Will didn't even feel the passage of time. His hand was slowly sculpting through the small plank in his hand with the care of an artist. The atmosphere around Will's body was constantly changing over time. It maintained the grandeur of the ocean, but with the first strike there was an added effort to influence that powerful ocean with fluidity. When the second stroke was in the process of being carved his body suddenly turned into a temperate ocean breeze, soothing, but consistent and planar. The constant change in Will's demeanor caught the attention of the experts in the room.
"Very perceptive." Even the Family Leader nodded in appreciation this time. "He wasn't able to decompose the conjugated intent so he decided to bend the conjugated intent towards the simplified constituents. His comprehension abilities aren't as good as Oliver's, but his thinking is innovative and rebellious." The Family Leader's praise even enlightened the other audience who gained an improved perspective about this rather dark horse who suddenly sprang up in the Family's trial.
When the hour finally ended, the participants were ordered to stop their carving. Some were satisfied with what they had managed to do, some were disappointment since they didn't manage to replicate the bizarre effect of the Ancestor Wood and some sighed in relief for they were just able to complete their assignments on time. Will barely made it in time himself. He took a look at the finished product and smiled with embarrassment. The carvings he made had no sign of sword intent at all, but looking at them gave him a similar vibe as that of the ancient wood's intent projection. He wasn't quite satisfied with what he had managed to produce by the end, but time was up and he could only wait for a judgement now.
The Elder walked up to each participant and touched the wooden plank in their possession. A formless power emerged from the elder's finger and entered the carving in the block. Most of the earlier ones failed to simulate any effect and their planks simply cracked under the pressure of that power. Some would show slight signs of resistance before also cracking apart. Estrella's plank was of the second kind. Her comprehension capability had been a disappointment this time around.
When Oliver's plank was tested, a resplendent light shined from the plank and the aura of a turbulent ocean streamed forth, resonating with the formless power the Elder had inserted into the plank and echoing back a genuinely good approximation of the original intent of the ancient plank. Oliver's plank remained unharmed during the process, but the mysterious feeling the carvings had within them had dissipated dramatically in intensity. Many in the audience clapped for Oliver's performance, which had been towering over all others during this Trial. Even before the trial had officially ended, the winner was clear to everyone.
Other participants had their planks checked with mediocre to poor results. This wasn't surprising, since the comprehension trial was considered the most difficult of the three trials and could only be decided by fate. Resistance to mental pressure could be trained, physical strength could be improved through practice, but comprehension was an intrinsic quality that couldn't be simply improved like the other two without lucky encounters in the Realm. It was a natural talent. For the purposes of this Trial, it was a matter of if one was born with it.
When Will's turn arrived, the audience perked up again. His changing aura during the test had alerted every member of the audience that Will too had managed to comprehend the sword intent deeper than others. The Elder smiled appreciatively as he took the wooden plank and injected that formless energy into it once again. What happened next left many people's eyes gazing in confusion and some in surprise.
The moment the formless energy entered the carving on the plank, instead of one resonance, there were three separate resonances from each of the carvings. Instantly, the energy was swallowed in disparate amounts by each of the carvings and three separate intents of three kinds of ocean waves echoed out in unison. The first was a gentle ocean wave, the other was a constantly chaotic but fluid backstream in the ocean and the third one was literally a tidal wave. AS the three intents radiated outwards they encountered each other and merged to form a replica of the original ocean wave intent from the ancient wood. The replication wasn't as good as Oliver's, however, the experts were not particularly concerned about that at the moment.
"To actually use resonance to combine disparate intents! He has simultaneously created a poorer result than Oliver, yet has shown a more unconventional insight into comprehending the composition of intents!" The Family Lord was genuinely appreciating this lad now. Oliver's own gaze at the plank had turned into slits in shock, but he quickly calmed down. Just looking at that scene had led to a flood of enlightenment within his mind and suddenly his body also began to resonate wildly with different intent forms and combining them. His change wasn't unnoticed by the experts in the arena.
"This is true talent!" A high elder sighed. "With just one look he was able to comprehend Will's ideation and manufacture an even finer result!" The Family Lord nodded. His opinion that Oliver was vastly more talented than all other participants was not unfounded. Will's comprehension capability was still comparatively shallow when reflected against a genius like Oliver, but he had a lot of determination and an unconventional thought process. Both were good skills, but Will's talent was more unpredictable, while Oliver was guaranteed to grow up and become a powerhouse.
In the end, after a thorough discussion, Oliver was granted first place in the third test and Will the second position. Estrella was a distant third and the remaining were more or less at a similar level. After clearing out the Arena, the final cumulative result had been declared.
Oliver was the undisputed winner of this trial. Estrella and Will were combined given the second position and the third position was foregone. While Estrella had outclassed Will in physical statistics, Will had done the same when it came to the comprehension test. The elders decided this was an appropriate ranking before leading the three rankers to the treasure hall of the Family for their rewards.