The lady didn't speak. Caelus was going to ask her what that was, but seeing that she was ignoring him, he didn't question it. He found it extremely weird, though, and on the other hand, he noticed her leaving with the girl. Both were heading towards the Church.
Caelus turned away, walking through the Streets to see anything peculiar. From that, he noticed that people could easily steal from the stalls, which still had everything. Though his urge to grab gold was there, he resisted it as much as he could.
Finally, at the turning point, he noticed there was still a giant group of people around what was an arena. Though vastly different, they were cheering a fight. He still wanted to see what was going on. Though it felt a little cheesy for him to be going to a tournament first thing after meeting a few people and training.
A giant beam of light from the sky, golden and yellow at its center, launched the opponent into the air as debris flew up; it felt weird, but maybe it was going up.
"WOAHHHH!" A few kids shouted, wearing peculiar clothing, not something from the Church, but more like what looked like a kimono, which was weird.
Caelus glanced once, then looked away. He'dn it a few times and felt like they were comfortable. And he also chalked it up to it being another world.
Stopping, he walked closer to the arena through a gap that was probably only for fighters, hearing the people chatter; they were clearly cultivators. A sword flew right past him, just missing.
The rest of the swords struck cleanly, no blood- just the force. The opponent was lifted into the air as the swords vanished, the crowd roared with excitement, and the opponent smiled. Getting up on his own,
"A win for Arjuna!" the announcer on the side shouted, their head horned, curling like a goat's, and with that, they had a paler complexion. Their voice echoed even in the open area.
Caelus, on the other hand, focused on the name; Caelus lingered on the name longer than he should've, but he expected it was simply something the system did.
"Oooh, looks like we've got a-... Dragon coming to fight in the ring..." The announcer paused for a second, knowing this wasn't a Wyvern; the expression and complexion were far from what any Wyvern would be capable of. Wyverns wouldn't be able to make their faces even fully humanoid; only Dragons were able to.
"What is your name, contender?" Though the announcer's voice was a little softer, the crowd was silent for a second.
"The name is Caelus." He spoke as he walked up to the arena, looking at his opponent and holding his staff. He noticed that many people in the crowd also had staff in their hands. Though others had swords, and some even had knuckledusters or gloves.
"I see, well, give a round applause for Caelus, for he's going to be the one to fight our newly up and coming prodigy Arjuna!" The announcer shouted with enthusiasm, and the crowd screamed in excitement. Even if he were a Dragon, they wouldn't really care, as long as they saw a fun fight.
Looking ahead, he noticed no sort of weaponry, just their hands, so he assumed it was someone who fought with their hands.
"With that said, let us BEGIN!!!" the announcer exclaimed, jumping back as Caelus, in that instant, blinked, launched his slash, flew, and cut the ground with precision; the air around it looked like it was stretching, and in a blink, was about to hit Arjuna.
Right then, he dashed to the side only to launch himself forward, Mana coating their legs for the split second they launched themselves. Caelus stepped back and, for a second, a more human-like reflex: his leg flew out, and his knee connected with Arjuna's chest, sending him back a few feet.
Giving no time, Caelus launched three more blasts of Mana, each one positioned to cause the most damage, along with the fact that, although it was somewhat weak, it would be able to go through most defenses extremely easily.
Two of them hit Arjuna, despite his trying to block them with his hands over his chest and neck; they still did the same damage they would if they had hit him normally. The cuts weren't shallow, causing bleeding for Arjuna, who, still in this state, looked like he wasn't bothered.
Caelus, on the other hand, was having part of his brain panicking while the other parts were doing every other function he needed right now, his human brain, which for a dragon was only a small part of it; he'd never fought at all, so for a split second, he was distracted.
A punch directly on Caelus's face, pushing his skin and face back, right then, for the time he processed that, he was sent back, being flung up due to it facing somewhat in that direction, shaking his head, his wings appeared, letting him stay up in the air right before being rung out.
Though the punch stung, he even felt his vision turn inwards for a second, which was an experience in itself. Once his human side actually calmed down, he landed as his wings disappeared, another launch of the slashes, one to the neck, the other to the eyes, and the last one heading to the left, as going right would mean going off the arena.
Right then, Arjuna swung his leg, kicking forward with his leg coated with Mana as it clashed with the first slash at the neck and deflected it, the second one still able to hit, but Arjuna closed his eyes, which was... Mostly expected, but even then, it was painful. Caelus noticed blood seeping from the top of his eyelid, so it clearly got through the skin and began leaking blood, only on his left Eye.
"...I should help him- But, I'm fighting, I shouldn't go too hard right-" Caelus thought, yet while he was doing so, Arjuna's steps became faster, in less than a second he appeared right next to Caelus, the Third slash being useless as it already passed by, and Arjuna didn't dodge left in time for it to hit.
