Warmup

Richard had currently arrived in the town of Takra that sat at the foot of Snow Cliff, the last sizeable population before the Azuresnow Shrine. The shrine itself was built at an altitude of 10,000 metres high where even the strong barbarians could barely resist the cold, and the peak of Zykrama was even more chilly. Only someone with the power of a saint could live so high.

Takra was already quite lively, full of young barbarian warriors who had come here for the sacred ceremony. Only a small fraction of them were eligible to compete, but the rest just wanted to see the fun. Most of the qualifying battles for the first stage would be held publicly on a stage halfway up the mountains, and being able to see the battles of such experts was undoubtedly a useful experience for these young warriors. Many smaller tribes had brought all their talented youths over.

Takra couldn’t possibly accommodate the tens of thousands...