In the light empire of Aterna, the light tower stood - majestic and intimidating. But today, there was a festive environment in the tower. The entire tower had been decorated with brilliant lights. Even during the day, these lights glittered visibly. There were several stalls set around the campus - each selling something to eat or some form of entertainment. The tower celebrated the final test every time. This was because this was the day new blood joined the tower.
The light tower the core symbol of the empire. There was only a single method to enter - to enter through the final test. While others could join after they became powerful experts such as Omar Bridgit, they would be given the positions of guest elders. The core upper echelon of the tower were all experts who had trained in the tower. This was a tradition that had been followed since the establishment of the light tower. It was due to this that while people saw it as a reserve force in the empire or a place where experts gathered, it never changed that it was a school. And any true disciple of the tower would then become a true member of the tower.
If needed, the tower would offend powerful races for their geniuses! Karslon Dumbledore had been known for behaving like this at multiple instances. It was also the reason he was so respected in the empire. Even the current beast emperor considered him a teacher. This was Karslon's influence! There were many experts who had formally joined the tower and cut off connections from their race. It did not mean that they did not go back to their race. It meant that they were ready to devote their lives to the tower. In terms of need, they would leave their race if required and help the tower. These were all core elders of the tower.
Thus, the tower was in balance with all the races currently present in the empire. For example, it was known that there were 7 perfect realm ancestors in the human race. But, there were two more in the tower! It was that they had joined the tower and would not want the political power of the race.
Today, the final test would be held. Here, there were two stages for examination. In the first stage, the students would be marked by a panel of experts - all core members of the tower. The head of the panel was Karslon himself. Each candidate would be given some marks on their potential out of 150.
The distribution of points was as: 50 for body cultivation, 30 for soul cultivation or 80 entirely for body cultivation in case the student did not cultivate his soul. Then, 50 points were for combat arts. In the case of soul cultivators, it was 30 for martial arts and 20 for soul arts. Or else, whole 50 for martial arts for body cultivators. Then, the last 20 points were for anything that the candidate showed unique. It was up to the student to show anything to the panel. It was extremely difficult to get any points in these 20. Thus, no one ever managed to cross the threshold of 130 points in the potential test in all history.
After this was the combat test. This was in the view of any spectators. The students would be given opponents and as long as they won, they would get the corresponding points for defeating the opponent. In fact, there was a specific pattern for that as well.
Peak Knight Stage - 10 points. Group stage - 15 points. Group stage 5 knight stage challengers.
Early king - 20 points. Group battle - 25 points. The group would have 5 peak knights and 5 early kings.
............................................ and so on the points increased.
It was easy to see that beating a group of kings, knights and emperors till late emperor realm was 75 points. Then, beating an early saint was 80 points. Also, as long as one could beat a late stage saint, it was full marks. The candidates could start from any level. But, once lost, only lower levels could be challenged.
This distribution had been there historically unchanged. It was just that today, many records were going to be broken!
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The viewing platform was already filled with countless people. They were waiting for the test to start. A candidate would take the tests back to back. Thus, one needed to get an accurate guess of their power as well, lest they be injured or waste their energy. The big shot races were currently sitting in the very front. Ragnar Lislechis and another immortal expert from the elves could be seen. From the werebeast's side, the Beast Emperor Kevin Kross himself was present with another immortal realm expert. The other middling races were sitting at the back of these leader races. This was a show of power. If an ignorant person were to take a front-row seat - it was equivalent to asking for a duel!
Of course, no one was stupid enough for that. Even back was the camp of humans. Michael's entire family was here today. There were also Paul, Jerome and Reez sitting together with the Ragebergs. On the other side were the Emperor and Empress with the Joss family head. The camps were clearly separated. The lesser nobles had the greatest headache of their lives as they chose their seats. They could not afford to offend either group. In Aterna, without strength, nothing was permanent!
As people had already taken their seats, the potential-exam was also started. There were a total of 122 applicants. Apart from the 70 disciples chosen at the beginning, 52 helpers had also applied.
All the experts watched with bated breaths as they wanted to find the future strength of different races.
Demitrus was standing at a corner, looking towards the stage with sparkling eyes. He had a feeling that today was his lucky day.
The Beast Emperor was also looking forward to the results of his nephew as well as the human kid.
In front of all these experts, the final test finally began.
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The first student to enter was quite nervous. As soon as he came in front of the panel, he felt a terrifying aura lock on to him from all sides! This was a hidden test from the panel. One that decided the marks for all later sections. It was the test for the heart! The will!
If a cultivator lacked the heart of an expert, their future achievements would be limited. The student staggered backwards putting his hands on his head and crouching down instantly and started shivering. This caused all experts to frown. Then they retracted their auras and started scoring the student. While the student was confused, they had already declared him as not worthy. The scores he received were much lesser than what he would have gotten based on the rules. At that time, a score was displayed outside along with the student's name - Karmas Thomas - 57 points. The elven family that the kid was from made bitter faces as he came out shaken and challenged the next test.
As such, the scores kept being added and the ranking board was changing constantly. It was then that a big player entered the hall - Azeer Zenid. Azeer was 18 years old and in the late king realm. He entered like the others. He too felt the aura landing on him. But, he did not crouch. He looked at the experts in front of him in the eyes! As this happened, the panellists' eyes shined.
