The spring rain quietly rained down on San Mountain.
It was already late in the night, a slight breeze blowing with the light rain.
Yet San Mountain was not covered in darkness; from the side down to the foot of the mountain, dozens of tiny lights shone like a bright band.
These lights shone from tall mysterious buildings, and even though they could not be said to match up to ten thousand lights, it was still a few thousand in number.
Situated on the mountain was a single wooden desk with a chair behind it, giving the vast lonely mountain a rich touch of human civilization.
In front of the desk was a magnificent Altar. A grand ceremony was being held at this moment, and the lights were even brighter than ever, radiating with glory.
"Titans, please bless us! We pray that this ceremony will bring many young men of outstanding talent and intelligence, bringing our organization new blood and hopes for the future!" The head of the business titan branch had a middle-aged appearance, his sideburns were graying and he was clothed in ceremonial white robes, kneeling on the brownish-yellow floor. His body was straight with his hands held together, eyes tightly shut as he prayed sincerely.
He was facing a tall black case; there were three layers on the case, all housing memorial tablets of Titans that once descended from the holy land to guide them. On both sides of the tablets was copper incense, the smoke rising.
Behind him were 10 people kneeling in a similar fashion as him. They wore loose white ceremonial garments and were all old men and women, important members, and those who had great authority and standing in the business titan.
After finishing prayers, the business titan's head bent his waist with his two hands pressing against the floor and kowtowed. As the forehead knocked against the brownish-yellow floor, light thuds could be heard.
Behind him, the old men and women solemnly and quietly followed suit.
With this, the top of the mountain was filled with light thuds as the heads knocked against the ground.
When the ceremony was over, the crowd of people slowly got up from the ground and silently walked to the desk behind them.
In the distance between, sighs of relief were heard from the crowd of hunters and the atmosphere loosened up. The noise of discussion slowly rose.
"Time flies too quickly, in the blink of an eye, a year has gone by."
"The previous ceremony feels like it just happened yesterday, I can still recall it vividly."
"Today is the opening of the annual hunter's test, I wonder what kind of new talents will show up this year?"
"Ah, I hope that some highly talented youths will appear. The Dragon Nation hasn't seen a genius emerge for five years now."
"Agreed. The Snake Nation, and Wolve Nation these few years all had some talented geniuses appear. Especially that Derik from the Snake Nation, his natural talent is quite terrifying."
It was unclear who had brought up the name Derik, but the faces of the other elders started to show worry.
The boy's qualifications were splendid; in just a short period of five years worth of training, he had already reached the level of A-rank hunters.
In the younger generation, he could be said to be the most outstanding one. It was to the point that even the older generation could feel pressured from the promising youth.
In time, he would inevitably become the pillar of the Snake Nation. At the very least he would also be an independently strong hunter. No one ever doubted this fact.
"But for this year's youths that will be participating in the hunter's test, not all hope is lost."
"You're right, Twilight Errant's side has appeared a young genius. Able to already split rocks with his bare hands, his abilities are still a mystery to all of us, it is even said that a well-known constellation of great prowess is personally backing him up to be his next elite soldier."
"Yes, this one is gonna be a big problem for us, his strength isn't something that should be trifled about plus he is also harboring big ambitions. In recent years I have heard about his interviews concerning the gates and how he desires to go ahead and open the next S-ranked gate so he takes on its challenge alone and relieves humanity of some of its burdens!"
The business titan head was the last to walk to the desk. After utilizing the building's ability to control the room to make the altar vanish, he heard the discussions that were going on in the passageway among his elders.
He knew at once that the elders were discussing the youth known as Twilight Errant's Mike at that moment.
As the head of the business titan that also owns the Twilight Errant, it is natural to pay attention to the outstanding and prominent young ones. And it so happens that Mike was the most eye-catching one among the juniors.
Experience has shown that those who had such strong abilities, or those who possessed strength that could rival D-grade hunters before even taking the hunters test themselves for the first time, all had outstanding qualifications for the future.
'If this child shows A-grade potential, with great care he could even compete against Snake Nation Derik. Even if it is a B grade, in the future he could also become a banner of the Twilight Errant and a great help for the future. But with this sort of early potential, the percentage of B-grade hunter is not that big, but highly possible to be an A grade.' With this thought, the Business titan head curled up his lips slowly into a smile.
At once, with a cough, he faced the elders and said, "Everyone, the hour is too early in the morning, for tonight's hunter test you should all rest well and take care of your energy levels."
At his words, the elders looked startled. They looked at each other with a hint of caution in their eyes.
The organization head's words meant well, but everyone knew what he was aiming to convey.
Every year to secure their spots as elders directly under the business titan, the elders would do their best to recruit new talents each year to the point that even fighting to the death wasn't an anomaly.
Thus, they should keep low and not act arrogantly again, depriving the other guilds from taking in new talents.
The threat was well conveyed, and with everyone understanding the words hidden in his advice, they hurriedly left and went to attend whatever matters they had to take care of.