When the next day arrived, Kan Afreet took Noah and him from the great hall to a completely different place. The training room they were normally in was quite rude. It just looked like it had been carved into the cave.
But the place they came from was like a white and spacious laboratory covered with smooth marbles. It was almost the size of a football field. Alexander and Noah had no intention of paying attention to this.
Because in the middle of the field, eighteen children were lined up. The sharp aura emanating from the body of all of them disturbed Alexander. You didn't have to be smart to understand that these people were the ones who ranked in the last exam.
More than half of them were girls. Alexander noticed that a boy was looking at him. He was a menacing-looking boy with a hundred eighty centimeters tall, black hair, and black eyes. It was hard to think that he was the same age as Alexander.
The reason Alexander paid attention to him was simple.
Not only his looks but the way he licked his lips the moment he saw Alexader made him feel uneasy.
Alexander didn't worry too much. They had come here to pick up the awards and after receiving their awards he would not have to see this boy again.
They lined up with Noah and waited for the instructor who would give them the award.
After minutes of the silence of death, a group of four instructors, led by a man in a black robe, appeared in the middle of the hall.
The black-robed man had a mask on his face the same darkness as his robe. His eye wasn't even visible, but he could feel the man looking at him.
"You performed well in the First Test of Life and Death. What you've accomplished is worth rewarding."
When one of the instructors standing next to him opened the pouch on his waist, a refreshing medical aura spread to the environment. The box was full of white pills.
"This is the Clean Heart Pill. It is a special recipe that you can only find within the boundaries of Black Dragon Camp. It will help you solve most of the problems you will encounter during your development."
The instructor distributed one pill to each other. Alexander examined the pill given to him. The texture of the pill was moist, it looked as smooth as glass. Alexander smelled a slight mint from the pill. It had to be said that it looked quite exquisite.
"Now swallow the pill and move to your meditation position. There are other awards besides the Clean Heart Pill."
The orders were absolute. The children switched to the meditative position with strange expressions and swallowed the pill. Alexander could feel the pill melt on his palate. The pill was mint-flavored, and after an indescribable refreshment, he felt a warmth in his stomach.
The instructor's voice could be heard.
"The effect of the Clean Heart Pill lasts for three hours. You will meditate during these three hours. You don't need to deal with other issues. Instructors will help you in any situation."
Alexander began attacking the Spirit Seal after taking control of the Clean Heart Pill's medical power with his Qi. It was like trying to break through a wall with a sledgehammer. Although the power of the sledgehammer was increasing each time, the wall was not even shaking.
Although Alexander meditated for three hours, he did not make any progress. So he opened his eyes in a boring way.
The instructors stood at the children's heads, carefully examining them. When Alexander woke up, their eyes turned to him for a moment, but he didn't care.
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The amount of Qi coming out of Noah's body and the other children demoralized Alexander. Almost all of them were on the verge of opening the second acupuncture point. Being aware of this revealed his incompetence.
Meanwhile, an anomaly occurred around Noah. At first, Qi flowing into his body paused, and immediately afterward a Shadow Dragon silhouette became apparent behind his body. Although the Shadow Dragon was just a silhouette, it looked quite menacing.
Noah has created his fifteenth vortex and opened Cloud's Door perfectly. The Shadow Dragon behind it was also an indication that it had entered the second phase of the Rise of the Black Dragon.
Unlike Zachary, Noah had opened the acupuncture point as it should have been.
The Shadow Dragon behind Noah had not disappeared as it occurred in other anomalies. The Shadow Dragon, which first appeared behind the tall child, appeared in turn in all children. Alexander watched the whole process with a crimson face.
Other than that, everyone had opened the second acupuncture spot!
He was now the weakest of the group.
'Calm down. Calm down. The people here belong to other groups, they don't stand in the way of me because I won't meet them again."
This was what went through his mind when all the children woke up to meditate at the same time. All of their faces were shining as they noticed the change in their bodies.
The instructor shook his head as he looked at the children. Alexander's situation didn't seem to concern him.
"Every ten years, the Black Dragon Camp receives a group of ten thousand students and begins to train. In the first two years, half of them die from various causes. In the third year, some of them manage to survive, but the losses do not decrease. After the Trial of Life and Death, that number drops to six hundred."
The instructor continued his speech.
"In the end, a very small group manages to graduate. These people come to great places in Elysium. Come join the army directly after graduation and become high-ranking officers. There are also those who join the nobles. Others are hired by their governments. Of course, this is only the fate of those who graduate from the luminous side of the coin."
'The bright side of the coin?'
Alexander frowned. He felt like what he would hear a little later would change his destiny.
"Have you ever thought about it? What does Camp Black Dragon gain from this?"
About two hundred people graduated from each training program. The remaining nine thousand eight hundred were eliminated. These numbers could not be ignored. These individuals consumed a lot of resources during their lifetime.
So if they all die and the graduates leave the Black Dragon Camp, what did the camp gain from this?
Alexander was thinking about this from the moment he stepped into the camp. He had thought of terrible possibilities.
"Corpse and organ trafficking are just one of them. That's not what I mean. We only have one gain from this."
The instructor threw his hand on his face and took off his mask. Behind the mask was an ordinary face. It was so ordinary that it was impossible to keep in mind.
"Black Dragon Camp, Elysium's best training camp, is just a folding screen."
...
'What?'
Alexander frowned.
"The sole purpose of the existence of the Black Dragon Camp is to train cardinals suitable to serve the Shadow Cathedral. You are the outstanding talents who have put in outstanding performances in the camp. You've accomplished better than anyone else in the process."
Shadow Cathedral.
It was a name that entered the nightmares of all tycoons, whether it was Elysium or Earth. It was the number one assassination organization with a 100% success rate. Although they had very few members, they were all top talents.
Although it looked like a training camp from the outside, the main purpose of the Black Dragon Camp was different. It was a dark formation that produced suitable candidates to serve the Shadow Cathedral. They sold the corpses of the dead children to the monster races and paid for the camp by earning large sums from it.
The twenty children here were the group that qualified to participate in the real educational program of the Shadow Cathedral.
"You have to be a potential Shadow Cardinal before you understand what the purpose of the Shadow Cathedral is. It will be good for you if we tell you from the beginning. Only one in every hundred Black Priest candidates has the potential to become a Shadow Cardinal. Only a few of you will be eligible to become Shadow Cardinals. But don't worry, even if you are not a Shadow Cardinal, you will be able to serve the cathedral as the Black Priest."
Noah, next to Alexander, raised his hand and asked the question on everyone's mind.
"Didn't the Black Priests use Shadow Energy?"
How could these children who had only raised Qi becomes Black Priests without being able to use Shadow Energy?
The instructor continued. "Shadow Energy is not an energy grown from scratch. You can only achieve Shadow Energy through a few special techniques. As for how to get Shadow Energy: by transforming the Qi in your body into Shadow Energy!"
"How are you going to do that?"
Noah was fearless. He wasn't afraid to ask what was on his mind. The instructor was not bothered by this either. So he chose to answer.
"With the Deadly Education Program, of course..."
Deadly training?
Alexander shuddered involuntarily when he heard this name.
How could he have known it would be his worst nightmare in the future?