack any of the other participants. They are only


    allowed to utilize their spirit-manipted beasts to find the crystals. Once the crystals are found, the


    spirit-manipted beasts should also be the one to bring them back to the training field. There is no


    other restriction other than the ones I have mentioned. The owner of the spirit-manipted beast who


    seeds in bringing back a red spiritual crystal will be the winner!" Lance announced the rules for the


    second round of thepetition.


    He continued after the short pause, "In the depths of a foggy ce near water, flowers flourish and


    fade in secret. These words contain the clues on the ces where the two red spiritual crystals are


    hidden. Understand the meaning behind these words and you will know the locations of the two red


    spiritual crystals. And the second round starts...now!"


    The six deputymanders exchanged puzzled looks as they tried to fathom the meaning behind


    Lance''s words that bore the clues to the locations of the red spirit crystals. But even without a clear


    Upstodatee from Novel(D)ra/m/a.O(r)g


    idea of what the words meant, they set out at once to find the two red crystals.


    ''So the round is abination of a riddle and a treasure hunt. The Commander in Chief is really an


    expert at designing games. And to make it moreplicated, we are only allowed to utilize our spirit-


    manipted beasts to search for the crystals. This round is obviously designed to test the abilities of


    our spirit-manipted beasts. And the only way to win the round is for our spirit-manipted beasts to


    bring back one of the crystals. I suspect that there will be unexpected danger waiting!'' Rocky thought to


    himself. He was thest to leave. After looking around for a while, he dashed off towards a direction.


    Many of the spectators also left the training field. They intended to watch the sevenpetitors as they


    were searching for the two crystals. They dashed towards the different directions where the


    in the training field.


    "Since Sheridan had taken Rocky as his disciple, it means that Rocky is skilled when ites to


    manipting beasts. I just have to see how skillful he is," Lance murmured to himself as his eyes


    followed the direction where Rocky headed to.


    Rocky exited the training field with Uriah and saw that there was a watchtower in the camp. His eyes lit


    up with an idea. He and Uriah went to the watchtower and climbed all the way to the top. From the top


    of the watchtower, Rocky could see the entire camp.


    ''The two clues: depths of a foggy ce near water and the flowers flourish but fade secretly... One of


    the clues has something to do with water, so one of the crystals would be at the river orke. The


    second possible location would be a garden or a simr location that involves flowers.'' Rocky thought


    about the clues and scanned the camp to look for locations that would match the locations described in


    the clues.


    He soon found a smallke on the south side of the camp that was surrounded by various buildings.


    "One of the crystals should be there," Rocky said with confidence as his eyes scanned the details of


    the area. He and Uriah then went down the watchtower without further dy and headed towards the


    Three of the deputymanders were also headed towards the same direction including the red-


    clothed Deputy Commander who fought against Rocky yesterday.


    At the same time, another three Deputy Commanders from the east-southeast military camp started to


    search for all the ces that were rted to flowers within the whole camp.


    In truth, it was not difficult to find the two red spiritual crystals because the spirit-manipted beasts


    had their own sense of recognition that was attuned to the crystals. The real challenge of the second


    round was bringing the crystals back to the training field. The rules and limitations of the second round


    did not state that the crystals couldn''t be grabbed from the spirit-manipted beast who found the


    crystal first. This meant that after someone found a crystal, someone else could snag the crystal and


    bring it to the training field themselves in order to win the round. And even though the participants were


    not allowed to attack each other, their spirit-manipted beasts were not prohibited to fight each other.


    It was clear, then, that the strength of a spirit-manipted beast was the first key to winning this round.


    But even though the strength of the spirit-manipted beast was important to win the round, it was


    equally important for its owner to have the necessary beast-manipting skills. When a spirit-


    manipted beast found a red crystal, it was obvious that the other spirit-manipted beasts would


    give chase and try to take that crystal from it. The owner of the beast who found a crystal needed to


    have the skills to take advantage of his beast''s strengths in order to defend the crystal until his beast


    reached the training field.


    Groups of people followed the sevenpetitors around as they searched for the red crystals. And


    since Rocky had a remarkable performance yesterday, the biggest group of people followed him


    around.


    On the way to the area that Rocky meant to go, a graceful figure slowlynded like a feather on the


    roof of a nearby building. It was Isis. She stared at Rocky with her beautiful yet cold, calcting eyes.


    "Sheridan once said that you have a rare and outstanding ability of manipting beasts that only


    manifests once in many generations, which surpasses even mine. I would like to see it today," Isis


    dered arrogantly. She had long suspected that the second round would be mainly apetition


    between spirit-manipted beasts. Her father knew that Sheridan had epted Rocky as his disciple


    and that he had almost learned all of Sheridan''s skills. Her father was then eager to see Rocky use


    those skills. The second round was mainly designed to see how many of Sheridan''s skills had Rocky


    mastered!