"Great! You are now ready to get tested," once that superhero signed his name in a way that Thomas couldn't read, he folded the paper in the form of a scroll, used a red wax beside him to seal it before adding:
"Go! Take the path behind this door to the end. There you'll find others waiting for you and someone to tell you what to do next."
Thomas stood up, and before he'd take another step, that superhero asked: "What's this?"
"It's a token from home," that man motioned towards the tree pot behind Thomas' back.
"Good boy," that man seemed to get a better impression of Thomas, "don't worry about the potion. Its effect will wean fast, even before reaching the gathering place down below."
"Thanks," Thomas didn't know what to say except for this. He never suffered from the effect of this truth serum in the first place.
Just as he passed through the door, he found another long and slightly dim path that took him more to the depth of the place here.
"Just how deep is this place!" Thomas was surprised when he walked for ten minutes inside this narrow corridor without reaching an end.
But just as he said this, he finally spotted a ray of light, bright enough to tell him he finally reached the place of gathering.
"Oh, that makes eight of us!" Just as he stepped into that big rocky hall that looked more like a cave, he heard this comment from the same youth who spoke with Lucy in a harsh way before.
"That means two are missing," another said.
"No, just one," that youth harrumphed, "that b*tch won't make it!"
For a reason, Thomas felt like this youth knew something that he wasn't supposed to. Before Thomas would think about why he felt so, he noticed the appearance of the old superhero lady who welcomed them before.
"You are now going to get tested," she paused before pointing towards a closed door, "follow me."
"Excuse me," Thomas didn't get to know Lucy very much, but he felt something bad must have happened to her, "aren't we supposed to wait for the missing two? We were ten when we arrived here."
"Don't speak about things you know nothing about!" that lady said in a cold tone, "you are all the ones who passed the test. And so, let's go, don't waste more time like this. I got other kids to babysit after this…"
She seemed to be impatient and very angry about this. And seeing this made Thomas remain silent, swallow what he wanted to say before moving after her.
"Don't place any hope over this b*tch, she will get killed in the end," that dude who spoke ill with Lucy before harrumphed before picking up pace and vanished through the door.
Thomas knew for sure that something bad happened to Lucy, yet he had no power to ask and know what happened. And for a reason, he felt little rage about this youth who kept showing his bad side towards Lucy.
But the moment Thomas passed through the door, he froze in place, just like everyone else.
First, they didn't end up at another corridor like what Thomas expected. They ended up in a very large place, filled with rocks.
It felt damp here, and he even saw a few lines of water falling from the rocks at the top. They weren't the only ones there, as nine other groups were standing like them in front of a grand rocky structure.
It looked like a stone pillar, rising high up and ending with a curved end. Right there, Thomas spotted a huge black ball, one that was so dark to not show anything inside.
"Welcome to your initiation ceremony," a deep voice appeared from the top, and Thomas finally noticed a group of five old superheroes there. One of them got deep wrinkles all over his face, reminding him of that old lady he met before.
Another got a long white beard, while everyone of them used short wooden canes to lean over, using these as walking sticks or something.
"This is the Qi crystal, a high-grade Qi stone that came from the Isolation border," the superhero who kept speaking was old, but his voice was firm and strong, "you are now going to get a chance to absorb such high-grade Qi from it. Make sure to use anything your families taught you, be it incantations, training techniques, anything to help you absorb more of this Qi. then you'll get a chance for one hour to consume any Qi stones you brought with you…"
Hearing till this made Thomas' heart clench. Even in this world, those who came from strong backgrounds had a higher chance of success and enjoyed a privilege that others didn't.
It went without saying that any of these youths standing here coming from a wealthy or authoritative family, one that got lots of superheroes within, had a high chance in scoring better results.
Qi stones? Thomas got Qi balls only. And that made him regret not following the idea his three friends from that villa spoke about.
"At least I got many Qi balls…"
"And don't think about consuming those useless Qi balls. They won't aid you with anything, only adding impurities to your bodies…"
"Shiet!" Thomas inwardly cursed when he heard that. He kept thinking he got great luck to have such a large number of Qi balls. Yet it was all for naught in the end.
"Now pick a place, sit or stand, do whatever you want. But make sure there is at least ten metres between you and the ones close to you…"
Once that old man said his words, Thomas saw many people walking and took a spot. Soon enough, the entire grand place got occupied by all of them, while their mentors took a side and watched in silence.
"Let's start!" Thomas just walked for twenty metres before finding a good spot. As he stood there, the old man said, and then the black ball started to shine.
