Tens Of Millions

Outside the Wrath Nihility Academy's territory but in its Region, testing grounds for wannabe students of the Academy. Just past 8 AM, the southern side of the Wrath Nihility Academy's enrolling students encampment, larger by 8 times the previous amount, heard a loud noise coming towards them from the skies.

"Aaah!" - "What is that?!" - "My gosh, it is so huge!" - "What do you mean what is that? It's a spaceship! They aren't just for space, dumbasses!" - "It's coming towards us!!" - "Are we gonna ride them to the Academy's testing grounds this time?" - "Is the Academy's little black monster really coming this time? I wonder which side he will be taking." - "I can't believe it. I'm going to enter the Academy!" - "Will we participate in the war? That's so exciting!" - "Look! The spaceship stopped, and a hatch was opened!" - "Gasp! That's a new spaceship, whose is it?" - "Woah, look at the spaceship's engines, so amazing!"

The crowd below was chatty. Even the people’s small and whispered murmurs made the land below their soles tremble, causing some tickles and striking others. Heian Ciemnosc, who was above them, was stunned. He looked down with unbelieving eyes as he saw… millions… and millions of cultivators and non-cultivators from anywhere in the world. Before, there were about a couple million at most around here… However, there were at least 10,000,000 enrolling students here!

The encampment was no longer extensively spread to the sides. It had thickened a lot, spanning hundreds of thousands of kilometers as pitched-up tents covered everywhere his eyes could see, even as he was 50 km above the ground level. In his Ornament, the Fighter inclined low to 90 degrees as it descended. On the other hand, the Advanced Destroyer behind him, piloted by his Uncle and Auntie, turned around and showed its small engines to the crow below as they started turning up and about to zoom in the distance.

“Uncle, you said there were a few more… not more than ten times the number of participants on one side!” Heian Ciemnosc finally couldn’t resist it, and since the Advanced Destroyer had already started its engines, he became emboldened. However, against regulations, Teacher Puru turned those engines off, his voice coming from the communications system. “What are you talking about?! I even picked her for you just to help you show off. Be quiet and-”

“Ahh~,” suddenly, Sharina’s moaning voice sounded, stunning Heian Ciemnosc and Elena in the cabin, probably startling Teacher Puru. After a little while, the slightly slapping sounds stopped, and Sharina’s voice came from the coms. “Ah, sorry. It was just a good opp-kggghhh.”

Vshuum~!

Again, the words were interrupted as the Advanced Destroyer’s engines turned up right away and zoomed in the distance, leaving Elena, who was calmly sitting atop Heian Ciemnosc’s lap but using him as a throne with her legs together to the left, wordless. Knowing his Uncle, Heian Ciemnosc figured out he was incensed and rushed to return home to practice the baby-making process for the umpteenth time in their relationship.

“...” - “...” Elena and Heian Ciemnosc looked at each other, evident meanings in their eyes as they exchanged looks. At last, Elena spoke with Heian Ciemnosc, keeping silent as he knew it wasn’t time. “Eh. As much as the idea tempts me, right now is not the time… Mn! Tell you what, since I’m close to the later stages of the Spirit Formation realm, after this, I’ll ask Master to give me 2 free weeks. We’ll dual cultivate all that long. Is that okay?”

Rustle~~... Heian Ciemnosc said nothing in response but grinned from the left corners of his lips. He encircled her waist endearingly and pressed her back against his back. Her eyes narrowed, losing focus momentarily to the feeling of his slightly growing muscles, losing herself momentarily. When Elena finally sobered up, Heian Ciemnosc’s lips danced behind her right ear’s helix. “Okay.”

With that obedient word, they composed themselves, and the need for passion was appeased. Heian Ciemnosc slowly prepared to exit the Ornament as Elena checked their bearings. She wasn’t not nervous but serious about appearing like experts before these enrolling students. After 2 minutes, the cabin’s windows opened. They appeared in the eyes of everyone below, showcasing their power couple image as Heian Ciemnosc was terribly handsome and Elena, although wasn’t a beauty, demonstrated charm, aura, and formidable hidden might inside her.

Whoosh, whoosh- CLAMOOR~!

Heian Ciemnosc suddenly heard the noises from the more than ten million enrolling students below. He was just a few kilometers above the ground level, and his vision could no longer allow him to see even half the number of people on the ground. Even then, his dark coat shouldered his body and decorated him wholly black fashionably. Elena wore a darkish-brown blouson dress for the occasion. The Ornament was struck into everyone’s eyes as it floated down.

