Chapter 4: Make or break
After a lot of research and reading, Leo came to have a general understanding of the underworld. As a topper in his mortal world, Leo had his style of doing things. The first step in his thought process was to break a complex problem into simple manageable things.
Underworld revolves around creation energy, sin crystals, underworld market, and the bridge of rebirth(BOR). Since there were too many mouths and very scarce resources they had developed some sort of yearly competition between themselves. It would not only give a platform for the weak to change their status quo but also act as a resource gathering avenue.
The competition itself was pretty crude. Every year it would be held in the central area because of the geographical convenience for other areas and one particular area could challenge any other area in the battle. If the other party agrees, resources would be placed as bets and the winner takes all. But one serious catch was, a party can't refuse all the challenges. One has to accept at least one challenge otherwise, according to the rules of the underworld, the remaining areas would have earned the right to announce war on the said party.
Looking at the previous competition results, the Eastern area hadn't performed well over the years leading to a lot of unrest and drain of resources.
For the last 3 years, the Eastern area hadn't challenged anyone and only accepted one challenge every year from the relatively weak party among the other areas just to survive. Despite that, it was defeated in all the matches regardless of its best effort. This had resulted in a vicious cycle: no resources -weak battle power- continuing losing streak -drain of further resources.
Another frustrating thing for the Eastern area was the minimum bet in the competition. It was a quarter of the sin crystals generated in the Eastern region all over a year. A quarter seems little but in reality, it was humungous. Everything in the underworld needs sin crystal, let it be cultivation, transportation, salary for the workers, buying useful things in the market, and so on. No one complains to have too many crystals, more the better was the consensus.
Leo had no idea what happened 3 years back that created a vicious cycle for the Eastern region and he had no interest in knowing too as it would not help resolve the current situation anyway. Since there was only one month left to the next competition, the entire Eastern region was in a frenzy.
Many warriors and noble families had already deserted the region and migrated to other areas, further decreasing the battle power of the region. There was no such thing as loyalty in the underworld. If there was any other resource in the current royal family of the Eastern region people would have long resorted to some kind of coup but the current royal family just existed for the name's sake. They were nothing but good-looking beggars.
The only thing that was still giving them some respect was the cultivation level of Arthur and Eva. Last year Arthur's wife lost her life in the battle because of some conspiracy from other areas leading to a devastating blow to the family. This year one of them would have to take the lead in the battle and no one knows what kind of danger awaited them.
Leo couldn't help but sigh as he recalled the expressions of the father and daughter duo.
'Probably they thought, I was some kind of savior because of my soul's potential. They can't nurture me because of a lack of resources or use me in any way because of not wanting to draw too much attention. Hehe, they must be scratching their heads now not knowing how to handle me.'
'At least there is no immediate danger till the competition. That's kind of relief. Let's see what this system can do in the meantime.'
[Host has yet to open the beginner's gift. Kindly open it in the system space]
Leo's mood immediately improved "OPEN".
[Congratulations host, you have gained a level 1 system portal]
Leo smiling face froze "I was expecting some kind of primordial bloodline or a magical pill that can shoot my cultivation to the peak but system portal? What crap is this?"
[System portal: By using this portal host can communicate with another person anywhere in the universe provided the host's soul is linked to that person. Also, the host can use the portal to convert any unwanted resource to a desirable resource. Note, system conversion charges apply. The host can upgrade the portal to reduce the conversion charges]
Leo read, again and again, many times to understand what it meant. Finally, he gasped at the perversity of the portal. He could only say one thing.
"Powerful …too powerful."
Leo was aware of the resource crunch in the underworld and everything revolved around sin crystals. If he wanted to start his cultivation journey he needed a lot of crystals. But who would provide him? He looked at the 2 crystals left behind by Eva and sighed.
2 crystals wouldn't even be able to fill the gaps between his teeth. The Eastern area had degraded to such a state that even a single crystal would be regarded as a life-saving straw to increase their battle power in the upcoming competition. Although most of the Eastern warriors had deserted, there were still few who had some attachment to their family and home. The royal family would do anything in its power to appease them from migrating to other areas. Everyone has their priorities including Leo.
According to his research, he would need at least 10 crystals to reach the first level of soul foundation. Then the second level would need double the amount. It would multiply endlessly as his cultivation level progresses. Moreover, cultivation was only essential but not sufficient to survive in the underworld. One needs to have soul arts to cultivate the soul, a soul weapon to use in the battle, and powerful soul defense treasures to protect him from all kinds of danger. Everything required sin crystals.
The way the Eastern area was going, he would be courting his death if he relied on them. They were just testing the water by giving 2 crystals to find out any peculiarities of his soul. If they found out even a tiny bit of clue regarding his soul, Leo couldn't even imagine what his fate would be. Fortunately system portal came at the right time. It can convert useless things to sin crystals.
'All I need is the right strategy to utilize this mechanism properly. Since I was a genius in terms of coding programs in my previous life, it's not very difficult to come up with a model for using this portal .'
After a lot of thinking, Leo came up with a bold idea just by thinking about it made his hairs stand up. His breathing became haggard.
'Calm down ….calm down.' Leo forcibly suppressed his emotions and calmly asked.
"System what is the conversion rate of a high potential soul and sin crystal?"
[Replying to the host, high potential souls are divided into bronze, silver, gold, and diamond grades. For a bronze-level it is 1:10 (1 soul would give 10 crystals), for the silver-level, it is 1:30, for the gold-level it is 1:60 and for the diamond level it is 1:100]
"Interesting, I didn't know that there is a 4 level classification in high potential souls. I am curious about my level of soul. System can you tell me my soul grade ?"
[Please use a sin crystal to know the answer] system replied in a mechanical voice.
Leo's face darkened " I forgot about the equivalent exchange mechanism. Two sin crystals are all I have at the moment. To carry out my plan these 2 sin crystals are essential. Forget it, I will know soon enough anyway. Let's focus on the priority."
"System I want to know how many sin crystals it requires to open a portal to a nearby lower realm and travel back and forth ?"
[Replying to the host, 4 sin crystals for 1 hour]
Leo suppressed his rage towards the system and asked "Meaning I can only go and not come back with the 2 crystals I have. Moreover, there is a time limit too. What happens if I can't come back?"
[Replying to the host, due to not following the rules of the universe, host's soul would be obliterated on the spot] The system replied without any emotions.
Leo sucked a deep breath " Looks like I need to gamble my life this time. If my plan succeeds I would make a killing but if I fail ….anyway I have no other choice ."
Leo closed the door tightly and held the two crystals in his hand tightly. After taking a long breath to calm his nerves. He said, "System open a portal to a nearby mortal realm using these 2 sin crystals."
Suddenly 2 crystals in his hands disappeared like magic and a rotating portal opened in front of him. Without wasting even a second he jumped into it holding his breath.
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CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
nandu25
nandu25 Creation is hard, cheer me up!
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