Caelus skidded back, quickly flowing Mana right to his legs as it embedded itself into the ground, so he would come to a halt, only for it to flow back up through his body, but Caelus was running low on Mana.
Since he needed a finishing attack to finish the fight, he simply changed up his simple cut, enhancing it with more Mana. He layered it as three vertical lines and two horizontal ones. Once he was done formulating it, Arjuna stood like he was waiting, though in a fighting stance, he was about to rush in.
Finally, Caelus tried to see anything that could be wrong without using, while charging up the usage of Mana, making it look like a beam, Arjuna rushed forward, only for the slashes to fly out, the sheer speed and intensity allowed the attack to cause incredible damage, albeit not being as easy and fast as the Simple Cut, it did the job.
The crowd roared harder as Arjuna flew out of the ring, his body with large gashes, but they weren't unhealable, though Caelus didn't feel like he deserved the win since he had just started cultivating-
[Update! You have reached The Second Stage of the Foundation Realm! Oh, did I tell you that you grow stronger the more you fight, you don't do that meditation thing~]
"Please never say it like that again." Caelus didn't dismiss the system; how it spoke annoyed him, but he did like that he didn't have to stay still and be alone with his mind. It sounded completely unbearable.
"And the Winner is our new fighter... CAELUS!!!!" The announcer spoke at the top of her lungs, the crowd still roaring in enjoyment of the fight, while Arjuna sat on the path. Though his body was heavily bruised, he didn't seem to mind. "But, we'll have to end this here, since the time for Prayer has finished for everyone. We don't want to make too much of a commotion." The announcer continued.
Caelus simply nodded, turning away while holding his staff, but before he could leave, the announcer ran over as people began walking away while talking with each other.
"Whoa, wait, since you won, and since Arjuna got second place, you'll be getting a prize, mainly just to help you with your cultivation." She put her hand into her pockets, taking out a bag of what smelled like different herbs and plants, so it was clearly to make a Pill, or he could be wrong, maybe it was because she thought he liked farming.
"I see, thank you then." Caelus let her drop it into his hand, though he had to put it a lot lower because she was shorter than he was.
She looked up a little confused, not expecting gratitude from him, but she nodded and turned away, walking to Arjuna. Mana flowed through her hand as it closed the wounds Arjuna had.
Caelus wasn't going to stay still and watch any longer, though, walking through the grass, which, for his human self, felt a little weird; he always wore shoes or sandals, but he was getting used to it, and also because it would be worse if he did.
Reaching the sidewalk, he looked to the side, trying to find Tellus, though he didn't know how, considering the Empire would be massive.
[You know you could just use scent, that's how Dragons find their mates, even if they're lost or going across the world-]
"First of all, I didn't need to know it was for mates. Two, why didn't you tell me earlier?" Caelus thought, interrupting the system before it could finish speaking, not wanting to hear any more of its shenanigans.
Right then, Caelus took a breath, and his sense of smell was attacked by thirty different, distinct things, some disgusting enough to make him vomit, while others made him want to go over and take it.
Caelus shook his head as he noticed a familiar smell, probably Tellus, but it could also just be Sol. Walking through the streets passing the commoners here, they all split apart like a wave, trying to make it seem like they just didn't want to bump into him.
Right now, it felt like his nose was perpetually stuffy, unable to get rid of what was in there, and taking another breath, he continued forward, finally reaching a stall where Tellus was sitting, eating with 2 other girls and 3 guys.
Since she was having fun, he wouldn't disturb her, though he did feel a little hungry. He brushed it off; he'll eat later. Yet even when he tried suppressing the urge to eat, it still came back; no matter how much he tried shaking it off, he couldn't.
Sighing in defeat, Caelus walked over ot another stall, one selling meat, which... he found weird. They sold meat, yet they couldn't wear fur. But he didn't comment on it.
"Yes, what is it you need? We have all kinds of meat, though our specialty is Wyvern Meat, which I have to say again from already Dead Wyv-" The butcher spoke, her voice calm and a little condescending, probably because she's dealt with people or Wyvern's in human form getting mad at that.
"How much does it cost then?" Caelus replied, interrupting her, " He didn't really care how she got it. "Also, do you have the bones and Organs or not?"
"Ah, without the other things you asked for, it's ten gold, since it's so pure and rich, with the bones and organs it'd be twenty-four." She spoke, sighing, looking a little tired, so she didn't notice what he was.
"Alright-" Caelus tried replying.
"I know it's a lot, but it's worth it, it'll last an entire year, even if you eat it whenever you like, it lasts long enough that you wouldn't need to eat for three days, even." She continued, only to jump a little, hearing the sound of gold touching the counter, exactly twenty-four pieces, though lower quality gold, it was still gold.