Two days after the entrance ceremony, all 70 students accepted in the tower were taken to the place of examination for the elite batch. This was known as the reflection gorge. The reflection gorge was one of the mystical areas of the light tower. It was one of the things that could be said to be the foundation of the entire light tower.
Many years ago, the elven race found the gorge by chance. The person who discovered the gorge unknowingly went in only to be faced with a challenger. The strength of this challenger increased with time as well. Faced with despair, the elf finally breathed his last only to find that he was still alive and kicking outside the gorge.
For many years, this gorge was considered as a trial field for the elves. Later as research was done into the gorge, it was found that it ran with energy crystals and that it could replicate the experience of fighting challengers without any fear of actual death. This seemed like a trial left for some purpose by a mystical entity. The elves traditionally used this gorge as a field to test themselves and it was considered their holy site. After many years of history, it was under the possession of the tower instead. Even immortal realm experts could test themselves at this location. Hence, this was one of the most important locations in the tower.
Till now, the races living in the empire had not been able to figure out how exactly the gorge worked but the immortal experts could find some clues. It was settled that some powerful soul expert had used his miraculous techniques to build this location.
The reflection gorge followed a few simple rules:
1. The challenger would start with the same cultivation realm as the opponent.
2. The challenger would continue growing stronger at a fixed rate.
The limit of the challenger seemed to be at the peak immortal realm. Thus, it was known widely that someone who had mastered the reflection gorge was a true powerhouse who could move unhindered in Aterna. Thus, many independent experts joined the tower to test their abilities here. Over the years, the original energy crystals funding the gorge were expended and thus, the tower was always looking for more energy crystals. As such, it was the greatest buyer of the Atrexia kingdom's newly excavated crystals.
This was also to be the testing ground for elite examination.
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When the students saw the rumoured reflection gorge for the first time, they all felt immense excitement. After all, it was one of the most important places in the empire. But for Michael, it was nothing new. He calmly proceeded with others to reach the examination stand. An invigilator explained to all the students the procedure for the exam.
In short, whoever lasted the longest would be given the first rank and so on with decreasing time. Every year, there would be the same assessment which meant that the elite batch would change every year. All students understood the instructions carefully and proceeded one by one to enter the gorge. At their cultivation level, all students going in at the same time would not strain the energy reserves of the mechanism that was frequently used by saints and perfect realm experts.
The tower had been generous and allowed all the people accompanying the students to take a look at the exam as well. There was a betting booth sponsored by Karslon Dumbledore by the side! Paul Miller stood to the side not drawing much attention to himself. While a perfect realm expert was a big deal in human territory, inside the light tower, there were many who could match him. The elves and beasts had sent immortal realm experts with their children. Thus, Paul was acting subdued.
At that time, Ragnar Leslachis, the immortal expert accompanying the elves came forward to meet Paul. He had a sneer on his face clearly announcing to the world that he had come looking for trouble. Paul scowled but still gave a respectful greeting. In Aterna, strength demanded respect!
Ragnar Leslachis was one of the 5 immortal experts of the elven royal family. He was a king in his own right. Elves were all born with great talent for cultivation. They could be said to be the most powerful race of the light empire. It was also true that they were a race blessed by the plane itself. All elves looked stunning and beautiful. They had much greater lifespans than humans or other races and they had great talent in cultivation meaning it was much easier for powerhouses to develop. Thus, they were extremely arrogant.
The only reason they had not killed of all other races was that they found it much harder to reproduce and their population was much lower. Ragnar was an expert at the peak of the plane and he naturally had the arrogance and pride of one. The race he liked the least was the humans. After all, the humans looked most similar to elves. In fact, one could say that humans were the inferior version of elves that was sent into mass production.
> Ragnar (loudly) : Say Paul Miller, I have heard that the humans have a new crown prince and that he is very talented. What do you think would be his rank at the end of this exam?
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> This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
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> Paul (mockingly) : My lord, I don't dare to say a rank when the much more talented Leslachis princess herself is taking this exam. How could our crown prince compare?
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> Ragnar : Don't try your worthless sophistry. The princess is attending late because we are confident in our resources and teaching! Say Paul, do you dare to bet on who would do better in this competition? If you win I will give you 3 vitality pills.
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> Paul : And what does my lord want in return?
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> Ragnar : If I win, just hand me your soul guard!