Heian Ciemnosc was astounded but didn’t show it. As he looked down, his right hand was intertwined with Elena’s fingers as her shoulders hugged his right shoulder. With this intimate pose, the crowd below slowly became silent, gossiping with each other. It wasn’t a secret that Heian Ciemnosc and one of the most incredible warriors at the beginning of the war were together. Even more, their Master showed up in every recent battle, spreading the word that his disciple would be inheriting rule over the Regions he helped conquer.

Who could deny the Wrath Nihility Academy’s pride? Even more so when he was grooming his successor, who was confirmed to be just as talented as he was, if not more. And with some old enough Second Step organizations, there were discussions about the selection for the new Headmaster coming soon. Many people liked to rumor, and when they remembered what Heian Ciemnosc, coupled with her master’s actions, one could only imagine further.

“... In the stead of a Supervisor, this time, I will be guiding you to the testing grounds and examining you. Your results will be evaluated by the Wrath Nihility Academy, but whether you can truthfully become its student will depend on you. Depending on the infraction, if anyone dares to cause trouble… Due to the immense increase in enrolling students, the Academy can even put you to death on the spot.” Heian Ciemnosc spoke, his dark Power Energy enhancing his words to cover 32 kilometers at once before spreading everywhere.

Elena remained silent as he spoke, feeling this was nothing critical or problematic. As if it was just right for Heian Ciemnosc to do this at ease. Heian Ciemnosc kept silent for a while, seeing the apprehension returning to everyone’s eyes and their body language. He remained still for a few seconds before sending Spirit Sense to his gray medallion with its yellow and black glow. Before the grand array formation activated, Heian Ciemnosc spoke out loud one last time.

“The Wrath Nihility Academy’s test starts now! Any of you not showing your utmost will be banned from taking another test in this organization!!”

“!!!” The enrolling students’ eyes became as big as saucers. But before they could open their mouths in shock, they felt their world darken with black smoke as if their bodies were turning into liquid objects.

“...” - “...” Elena and Heian Ciemnosc looked at the endless tents spreading over the distance after everything became noiseless and lifeless. A shapeless black smoke limb came from the ground before sucking the enrolling students down. They immediately turned into black smoke and were transported to the testing grounds. They looked below, suddenly feeling some kind of accomplishment.

“Hmpf~,” grinning and blowing from his nostrils, Heian Ciemnosc then looked at Elena and proposed with a teasing expression and tone in his voice. “The testing grounds are far away. Do you want me to show you how fast my baby is?”

“...!!” Elena’s eyes were casual as she turned around as if she was hopping on the ground. But when her brown eyes met Heian Ciemnosc’s, lighting up like a naive and clueless young girl accepted a suspicious man’s invitation to hop into his car. Nodding like crazy, she put on a light semi-smile. Heian Ciemnosc smiled triumphantly and returned inside the cabin, with Elena quickly stepping behind him.

Piuum, piiuum… Vwuuush~!

She took a seat behind the captain’s chair, which then moved to be positioned to his right. As a belt covered her lower stomach and another held her sternum, the Ornament faced the ground, and its smallish engine slowly lit up. The windows were covered by a layer of its armor, protecting it from the sudden impulse about to happen. The windows could deal with it, but only in space can they endure the sudden speed burst.

As Heian Ciemnosc had everything prepared, his face expressionless, the Ornament’s smallish engine was activated. The Ornament surpassed any speed he had ever gone to before, zooming into the distance slightly faster than a transporting ship at full speed! As it left the aerial space above the encampment, it left a creepy, dark contrail that dissipated 5 seconds later, operated solely by Heian Ciemnosc’s dark Power Energy despite using Star grade Powerful Stones.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

. . .

Hours later, in the testing grounds underground, 200 km below the surface, inside an installation, only the Academy’s staff were allowed. In this case, Heian Ciemnosc and his guest were inside an extensive room where other examiners had their respective surveillance array formations active. They could check every enrolling student going through the test in their separate classroom belonging to the south, north, west, and east sides from before.

At this moment, Heian Ciemnosc was checking the last batch of students. A whole week had passed since the start of the test despite expanding these testing grounds with the prospect of holding ten times the previous amounts for Archeons. However, apparently, the Academy didn’t prepare well enough. The waves of enrolling students were accepted or refused rapidly over a week. Yet, some tens of thousands were left even as the 7th day since its start was nearing its end.

