For three whole hours Varian waited in the line of over 500 people waiting to register his name. As soon as it was his time to register he started hearing mumblings that weren't there before his own turn.
Sure enough as he got closer to the desk he was met by a boy and girl the same age as him. They had a mocking smirk on their faces.
Not paying them any mind he completely ignored them and wrote down his name in the book provided by the elder at the desk. Afterward he was given a wooden token with the number 512 written on it. He was then instructed to move towards a different area where a test would be .
As soon as he was about to go however the same couple blocked his path while looking annoyed. The man looked him up and down and started laughing at him, he deliberately laughed louder than usual and attracted the other people's attention.
"What's a Body Quenching trash doing here? Let me tell you, people need to have at least some shame. You're so old but still in the Body Quenching realm while everyone is at least at the initial Qi Refining realm while you are still stuck at the Body Quenching."
All while he spoke there were occasional snickers coming from the crowd of people and the woman beside him. It was as if everyone had suddenly found a new toy to play with to relieve some stress.
Varian stood there with a passive expression and cold eyes. He had read about a lot of these tropes in novels where a minor character usually comes and provokes the protagonist then ended up becoming a stepping stone in the end.
Without minding the man's words he simply side stepped them and proceeded to the area he was directed to.
After arriving, he could feel the eyes of over 500 people occasionally glancing or outright just staring at him with a pitying look. He couldn't care less about what people thought about him as his only goal at the moment was to go back to his own world as soon as possible.
After an uncomfortable half an hour of people looking at him two disciples wearing similar robes to Han Hua came out onto the platform carrying two small statues of lions with orbs of different colors on top of each. One had a milky white color while the other had a slightly dark red color.
After placing down the statues one disciple cleared his throat loudly and grabbed the attention of everyone present. He began to explain the purpose of the two statues. " These copper lion statues here have been used in during the earlier times of the sect gauge a participant. The one with the white orb gauges cultivation potential whilst the red one gauges your age. The condition for passing is that you should be under the age of 25. The other is that you must have at least some potential or compatibility with cultivation."
As soon as he said the last sentence, everyone unconsciously looked at Varian as if he was garbage.
Continuing to speak the disciple said, " The colors corresponding to potential is; Light Yellow for Low grade potential, Solid Yellow for Average grade potential, Light Orange for Low Middle grade potential,Solid Orange for Middle Grade potential, Light Red for High Grade potential and Solid Red for Supreme Grade potential. As long as you somehow manage to light up these you will advance to the next stage. There is no need to explain the age statue so if you are over the age limit please leave."
After that sentence half of the people there left with downcast expressions, however they didn't miss the chance to give Varian a pity filled look to which he responded with and indifferent gaze.
* * *
After the people that failed the requirements left the nearly 300 people all went to the test area of the stage with most of them having potential ranging from solid yellow to light Orange. So far no one has even come close to getting anywhere within red. The Number of people in the orange range could be counted on both fingers and toes totalling to twenty while the rest are solid yellow.
After a couple minutes, one particularly suspiciously dressed man walked over to the statues. He was wearing a full coat and a wide hat on his head. He placed his hand on the age statue and 19 little stars floated out indicating that he was 19 years old. Proceeding to the potential statue he placed his hand there and circulated a little bit of Qi inside it.
The orb started to swirl and change color from light yellow all the way to Solid Orange, then without stopping went straight to Solid Red.
The disciple that was overseeing the test with a bored look had his eyes wide open.
"T-That....w-what should we do?" Asked the other disciple in a shaky voice.
The disciple overseeing the test gradually regained some calm and said, " This is not something we have the ability to take care of, quickly go inform the elders about this matter!"
"Yes!"
Without wasting time he ran off deeper into the sect to go and inform an elder.
"Everyone, please wait for some time as their have been an unprecedented turn of events. This is no longer in our scope of abilities and therefore we have sent to call on a higher authority to take over." The remaining disciple said with a respectful bow, all while looking at the robes young man with newfound admiration in his eyes.