Unlike the Lance continent, humans occupy nearly 80% of the land on the Chino continent, and all of it is good land with fertile soil and beautiful scenery. If humans are the main race in Lance continent, then in Chino continent, humans are the masters of this land.
Humanity has formed two huge empires on this land, namely the Stoke Empire and the Hawke Empire. But a hundred years ago, there was only one empire in the Chino continent, and that was the Stoke Empire. It is what people call the Southern Empire now. It is an extremely huge imperial force that is almost the same size as a continent.
The Stoke Empire has been established for thousands of years. The capital of the empire was originally named Thorn City, but as time went by, this name was gradually forgotten. Because the Stoke people gave their capital a more resounding name - the Thousand-Year-Old Capital.
The thousand-year-old capital is located in the southeast of the Chino Continent. Its geographical location has caused the southerners of the Chino Continent to become the majority of the ruling class. In the Chino continent, there are great cultural differences between the north and the south.
Perhaps influenced by the highland barbarians in the far north, humans in the northern part of the Chino continent value martial arts and strength very much. Although they have not yet reached the point where every family practices martial arts, in the north, the status of a warrior with fighting spirit is no higher than that of a noble mage. How much difference.
But southerners don't think that in their eyes, the kind of strength accumulated through muscles is a very low-level thing. What they yearn for is the mysterious yet extremely powerful magical power. As for warriors, that is a profession that only idiots with no brains or talent would pursue.
Therefore, they not only despise the warriors, but also look down on the northerners who admire strength. Therefore, northerners in the eyes of southerners are the same as warriors in the eyes of mages: rude, brutal, brainless, weak, and useless.
Under the influence of cultural differences and the oppression of Stoke's ruling class, the conflicts between northerners and southerners intensified, and riots and disputes, large and small, continued for hundreds of years. Until more than ten years ago, a northern duke rose up and officially declared his independence from the rule of the Stoke Empire.
His name is Ector Hawk, and he is the father of the current king, Larvin Hawk, and the founder of the Hawk Empire. He led the northerners to repel the Stoker Empire army that came to suppress the rebellion, and then declared the establishment of an empire with its capital at Merindle. The empire was named after the surname of the Hawke family, and the national emblem also inherited the emblem of the Hawke family - a A golden eagle flying high.
Héctor died of illness five years after the establishment of the Hawke Empire. Since then, Héctor's only son, twenty-six-year-old Larvin Hawke, has ascended the throne. This young man inherited his father's shrewd and courageous character. He quickly stabilized the chaotic situation in the Hawke Empire due to the death of the king, and then responded to Stoker's temptation with a very tough attitude.
It took Larvin nearly two years to completely stabilize the domestic situation. After firmly controlling the military power, the Hawke Empire officially fell under Larvin's control.
In the next few years, the Hawke Empire controlled by Larvin did not expand externally. Instead, it adopted a very friendly attitude towards the surrounding barbarians and the Lance continent on the other side. Because this slightly fat middle-aged man knew very well how fragile the new empire was, and now he had to create a relatively comfortable environment for the empire to recuperate.
Therefore, it can be said that Emperor Larvin did not achieve anything major during the more than ten years he took office. However, with the development of the economy, the residents of the Hawke Empire clearly felt that their lives were getting better and better. Therefore, they also loved themselves, the fat king.
But seeing the Hawke Empire becoming increasingly powerful, the Stoke people in the south could no longer sit still. In recent years, they had repeatedly created friction on the borders between the two countries in an attempt to suppress the development of the Hawke Empire. The final result was The outbreak of war between the two empires.
"So that's it..." Vera nodded thoughtfully after listening to Regner's story.
After the three of them agreed, they would come together to sign up the next day. Although they expected that there might be a lot of people in this competition due to the temptation of generous rewards, when the three of them saw the huge queue from indoor to outdoor at the registration desk, they still opened their mouths in surprise.
Fortunately, it was already the beginning of autumn, and Merindel near the north was not too hot at this time. Otherwise, Kordak, who was afraid of the heat, would inevitably retreat at this time.
The three of them stood together and chatted in line, so Vera asked Regner to talk about the basic knowledge about the two empires on the Kino continent. Regnar just had nothing to do, so he told her what he knew.
These things were basically what the old man told himself when he was bored. Although Regnar was young at that time, his mind was much more mature than his peers due to the living environment, so the old man babbled about that he was more or less mature. I heard a lot.
What was unexpected was that Kordak actually knew a lot about the history of the Chino continent. Regnar spoke intermittently, and Kordak casually added a few words or corrected his mistakes when he paused.
"Boss, have you ever stayed here before?" Regna asked curiously.
Kordak just smiled and said, "Okay, it's time for us to sign up."
Regnar turned his head and saw that the person in charge of registration was a sweet-looking girl. Although she has been working for a long time, she still has her iconic warm smile on her face and starts to receive the next applicant in a concise and capable tone.
