"Hmm 238 passes.. not bad, not bad.." Instructor Brail said slowly in a frail yet soft voice.
Instructor Brail was dressed in a plain white robe which combined with his skinny, frail body and his bold head, gave him the appearance of a kind old monk.
He was holding a book given to him by a senior student that recorded the results of all the Qi flow tests, he was admiring the results and checking their accuracy with Instructor Do'Shan.
Instructor Do'Shan standing next to him simply quietly observed the results, occasionally nodding to Instructor Brail whenever he remarked about something.
Meanwhile humming to himself nearby, Instructor Redfire was gazing across the training field towards the second arena. All of the tests in the first Arena had been completed so it was time to start the second round of tests, the strength tests.
In an excited tone, Instructor Redfire called out to the new students who were either resting after their first test or simply waiting for the strength test to begin.
"It's time for the next test! Make your way over to the second arena quickly!" He said before gently leaping from the Instructors raised spectating area on to ground and running over to the centre of the second arena.
If not for the mental image of a strong and powerful cultivator that Instructor Redfire had built up in these students, they might have seen a hint of a child's excitement on the instructors broad back...
Fortunately the new students were oblivious to this and they began to walk over to the next arena immediately, naturally Casmir's trio was included.
Their test had concluded a few hours ago now and they'd had ample time to rest and restore their energy for the next test, Casmir was even excited to take part in the next test.
"It's about time!" Casmir called out excitedly as he waved his arm at Zaya.
"Come on Zaya, lets get into the queue first, that way we can have plenty of time to rest before the ferocious beast tests."
Of course Casmir wasn't really concerned about resting for the last test, he simply wanted to take part in this one as soon as he could.
Zaya didn't share his excitement but it did make sense for them to give themselves plenty of time to prepare for the last test, so she agreed with him. Her previous anger towards Casmir had faded after they ate a meal together, she couldn't really blame Casmir however she still held a grudge with Balon, the so called 'instigator of her anger'.
Regardless the pair picked up their pace as they made their way through the crowd in order to get to the arena sooner.
"I'll be watching from the side lines!" Balon called out with a ambiguous smile on his face as he watched the pair of love birds run off together.
Casmir waved back to him before he faded into the crowd.
It only took five minutes for the crowd of students to organise themselves around the next arena.
Like the first arena it was relatively small, barely 15 meters in diameter, however this arena was covered with a layer of large grain gravel.
And at the centre of this arena was not a large crystal but a long wooden board, made from a pinkish wood, roughly ten meters long. Instructor Redfire was standing on one side of this pink board with a massive grin on his face as he silently eyed up his 'competitors'.
Unlike the Qi flow test where most of the students had a rough idea of whether they could pass or fail the test, the strength test was much more ambiguous so more students felt they had a chance at passing it.
Over 700 of the roughly 1200 students were taking part in it and near to the front of this queue was Casmir and Zaya. They would have been at the very front of the queue if not for Zaya holding Casmir back, she wanted to watch the test at least once before she took part in it as a way to prepare herself.
Finally, Instructor Redfire's patience seemed to run out as the last few students finished joining the queue.
"Alright! 10 students come forward and line up in front of this board! Quickly! Quickly! I don't have all day."
Before the 10 students could get into place, Instructor Redfire drew out a seemingly special bracelet that looked like a basic leather strap with a shiny metal disc implanted in it.
He clearly and openly wrapped this special bracelet around his arm.
Suddenly, Instructor Redfire's aura almost completely dissipated, his previous overbearing presence was diminished significantly.
He then placed his hands on two handles carved into the pinkish board and lifted it up to his chest before he spoke.
"This board is made from one solid piece of Red Popper wood, It's as tough as steel but as light paper. This piece alone only weighs a few kilo's but none of the students here would be able to damage it easily." Instructor Redfire explained.
"I've put on a special piece of equipment designed to limit my strength, you ten students will push against one side of this piece of wood while I push against the other. If you can hold me off for even one minute..! You will pass."
"Put simply, the ten of you need to beat me in a contest of physical strength, no Qi energy can be used. Simple right?" Instructor Redfire said with an almost innocent smile.
The first team of students were dumbfounded at first thinking they had to beat this monster of a teacher who was at Qi Grade 6, this level of cultivator with the right equipment could dominate a modern battlefield let alone this kind of children's game.
But as they remembered Instructor Redfire's diminished aura, they felt a semblance of hope and as they further examined Instructor Redfire he indeed looked only small and almost weak to them..
A particularly tough looking young man with horns sticking out of his head mustered his courage and arrogance as he called out to his fellow students.
"The Instructor is weak now! We can beat him together easily!" This young man called out without thinking, as if showing off his obvious bull like appearance and personality.
However this did help to rouse his fellow students fighting spirit.