“Is it ending soon?” Elena calmly said. Just a couple hours ago, they’d been cultivating for 20 hours straight while Heian Ciemnosc’s Spirit Sense went into his medallion to check things out. They couldn’t be blamed. After all, who would have thought the Academy’s preparations were simply not enough? Besides, he wasn’t the only one to take little breaks as the waves of enrolling students passed or failed.

At this moment, Elena was all too mellow and feeling like turning her meek mode on. She was made a mess out of and further played with, even as she repeatedly fainted. She leaned on his right shoulder as her body hugged his arm. On the other hand, Heian Ciemnosc wore an indifferent expression with serene, ultimately cold eyes. Every time someone watched them, helping keep everything about this year’s test running flawlessly, they felt apprehensive and like praising this power couple.

“Mn, the last batch is already going to finish,” Heian Ciemnosc answered. Elena looked at him and asked again, “How many passed the first one?”

“Tens of millions… still,” Heian Ciemnosc helplessly said. This number of successful students in the first part of the test was already more than the participants in the previous years. It was groundbreaking. Elena’s eyes also widened calmly. She asked him, “Won’t you contact the Academy? There might… be a million or a few who surpassed all 3 tests. What then?”

“I already did. The examiners are to let anyone who can enter the Academy do just that: enter. However, the last part will take another week or 2 due to the lack of this many students left within the Academy’s specific organizational territory. What do you think?” After answering, Heian Ciemnosc asked Elena, who was already dazed from so many things overlapping each other with some trouble.

Nevertheless, as an aspiring Headmaster candidate, she frowned and became pensive for a few seconds before responding. “We could’ve held the front for a couple months to make the way back and forth and help this test take less time and let the new students acclimatize to the Academy’s life earlier. However, preparing that now would be useless. The planning will take days, and the movement even more. The enemy had surely prepared enough to become more aggressive these weeks, so we’ll be beaten down if we suddenly become defensive.”

“The best would be to keep invading enemy territory, but not only that, it is also good to be very aggressive about it. We have much better experience in war and more arsenal than them now. We can easily obliterate them with those advantages. Besides, with my Master out there, no Second Step organization dares to unwillingly capitulate or partake in the war so easily. This way, this first ‘grand’ test would be slow but won’t be a problem. And from this arduous time, we can improve next year’s testing period.”

“They can’t request any reinforcements to their ancestral relationships or other friends outside the Blackotia Kingdom with your wives’ Fleet covering our asses anyway. There’s nothing to worry about,” Elena ended her speech before looking up at him. With her womanly charm, she asked him for praise. “How did I do?”

Seeing that mature, irresistible, casual smile on her lips, Heian Ciemnosc fell entranced momentarily before shaking his head helplessly and pinching her nose. She let him do that and waited for his answer. Heian Ciemnosc said, “You need to ask? That’s very good. We don’t know what else is happening since we’re ‘cowardly’ staying in the Academy, but that summarizes everything and is enough.”

“Mn,” Elena nodded to herself and continued to use Heian Ciemnosc as a standing pillow. As eyes looked towards them in jealousy for having such a powerful partner, having become so used to one another, the last batch of aspiring students finished their first test!

“... Let’s go,” when it happened, Heian Ciemnosc grabbed Elena’s waist with his right arm, almost tripping her over with the sudden motion. Before she knew it, black smoke appeared around her, consuming her surroundings and transporting her somewhere. The other examiners did the same at once, disappearing from the underground installations and appearing above the surface.

Vwarp~.

“Ah!” When Elena’s eyes perceived the sun’s light again, she was trying to bury herself on Heian Ciemnosc’s chest, her hands up to her face as she was put against his torso by gravity… in front of millions and millions of eyes.

Whoosh. Rustle~.

“...” With an indifferent face, Elena turned around, facing the aspiring students without shame. But a slight blush on her face exposed her actual emotions. Heian Ciemnosc’s smile flashed for 1 second before he placed his dark coat on her. With his uniform and jacket showing to the extremely shining eyes of the crowd, Heian Ciemnosc took their glances away from his future wife and attracted everyone to his colorful attire and shiny emblems. He still had the bright gleam from being the First Step forces’ Commander.

