When the sun rose high into the sky the next day, Flare and others who were resting in the Space ship, felt an even denser and purer spiritual energy starting to wash over their bodies,looking through the windows of the space ship, they saw countless ancient looking mountain ranges with mists swirling in between each of their giant peaks, the sight was really breathtaking.
After the ship arrived closer to the mountain ranges, one could faintly see countless buildings, statues and Pavilions scattered around the many mountain peaks,they also saw countless figures shuttling about on white cranes and on something that looked like a disc cutting through the sky.
Flare could see some faintly discernible lines and symbols that reminded him alot of something called spiritual arrays he read in books back on the Blue planet.The lines and symbols connected to each other like an invisible hand was there holding them together, forming a domain across the numerous mountain peaks
When the Space ship came close to the spiritual array a sense of crisis rose within Flare,he trusted this sense of his as it saved him alot in the past, however before he could say anything to Elder Lei, he saw lines on the surface of the space ship that was invisible to Flare and others before, suddenly lit up, it was evident that on the space ship there was also something similar to spiritual arrays. Flare saw that when the lines on the surface of the ship came into contact with the spiritual array outside, as if checking it's identity,only few moments later, a path was opened up in the spiritual array for the space ship to pass through.
Elder Lei directed the space ship and a few moments later, they finally entered the Battle God Palace.Upon entrance Flare and the others immediately felt the world around them becoming even more breathtaking than before,more concentrated spiritual energy from the surroundings flowed into their bodies, making them feel like they just spent an hour in the best hotspring.
"what a holyland, even beyond my expectations. " someone in the crowd couldn't help but praise.Flare could only nod to himself in agreement "training here will definately draw out my full potential"
"Is this the Battle God Palace? "Someone in the crowd asked, still stunlocked by the wondrous sight.Even though they were born and raised in the New world this was still beyond their wildest imaginations.
" You only just passed through the gate, you still haven't really seen the real Battle God Palace"The Elder Lei said with a light laugh, every year this was always the reaction from the New students, so he was quite used to it, but in his heart he still felt a bit of pride.
..
After flying for a few more minutes Elder Lei stopped at the foot of a large mountain, stepping out of the spaceship, Flare and the others could see brick stairs that went further than their eyes could see.It looked like a centipede crawling up the mountain, with it's tail disappearing in the fog at the top of the mountain.
"This is called the destiny path ,all new students no matter if they are privately recruited or Publicly recruited have to ascend these steps to the end as a form of rite of passage in the Battle God Palace"
"Haha just think of it like you're getting married after you complete the steps "
"I will meet all of you up the mountain"
Moments later as Flare and the others took their first steps,they finally realized the truth, this wasn't just a simple rite of passage at all,it was more like another exam, if they failed who knows what will happen to them.
Every step they took ,they felt the gravity in the air increase, making their bodies feel even heavier.As they ascended the mountain peak ,when they thought it was the limit of the path of destiny ,their next step always proved them wrong.
100 steps,200 steps ,300 ....After painstakingly travelling up the mountain steps for 6 hours, Flare finally reached the top of the mountain,he was the second person to ascend the steps with only Yuki arriving before him,with that he could finally take a breather.After sometime all five hundred students finally made it to the top.
...
"These kids really didn't disappoint, how long as it been since everyone in the same batch could ascend the path of destiny on their first try?"Elder Sung said
"If you old man don't know how would I know"Elder Rosa snorted
"It's time I tell you kids about the the Battle God Palace, disciples in the Palace are divided into outer disciples, inner disciples, Elite disciples and finally core disciples. You all here will only become outer disciples, but before all of that, you have to join one of the seven mountain peaks.The seven peaks have different traits usually soecializing in a certain area,the seven peaks are the War peak, Blossom peak, Weapon hall, Medicine hall, Elemental Valley, Body Refining Peak, and finally the Beast Hall.
And like I said before, the mountain peaks specializes in a certain area, the War Peak specializes in battle tactics and using weapons to fight, the Blossom Peak only accepts female disciples, Weapon Hall specializes in crafting weapons, Medicine hall specializes in pill concoction, elemental Valley specializes in cultivating the different elements, so if you don't have an elemental type talent you cannot join them, Body Refining hall as the name suggests focuses on refining the body and finally the Beast Hall, if you don't have a talent related to beast you cannot join them,
As you might be able tell from the different specialties of the different mountain peaks, apart from a few of the mountain peaks that are talent neutral, joining a mountain peak is mostly tied to the type of talent you have.You must all choose wisely, after joining a peak there almost no chance for you to join a different peak after.
"You already know me, I'm Elder Lei an elder of the War peak, that is Elder Rosa from the Blossom peak and Elder Sung from the Weapon hall."
" since you all passed the exam you can freely choose which of our three mountain peak you want to joi...
" Haha,Elder Lei aren't you going to Invite us to the party" A tall muscular middle aged man said cutting off Elder Lei
"Are you trying to deceive the kids, humphh, what about the other mountain peaks" A beautiful woman with a snake coiled around her neck said. "Little Girl if you don't join the Beast Hall you will be wasting your talent" she said pointing at Yuki and Miora
"Elder Agnes how can you be so shameless, weren't you one of them who looked down on the public recruits" Elder Rosa said angrily
"The public examination is kept for the entire Battle God Palace not only for your three mountain Peaks"elder Agnes said righteously
" hehe, do you think that we wouldn't find out about it,luckily the Peak master sent someone to spy on the exam, otherwise we would miss this girl with the legendary Phoenix.Even a Growth type talent appeared here ,unfortunately it's not a beast type talent" Elder Agnes said with a sigh.
"Humphh, you call us shameless?! you guys recruited a growth type fire elemental talent and kept it a secret from our Elemental Valley"a beautiful woman said with a snort,although she looked really young ,even younger than Elder Rosa, judging from how she Just interacted with the elders ,she definitely was also an elder.
"so what if he has a fire talent,he can use a sword pretty well so he can also join the War Peak "Elder Lei retorted loudly
" I'm elder Sun from the Body Refining Hall, Our body refining hall accepts any of you with physical type talents, joining any other peaks will only be wasting your talents, only here can you get the best guidance" The tall muscular man ,
Elder Sun said
"Don't listen to that muscle brain...."
....
Flare listened carefully from start to finish, from all the choices listed Infront him , elemental valley and the War Peak were the only logical choices, however he knew very well that sometimes time the most logical choices are not the correct one's
"What should I choose?" Flare asked himself in deep contemplation.