Paul, being a top human expert naturally had a soul guard. It was his bracelet that he always wore. Soul guards were extremely precious in Aterna. After all, only soul cultivators could make one after reaching viscous soul realm or higher. For the elves, the princess was not important enough to give her a soul guard. But as she was a descendant of Ragnar, he naturally wanted to obtain one for her and hence his idea of betting.
He was very confident that Ashley would win. Ragnar was quite tempted by the bet. He knew how much of a monster Michael was! There was no way any of those kids could match that freak. A single vitality pill could help in pushing a late emperor to sainthood. If used correctly, this would mean three saints in his family. Even for Millers, this would be a huge fortune. But, he naturally could not let it show on his face! Thus, he maintained a scowling face and said:
> Paul : While three vitality pills is very tempting, I only have one soul guard. I naturally can not bet this!
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> Ragnar : Then what about 5 pills. I will make an official bet through the tower and even the emperor will be informed.
With this, he went off to the betting booth to place the bet! This was clearly forcing his will upon the weak. The other experts felt that Ragnar was too shameless but did not say anything. Paul just sighed and followed Ragnar, though he was laughing on the inside. Once the bet was made official at the tower, Ragnar would have no way of backing out. In just a few moments, the official bet was placed.
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When Michael entered the gorge, he found himself inside a dark chamber with a central platform. Michael stood on the platform and immediately an opponent appeared. Michael started his battle without delay. As the battle escalated, Micahel had to use all his trump cards to keep on fighting. After the competition in the wilderness, Michael had practised his new fighting method day and night. Thus, he reached a level where he could attack with his right fist carrying soul force without any need for a specific stance. This move had increased his combat power by a lot. Thus, he was able to maintain himself for longer than what should have been possible.
Of course, he did not use his second blessing. That would be Michael's trump card. As Michael struggled with the rapidly powering up opponent, he started bringing out the potential of his prediction ability in his fighting technique. Micahel was training even inside this test!
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Outside the gorge, children started appearing back after a few moments. Looking around, they understood that they were at the very last in performance and became dejected. Then, more and more children started emerging. As they found out about their performance, many different expressions could be seen. Azeer, Samual and Mark emerged one after the other and were around the middle of the class. As time passed, almost all the students came out except last 10. All understood that those 10 would be the elite batch. Naturally, Michael had not come out. Paul heaved a sigh of relief. While he was confident in Michael's ability, he could not help but be nervous about the results. The results were simply too important for the race's morale.
Soon, more students came out. At last, only three students were left - Kandriff, Michael and Ashley. Then for a long time, no one emerged. All students were stunned by the gap between themselves and those three.
Ragnar's expression seemed to be turning sour as the moments passed by. He felt as if he had underestimated the human brat! If he truly lost, it would lead to a lot of trouble. He could not renege on an official bet. And even if elves were most powerful, saints were still important to the race and losing 5 vitality pills would be a blow to the royal family. Correspondingly, if humans got those 5 pills in the coming years, then they might have 5 more fort-guardians in the coming years.
After a long time, Ashley stumbled out of the gorge. Paul was so delighted that he wanted to do a victory dance then and there! On the other hand, Ragnar looked like he had stepped in shit. With a crumpled expression, he turned to Paul.
> Ragnar : You don't need to worry. I will not run away after making a bet. The human kingdom would recieve the pills in a month!
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> Paul (smilingly) : We shall be waiting for them, My Lord.
Ragnar then turned and left. Ashley was also quite bummed when she found that she was actually third. She had been very confident in her ability. Also, as she was the eldest of the gathered students, she felt like it was a humiliation to be third. Sometime later, Michael stepped out of the gorge! Just a few seconds later, Kandriff emerged as well bringing the test to a close. Paul was quite shocked that Michael was not first but then he remembered that Michael was only 7 years old. One's combat experience would grow with age. Thus, for him to withstand at the same level as geniuses from beast and elven race who were almost double his age was already heaven-defying. And, it was not only Paul who understood this.
The results were sent to all kingdoms with the ranking of different students. At the same time, all experts delivered a report on Michael to their kingdoms. Even Karslon Dumbledore received a report about Michael's performance.
The Atrexia kingdom celebrated in jubilation on Michael's success. Duke Collins announced a holiday and bonuses for all in his territory! Entire Redster city was abuzz with the tales of their genius young master. While the other kingdoms were starting to think whether they should stand with Michael or against him, in the Dark Empire, Michael's bounty was tripled and now it was comparable to fort-guardians of the light empire. This was the day when Michael Rageberg's name had resounded in the entire Aterna but it definitely would not be the last!