The dwarf elder at perfect realm said: Good seed!
Then, the experts at the panel started increasing their aura! This caused Azeer's steps to falter. He staggered backwards as blood seemed to rush to his throat. Fear gripped his heart as he too started shivering uncontrollably. At this point, the aura on him vanished. The panellist had a smile on their faces. Initially, they had released aura comparable to peak emperor realm. There were 6 panellists in total. Thus, a late king surrounded by 6 peak emperors was the criteria of selection!
They then started marking his potential - giving him a score of 80 points. As his points came out, all the people focussed their eyes as soon as he emerged. Reez was also looking at him with satisfaction. At the score of 80, he had the potential to reach the perfect realm. If this descendant of his could reach the perfect realm, even if he were to fail to become an immortal, he would not have many regrets. Jerome looked at Reez and said:
> Jerome : Geezer! You have a pretty decent descendant. Why do you always have a long face?
>
> Reez : You old coot would definitely say that! You already have your descendant in perfect realm. It is my family that is on its last legs!
>
> Jerome : What are you talking about? You think that these brats or this little Paul would decide the future?! The one who would decide everythig in the future has not come up yet! Just wait and watch!
Reez was rendered silent. Indeed, it did not matter if Azeer could reach the perfect realm. What mattered was if Michael would reach the immortal realm.
After that, more and more children started coming out. The combat test would be started after all the students had finished the second test. The reason for that was so that people could gamble.
Later Samuel Joss got a score of 79 points as well. There was a round of congratulations between the ancestors again.
It was later that people were shocked - Mark Gregory - 87 points.
Heavens! This was pretty close to the potential to reach the immortal realm!
All eyes turned to Duke Gregory. The Duke was only a saint realm expert. In the middle of the tower, he was a nobody! But now, not only humans but even the other races were looking at this man who managed to birth such a talented child.
It had to be known that Mark and stood till the panellists had raised their aura to the early saint realm. All the three boys had the same cultivation realm and almost the same potential but Mark had a better heart.
The crowd was now waiting for the big shots to appear. But at that moment, a wild card entered!
Ramsus entered the exam chamber. When the aura landed on him, his let out a guttural hiss! His body slowly started turning red!
> Interesting!
said one panellist. The experts increased their aura to early saint realm. Ramsus' feet started buckling. But, he still stood tall. He let out a wild growl and turned entirely red! A wild and brutal aura emerged from him! He was like a cornered beast! This was his Blood Fiend transformation that had been brought forcefully due to the auras of these experts. They all smiled. This was a rare hidden gem. Thus, they started marking his potential.
The announcement stunned all those present.
Ramsus Rageberg - 101 points.
The entire crowd erupted! There were gasps and countless conversations started:
> Ramsus Rageberg? Is he the crown prince?!
>
> No, I think the crown prince is named Michael Rageberg. Did he change his name?
>
> I don't think so! They would not allow such a thing! This must be an illegitimate child of that Duke Rageberg!
The last comment caused Sitara's eyebrows to be raised as Collins started sweating profoundly. He truly did not know who this kid Ramsus was!
> Omar Bridgit : Hahaha, Did you guys see that? That's my disciple! Hey Duke Rageberg, see that! That is your kid's retainer! If your kid's score does not surpass it, you would loose all face! What do you say, if your boy can not surpass that score, get him to give the position of crown prince to Ramsus!
>
> Collins : Michael does not need the position of crown prince! The position of crown prince needs Michael!
Collins' reply stunned the entire crowd. Even the immortals looked over. What a domineering statement! Michael was already beyond the title! Now, it was the trouble of the emperor to keep him appointed as the crown prince.
Omar just snorted but did not reply. He was just jesting. He also knew that the kid named Michael was more talented than his disciple. From what he heard from his disciple, his heart was also formidable. Such a genius would definitely score more than 101.
Amidst the commotion, Ashley entered the exam chamber. Despite being early emperor, she faltered at the late emperor realm pressure. Her heart was clearly not much in cultivation. But, being a genius that she was, she still maintained her composure till the early saint realm aura. As she was an elf, her age was considered to be less important. It took a while to access her. The results came out: Ashley Lislechis - 105 points.
This caused several people to look over in shock. This was another immortal candidate. The elves were also naturally cheery. Several people had started betting on her as well.
The betting system was as such: You had to predict the top 5 and almost how many points would there be. The more you got right, the more of a multiplier you received. Say someone predicted all top 5 correctly and put 10 energy crystals as the gamble, one would get back 50 crystals. If the score predicted was under 10 point difference, the multiplier would increase by one.
Paul, Jerome and Reez had already put several thousand crystals! This was what they submitted:
1 Michael - 260 points
2 Kandrif - 230 points
3 Ashley - 220 points
4 Ramsus - 200 points
5 Mark - 180 points
This was what they felt the result would be. It should be noted that Michael had said he would break the Beast Emperor's Record. They were confident that even if Michael succeeded, the gap between them would not be much and thus the bet.
At this point, Kandrif's score came out - 110 points. This elicited another round of conversation.
Kevin smiled to himself - these old geezers don't know anything! That kid has an unawakened ancient bloodline! Once he awakens it, his potential would surpass mine. It is possible to reach Karslon's level of potential!
Still, Kevin was satisfied with the result. Now, he was just waiting for Michael's results.