Eternal Cultivation of Alchemy

"I heard you received our sect's treasure, Your Majesty," the Ebony King said. "I hope you'll take good care of it."

"Ah! Right, the Mountain Crushing artifact," Alex remembered. "You were from the Mountain Crushing sect."

"We all belonged to some sect or family," the Emerald King said. "It's not that surprising, Your Majesty."

"How were my pills, King Jin?" Alex asked.

"Hahaha!" the Emerald King laughed loudly. "As expected of Your Majesty. They were incredible."

Alex smiled.

"Wait, pill?" the Ivory Queen looked at Alex. "Your Majesty, I received no pills."

"They were in exchange for me lending money during the previous golden auction," the Emerald King said.

"Ah! That's not fair," the Ivory Queen said. "I didn't even get to make it there."

"I heard your pills were quite amazing, Your Majesty," the Ebony King said. "I regretted missing the auction. Are you still selling some?"

"I am selling a new one in the Golden Auction this time around. I'll let you learn what it is on your own," he said.

"Hmm, I suppose I can't miss it this time then," the Ebony King said. He turned to look in the direction of the Gold King. "Are your people handling things well for the auction?"

"I might be new to the task, King Wan, but I assure you I am making no mistake," the Gold King said. At the start, he had felt out of place in between these old monarchs, but as time passed, he was settling in fine.

"Oh, my intention wasn't to doubt your work," the Ebony King quickly said. "I was just inquiring. If you need some help, let us know."

"I am doing fine, but thank you for your consideration," the Gold King said. 

As they talked, the Crown Prince arrived as well.

"Your Highness!" 

Everyone stood to bow at one.

"Ah, greetings Your Majesties," the Crown Prince bowed a little. "It seems most of you are already here. Has my cousin not made it here yet?"

"King Weiyuan should be arriving at any time," the Emerald King answered.

"Shouldn't Queen Mao be here at least?" he asked.

"She has to make some final preparations before the secret realm opens up," the Ivory Queen said. "Did you arrive with youngsters from the legions, Your Majesty?"

"Yes," the Crown Prince said. "When did you arrive, Your Majesty."

"It's been about half an hour," Alex said. "They have been here long before me."

"We weren't that much earlier either," the Emerald King said.

"Since Your Majesty is going to enter, I guess you'll miss out on the auction," the Crown Prince said

"My elders will be there, but I will have to miss out on it," Alex said. 

"I hope you good luck on the Martial ground then. You can't come out before the 2 years is over," the Crown Prince said.

"If I can help it, I won't," Alex said with a smile. "I have a bet going on with Queen Mao for how long I can last. I intend to last forever."

The Kings gave a surprise look at Alex. 

"Ooh, a bet," the Ivory Queen said with a clap. "We should make a bet too."

"What… is on the line?" the Emerald King inquired with Alex.

"I give a lesson on alchemy to the kingdom's alchemists if I lose," Alex said. "If I win, I get 100 thousand Saint Spirit stones."

They all suddenly fell to thought. The amount was quite massive for a simple bet, but with the high risk came a high reward.

"I will make the bet," the Gold King said first. He had enough money to spare. "I will say—"

Alex raised his hands to stop him. "I am all in for a good bet, but you should wait for a bit before you hear more details."

Everyone looked at him curiously. What could the detail even be?

The Azure King arrived some time later and the Silver Queen arrived afterward as well. Once they were all there, the Silver Queen revealed the information that Alex had asked her to broadcast.

The betting became harder at that point.

"I won't make a bet," the Ebony King said quickly. The time frame of how long Alex could last was brought down severely with this one piece of information, and that caused everyone's bet to become similar.

As such, he would have to risk a bit too much for nothing.

The Gold King still wanted to bet. "I'll bet a 100 days. 10 more than the Queen Mao," he said. "I believe King Alex can last that long."

The Silver Queen joined in. "I don't want to go lower, so I'll say 5 months instead. Just last 100 days, Your Majesty. You'll be 100 thousand spirit stones richer."

Alex smiled. "I will accept both of those bets," he said.

"200 days," the Emerald King said. "I trust you can last that long even with so many after you."

Alex thought for a bit. He could refuse the bet if he thought it was too much in the King's favor.

"I'll accept it as well," he said. He didn't find it too bad at all. He knew he was going to be weakening himself to train his sword alone, so it was hard to say how long he could last. 

It was all a legitimate bet on his part as well.

"180 days," the Ivory Queen said. 

"Bet!" Alex said.

"Will you accept 300 days?" the Azure King asked.

Alex thought for a bit. "That's… a little hard to bet on," he said.

"I'll up the spirit stones to 150 thousand," the man said.

Alex's eyes shined. "That's more like it," he said. "That's a deal."

The Crown prince threw his hands up. "I'm not making any bets."

Alex shrugged. "That's alright," he said. 

The Silver Queen stood up. "It is time," she said.

The room suddenly quieted down and everyone stood up. It was time to open the secret realm.

The kings left the building and said goodbye to Alex as they all made their way to the various entry points to the secret realm that was assigned to their kingdom.

The tens of thousands of people who had come to the secret realms also waited outside the secret realm in mass. Many flew in the air as there wasn't much place on the land itself.

Alex went along with the Queen's brother and stood on the section for the Silver Kingdom's entrance. The Queen handed him a piece of thick talisman paper.

"You will be the only one of your group, so take care of yourself inside, Your Majesty," she said before leaving.

Alex looked at her fly away. "She didn't explain to me what this is," he said with a bit of a chuckle.

"It's the talisman that keeps score for you inside the secret realm," the brother explained. "You can look inside."

 Alex nodded and looked inside the talisman to find a few information.

There were 5 lines of information stored in the talisman.

Name, Acquired Points, Losses, Out of Bounds, and Origin.

His name was set as King Alex, and the next 3 sections were all set as 0 for now.

Alex looked at the Origin and finally understood what the Queen meant by him being the only one in his group.

His Origin was set as 'Southern Continent'.