Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

1784 Infuriated

BANG!

Ryu kicked out once, sending a guard flying.

He didn't know what it was about his bad luck, but he seemed to always get into trouble the moment he stepped into a city. The irony was that the city he had spent the longest tin, even if he considered the last ten plus years, was the Martial God's city. If that wasn't a joke of fate, he had no idea what was.

Ryu understood this time, though. It wasn't just normal bad luck, it just seemed that he had picked the wrong city to go to.

This was a city where Fire Elemental Fiends were the vast majority of the population. They didn't seem to like it when other Fiends cby, so they tried to give him a hard time.

It also didn't help that Ryu didn't have the money to pay for entry.

But it was easy enough to deal with. Just a single kick was enough, despite the fact the guards were both in the Perfect Sky God Realm. Ryu had already gained the ability to subtly control the elements in the air, hiding it from detection and suppressing those around him.

Of course, even if these few were Perfect Sky Gods, they were absolutely pathetic.

They only had Transcendent Grade Chaos Qi, and they weren't far from the bottom of the barrel. The fact they even made it to the Perfect Sky God Realm at all was a surprise, as those with this level of qi could only make it to the Transcended Sky God Realm at best.

"Annoying."

Ryu directly walked into the city after tossing them to the side.

With a step, lightning flickered and danced in Ryu's hair.

The more the spent in this state, the more interesting he felt it was. He felt the lightning element more clearly than he ever had before, but there was still something a bit off about it.

"I would like to join the army."

Ryu stopped in front of a booth and looked down. There was a young lady of barely 12 or so years old.

Honestly, it was quite shocking that such a young girl was located near the front lines. But it also seemed that there were a bunch of little kids around in this city.

From what Ryu could tell, most of the menial tasks of the city were handled by children. They would have likely been the guards as well if they weren't too weak.

To him, that likely meant that everyone else was a combatant. Clearly, the Fiends lived and breathed battle. Once you were of age, you joined the army. There was no other path.

"Okay," the little girl said in a bright voice. She didn't seem to have the singrained bias against Ryu. "There will be an assessment starting in about three hours. It will decide which battalion you're sent to, so do you best."

Ryu couldn't help but smile. He had always wanted to be a big brother, but unfortunately his parents' Bloodlines were too overbearing. It was difficult for them to conceive again.

He took the token and left for a waiting area.

He wasn't surprised that another assessment was being held so soon. There was one held every three days.

If you performed poorly, you would be sent to the vanguard as cannon fodder. The better position you got, the better shot you would have at growing in the army.

If your performance was too bad, you'd never get a chance to change your station in life, as you'd be sent off to a battalion with an incredibly high turn-over.

Ryu had thought about just trying to sneak over the border, but he decided that this wouldn't do him any good. In fact, this was why he had chosen to beca Lightning Elemental Fiend, despite the fact he could have easily chosen Fire instead and avoid all of this.

The discrimination was annoying, but it was also precisely what he needed right now.

His plan had already formulated in his mind.

Ryu entered a large, circular underground room. There were several Fire Elemental Fiends standing around, and as expected, they looked quite similar to the pair of siblings.

They all had entire limbs replaced by flames, and their hair and eyes were all flicking balls of fire.

There were two that caught Ryu's attention immediately, precisely because they seemed more fire than human.

One had a bald head, but a fiery beard that danced with gold and red. There were a twin pair of axes on his back that flickered in and out of existence.

The second was bald as well, but he was also clean-shaven. Instead, his eyes were such a concentrated pair of fireballs that they looked far more solid than anyone else.

What was interesting was that he was the only one that didn't seem to have limbs replaced by the elements. Still, there was an extremely long rod on his back.

"What the hell is this?"

The first bald man opened his eyes, meeting Ryu's gaze.

"Do you think you can just cwherever you want, sparky?"

He reached for one of his axes with an arm of solid red-gold. He looked like he was already prepared to hack Ryu down right here and now.

Ryu gave him a glance, and before he even pulled out his ax, he punched.

The bald man's pupils constricted. It made sense for him to be arrogant here, but he didn't expect that Ryu would be.

However, Lightning Elemental Fiends were too fast for him to react, especially since he didn't actually expect to have to fight so quickly.

BANG!

A fist of rippling bolts of blue collided with the man's chest and he was driven into the pillar he had just been leaning upon.

All at once, the Fire Elemental Fiends perked up, glaring toward Ryu.

A Lightning Elemental Fiend had just cinto their territory to stir trouble. How could they not be infuriated?