The next day came quickly, and soon the loud sound of claps resonated, traveling through the surroundings. "Wake up!" Credo screamed, slapping Clifford's face to wake him up. Unfortunately, Clifford was deeply unconscious, forcing the elder to put more effort into his slaps.
"Thirty-seven… Ninety-one… Hundred-forty… Wake up already!" Tired of the ridiculous amount of faceslapping, Credo infused Qi into his hand before slapping Clifford one more time, forcefully awakening him. Clifford gradually opened his eyes, confusion painted over his face as his vision wandered around the spacious room.
"Get up! We have no time for that." Credo shouted, bringing Clifford's attention to him and causing him to recall what happened before he went unconscious. "The next trial is starting in half an hour. I will bring you there right away." Gripping Clifford by his robe, they both disappeared, reappearing shortly in a relatively large field in the shape of a circle.
Appearing at the center of the crowd, Credo dropped Clifford, who fell on his butt on the floor. "This is where the next trial begins. Now, you are on your own." Hearing Credo's words, Clifford nodded before standing up quietly and looking at the elder, who oddly resembled an older copy of Credo.
"Take this; it's your reward for being the first in my trial. Don't lose it!" After throwing the diamond token to Clifford, Credo vanished from the area, leaving him alone with the crowd, who started speaking about ten minutes later.
"I'm Reymond, the one responsible for the next trial." Coughing lightly, Reymond brought everyone's attention to him.
"Unfortunately, Credo lied about one thing. In this academy, we have too many students, and sadly not everyone can be treated the same.
"Fortunately, willpower is not the only important thing, so a few more trials are needed to separate individuals fairly. All of you received tokens equivalent to your ranks in the previous test. The last 500 received bronze tokens, while those ranked from 251 to 499 received silver tokens.
"Similarly, those ranging from 51 to 250 received golden tokens, and those ranging from 2 to 50 have platinum tokens." Pausing for a moment to catch his breath, Reymond looked at Clifford before continuing.
"As I said previously, we will only have 750 students. So, anyone from the last five hundred will require two bronze tokens to remain…" Pausing once more, a wooden staff began materializing in Reymond's hands.
"For the higher rankers, stealing a higher-quality token represents higher status. Naturally, the bronze rankers can go for higher-ups as well, but remember that once you go for another bronze and successfully steal it, you will be kicked out of this world, and your rank in the academy will forever remain bronze."
"I reckon that's all you need to know. Now, why don't we begin?" Placing his hand on the staff's orb, darkness expanded from Reymond's feet, spreading and covering everyone instantly. Witnessing this, Clifford knew they were entering a cultivator's world. This made him understand that none of the elders were below the 7th stage at the very least, as anyone below couldn't bring others into their worlds without physical contact.
This time, the sky was completely blocked, covering the world in absolute darkness. Dark, somber trees grew rapidly, reaching incredible heights and separating everyone from each other as the world continued to expand. Aiming to be heard by everyone, Reymond rose into the sky, casting a faint light from his staff's orb that illuminated the world slightly.
"Whoops, it seems like I forgot to inform you about this…" Seeing that the majority had their attention on him, Reymond paused for a moment before continuing, "No, I think you will be fine." Finishing his words, Reymond vanished, leaving his staff suspended in the sky without further elaboration. Unable to feel his presence, Clifford used his eyes to detect life force and found that the elder was still suspended where he was, just invisible to normal eyes.
Hearing a loud scream, Clifford looked in the direction it came from and saw someone running toward him. Behind him, a strange-looking horse, far bigger than its rider, was aiming for his life. The horse's body seemed to be made of dry mud, with grass growing from the cracks between.
"Why are you running?" Clifford asked, confusion painting his face as he directed his words at the newcomer. "RUN!" the guy muttered before disappearing between the trees. Focusing his attention on the horse, Clifford took a defensive stance, preparing for the fight since he didn't need to hunt anyone else because of the diamond token.
Putting a little weight into his fist, Clifford struck the horse, causing it to shatter into pieces. Looking at the horse's remnants, Clifford wondered why the guy had run away from it. Shortly, the beast's remains started reattaching themselves, bringing the beast back to life. Surprisingly, this time, the beast looked bigger and bulkier, which piqued Clifford's interest.
Witnessing the beast raise its front legs with a roar, Clifford understood it wanted another round. Grinning, Clifford accepted the challenge by taking his stance once more. The same thing happened again: the beast collapsed before rising once more.
The third time, the beast felt a little more durable and stronger. Understanding what was going on, Clifford kept repeating the process to strengthen the beast to a higher degree, hoping it would reach a point where it could rival him at his current level. Unfortunately, he was interrupted as another fool came running his way with a relatively large skeleton on her tail.
"Help me, please!" Running toward Clifford in an attempt to hide behind him, the girl begged for his protection.
"Fuck off." Pissed by her actions, Clifford slapped her heavily with his left hand, sending her flying to the side.
With the foul out of the way, Clifford looked at the two strange beasts standing in front of him. Although the girl had brought him more trouble, he didn't mind dealing with it since the horse alone was progressing slowly.