"Listen to me carefully, pay attention to your safety first. Stay close to each other and do not be ashamed to ask for help if there is a problem. Anyone who refuses to help another in trouble will be severely punished, and none of you will be held accountable for bad results even if you don't hunt a single beast. Youngsters, did I make myself clear?"
"Yes." Caesar and all the young geniuses in the group shouted.
"Good, and now we come to the embarrassing question... Do any of you have extra followers that you can give away?" The prince averted his eyes from the younger generation and began to look at the elders.
He knew that every squad had around three to five followers of average strength. Who could give one up? Although he knew the ugly answer in advance, he still had to ask.
"Your Highness, we have three extras we can share with you." Everyone, without exception, turned to the location of the Burton expedition. The one who spoke was Billy Burton!
"Hmm? Billy, is that true? Have you managed to find eight candidates in the past few days? It seems we are all useless, haha." A saint laughed at himself.
"No, Saint Temas. We'll only send in two followers with our main candidate Caesar. He asked for it since these two are his old comrades... that leaves us with three suitable followers we don't need." Billy shook his head.
"Excellent! Though I don't understand why you don't need them, they will be of great use to some squads here. Thank you, Burtons. I think everyone here will remember your help today." For the first time since the gathering began, the prince smiled.
"We'll wait a little more to see if the elders can bring others before the appointed time, then we'll go inside together..."
Everyone nodded and separated, each rebuilding survival plans with their candidates and followers, promising slaves and mercenaries rewards of freedom or wealth if their genius returned alive.
Minutes passed quickly and elders began to return in succession. Most came alone shaking their heads, but a few managed to bring relatively good followers—a total of four.
Together with the three from the Burtons, the seven new followers were distributed equally so each squad had at least four. The rest went to squads with only eighth-level followers to increase their chances.
"Everything is ready... let's go!"
"Oh? Is your meeting finally over? A few more minutes and you'd have missed the launch." An old man at the Black Sun gate giggled. He was the saint in charge of ensuring only geniuses and their followers entered under the rules.
"Just do your job." The prince replied angrily.
"Well, well. Let every genius step forward with his followers and announce the family he represents."
The prince signaled, and the youths lined up before the elder.
"Hmm, seems you haven't prepared good followers for the competition, huh? You clearly trust your geniuses a lot. Hm? The little earl's family brought only two followers at the ninth level—and one is one-armed? Haha, what confidence! I salute you."
"Just say if they are accepted or not!" the prince shouted.
"Of course, of course, they are accepted. You're lucky there's no rule about minimum strength or maximum age for followers, otherwise... hehe."
"Tch… when will the gates open?" Prince William was reaching the limit of his patience. He wanted to strangle the man and demand answers.
"Anytime you want. The hunting event started about an hour ago." The elder raised his shoulders.
"What?! Move quickly!!" The prince shouted, waving for the geniuses and followers to enter.
Once they had disappeared inside, he glared at the elder. "Even the time you gave us was wrong? Ah, bastards of Dolivar. I hope you don't disappoint me... if anything happens to our little ones inside... Hmph!"
The elder giggled but stayed silent.
================================
Within the hunting area...
Each genius pulled his followers and went his own way.
Even though the adults had urged cooperation, every genius here had his pride. At most, they might help another squad if they stumbled on one in trouble, but sit together from start to finish? Unacceptable.
Besides, what could really happen? Outside, political quarrels belonged to elders of the past generation. Inside, things were different.
These were geniuses eager for success. Each wanted the largest number of tokens. None had time for conspiracies or politics.
Even the little prince, representative of the royal family, nodded to the rest then silently left with five followers behind him.
Caesar also chose to leave with Theo and Peon.
After a safe distance, Caesar looked at them. "I think you're strong enough to kill most beasts here alone, right?"
Theo and Peon looked at each other, then nodded. Caesar clapped his hands. "Alright. Then we'll separate too. Kill any beast you find, cut something from its body, and keep it. That's the quickest way to win.
But in case of danger from those Dolivarian bastards, I'll release a faint aura at a set frequency. Memorize it and don't leave its range. If one of you has trouble, rush toward me. If I face danger, I'll intensify the aura and you come help. Understand?"
They nodded again.
"Okay, memorize this aura and go." A faint white glow appeared at Caesar's forehead.
After a few seconds, they nodded once more and set out. But their departure shocked Caesar.
Peon vanished as if swallowed by a hurricane. Theo sank into the shade of a tree.
It was the first time Caesar had seen them act. Even he couldn't tell which way they went.
"It seems father spared no effort during my absence..." Caesar chuckled, then took off at a steady speed, unconcerned.
The aura covered about 300 meters in all directions. With Theo and Peon's skill, they'd never leave its range.
The terrain was dense with trees, dotted with lakes and high ridges. It resembled the beast zone where Caesar had lived most of his life, so moving through it felt natural.
It was even pleasant, like hiking in his own backyard.
After half an hour, he met a ninth-level python. Normally, a cultivator facing a beast of equal level would flee. Their instincts and bodies made them terrifying foes.
But Caesar charged straight at it, hand blazing with white light.
Two strikes ended it.
The same happened with Theo and Peon, tearing through beasts from the eighth to the tenth levels without challenge.
By the day's end, the trio had formed a 600-meter hunting circle. Together they killed 11 beasts. One, at the 11th level, fell to Caesar alone.
Nearby squads managed only five beasts in the same time. None dared separate their members—separating here meant death.
Occasionally, one of the three crossed paths with other squads. The encounters lasted seconds. Was this a survivor? A scout? No one asked.
Each side moved on in silence.