"Hello, young man." The girl smiled slightly. For some reasons, Regnar did not want to show his true face in front of the public. So when he signed up this time, he still made a disguise.
This time he only made one adjustment to his appearance, and his overall age has not changed much. He is still a teenager, but his face is a little more masculine and a little less delicate.
"Hello, beautiful lady." Regnar said with a smile.
"Name?" The girl didn't say much, and started her work after a simple greeting.
"Thunder." Regnar said calmly. Since he didn't want to show his face, his name naturally needed to be hidden.
"Age?" The girl looked at Regnar and asked.
"Eighteen years old." Regnar replied, but he was too lazy to lie about this question.
"Oh, you look a little more mature than your actual age." The girl said with a smile. She guessed that the boy in front of her had lied about his age.
But this doesn't matter much. After all, the age limit is not an absolutely rigid rule. If a person is really one or two years older than the standard, can he really not participate in this competition? That would be too much nonsense. Of course, you can't really let a grey-haired bad old man participate in the low-level competition, as that would blind the eyes of all the spectators.
Therefore, as long as it seems that there is nothing wrong with his age, the registration receptionist will not cross-examine him too much, but if he is really that shameless, they will also find a mage to make a specific appraisal of his age.
"I look a bit old." Regnar smiled.
"So, participating in the low-level competition?" the girl receptionist asked casually and prepared to fill in the form. She also has some strength herself, so she can clearly feel that the aura of the young man in front of her is not very strong, and is about level seven or eight, so the girl guesses that his strength is at the peak of level seven, and cannot be level eight.
Because although people at level 8 to 14 can participate in the intermediate group competition, no idiot will really participate in the competition at level 8. Please, although level eight is considered an intermediate level, no matter how well you perform in the game. After all, level eight is only level eight. Once you encounter a level fourteen enemy, there is a gap of six levels. This absolute gap in strength cannot be made up by skills. Just like a rabbit, no matter how big or ferocious it is, can't bite a skinny lion.
Therefore, the popularity of signing up for the competition this time is basically divided into two obvious levels. One level is weaker, they are basically hanging around at levels five to seven, and those are participating in low-level competitions. The other level will be very strong. Those are the experts at levels 11 to 14. They naturally come to participate in the intermediate group competition.
When the girl looked at Regnar, she felt that he belonged to the former group. But no matter how confident she was, she still had to go through the motions, what if she met someone weird
So, this happens.
"No, mid-level group." Regnar said calmly.
"Huh?" The girl was stunned, thinking she heard wrongly.
"Yes, mid-level group." Regnar repeated.
"But..." the girl hesitated for a while and then said: "Please forgive me for being presumptuous, the middle-level group requires a level of fighting spirit above level eight, but you..."
"You can find someone to identify it." Regnar said. He didn't want to reveal anything here. After all, it was a bit sensational to say that he had cultivated to the fourteenth level at the age of eighteen. He didn't want to be too attractive at the beginning. Attention. So Regnar deliberately restrained his aura and suppressed himself to level eight or nine.
"Level 8 Fighting Qi! It meets the standards for intermediate-level competition." A middle-aged man behind him replied in a husky voice. He was the one responsible for the appraisal. There is a kind of person, although his strength is average, but his ability to sense the intensity of fighting spirit is very strong. Obviously, the middle-aged man belongs to this type.
"Are you sure you want to participate?" the girl asked again.
"Thank you for your concern." Regnar smiled: "I'm sure."
"Okay." Since the registrants were confirmed, she, a receptionist, would not mind her own business, so she asked about Regner's other situation, then quickly filled out the form, and then said to Regner : "Please pay the registration fee."
Regnar took out a gold coin from his pocket and handed it to the girl. He knows the amount of the registration fee, because if the competition is completely free, some weak people will inevitably come to make fun of it, so in order to prevent this from happening. They will ask for ten silver coins from the low-level group, and one gold coin from the middle-level group as the registration fee.
This amount of money is more or less, just enough to block those who try to fish in troubled waters.
"Thank you very much. The first game will be held in eleven days. Please be prepared in the next few days." The girl nodded, indicating that the work was completed.
"Okay, thank you." Regnar nodded, then exited the team and waited for the other two companions to sign up.
There is no problem with Vera and Kordak, although at their age, they do seem a bit young to participate in the intermediate group competition. But compared to Regnar's bizarre age, the two of them are still quite normal.
It is worth mentioning that Kordak claimed that he was twenty-four years old when he signed up, which made the girl who saw Kordak's face very suspicious. In the end, under Kordak's blushing and thick-necked insistence, the girl had no choice but to write thirty.
"Hey! You made me look six years older!" Kordak almost jumped up at that time.
"Please forgive me, sir, I think I made you ten years younger." The girl replied with a smile.
In the end, Kordak muttered curses and left the registration office under the persuasion of Vera and Regnar who suppressed their laughter.