It didn't just shine, but the entire place started to roar as if some sort of ancient machine was getting back to life or something.
The entire place kept trembling to the extent that Thomas got scared for any rock to fall from the ceiling. But that never happened. At the same time, the ball kept shining bright before a weird dark purple light emanated, engulfing the entire place.
"Start! Ten minutes and we'll stop it," the old man spoke, attracting Thomas' attention to the above. There he saw the five old men were placing both of their palms over the black ball, seemingly using their superpowers to activate it or the mechanism related to it.
And at this moment, the rocky tower that held this huge ball was now showing deep lines of purple and blackness there. Thomas didn't get any time to act, before he felt something burning inside his body.
It felt like someone was stabbing his chest with a burning sword or something. Thomas looked around himself, around others, to find a thin layer of dark purple coat surrounding each of their bodies.
"At least I got a Qi technique…" At this moment he didn't care about anything else and started to use all the techniques he knew ever in his life.
He kept changing his stance every now and then, not caring about anything at all. He failed in executing lots of the techniques he knew but managed to complete the initial stages of others.
Ten minutes wasn't a long time in the first place. And without he'd go through half of what he knew, the dark purple energy vanished, and the roarings of machines and wheels hidden somewhere here vanished.
"It's enough," the old man's voice came, stopping all from what they were doing. Thomas didn't see it, but out of the one hundred youths here, close to twenty only used Qi techniques during the past ten minutes, him included.
"Now follow the mentors, each will be assigned a room. Stay there for one hour, and then be ready for the final part of the ceremony."
As this old man said, everyone started to walk again towards their mentors. Thomas didn't find it hard to spot his fierce lady. Other mentors looked as fierce and harsh as her, but Thomas' mind was busy thinking about another thing.
"Did I manage to get enough Qi or what?" He still felt a little heat in his chest. And that told him he absorbed Qi from that ball. But to what extent, and would that be enough, he didn't know.
For a reason, he felt like he'd score an F if he didn't obtain Qi stones. And that was something that he couldn't do at all.
"Follow me," the lady said, turned around and passed through a corridor. At this moment, Thomas noticed that all of the youngsters here were moving to other corridors lying at the edge of this place. And he noticed something else.
They were examining themselves closely, even many got out mirrors and started to inspect their looks and bodies.
"Don't bother, the scars and such won't appear just now," the lady showed a mocking expression on her face when she reached another stoney hall. This one was like the one Thomas and others ended up at when they got interrogated, "each go to one room, close your doors, and stay there for one hour."
"W… What if we… We don't have any Qi stones?" one in the group asked in hesitation and fear from this lady. And in response to his question, he and others got a vicious laugh from her.
"Then blame yourselves for getting born in the wrong families! Come on! Get inside and don't waste my damn time!"
Thomas could inwardly sigh, picked a door and went there. Out of the eight youths here, only that jerk who kept picking up at Lucy got a bright smile on his face.
Without the need to ask, he got lots of Qi stones and was ready to elevate his ranking. Thomas was now positive that such lucky bastards would score high grades like C or even B and A, while he and others would dream to score an E instead of F.
Just as he entered that room, he found an exact replica of the one he entered back when he got interrogated. "Tsk! What a damn cursed and wretched world this is!" if not for fearing he was monitored, he'd say even more than these words.
He felt real anger, like the times when he was back on Earth and got all explosive and enraged all the time. Amidst his rage, he threw his tree pot on the table, and during this his hand accidentally crossed it.
"This… No way! More fruits!!!" He was shocked to feel that his hands were touched by accident. When he looked closer, it seemed like the fog inside got slightly thicker than before. And when he touched the tree, he was puzzled to feel the presence of twenty balls in there.
Thomas didn't notice it, nor anyone there. But when the dense dark purple Qi energy spread all over the place, his tree started to madly absorb it.
As Thomas found, twenty more white balls appeared there. Placing them on the table, and getting the others he got before, made him feel like he was in front of a grand secret that'd change his life.
"It's either this tree that can produce these balls by the passing time… Or…" he guessed it right but couldn't even believe his thoughts.
"The first time it produced such balls was after the fight that happened on that train… Back then, three grade C superheroes unleashed their superpowers without restraints. And then this tree produced such balls now after this test. Following this logic… F*ck me! Don't tell me I got a magical tree that can absorb Qi and turn it into balls…"
Thomas knew just standing there and thinking about this wouldn't solve anything. He didn't know even if his theory was correct, or if it was correct, what caused it.
