The ceremony officially began after my speech. A large metal door creaked open inside the arena, from which my four apprentices walked out towards the center. They turned their gazes toward me and gave a deep respectful bow before they faced a different door from which I assumed the contestant would come out.
The heavy door rose slowly, and the crowd quickly turned silent. Everyone present here already had a general idea of what was going to happen and who my apprentices were. The only unexpected element was Halbor. His presence made a lot of people frown in disdain. They tried to hide it well, but their emotions were as clear as day to me.
The worst part was, some of the church members had the same reactions as well. I could only inwardly shake my head in disappointment. This era was truly one that belonged to humans, though I doubted it would continue that way for long. The only thing constant is change— a wise man once said.
I was, however, surprised by Halbor's decision of joining the ceremony. From our previous discussion, I assumed he would not be helping the other countries and instead will focus on raising his own people. But it seemed like his talk with his fellow apprentices changed his mind. Perhaps they offered him something? Perhaps they convinced him in another way, I wasn't sure, though It was a pleasant surprise.
As the spiked doors rose, a group of people dressed in various attires appeared. At first glance, it looked like there were twenty-five of them. Each country had five slots to attempt the ascension ceremony.
I carefully scanned the challengers, some men, others women, some human, others not. It was a mixed bunch, more so than I initially expected. Most of them were already mages, it seemed. Few seemed to be untouched by mana. It looked like the royals were trying to see which type would react better to the ceremony.
I doubted being a mage would be that much helpful. The main quality that one must possess was a strong will, to endure the torturous pain, and not lose oneself. After that came the affinity. But without a strong will, none of it mattered.
The group of participants gathered into groups of five, each belonging to their respective country. They stood with their backs straight and glanced at me before roaring, "We ask for the lord's blessings!" After which the group of people gave a deep respectful bow. I nodded in confirmation and motioned for them to continue.
The challengers turned to the first Orthodox mages and bowed respectfully as well before they stationed themselves in front of their chosen mage. It was interesting looking at their distribution. The Lumia Empire, had three people standing in front of Wane, one person in front of Morena, and the last one, an elf in front of Halbor.
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It looked like the 'strongest' empire was the one to start. I adjusted my seating position and watched the ordeal with undisguised interest. This was the moment of truth.
The challengers gave the mages a salute before they sat down and closed their eyes. It looked like they did their research since I could see them trying to calm their state of mind in preparation to receive the mana.
The first to start was Wane. He summoned the mana and carefully pushed it to the challenger's body. The latter shuddered as Wane's mana followed a similar pattern to what I did before, albeit the elements that answered his call were pitifully small compared to those I used.
Still, It was enough to make the young man sitting cross-legged, start sweating profusely. Morena followed right after, and then Halbor. Everything seemed to be alright, which meant that the rest was up to the challengers.
The crowd of spectators held their breath as they watched the scene before them. Would the first batch succeed? Would they lose? I could see the other groups watching Lumia's batch with complicated emotions. Most prayed for their downfall, this was, after all, a competition between the nations.
From my current position, I could clearly see the expression of Lumia's emperor. His hands were tightly clenched and his breath was stuck in his throat. Unfortunately for him, the first casualty quickly occurred.
The young man standing before Morena shuddered, his body began to conclude heavily before streams of blood seeped out of his closed eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. Morena warned the man that he would die if he chose to continue, yet he refused to listen and stubbornly tried to hold on.
Bang
His body suddenly exploded into a red mist. No body parts remained, simply a crimson puddle. Morena was already prepared as she summoned a small water dome that contained the explosion, otherwise, his blood would have dyed the other contestants red as well.
The sudden death was too shocking for the audience, as silent gasps descended in the stands. The other Lumia challengers, on the other hand, kept their eyes closed and focused on withstanding the mana pouring into their bodies. I was quite impressed, since I fully expected another one to lose their calm after what had just occurred, but it seemed like I underestimated them.
Eventually, the first second-generation orthodox mage was born. It was none other than the elf. His success gave his teammates the confidence boost they needed, but even that was not enough for all of them to succeed. In the end, out of the five, three second-generation mages were born. Two fire mages, and one earth mage.
It was a pretty successful attempt, I had to admit. The success rate was much higher compared to when I conducted the experiments. Mainly because of the difference in elements, the elements that formed the core of my apprentices were on a different level compared to the second-generation ones. Not to mention, the Empires and Kingdoms had six months to pick their best candidates, so in the end a success rate of this caliber was to be expected.
The second team of challengers, that followed belonged to the Yadour Empire. To my surprise, it looked like they brought two demons with them, one elf, and two humans. The demons did not look that different from the humans or elves, they had sharp ears, two horns that curved to the back of their heads, and scales in certain parts of their bodies, their eyes, were also of exotic colors.
'Interesting' I inwardly mumbled.