Arcene was sitting on a couch, elegantly with a smile that was not a smile. In front of her was sitting a burly man.
"Jadyn Ceiy, Can I trust you?" Arcene swirled her finger in the teacup.
"Of course Your Highness! I am at your service!" He didn't seem to mind Arcene calling him directly by his name as he flashed a greedy smile.
"Tell me everything then."
"As the top formation master and the best Professor of the Academy, I could tell that whoever it was, they must be at least at High-Stage Ace-Tribulation Realm to break through the defensive formations so easily." Jadyn was a narcissist. He worked for treasures and resources and Arcene gave him a lot, he added, "But, I am confused about why the alarm on doors of the secret room didn't work."
"If they would have worked, I would have received a message on my talisman and I might have been able to catch the intruder before they completely destroyed your mansion." He didn't think it was an Ozonal Demon as they went extinct thousands of years ago in the Great War of Fairies and Demons.
"So it's your fault huh?" Arcene exhibited a dangerous smile.
Jadyn turned his face away as he spoke in a low tone, "Your Highness, With all due respect. All the formations that I installed in your mansions were the best quality formation you could find in the entire Glipik-"
Arcene cut him off as she asked curiously, "Oh really?" Her brows raised up in ridicule.
Jadyn could see his money-making machine getting away thus he did what any greedy man would do in his situation, "Don't worry your Highness, I will investigate all the Professors secretly and find that treacherous motherfucker!" He declared and was about to run off, when Arcene made an unusual demand, "Check all the women Professors more carefully, I doubt women more than men in this case...and also look for an injured man with green hair and eyes when you visit their mansions," Arcene knew Jadyn has installed secret passages in all the mansions and would spy on them for her, And she was sure Kora was hiding in one of those Professor's mansion and still getting treatment as it was very difficult to heal such injuries at his cultivation level since according to her, he was only a Rank-1, with nothing special.
Jadyn was confused but soon he realized Arcene purposefully made him feel guilty so that he would do her job without asking for money, 'This guileful bitch!' He could only curse her in his heart swearing to himself to increase his prices the next time Arcene asks him to make formations and he was sure that would happen soon as her current mansion was destroyed and she was staying in one of the rooms in her Faction Hall, where a secret passage allowed Jadyn to access one of many secluded rooms.
............
"The Rules Are Simple...Walk up the Grand Celestial Steps and we will record your Talent." An elderly-looking man with a long white beard was standing next to 131 golden steps, as he added, "Don't worry, we won't judge you based on your talents. We only need to confirm them once." He had a benign smile and he looked like a kind Grandpa.
A young man in the distance, among many cultivators in the long group of thousands of people, was looking at everything with a calm, indifferent gaze. His azure eyes twinkled and his black hair flowed with the breeze. He looked cold and detached, and his half-closed eyes only roamed around the golden steps analyzing it carefully.
Soon, a man with black hair and black eyes stepped up on The Grand Celestial Steps with a confident grin.
After walking 83 steps, he couldn't move any further.
"Good... 8-Level Talent." The talisman strapped on his wrist glowed with a number 8!
The nervous aspiring cultivators slowly got the courage to step upon the golden steps. Many of them have never looked at the Grand Celestial Steps, thus they only heard about how it works. One by one, they stepped upon the golden steps and kept having their talents registered using the talismans automatically.
"3-Level Talent..."
"...7-Level Talent..." The elderly man kept muttering.
A woman with smoky eyes stepped upon the Grand Celestial Steps. She looked very small, about 1.6 meters tall and but had well-develops assets and exquisite curves, and had a cute, beautiful face as her milky white hair fell on her back.
Step~
Step~
Soon she climbed 117 steps, officially getting a 'Jack' level talent. Many youngsters cheered for her as they also received some confidence to change their fates today.
A man with black hair and black eyes received a King-level talent and was immediately applauded. A couple of Jacks and Kings/Queens appeared. But they could be counted on fingers. They were very rare.
One by one, over 100000 aspiring cultivators stepped on Grand Celestial Steps and registered their talents. When the Elderly man felt like all the cultivators have been assessed, his gaze unconsciously moved to all the people with higher talents as he said, "Now that the talent assessment test has been done...we will move to the next round..."