He got this tree for years and didn't show anything abnormal until he arrived here. Without even hesitating anymore, he picked one ball, and fiddled with it.
"How can I absorb the energy within…" he looked at the dense white fog in there and couldn't help but regret not having the memories of the person he was now taking over his body.
"Screw it!" as he got little time here, he didn't even think much and placed that ball in his mouth, "I'll swallow you, swallow you all!"
He didn't know how to do it, but the first thing that popped in his head about using these balls really worked! He couldn't believe himself when a very warm wave of energy passed from his mouth, spreading all over his body like a flood.
"More!" Even before he'd analyse or assess what this ball did, even before he'd check to see if this ball got totally absorbed or dissolved inside his mouth, he picked another one and threw it in his mouth.
Like the first ball, other balls started to release torrents of warm energy, enveloping his body, and making him feel awesome.
"Hahahaha! You thought you were going to be the only winner here, hahahaha!" and in the middle of doing this, Thomas recalled that arrogant jerk and couldn't help but imagine his reaction when seeing that he scored a bit higher than what he was supposed to.
"Big families? Rich folks? Screw you all! Hahahaha! I got my magical tree, and with it I'm invincible! Hahahaha!" Thomas kept laughing amidst what he was doing, not caring about anything else but stuff his mouth with balls.
By the time he ate ten, he found out that his mouth was filled. He still got two more rounds of his balls. And so, an idea popped up.
"Training can help… Let's do it then!" back there, the old man told them to use any Qi techniques they were familiar with to increase their absorption speed of Qi.
And without even thinking twice, Thomas started to take different stances, training on various Qi techniques that he brought with him from Earth.
"That really worked! Hahahaha!" Thomas got excited when he managed to absorb all the ten balls in less than ten minutes. As this way proved its worth, he started to stuff his mouth with more balls, before training again and again.
He didn't care if his technique succeeded or failed. He just kept trying for ten minutes straight, before all the balls vanished. And then placed the third round in his mouth.
"I still got little time left…" he spent close to forty minutes inside, and still got another twenty. Without thinking much, he kept training on various techniques again, only selecting those he already succeeded at.
Even the one that brought him extreme pain before didn't cause him anything. He didn't know that he already absorbed the Qi from the balls, but to some extent.
His body now was filled with Qi, slowly digesting it. And with his use of these techniques, he managed to slightly accelerate the process.
"It's time!" As the twenty minutes passed fast, he heard knocking on his door, and heard the voice of that fierce lady.
"Coming!" Thomas picked his magical tree and placed it with extra care on his back. This time, he saw it as the most precious thing he got in the entire world. And he'd deal with extra care towards it from now onwards.
"Please give me an E, not an F," as he walked towards the door, he kept praying inside that he'd score anything better than an F.
Thomas got out to find the same Linda waiting for him. He wasn't alone, as the other seven came out. And of course, the dude who said mean things about Lucy was the only one with a wide smile over his face.
Seeing this smile made Thomas inwardly snort. This youth didn't get that Thomas, someone who came without any backing or big family, got a huge opportunity here.
Thomas didn't know this, but the balls he ate from his tree held much more Qi energy than the ones that youth used, than any ball anyone else used in this test. However, this came at a price… His body was still taking its time to ingest this huge amount of energy.
And that meant the score he was going to have in this test wasn't going to reflect his real strength after his body finished ingesting this amount of energy. Not to mention Thomas planned to find ways to support his tree with dense Qi energy, to get more fruits like these.
This time no one ever said anything, even that boastful dude. Everyone walked in silence, following their scary mentor through a new path, leading towards a new hall.
It wasn't any smaller than the one Thomas entered before to absorb Qi. and it didn't differ that much than the latter. It also has a central rocky tower. But this time, it was surrounded with stairs, allowing anyone to climb them to reach the high top.
No one was there except for a single youth. And when Thomas stood behind others, standing in a long line heading towards these stairs, a weird ball appeared from the ceiling.
Thomas could already hear the loud rumblings and cracking noises of many wheels and machines working under the ground and all around. When he entered this place, it seemed as if he was going inside a factory of some sort.
These noises never ceased and kept rising up and lowering down their volume until a lid opened up above, and that ball descended from there.
Thomas wanted to ask, what was all this about. However, the next moment he swallowed all the questions he got in his mind, getting bewildered by what he was witnessing.
First this ball was white, big as the same black Qi ball that gave them the dark purple Qi energy before. Yet this one was freely moving, without any threads attached to it, as if it got controlled remotely by some sort of telekinesis superpower or something.