Hanul closed the quest notification and looked around, this time focusing on information that might give him insight on the immortal inspection.
'There doesn't seem to be any immortals here.'
As the lights that brought the youths here stopped appearing, he noticed that there only seemed to be examinees here.
'Putting aside the red robe, the only other detail I remember was a small swirl pattern on the chest. I don't see any in my group.'
As the last light faded, with an additional group entering the space, the room became dark.
*Snap*
Following the ringing sound of a snap that echoed throughout the room, small floating flames burst forth in rows above the crowd of children.
"Ahhh!"
The burst of light that immediately followed the complete darkness blinded the youths, giving rise to small exclamations of pain. No one was that appreciative of being flashbanged in a strange place.
As the crowd of eyes adjusted to the shocking change in lighting, a voice rang out. The unembodied deep voice sounded booming, leaving both an echo and a child reeling, as it finished every sentence.
["WELCOME! We will first be testing your aptitude for becoming an immortal disciple. Now please bring your attention to the front of the room."]
Before anyone could ask which way the "front" was, the floating flames of moved to one side of the room, where there was an empty space.
The flames converged into a large 2 meter tall flame.
*Whoosh*
The flames dispersed to reveal a red robed man. This person gave off the feeling of a bear, with his wide shoulders and muscles that stretched his robe thin. If not for his noble robes, one might think he was a bandit with how his thick ragged beard and messy hair looked.
'Hmm. His chest mark is different.'
On the right side of the newly appeared man's robes, was a circle with flame marks around it. The symbol was reminiscent of the smalls flames from a moment ago.
"I am your examiner today. My name is Justin Nieves, but you can call me Weapon. I will be examining your qi aptitude. There's a lot of you here today, but please gather up in an orderly fashion."
The youths started to move obediently. Hanul followed along, allowing other children to line up in front of him so that he could have more time to observe.
++++++++++
The aptitude inspection went quickly, with each child taking less than a minute to be tested before being moved through a doorway behind the large red robed bear.
Nothing remarkable happened in Hanul's eyes. Children would walk up to Weapon, have a hand put on their head, and then directed away without a clue as to why.
Unbefitting of his enormous stature, Weapon had a very amicable personality. He would greet each child and ask for their names when they came up. Hanul was so dumbfounded by the unexpectedly wide smile, that he didn't even notice his turn had come up already.
Similarly, Weapon had a warm aura once Hanul was before him. Receiving the same greeting as Weapon raised his hand to Hanul's head.
"Hello there young man, what's your name?"
"Hanul."
"A good name. I hope to see you again soon as a disciple. Head on through and the next inspector will take care of you from there."
Giving the big man a small nod, Hanul headed forward through the doorway.
*Bzzt*
A quiet, almost inaudible, buzzing noise sounded as Hanul passed through the doorway. Simultaneously, his surroundings changed once more.
He was no longer inside, but rather in a wide grassy field, similar to the wide plain he first woke up in. The doorway behind him was nowhere to be seen. No other children could be found, but he wasn't alone in this space.
One lone man sat cross-legged before Hanul. The sun's rays reflected off of his resplendent bald head. The man's arms rested on his legs, covered by a yellow robe with sleeves extending past his hands. One arm rose to wave at Hanul.
"Sorry, this all must be going so fast for you. I told Ruoxuan we should take it slower for kids nowadays, but what am I to do."
A soft voice came out of the man's mouth, yet an extraordinary feeling arose within Hanul. Hanul's eyes grew wide at the realization in his mind.
'The sound doesn't match with his lips.'
"Oh, perceptive-"
["-aren't you?"]
The voice changed from a soft sound from the man in front of Hanul, to a deeper warped voice that echoed around. There was no apparent source of the voice.
["Aw, darn, that was going to be my new perception examination. Guess I'll have to rethink that."]
"What do you want me to do?"
["Hmm? Oh I've got a calm one today, there must be some fate between us boy. How about you become my disciple? It's a good deal, I'm pretty high up after all."]
'Huh? That's it?'
Hanul opened up his quest log. The 'Pass the Immortal Inspection' quest was still incomplete.
'Perhaps it's waiting for me to become a disciple. I should stay focused, in case that's not the clear condition.'
After confirming that the inspection wasn't over, Hanul looked up to respond to the voice.
"Would that mean I'm done with the Immortal Inspection?"
["Sure! We're a big sect after all. It's not like it's meant to be a hard test. Ah, actually, there's still a lot of time left."]
"Tch."
["Now now, it's really a test you'll encounter later anyways. If I didn't do this, someone else would eventually."]
As the aloof examiner continued speaking, the ground in front of Hanul began to shift and bulge upwards.
["To be an immortal means to be more than a mere human. One must be willing to cut and shape the world into their own image."]
Part of the moving dirt molded into a double-edged sword at Hanul's feet. A plain sword, with no decorations.
["There will be many benefits to becoming an immortal."]
The ground began to form into another distinct shape a little further away.
["Such as worship from the mortals beneath us."]
A bowing figure became more detailed from the surging earth.
["Begin the first steps to becoming a greater existence."]
Young. Innocent. The words flashed through Hanul's mind, as he frowned upon understanding the direction this test was going.
["This one failed its inspection."]
A young boy, likely only 12 or 13.
["But this is its opportunity to become a part of the immortal path"]
Hanul's eyes shook as he made eye contact with the boy. Light blue eyes behind thick brown hair.
["Kill it, and I will accept you as my 3rd disciple."]