Little did he know that his seniors and instructors were all shaking their heads pitifully, as soon as the young man used the word 'weak', he and his teammates fates were sealed.
Instructor Redfire's smile widened as he heard this student, he then spoke in a weak voice.
"Come now students, take it easy on me." Instructor Redfire said, as he raised the wooden board in front of him prompting the students to place their hands against it.
"Take proper stances, we will begin on 1." Instructor Redfire announced as he lowered his head. His demeanour seemed to change from one of authority, to one used by the weakest party in an engagement.
The first team of students who was facing off with Instructor Redfire all changed as they saw this, they started to swell with confidence.
"3.."
"2.."
"We've got this.." The young bull-like man said quietly to himself.
"1!" Instructor Redfire shouted.
A collective groan of effort was heard from the students as they pushed forward "Hggh!", the wooden board inched backward causing the students eyes to glow.
However seconds later, a malevolent smile appeared on Instructor Redfire's face, shortly after a collective scream of surprise and fear was released by the students.
"Ahhhh!"
The ten students were flung a few meters backwards into the air like balls of cotton, small pieces of stone were flung from the ground with them.
"Oof!.. Ah.. G-get off me!" the students exclaimed in an overlapping heap of limbs.
The spectating students looked at instructor Redfire with dumbfounded faces, they were expected to see a more competitive contest, not a iron train bulldozing through the students like nothing.
"That was ridiculous!" One of the fallen students blurted out subconsciously.
All of the spectating students were confused, they didn't understand how this team of people had failed so easily.
Fortunately Instructor Redfire was 'kind' to his students, he simply explained what had happened in an overbearing and arrogant tone.
"None of you were actually prepared! You believed I was weak because of my appearance, did it not occur to you that I might simply be acting that way?! If you want to beat me, you need to put in more effort than this." Instructor Redfire shouted, his usual overbearing demeanour reappearing in front of them.
The fallen students were utterly defeated and crushed, eventually they got up and walked to the side half-heartedly, a few senior students patted them on the shoulder and tried to cheer them up.
Meanwhile, this cleanly 'executed' test was being vigorously discussed by the new students and the instructors.
The new students were all worried about their test and were attempting to cautiously strategies together, whereas the instructors had a more mixed reaction.
The cold Instructor Do'Shan wore a strangely excited smile on her face as she called out "Shameless!".
The old Instructor Brail simply ignored Instructor Redfire's actions, he was aware that this kind of situation was practically part of instructor Redfire's teaching style, after all Instructor Brail had been teaching with Instructor Redfire for the longest.
Meanwhile, the young Instructor Featherfall was as gobsmacked as the young students who were just defeated.
"H-how is this a test for his students? Isn't he just enjoying beating his students in a contest he can't lose?" Instructor Featherfall said in confusion as he looked at the leather bracelet on instructor Redfire's wrist.
Instructor Featherfall was more than aware that this bracelet didn't effect Instructor Redfire at all, it was just a normal bracelet!
Instructor Brail smiled slightly "Calm down young man, that big kid knows what he's doing."
Instructor Featherfall was confused, "What do you mean?" he said.
Instructor Brail looked at him with a knowing smile, "You're aware of what that girl Bluefire is like right? Imagine what she would do, pay attention to Bluefire's aura and you will understand."
Instructor Featherfall looked at Instructor Redfire's weak and restrained aura as he thought to himself.
"His aura's.. oh.. Oh!... *sigh*.. How were they trained.. to be like this even now?" Instructor Featherfall mumbled to himself.
Not too far away, Casmir was conversing quickly yet quietly with Zaya.
"How do we beat that..? There must be something we're missing... maybe it's something to do with this gravel.." Casmir said before turning to Zaya for an answer.
Over the past few days Zaya had been his teacher so he naturally turned to her for help.
Unfortunately Zaya was equally confused, she too believed they must be missing something but she couldn't see it yet.
"... I don't know.. this gravel is just normal stuff.. but Instructor Redfire wouldn't give us an unbeatable test.."
Suddenly Zaya realised something.
"His aura is still weak.. and those students were only flung a few meters.. if he was still that overwhelmingly strong he could've flung them much further than that..."
"This is just another test. Quickly Casmir we can't lose this opportunity.." Zaya said as she quietly explained the situation to Casmir.
Casmir's eyes opened in realisation.
"I'm glad you're my friend Zaya, you're much better at analysing people's intentions than I am." Casmir replied with a smile.
Zaya reluctantly accepted Casmir's rough compliment with a nod before saying what was on both their minds.
"Lets beat him!"
They believed that if this was indeed a test, it would be a test of courage in the face of adversity. The first to move forward would reap the greatest rewards.
They stepped forward together, ignoring the queue of students and walked towards Instructor Redfire. A few other students also stepped forward at the same time, although it was hard to tell if this was due to courage, arrogance or intelligence.