Fae ran into his testing room just in time, there was 5 people all sitting criss cross in a circle around one lady standing center of the circle. "You're late, if you can't even tell time I don't see you passing this test." The lady said as she instructed 2 of the people to move over giving Fae enough room to sit down.
"This exam is simple, I will be asking general knowledge questions or riddles, the first one to answer gets the point. The 3 with the least points have failed the exam. Everyone understand?" Everyone nodded as they heard this. "Now everyone state your names." Soon one by one everyone began to say their names Evans, Peter, Ling Xao, Yeale, Chris, and finally Effy(Fae).
"Ok lets begin, question one: I have cities, but no houses. I have mountains, but no trees. I have water, but no fish. What am I?" The pressure in the room increased as soon as she was finished with the question, Fae felt as if he was being choked by it, he looked for the source and eventually found his eyes landing on Yeale her face bent into a crooked smile. She was releasing her bloodline energy to suppress the other people in the room. Fae realized he was the only one who seemed to be affected, meaning everyone else must have a Mythic rank similar to Yeale. Fae tried to focus on the question and think of an answer but the pressure was affecting him too much.
Eventually Peter broke the silence in the room and answered. "A map, it can show cities but has no individual houses, can show mountain tops but don't have any trees, and shows oceans and seas but contains no fish." As Peter said this the pressure on Fae loosened and he looked up to see Yeale giving Peter an evil look.
'I stand no chance if this is how the test is going to go' Fae thought to himself. He couldn't stand up to the pressure Yeale could release.
The teacher began speaking again to announce question two "What is the name of the event where mythical beings descended on the world activating the blood in Mythics and causing their abilities to awaken?" Immediately Yeale shouted out an answer "The Rising."
Yeale and Peter both had 1 point and Fae was yet to answer a question, he at least had to fall into the top 3 to pass the exam.
"Question three: What're the first three Mythic ranks?" Fae knew this one and immediately shot up to answer "Human, Spi-" Fae's words were cut short as an overwhelming pressure descended on him causing him to cough out blood. He tried to fight the force and keep talking but he was barely managing to keep conscious, causing him to drop the question.
Since they couldn't truly fight during this exam the contestants decided they'd fight with the pressure they can release, and even if Fae had some strength he was only a Human rank 1 Mythic, he stood no chance in total bloodline energy.
Yeale picked up the question once it was confirmed Fae could no longer answer. "Human, Spirit, and Sage are the first three Mythic ranks." She said in a condescending tone while staring at Fae, Fae didn't know how he was meant to get past this pressure situation, but he needed to find a way.
"Question four: What're all the bloodline types?" Before Fae could even process the question Ling Xao released his pressure and almost shut Fae's brain down. Fae tried to push against it but the pressure grew heavier and heavier. Blood slowly began to pour down from Fae's nose before he got an idea.
Fae's bloodline energy may only be that of a Human rank 1's but because of his strength stat his body was around the strength of a Human rank 4's, what if Fae could offset the pressure pushing the energy surrounding him and bear the brunt with his body.
With this thought in mind Fae closed his eyes and focused, suddenly he could almost feel all the energy around him. The pressure coming from Ling Xao was blanketing Fae like a net, keeping him wrapped up and unable to do anything, Fae decided to force the bloodline energy that naturally surrounded all Mythics into his body, causing him to have to deal with Ling Xao's pressure with nothing but his body.
'AHHHHH' Fae roared internally trying to keep his face straight, he clearly overestimated his physical prowess and currently felt as if his whole body was on fire. He could feel pound after pound of weight drop onto him and he could do nothing but grit his teeth and hope. He watched as the people in front of him racked up points and he had no choice but to watch and hope he could get through the pain.
Eventually Fae was able to bear the pain enough to look up and answer questions again. The current score was
Peter: 5
Yeale: 2
Ling Xao: 2
and everyone else was yet to get a point.
"Question 10, this is the final question. Who and what are the 'Big 5'" Once the question was asked Fae felt a pressure greater than the pressure felt on any other question, he looked up to see Yeale and Ling Xao staring deep into each other's eyes. It seemed that both of them wouldn't settle for third place.
Fae took advantage of Yeale and Ling Xao's stare down and tried to answer the question. For every word Fae spoke he could feel the pressure increasing, threatening to destroy his insides. "The Big 5 are the five families that took initiative during The Rising, and were the first five families to master their bloodline abilities and lead the world into a new era-" Fae couldn't finish his words as so much pressure was dropping on him his nose, eyes, and even ears began to drip with blood.
Once the pressure was too much something spectacular happened to Fae. His bloodline energy shot out against the pressure absorbing the pressure into itself and causing Fae to shoot up in rank to Human rank 3. Fae had no time to dwell on this as he rushed to finish his previous thought. "They're now the five most influential families in the world."
The whole room fell silent at this, before now Fae had the lowest Mythic rank out of all the testers, but suddenly he was in a 3 way tie for second highest with Yeale and Ling Xao, and his rank was only surpassed by Peter.
"HOW DARE YOU!" Yeale screamed out as she jumped towards Fae. She couldn't believe someone who was a mere Human rank 1 moments ago had the audacity to go against her pressure. 'So what if we're the same rank now, he hasn't had enough time for his body to adapt, there's no way he's truly as strong as me.' Yeale thought as she punched straight for Fae's face. Fae grabbed her hand bending it back and throwing her off of him.
Just as Fae was about to continue the fight by kicking Yeale's rib, the instructor dashed in-between them and pushed both of them back. "What do you have to say to yourself for starting a fight in my testing grounds Yeale?" The instructor said as she released a pressure onto Yeale ten times stronger than the pressure everyone had been releasing so far. Yeale dropped to her knees under the pressure and could only mutter out whispers to the instructor. "I- I'm sorry." Yeale's previously condescending and overbearing tone replaced by one of fear and defeat.
Everyone in the room assumed it was because of the instructors pressure, but they would be in utter shock if they knew what she was really thinking. 'How was he so much stronger than me? We're the same rank, in fact he had just reached my rank he should be even weaker than me. How was he so strong...' As soon as Fae grabbed Yeale's hand she felt as if she was a deer that had just gotten caught by a wolf, prey that was staring into the face of its' predator.
"You're disqualified, leave and don't you ever come back." The instructor said to Yeale as the door to the testing room opened on its own.
"Now the winners are Peter in first place with five points, Ling Xao in second place with two points and Effy in third place with one."
Originally Fae wouldn't have been top 3 because of Yeale, but since she was disqualified Fae's one point was enough to win.
"Good luck on the next test, may the heavens be with you." The instructor said as she sent everyone to their next testing facilities.
***
Deep in a cave in the mountains the same man that spoke when Fae was resurrected spoke again. "You're coming along nicely, we shall meet soon my child." The man said as he finally stepped out of his cave, the moonlight beaming down on him revealing a man shrouded in shadows.