Beyond the Bloodline-Chapter 297: Annual Summoners Grand Tournament

"But Sir Jamie, you could’ve done this yourself. Can’t you cover way more ground than I can? And in much less time? You can even see things in directions I can’t."

Jamie let out a yawn before responding.

"Just because I can see five or six directions in spacetime doesn’t mean I can see everything."

"But your sight’s still way better than mine. I may be a Supreme Realm Existence, but I can only see three directions, you know?"

The crimson-eyed woman spoke with a sigh, pouting lightly as she muttered under her breath.

"And I’m still just a Lesser Supreme."

Jamie chuckled upon hearing her mutter, handing her tablet back as he replied.

"But you’ve got more recent information on Pinecone than I do. You’ve seen how things have played out over the last thousand Eternal Trials. You can spot what’s different this time very quickly.

I can’t do that since I was, well... asleep."

He leaned back in his chair, arms crossed behind his head with a lazy shrug. Another yawn escaped him, prompting Rowena to raise an eyebrow.

"You’re yawning a lot. I thought your stamina was infinite?"

"Infinity is relative, Rowena. It’s infinite to you, but it’s very limited to me.

And I’ve been ridiculously busy these past few days. I’m mentally exhausted, and it’s starting to show physically as my excessive yawning."

His body still needed rest after the surge of power he’d absorbed just two days ago, but he had yet to give it that chance.

Jamie took a sip from his drink after speaking, cooling it with a bit of ice magic before setting it down. Rowena, having accepted his excuse without much thought, simply shrugged and asked another question.

"What are you even up to these days?

First, you call me over to help speed up the Amphitheatre’s opening. Then, you ask me to check for increased Space Beast activity. And now, here you are, on some random planet in some random dimension.

I don’t see a connection between any of this."

"That’s because there isn’t one.

The things I’ve had you do are related to two separate matters. As for me being here, I just want to retrieve something I dropped a while ago."

At the mention of a while ago, Rowena narrowed her eyes.

"Are we talking ’a while ago’ by your standards or mine?"

"Huh? ’A while ago’ is ’a while ago.’ What’s with this standards thing?"

Jamie’s confusion was obvious, and Rowena let out a sigh before explaining.

"Well, ’a while ago’ by your standards could mean anywhere from a hundred thousand years to my entire lifetime, so I need to be su—OW!"

Her words were cut off when Jamie flicked her forehead with a small bolt of spatial power that completely ignored her durability.

She gave him an aggrieved look, rubbing her forehead, but Jamie ignored it.

"You make it sound like I’m some ancient old coot when you’re only two hundred million years younger than me."

"Two hundred million, Sir Jamie, is a quarter of my entire life!"

"And it’s a fifth of mine. Barely a difference."

"There clearly is a difference! A BIG two-hundred-million-year difference!"

Rowena was practically yelling by the end, but Jamie just plugged his ears with his fingers, acting like he hadn’t heard a thing.

Anyway, the reason for Jamie’s presence here on Kaelithis had already been stated—he was here to retrieve his missing Aspect fragment.

There was just one little complication he didn’t know of yet.

"It looks like there’s some sort of tournament in the works on this planet."

"A tournament? Would they even have any viewers during this time? The Eternal Trials are ongoing, after all."

Rowena’s question about whether the worldwide tournament planned on Kaelithis would even have an audience was entirely reasonable.

After all, the Eternal Trials had people from the farthest reaches of the Universe flocking to Pinecone just to witness them first-hand.

Trillions upon trillions of viewers had their full focus locked onto the event, and most organizations wouldn’t dare host similar competitions during this time—the risk of losing viewership was simply too high. With the Amphitheatre open, the majority of the galaxy and beyond had their eyes fixed on it.

"But that’s just the majority, not everyone," Jamie pointed out.

"There are plenty of people who don’t even know what the Amphitheatre is. And even if they do, some just don’t care.

The Knesix Dimension is full of people from those two groups. Sure, some are hyped for the Eternal Trials, but there are even more who are indifferent.

This planet, Kaelithis, has a large population that doesn’t even know the Eternal Trials exist. All they know is their tournament, and that’s what they’re going to watch."

Jamie’s response once again reinforced the fact that absolute unanimity was impossible. No matter how grand an event, there will always be those whose interests lie elsewhere.

