The surroundings had gotten quite allowing for the kids to steady themselves as the formation did it's work.
Few of the children knew how to count well enough to be able to understand the number above them, so when ten or more grains of sand had been successfully extracted from them they had a pleasant look on their faces.
"Master what do you think?! Should we recruit that boy? Should we head over now so no one takes him?!" an old man among the crowd tried to hold his voice back.
"Shush we don't want to spooke him!" Another old man tried to calm himself repressing his urge to smack his disciple in front of the crowd.
"How often is it that a child is interested in formations, the old woman won't believe this!" the old man concealed his smiling face.
More voices started to converse or comment about different children they held interest in.
A slender and tall muscular woman pointed at one kid "That one, with the afro. He has a good bone structure"
"I prefer the fat one, everyone will be able to see the changes clearly if we take him. The other one is- well already to form" A young man pointed at a chubbier child.
"Master is also wide should we present him in front of the elders as such?"
"!?"
"The list given to us says that there are quite a few metal element spiritual veins, I don't feel the will of a swordsman on any of them" A skinny faced man judged.
Hearing this a younger woman scolded "What will of the swordsman?! These are kids haven't even held a sword yet"
"A swordsman can feel the aura of other swordsman upon first sighting" the skinny faced mans eyes filled with pride.
"Bah! What a load of ballocks"
"The day just started why are you all so desperate, if you truly want a disciple that that will fit your needs just post it on the recruitment board, plenty of desperate young ones from years prior are still seeking masters!"
Someone scoffed in the crowd "Those people ask for too much, if we had that kind of wealth wouldn't we just use it on ourselves?"
"Yeah I'm better off crafting a few treasures and selling them, would earn some spirit stones plus use less of the few materials I own"
This remark got a few laughs and some supporters.
"So you're just saying you are poor in a roundabout way"
More laughing came while those supporters grimaced.
"Quite down we are about to get our first drop outs" a middle aged woman glared at the group causing the disturbance.
Just as she said that one of the kids sat down sweating like he had just ran a marathon.
Some disappointment surfaced on the spectators faces.
"Ah too bad, just 42 grains of sand"
"I had 74 grains when i arrived"
"Seems this year will be worse then the last bunch"
"Forty-two isn't so bad, does he have a metal or earth spiritual veins?" he pressed a white stone to his head, it was an information jade.
"Ah he's a triple element! The kid just needs to be taught right"
"Even if he is a tri-element what's the point if he has no work ethic? Just look at the grains of sand, 42 isn't terrible but did you not notice the quality of the grains of sand?" an older man around his fifties spoke up.
Everyone looked at the grains of sand that represented the boys energy.
Each grain emitted a yellow glow that was warm to the touch, closer examination of each grain showed a certain degree of clarity ranging from an earthly yellow to a more glass like clear yellow.
"If the boy had been continually gathering energy from the surroundings the grains of sand would be clear like glass. Instead a very distinct earthen yellow can be seen clearly"
"Ah it's true"
"My grains of sand had been clear as water"
The grains clarity was a an indicator for the work ethic a child put into cultivating, it was through continual cultivation that the energy collected reached a refined state.
Meaning that the energy was relatively without impurities and could be used by anyone without problems.
The best comparison would be water, at times it can be found to be clear and safe to drink while other times the water can be clouded from all the dirt it picks up.
The simple meditation the kids had learnt was like filtering the dirty water through a cloth.
The process if repeated many times over would eventually reach a far clearer water then one without the process.
It didn't mean the water was perfectly safe, just better.
"If you are serious about taking him in as a disciple I suggest that only those willing to invest a lot of time to keep them focused to take him, otherwise he just turn into waste" the fifty year old gave his honest opinion.
So what if the boy had a bit better potential then others, without a good teacher that instilled the proper guidance wouldn't they just fall to obscurity? This would also be ignoring the boys already unwillingness to self improve.
Having both the wrong attitude from the start and improper guidance was a recipe for failure.
"Heh, so in the end the low number stands to show he isn't worth it anyway"
Many agreed with this point rather then take the advice of the older man.
To them, being first time viewers/participants in the disciple selection process, the low number simply indicated failure.
Older members of the sect had a more reserved view of things.
"Well it's still to be seen how quickly he can gather spiritual energy, having only three spiritual element veins is already an advantage"
"At worst he will stop after entering foundation establishment, that can already be considered success"
More kids started to stop providing energy to the formation.
"46 grains of sand is second to last, she has quad spiritual veins with a far better purity then the boy"
"Girls always have a better start then the boys, time will shape them all in time" an bearded man with short black hair commented.
"No I just meant that this shows the boy has no dedication"
"What did I say" the bearded man made a face like he had been misheard.
"two more with 47 grains of sand, both quad element spiritual veins"
Kids started to look around at each other checking to see if they had finished or were about to.
Some had faces of defeat, others didn't care much since the teacher already said it wouldn't be so bad either way.
Kao took particular interest in the grains of sand being formed by the formation.
'This sand... it's similar to a spirit stone'
Spirit stones were not really stones, much like metal is not really part of the earth element.
A spirit stone was simply spiritual energy given solid and tangible form, like a battery it holds the energy that cultivators require to preform magic inside.
The formation was extracting this 'spiritual power' from the children and turning it into a tangible form, but it wasn't truly all that solid.
Bran Ai felt apprehension, he had been watching every reaction made so far by the other children to the best of his ability.
Noticing that the closer one was to finishing the worse their condition got, some seemed to be more then simply sweating as the formation pushed everything out of them causing them to clutch their stomach and mouth in an attempt to not vomit.
Starting to feel dizzy he mirrored the same actions made by the others almost spilling his stomach contents as a result.
The grains of sand above him had reached 51 yet few kids had already finished expelling all the spiritual energy inside them.
"23 kids have already dropped out, as they are mostly all quad or even penta spiritual veins we can consider them failures"
"That tri element boy is truly looking worse and worse"
Man-Shik stood firm watching as those around him struggled to keep their heads high.
He had been diligent in his cultivation thus far only because he had the attention of some of the older folk, it gave him encouragement to keep going everyday even if he considered it boring.
The food gained from such attention was a decent enough incentive for him considering the only thing they ever received to eat was soup.
Kiara looked in the direction of the spectators trying to find the granny which promised to take her in.
'Where is she? Did she get sick or is she running late?'
She did not consider the old lady to be all that close, but the promise of coming to watch her still resonated with her.