With a face of confusion and a hint of hope he follows behind us as we finally descend upon our destination.
When we arrive we see kids of around 15+ years old, in straight lines standing in front of a platform of judges. As we head to fall in Amen looks to me and ask "Cocky young prodigies, refined young masters, or both?"
"Let's go with both." We were both great actors, in our own opinions, back on earth so we were prepared.
Just then, a suave dark skin middle-aged man with a goatee and a scar on his cheek, walks to the edge of the platform. "Today is the day that decides the rest of your futures. So let's make it simple. The Darkwood clan has one rule, that is to be ruthless to all enemies.
All who oppose the great Yami shall die a gruesome death.The judges will call you up two at a time, all you have to do is to defeat the man across from you. Todays exam will only accept 20 people. So we will keep going until 20 have been eliminated. Direct descendants please make a seperate formation. Direct descendants have two lives. With that let us begin." As he finished talking he disappeared to his seat behind the table.
With that the matches began. Seeing the first few matches I finally understood why grandma said we were strong. Some of our peers dont even have skills merely relying on brute strength alone. By the time Amen was called up only 4 people had cast skills and they were all next to each other. It seems they are all together and are direct disciples.
Amens opponent is a young boy from outside the family. He took two steps, but before he could take a third there was a root in his chest. With that Amen merely turned with his hands behind his back not uttering a word before calmly and gracefully leaving the stage. This elicited some nods and smiles from the judges.
Then it was Ihy's turn. He walked to the stage playfully and squatted down in front of his opponent. His opponent took this as a slight, and charged at him with a strange series of fist that formed a faint illusory water dragon. A neutral element, martial arts. Martial arts is a hard to train element in this world but its the only element where anyone can train even if they are not adept. The only downside is for those who are not talented or dilligent they end up just looking like fools. But, the guy facing Ihy is a direct descendant with obvious skill.
It looks like maybe Ihy is not fated to start here with Darkwood. Maybe someway I can still take him i-- Before I could even finish that thought, Ihy shook his club which made an ear piercing rattle sound. Next thing we knew he hit his opponent across the head with the club and his opponent fell to the ground dead. But, wait that blow to the head didn't look deadly. Hmm, secrets. He will make a great support on the battlefield or more likely a control unit. Oh the possibilities.
The judges however had looks of a mixture of astonishment and approval. This match led to a loud commotion amongst the prospective sudents. There were many whispers about soul attacks.
Then, the judge pointed at me. As I made my way up the stage I did my best to appear learned and mighty but down to earth. My opponent however did his best to appear as a witless ape, yelling and bounding his way onto the platform. I guess it's an intimidation tactic? Either way it formed a sharp contrast on the platform.
Oi let me end this quickly.
It ended in one move. Before anyone on the platform could move the air in front of him blew up. A move I have been using lately, the old compress a ball of spacel in my dimension then teleport it anywhere in my vicinity and repel it outward. Depending on how long I spend compressing the ball, the stronger the explosion.
The judges expressions were of awe and horror. So were the expressions of the students when faced with the headless corpse that seemed to have exploded on its own. The only outlying expression were that of Amen who seemed unbothered. With that I made my way to the formation.
"What element was that?" one judged asked to another.
"I'm sure it was the element of surprise. Ahh, I am just kidding. Why would I know?" The middle age judge said.
"Either way this shouldn't continue."
With that the middle aged judge returned to the edge of the stage. "The second round is about to begin, but we have a few announcements. While the Darkwood sect does encourage killing, we encourage it so that people may both instill fear and know their limits. So with that said will you seven please come up here?" He pointed to me, Amen, Ihy, and the other 4 skill users. As we made our way up he continued "These seven will automatically be accepted. Are there any who oppose?" Crickets "Well with that you seven please follow the attendant to registration." There was a masked man standing at the edge of the platform who turned and began walking so we hurried to follow after him.
The hall of registration was probably the biggest building here. Not in height of course but in total footage. We were led straight to the room of 1st year records. Inside there was a short pillar that had a screen on the top in the room. In a gruff and husky voice the masked attendant said "Please go and lay your hand palm down across the screen so that it may record your data. Do not worry it cannot see skills. Hurry." He said before vanishing. Why does everyone keep moving so fast that it looks as if they are vanishing. Is it that cool? Well I guess teleporting is pretty fun.
Anyways we all looked at each other then walked up to the pillar. On the pillar was a ranking list of first year students. There are different filters for the list. You can have it ordered by achievements, battle record, contribution, and of course base stats. It can also be further seperated by element, but he was telling the truth you cannot see anyones skills.
After tampering with it for a while the leader of the four, a blonde haired purple eyed noble looking young man, set it to stats and then finally placed his palm down.
….
Ignis of house Sarh:
Tier 0
Mid-Tier
Might: ~100
Durability: ~50
Intelligence: ~40
Will: ~40
Known Elements: Wood
Rank: 42
….
Rank: 56
….
Rank: 101
….
Rank: 114
….
Wow they all are mid tier but are still ranked so low? Then what will are ranks be
.….
Ihy
Tier 0
High tier
Might: ~30
Durability: ~100
Intelligence: ~100
Will: ~200
Known Elements: Music
Rank: 3
….
Jesus H. Christ. Must take him in. His soul must be blessed. Everyone's face, slack jawed. What do you even say to that? It is a monster.
….
Amenhotep of house Yami
Tier 0
Low Tier
Might: ~140
Durability: ~110
Intelligence: ~50
Will: ~50
Known Elements: Wood
Rank: 10
….
Imhotep of house Yami
Tier 0
Low Tier
Might: 60
Durability: 90
Intelligence: 94
Will: 46
Known Elements: Space
Rank: 21
….
Wow. After seeing our stats Amen comes up to me "Ahh brother I am stronger than you. We always knew this was how it should be, no?"