As Jesse walked towards the winner's waiting room, he couldn't help but smile.
"That should have got their attention." He muttered to himself.
Arriving at the waiting room, Jesse could hear the excited chatter of the victorious disciples through the door. He looked to his left at the grumpy second winner from his group and sighed.
"You shouldn't be concerned with the audience's approval. It's not like you cheated or acted dishonestly, so you should be proud of your achievement." Said Jesse in an effort to cheer them up.
The winning disciple, a girl in her mid-teens, smiled when she heard this.
"I guess you're right." She mumbled.
Jesse simply returned her smile as he opened the waiting room's door. Inside the room were fourteen disciples all in their early to mid teens. Of the disciples present eight were male and six were female, with the addition of Jesse and the female disciple that brought the total up to nine males and seven females (sixteen disciples in total).
The disciples who were happily talking amongst themselves stopped when the door opened. They all wanted to size up the new arrivals, after all they would be their competition. When the disciples saw Jesse enter, they weren't at all surprised in fact it would be more surprising if Jesse didn't make it past the first round. While they weren't aware of his full strength, what he had displayed so far should be enough for him to advance.
While the disciples were sizing him up, Jesse was also scouting the room. The disciples seemed nonchalant but the underlying pride that came with success could be seen if one looked closely. The winners were split into small groupings with some sitting alone. While not necessarily friends, all the disciples were relatively familiar with each other. Looking around Jesse saw Lucas and Susanna sitting in the rooms far right corner. When they saw Jesse enter, they got up and went over to greet him.
"How was your match?" Asked Susanna.
"Well you know me, a little this a little that and poof I'm a winner." Joked Jesse.
"Stop with the jokes Jesse. Did they gang up on you like they did with Susanna and I?" Asked Lucas.
"Nah, not really. No one ganged up on anyone in my match." Replied Jesse.
"What for real? That's so unfair." Grumbled Susanna.
"Well what can I say I guess I'm just…"
Suddenly their conversation was interrupted by a loud yell.
"What! Jesse's reached the expansion realm!" Yelled a disciple with shock evident in their voice.
At this moment the whole room turned their attention towards Jesse. All the disciples in the room were shocked beyond belief. They had expressions ranging from surprise to jealousy and rage. Observing the wide range of reactions brought a smile to Jesse's face and he laughed out loud.
"Pfft Bahahaha! Look at all of your faces. you look like a guy whose had his girlfriend stolen by his best friend." Joked Jesse.
"…" The room didn't know how to respond to Jesse's joke. In the end Lucas was the first to talk.
"You really hid yourself deeply, even I didn't know and we share a courtyard for goodness sake." Lamented Lucas.
"Is this why you don't bother to train, you know since you have a higher cultivation and all?" queried Susanna.
"No no, it's nothing like that I just don't like training." Responded Jesse in a tone that implied what he just said to be the most normal thing in the world.
"…" This time the room was really left speechless. A cultivator that doesn't like to train, does that even exist?
This time it was one of the other disciples that spoke up.
"Are you purposely making fun of us?" Raged the disciple, who was a tall bulky young man.
"I don't know what you mean by that?" Replied Jesse.
"You're so strong, but you claim that you don't train and completely disregard it. I personally take that as an insult to the hard work and effort that we all put in on a daily basis." Said the disciple in righteous indignation.
"Well it's not my fault that you aren't talented. If anything, you should be blaming yourself instead of raging at me." Taunted Jesse.
"Jesse stop before this goes too far!" Yelled Susanna.
"Ok Ok, I'll stop before I hurt his feelings." Joked Jesse as he backed down.
The disciple did the same and only grumbled about Jesse's arrogance as he took his seat.
Looking on at this altercation, Lucas couldn't help but feel that something was off with Jesse's behavior. While Jesse normally acted cocky in his day to day, he never purposely went out of his way to insult the people around him.
"Hmm, something doesn't feel right." Muttered Lucas to himself.
However, before he could think any further the waiting room's door was opened as a deacon walked in a gestured for all the disciples to follow him.
Stepping on stage, the disciples were once again greeted by the rowdy crowd. With them on stage was the master of ceremonies. Looking around the arena the MC loudly declared to the audience.
"These sixteen young talents on stage are the victors of our first round. However, their journey doesn't end there, only eight of them will have the chance to advance further in this competition. Unlike the first round, this second round will be conducted as one on one battles, but don't be mistaken these battles won't be as simple as that. Each match will take place within the arena's private dimension and each battlefield will have its own randomized environment that the disciples will fight in. Ranging from lush jungles to raging volcanos no two battlefields will be the same. This round serves to test the disciple's adaptability just as much as it tests their battle prowess!" Declared the MC.
Not to mention the audience even the disciples were shocked by this announcement. Random battlefields? Who in their right mind would come up with that?