“I am Heian Ciemnosc, Commander of the First Step forces in the Wrath Nihility Academy. Today, I am a Student taking this role to examine the whole lot of you,” Heian Ciemnosc spoke as his voice reverberated everywhere with the array formation’s help. He couldn’t compare to the Supervisor who was his examiner back then, but so was the case for the other examiners this year. It wasn’t that mandatory to go through this crucial role to become a Leading Student. But Heian Ciemnosc had spent far too little time in the Academy. This was his quickest and most efficient method so far.

Looking at everyone with an indifferent but casual expression, Heian Ciemnosc’s walking self attracted everyone’s eyes and felt their blood boil. Who didn’t want to be like him? Rise quick and shockingly with his own capabilities, being cherished by the Academy, and becoming one of the Academy’s most significant raising Geniuses?

“You’ve passed the first test, but that’s something even the dumbest among you would recognize how insignificant a person is if they fail to pass it. At least if you’re trying to enter the Wrath Nihility Academy.” Heian Ciemnosc’s figure was already imprinted in their eyes. Some even wanted to challenge him, hoping to suddenly become the best in the world. He continued, “In the second test, 50,000 of you will form together in this area. Employ the best you have. From techniques to arts, Craftsmaking, and talent in cultivation. It’s up to you if you manage to reach the test’s third part.”

“Now… I can skip this step, but I’m asking you. Do you wish to know who the best among you are?!” Heian Ciemnosc suddenly paused before saying louder than before and a week ago. Elena lightly smiled. Her charm remained as she held Heian Ciemnosc’s left hand with her right one. On the other hand, the crowd exploded outright. “YEAAHH!!” - “We will become the best among millions. Of course, we want to know!” - “Senior, please let us know!” - “Let us know~!!”

“The person with the best results in the southern camp is…” Heian Ciemnosc didn’t smile or show much emotion from their outburst as he commenced listing those who got top-notch results in their first test among millions to have passed the test. After he was finished, the first 50,000 started showing their capabilities as Elena tugged at his arm and looked up towards him to ask, “My Spirit Sense gets dizzy even if I scan around a little. How many are there in this section?”

There were 4 different sections after the Wrath Nihility Academy prepared its testing grounds for future years. Each was several times larger than the one Heian Ciemnosc attended. But they were still lacking in the insane sea of aspiring students participating in the second test. Heian Ciemnosc looked down at Elena and said, placing his right cheek on her forehead. She didn’t jerk her head away and slightly nodded when hearing his response.

“There’s 4 million here. But more or less the same amount for the others. Only the eastern camp has 6 million aspiring students partaking in the test’s second part.” Heian Ciemnosc then walked away and sat on the grass without bothering to take a chair or something to sit on, simply layering the ground with his dark Power Energy and sitting with Elena on his left, her body leaned over his left shoulder, trapezius muscle and neck.

As time passed and days went by, Heian Ciemnosc saw the 4 million aspiring students pass the second part of the test one after another. Everyone was deadly serious about becoming a student, but their mind wasn’t lost in the future. It was kept in the present, and they worked sincerely hard to pass the second part. Some failed, directly plummeting to the ground and sobbing as they held their face with both hands. In the end, just a single reminder from a Sub Student nearby or one of the Students below Heian Ciemnosc was needed for them to walk away without making trouble.

They weren’t banned from participating again. But they indeed failed to enter the Wrath Nihility Academy. Even if they had come this far, where most of the tens of millions had failed. They weren’t content. Only forming part of the Academy was what mattered. The Academy also had no favorable treatment. Anyone who even reached the test’s third part would have to try again without any bonuses or advantages. Or you get in, or you don’t. Only the best are admitted.

Heian Ciemnosc even saw a few who ran with their legs and hearts burning to the wild after checking something with a device, looking at the nearest Sub Student before being allowed to run. After Heian Ciemnosc’s test, one had to ask, or they wouldn’t be allowed outside. They couldn’t cheat as nobody could hide under the Wrath Nihility Academy’s eyes, just like how the enemy during the war, at the start, didn’t dare to attack the Academy’s specific organizational territory.

A few girls tried flirting with Heian Ciemnosc. But he wouldn’t marry anyone, and Elena looked indifferently at each of them. It was a total no-no to everything. As for those who dared to strike up a conversation with Elena, they, unfortunately, lost their spot to keep contending to become a Wrath Nihility Academy student. Sad.

Time passed, and the third test was soon starting. Shockingly, 3 million people out of the 4 million had managed to advance through the test!

…