Progenitor Vampire: I Have Many Skills!-Chapter 670: The Martial Arts Tournament begins

A week passed quickly, and soon it was Saturday.

The glow of distant moons reflected on the faces of young and old gathered on the outskirts of the city, next to a large forest, where everyone wore expressions of happiness and enthusiasm.

These days, the city was celebrating its anniversary, and today marked exactly 1,030,300 years since its founding. New Year’s decorations joined the splendid anniversary decorations, adorning even the carriages, horses, and all kinds of domestic animals in the city.

In this case, those gathered on the outskirts of the city were just waiting for the Martial Arts Tournament to begin. Today was the first phase: Conquer the Golden Ape Forest.

One of the elders stepped forward to speak.

"All those present, both natives of our glorious city and foreigners from distant kingdoms or cities, seek one thing: physical strength. The glory of martial arts. The understanding of true power, that which resides within us and depends entirely on us."

"For this reason, you all have my respect. Seeking this kind of power in today’s world is something to be proud of, for you have understood the true essence of strength."

"An essence that is linked to the future greatness that awaits you, to the glory to come, and to the pride of our race. Our Martial Arts Tournament was created precisely to be one of the first steps that you, the young people, will take on your path to greatness."

"That’s why the first phase is called Conquer the Golden Ape Forest," he said, pointing to the large forest behind him, several kilometers away. "As you all know, it is one of the most famous forests in the area; it has many powerful beasts. In this first phase, we want you to use these beasts as a springboard to greatness." Finally, the old man smiled.

Using this kind of words was the best way to motivate these young people, but what he was saying was not far from what he believed. For everyone in this city, martial arts, of any kind and with any weapon, are the beginning of greatness.

In Matthew’s mind, this was not far from reality. Although a vampire’s true power indeed comes from their vampiric power, from illusory numbers that mark a different kind of power, he is more than aware that without a strong body, such power becomes useless.

And his current situation is a clear example of this.

Even though he now possesses an amazing power that could transform him into one of the most powerful men in the world, and his abilities await him to grant him great additional powers, unfortunately, he cannot obtain them because his body is too weak and cannot withstand them.

This could have been avoided if he had devoted more time to his martial arts training, or more precisely, to his physical training.

The old man continued speaking.

"You only have one mission right now. You will use a sword or weapon of your choice that we will provide so that everyone is on equal footing, and your powers will be sealed under a special inscription. Then you will enter the forest and bring us two cores from a Flower-Loving Green Snake and one core from a Golden Ape, regardless of level."

"The first 100 to bring them back will be the winners. As always, you already know the prizes from when you signed up; this year, they are better than in previous years, so do your best."

When this elder finished speaking, ten other elders behind him stepped forward. "Step forward, everyone. We will place the special inscriptions on you and give you your respective weapons."

Ten by ten, they began to advance in an orderly fashion. The elders used a special magical weapon to inscribe these markings on their shoulders and chests, and they also gave each of them basic swords without any additional features.

Soon, the 500 were ready and nervous in front of the elder who had spoken earlier. In the first phase of the test, 400 of them would be eliminated... if they arrived at the same time as others, there would be a tie, and 350 or 300 could be eliminated instead of 400, as had happened before.

But the reality was that the vast majority would be eliminated today.

After all, there weren’t enough Golden Snakes and Golden Apes in there for all 500 to bring back so many of their cores.

Furthermore, the strength required to kill these beasts without their weapons or vampiric power was beyond them; many did not know if they had it. Despite this, they were all determined to do it.

The rewards were very good; they had to earn them...

"You have until six in the afternoon. Once the 100 are complete, several shots will be fired into the air, so keep an eye out for that. I have nothing more to say except good luck and may the force be with you. Let the mission begin!"

Many began to run towards the forest, others took it more calmly to formulate a plan, and very few formed groups to try to hunt faster.

Any method was acceptable.

Among the crowd, Matthew moved at a steady pace, neither fast nor slow, and soon disappeared among the trees of the forest.

As soon as he did, he looked at the trees.

’Many of them are beasts, and there are a certain number of beasts camouflaged everywhere,’ he thought.

Although his vampiric power had been sealed, his perception was still at its peak.

Honestly, he felt a little bad for the other participants. Even though everyone was on "equal" footing, the reality was that he had a huge advantage over them simply because of his powerful perception, which allowed him to scan the entire forest in seconds.

After all, these were just beasts. They didn’t know how to hide their powers; they had no intelligence... They were irrational beasts.

The last time he had to hunt some of them, he did so unintentionally because he had been "trapped" in the plot of a small student from the Second Academy. He had only been in this world for a few days.

Naturally, they were no threat to him. Therefore, he took more time to explore this forest and see the different beasts.

He took it so calmly because his perception enveloped everything around him, including the exit from the forest. He could sense the distant fighting; a few had barely begun to clash with the necessary beasts some 30 minutes later.

As he wandered through the forest, he suddenly looked behind him, and several people jumped from tree to tree and stopped to look at him.

"A foreign?" One of them frowned and looked back for instructions.

But then the person behind him had her eyes light up.

"Matthew!" she shouted. It was Juliet.