As he walked through it, Kai's body halted for a moment. Just like he had seen with the rest of the people, Kai could not move, and it only lasted for a second.
Immediately after, Kai heard a voice in his head again.
'7 elements… You pass. Choose two rewards:'
'High-Grade Mana Stone x1, Mid-Grade Mana Stone x 2000, Mana Stone x 2,000,000, Mid-Grade Affinity Talent Stone x 20, High-Grade Affinity Talent Stone x 15.'
After asking the voice what the last two rewards were, Kai immediately gave up on the Mana stones. The reason for this was that the Talent Stones could increase your talent or potential for any element to the level indicated by the name of the stone.
With these stones, he could make his Low-Grade Affinities to Medium Grade, and then make them all High Grade. Furthermore, he had enough for Yu as well, as long as he could get them to him, things would work out.
With these stones, Kai had already made a great profit. However, he first pulled out his Bluestone Sect ring and altered it to forget his tampering right now, and the next few seconds, as he immediately accepted the stones and put them into his necklace, before walking backwards out of the gate, just like everyone else who had just been told they had failed without giving any reasons.
The Bluestone Sect ring had naturally recorded him stepping backwards as though he was thrown out, thus preventing anyone from the Bluestone Sect from knowing he had passed.
After this, Kai left the area, heading elsewhere, leaving behind the group of physically and mentally crippled Royal Magic Tower disciples. After all, Kai still remembered how they had apparently hunted down Kai and Pops after realising they had survived despite the Royals giving out a notice of their demise.
Unbeknownst to Kai, another Mark had appeared within his Mental Space, merging with the first to form a completely new marking, one of great complexity.
…
Kai soon noticed an extremely large tree in the middle of the lush forest, only its appearance was in sharp contrast to its surroundings. It had wilted to the point that it looked like it could turn to dust with just a gentle breeze, its charcoal-black exterior stretching into the sky, unmoving yet looking like it was on the verge of collapse.
By now, Kai had noticed that such strange structures were definitely somehow related to the benefits of the Realm, or if nothing else, they attracted others, bringing in more kills for him.
Based on what the Rank 1 Mage had said, he had hinted that the more people they killed, the more benefits they would receive from the sect. Therefore, Kai also put killing others as one priority.
…
Upon approaching the base of the dying tree, Kai saw another rather comical scene. The same people from the various Mage organisations who had escaped earlier had congregated once more, only this time with more people. They totalled around 12.
In front of them, were once again, the Royal faction, with those from the three mage organisations they created to be loyal to them. They totalled around 8. However, in between the two, was a figure Kai never expected to see; Robbin.
He was standing there, as though he alone was equal to either of the two groups, as though they were at a standoff.
Not a moment later did Kai realise why this was so. Behind Robbin, there was a giant golem made of tree roots, looking like a certain articulatory impaired fictional character. But this was clearly not a Rank 0 spell, since nothing at Rank 0 could even come close to emulating life.
However, Kai immediately recalled the existence of scrolls. Although they were rather obvious in the Santok Empire, they seemed to be frowned upon here in the Hepis Dynasty, so Kai had not come across even one.
However, if Robbin's mentor had slipped him a Rank 1 or possibly Rank 2 spell scroll, things might be different. Coming to this realisation, Kai also reassessed the threat of the other Rank 0 Apprentices, since anyone could be carrying around Rank 2 explosion spells like some suicide bombers or something.
As it turns out, in such cases, fighting long distance was the best as it gave one the most time to react to unexpected situations. However, Kai still moved a bit closer to make out their conversation toughly.
"You rat from the Bluestone Sect! How dare you bring a Rank 2 Spell Scroll and activate it? Do you even know what that means? Are you going to break the agreement between the Sects? Is it war you want?" One of the arrogant young men from the Royal Magic Tower yelled out in disdain and anger.
"Hmph". Robbin did not say anything but did not make the Rank 2 creature behind to do anything other than act as a deterrence.
Kai sighed as he began his assault using [Spacial Blade]s. Since he could not kill all the Royal Magic Tower individuals, and neither could he kill Robbin, he had to choose only a single spell attack and stick with it.
Thankfully, unlike the others, his spells worked perfectly fine, resulting in him being able to easily cut through the apprentices from the other organisations like they were mere grass, leaving both those from the Royal Magic Tower, as well as Robin utterly stunned.
Kai motioned to the Royal Faction to leave, and they immediately followed through. They knew Kai would not kill them, but they also knew he was allowed to do everything else to them other than that. This meant that he could even cripple not just their bodies but also their Mental Spaces to break their foundation and prevent them from ever walking the path of a Mage again.
As such, being allowed to leave was a blessing to them.