As he was about to lead the group of cultivators, a man with red eyes and black hair wearing white robes that looked like a Kimono stepped up. He had a greatsword strapped on his back, even though he wore a storage ring on his index finger.
Step~
Step~
The eyelids of the elderly man twitched but he didn't say anything as the rules made by the Queen were very strict, not allowing him to kill an innocent in the premises of the Academy for no valid reason.
8 steps...9 steps...he didn't stop and stepped on the 10 steps..13 steps...19 steps...29 steps...
He kept moving slowly... as he reached the 100th step...but he didn't stop.
110 steps...120 steps...128 steps...130 steps...
And Finally the Last Step-131!
"An Ace-level!" Shocked, the elderly man stuttered. After all, it has been many years since the birth of the last Ace-level talent. Josephine of Moon Bee, the Third Princess, Scarlet O Conailli was the last Ace level Talent, recorded in the history of Glipike Kingdom.
But this was only the start of the shock he was about to get, as a man with Azure eyes also stepped up after the man with red eyes got down the platform.
7 steps...9...steps...10 steps.
He didn't stop, as he stepped on the 11 steps. Suddenly he felt a huge pressure descending upon his shoulder, but he only sneered and the pressure vanished!
20 steps...100 steps...110 steps...130 steps...
And Finally...131 steps!
"..." Everyone's brain seemed to have stopped working as Ace-level talents were not cabbages. It was rare, incredibly rare. And the ones who have Ace-level talents were found in decades. They didn't grow on trees. And finding 2 of them in the same year in the Glipike Kingdom was like finding a needle in a haystack.
"Fooling an idiot is like missionary. Anybody could do it." The Azure-eyed man jested in a low tone, but nobody understood his references.
'It is true I don't have natural talents to advance my cultivation but I do have other tricks to play...' Kora thought as his Azure eyes flickered with a playful glint, 'If I could make my entire body illusionary, I could do the same with my tails and even camouflage the color of my eyes and hair.'
Although a risky move, if the elder overseeing uses their spiritual senses and finds two tails at the end of Kora's tailbone, but Kora was a man who took decisive decisions, and as the rewards outweighed the risks, he played a small trick.
Furthermore, Kora was waiting for this red-eyed man to step up. He analyzed the right timing would be after the red-eyed man as he could tell that this man was quite confident from the beginning, even before the examination started as if he knew his talents beforehand, unlike many commoners who were apprehensive. Thus grabbing the opportunity when the elder was shocked, Kora took a deep breath and made his decision!
As soon as Kora, felt the pressure around the tenth step rising he used his two camouflaged tails as support and hovered in the air reaching the 131th step, cheating the system. He has already witnessed his own awakening ceremony and Athelisia's as well in detail. And he knew that the Grand Celestial Steps measure the cultivation talents of the person, who stand at their feet. This was the reason why nobody was doing a handstand, or doing other foolish tricks in hopes of cheating the system as the elderly man looking would have called it out as bullshit.
He faked his talents because Kora needed to find a group to leech off. He needed his talents to look the best so that many Factions would come to recruit him and he could suck them dry one by one, destroying them from inside in the process.
Kora held no intentions to be recognized as a 'Zero', establish a Faction of his own and crush the protagonists of the world one by one, as the top-level beauties switch to his side, creating a sensation in the world. He would rather enjoy milking every last drop of resources from everywhere he could get by looking like a trustworthy talented teammate.
'This way, even my sweet girl wouldn't focus on me with my new appearance...' He thought with a sly grin, but little did he know, Arcene was a cockroach. He has gravely miscalculated the bitchiness of Arcene and how low she could stoop.
Although he knew, she would try to recruit him, he planned to reject and stay away from her so that he doesn't get exposed in any way.
........
As soon as the news of two Ace-level talents spread like wildfire, another rumor started to spread among all the Factions in the Academy.
'Whichever Faction tries to recruit the Ace-level Talents will be wiped out from existence as soon as they leave the Academy Gates by Arcene's Faction.'
A cold calculative authoritative edict was passed.
Although Arcene couldn't call upon her helpers and break the rules inside the Academy, she could do it outside without any repercussions. Thus, when the tests will end, the only Faction that would be open to recruiting the two new talented lambs would be Arcene's faction.