The human caravan reached the light tower at the end of another month's journey after Michael's one-man show. When Micahel reached the light tower, he reminisced about his past memories. He had been a part of the light tower in his previous life. In fact, he was the leader of the soul-cultivation tower.
The light tower was established in a very huge area. It had several areas for training and competitions. It also had lecture areas for experts to discuss their theories. All in all, the tower was more like a well-developed university for teaching experts. The light tower was divided into 5 smaller towers - the soul cultivation tower, body cultivation tower, soul combat tower, martial arts tower and the extra arts tower. All towers had the same functions as implied by their name. The extra arts tower contained methods of using energy crystals, formations and strategic decision making.
Michael was the nominal leader of soul cultivation tower and one of the greatest experts in the tower in his past life. He had also visited the soul combat tower frequently in his past life and he knew most of the combat arts stored there. This time, he had planned to join the martial arts tower and the extra arts tower. There were a few formidable soul legacies in the extra tower that would be very useful to him in the extra arts tower. Joining the martial arts tower was a must to improve his fighting abilities and develop his new art. The martial arts tower had a department of anatomy that researched the most efficient ways to kill an opponent. Michael planned to gain knowledge in the field of anatomy to develop his new fighting art.
The humans were almost the last group to arrive and the entrance exam was kept 2 days later. The other groups were naturally - elves, dwarves, beasts, barbarians and other scattered groups. Actually, the barbarians were humanoid and did not have any bestial abilities but they were individually not much weaker than the beasts. It was just that they lived in small tribes and were not united as a race that they were not considered a major faction. In total, around 1000 children from different races had come to the tower to take its test. The tower would take in 60 normal disciples and 10 elite disciples every time it recruited. Then, it would also take in 200 servants who would be allotted different tasks in the tower. The students in the elite class were permitted to bring 2 retainers each.
On the day of the examination, several races' children were forming different camps and were stationed in different places in front of a stage. Karslon Dumbledore stood in front of the young crowd as his eyes drifted across all the faces stopping briefly on a few. Karslon Dumbledore was hailed as the most well-rounded expert in the light empire. His cultivation in body and soul was the highest tier in the entire Aterna plane. He was primarily interested in historical ruins and arcane mysteries of the plane rather than combat. So, while he was not the strongest in Aterna, he was one of the strongest and probably the most respected. In the light empire, his words carried more weight than all the emperors of different races!
The first person Karslon took note of was naturally Michael Rageberg. Anyone would look in shock at the spectacle of a seven-year-old with such cultivation. At Karslon's level, he could figure out most of Michael's secrets except his Perfect Persona Blessing, All Seeing Eyes and Styx Soul Incarnation Scripture. It was no wonder as all these had extraordinary origins. Styx Soul Incarnation Scripture was obtained by Michael after slaying a powerful devil in his past life.
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The next person who caught Karslon's eyes was Kandriff Kross - the 12-year-old beast prince. He was the current beast emperor's nephew. He was in the early king realm and could easily defeat middle stage king stage human experts. He also had a soul guard! It would make him a terrifying opponent for Michael. Most likely, Michael would lose in a fight against him.
Next was the Elven princess - Ashley Leslachis. She was 14, in the middle king realm and had middle viscous soul cultivation as well. She could be considered the highest level of talent after the crown princess level.
Karslon was easily able to see through most promising of the candidates. Then he declared the beginning of the entrance test:
> Karslon Dumbedore : All of you are here today to take the tower's entrance exams. The legacy of the tower is extremely old and even I myself, at one point was a student here. Though, that happened many many years ago. After today's exam, we will select 60 new students and 10 elite students. For the next 5 years, you all shall train here and hone your skills. We will evaluate you again after that and decide if you are worth grooming. Naturally, only those who pass will be allowed to stay and the rest would have to leave. Those that pass would then be called as true disciples and would have the right to enter and exit the tower as they please. It will aslo be then that the various experts here will select their personal disciples. I hope all those who become disciples here would keep this in mind and continue working hard. We shall also select 200 of you as daily handlers. You would also be trained with some resources and if your performance is good enough at the end of 5 years, you shall be accepted as a true disciple as well. Now, we will first begin with the normal disciple test. You all can expect the results by today evening. Now, be dismissed.
All the races had naturally taken note of their potential rivals. Micahel naturally was the most popular figure. All children had heard the tales of the genius of human's new crown prince. Ashley and Kandriff looked at Micahel trying to measure him up. Micahel too noticed them. In his past life, Michael had a crush on Ashley and he had pestered her quite a lot for becoming his lover. He would have tried using force if he was not afraid of her background! After all, Michael was the worst they came. And while he was not interested in rape and none of his partners had been unwilling to obtain his seed due to the chance of having a powerful child, he would have done it for Ashley. It was clear from the way almost all children were looking at her spellbound even though they had not developed fully yet. Ashley was not just beautiful but almost a divine goddess. She was known as the most beautiful female in the entire light empire.
But Michael knew what kind of person she was on the inside. Also, as he was thinking of surviving the upcoming war, beauty was the last thing on his mind. Not to mention that he was a kid right now.
Micahel left for his allotted quarters as he was exempt from the entrance test for normal students. This was also the case with Kandriff and Ashley. The other children all went to the test centre.
The test was actually to defeat someone one small realm above you. Also, the said person - one of the testers from the tower - was adept in various ways of combat and could be considered geniuses in their own right. Naturally, only a few of the students succeeded. Azeer Zenid, Samual Joss and Mark Gregory were the only ones who passed. Those who passed were all accepted directly. Then, the remaining students were tested in various ways such as potential, understanding of martial arts and the like. The entire process would have taken too long if it had to be done by a single person. Fortunately, the tower had many testers. Thus, the entire process was finished on time and 70 names were put up on the list. The next day, the test for 200 worker children would take place and on the third day, the test for elite disciples would be held.
The 70 who had passed were gathered for a ceremony acknowledging them as students of the tower. This was a gathering of heroes!