Take the Planet Lord of Kaelithis and his direct subordinates, for instance—they were fully aware of the Eternal Trials happening across the galaxy and still didn’t care.

Yet, at the same time, foreign Galactic Rulers had crossed billions of light-years just to witness the event in person.

Rowena, despite fully understanding and agreeing with Jamie’s words, didn’t react much. Instead, she casually swiped across her tablet a few times, tapping on the screen before finally speaking.

"It seems the tournament is called the Annual Summoners Grand Tournament."

"?"

Jamie raised a brow at her words, and in response, she turned the screen toward him, revealing the homepage of the tournament’s official website.

"It says this planet was once invaded by forces from other dimensions who attempted to enslave its people and strip it of its natural resources."

"That’s a pretty common story. But what does it have to do with the tournament?"

Jamie’s question prompted Rowena to skim through the website, gathering all the relevant details before answering.

"Well, the native Kaelithians were completely helpless against their invaders—until a Hero named Sylvastion emerged," Rowena explained.

"This Sylvastion was a Summoner, and he used his abilities to rally countless Summons from across the Universe to fight on Kaelithis’ behalf.

Apparently, his final summon annihilated the invaders and sealed their dimensional gate forever."

She flipped to the next page of the website, her eyes skimming over the text as she continued.

"Sylvastion was immortalized as the planet’s saviour, and summoning became revered—not just as an art, but as a responsibility.

Now, summoning is a cultural cornerstone of this planet. Its monarchies and ruling classes are expected to master the art, ensuring they could defend the planet if such a threat arose again.

And to honour this Sylvastion guy’s legacy, they hold the Annual Summoners Grand Tournament every year."

When Rowena finished, Jamie merely nodded in silence.

To the people of Kaelithis, it was the grand tale of their hero—but Jamie had heard, seen, and even orchestrated similar stories countless times across years and universes.

To him, Kaelithis’ story was nothing noteworthy.

In fact, he had no intention of paying attention to the tournament at all. He was planning to just relax for the next few days...

That is, until Rowena kept talking.

"It seems one of their hero’s legendary treasures is being used for the tournament’s grand prize."

They call it the Stellar Keystone. The winners of the tournament get to use its power to summon and contract an exceptionally powerful beast."

"mhmm..."

Jamie barely reacted, his eyes fluttering half-shut as his mind began to tune out the sounds around him. But then, Rowena’s next words snapped him awake.

"The keystone apparently has incredible spatial abilities.

Jamie’s eyelids twitched, but he remained still.

"It can amplify summoning distance, allowing summons to be called from across galaxies. It stabilizes spatial tunnels, preventing disruptions during summoning.

It even expands the summoning pocket dimension, allowing a Summoner to store and summon larger or more numerous creatures."

"...huh?"

Jamie’s eyes shot open at Rowena’s explanation. Just as he was about to ask her to repeat that, Rowena continued.

"Lastly, it grants an overall improvement to spatial control. Merely using it once permanently improves one’s spatial abilities."

"Say what?!"

Jamie shot upright, his shades slipping off his face as every trace of drowsiness vanished from his eyes.

Rowena, startled by his sudden outburst, nearly dropped her tablet—but her quick reflexes allowed her to catch it just in time.

Yet, the moment she blinked, the tablet was no longer in her hands.

Jamie was already holding it, his eyes swiftly scanning the list of abilities she had just read aloud.

"...is there something wrong with it?"

At her question, Jamie pressed his lips together, then exhaled.

"So... you remember how I said I came here to retrieve something I dropped a while back?"

"Yeah?"

"That something just happens to be capable of exhibiting the same abilities as that of this ’Stellar Keystone’ of theirs."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah. It has a lot of other abilities too, but these ones... these are exactly the kind a Summoner would find the most valuable."

"..."

Rowena fell silent, a theory taking shape in her mind. Jamie turned to her, his expression strained as he asked.

"It’s a coincidence, right?"

He sounded like he was trying to deny the obvious. Unfortunately, she didn’t entertain his delusion.

"It’s not a coincidence."

With those words, Rowena forced Jamie to face the cold truth—this ’Stellar Keystone’ the Kaelithians revered as their hero’s legendary treasure was, in reality, the same Aspect of Space he had come to retrieve.