„The next part of the trial will be a combat test." Alex started to explain. „To pass this part of the examination you need to win against an opponent that is in the same realm as you. The opponent will have a movement and fighting technique both at the minor accomplishment stage and their foundation will only be equal to the Iron Refinement."
„There is no time limit since that would otherwise be a disadvantage for cultivators that focus on defense or regeneration."
„You can even gain additional rewards if you beat an opponent above your realm. If you beat an opponent that is 3 minor realms above you, you instantly become an inner desciple. If you defeat someone 5 stages above you, you even have the chance to become a core disciple."
„But no one has ever achieved that. That doesn't mean that there are no core disciples though, it's just that the sect makes it extremely hard to advance this way, since they usually want disciples to advance through not only talent but also hard work."
Alex finished his explanation with a fiery look in his eyes. His goal was to directly become an inner disciple, as his talents reached as high as A grade.
Basically all sects in this world divided their disciples into core, inner and outer sect. The treatment of core and inner disciples was always many times higher than for outer sect disciples.
They often gained more resources, had access to better techniques and even had more freedom when picking techniques. They also got residences higher on the mountain which meant a denser spiritual energy.
They also had a higher chance to be recognized by an elder and get support from them. They even had the chance to be accepted as disciples.
If you wanted to advance as fast as possible than the inner and core sect were the best places for that.
„But even if you become a core disciple in the second trial, it's useless if you don't pass the third trial." Alex continued to explain the last trial.
„Not much is known about the last trial since you have to swear an oath to not tell anyone about the trial before taking it."
„But we do know that it mostly focuses on testing your personality and will. The saviour sect prides itself on not excepting people who are inherently bad so if you pass this test you won't be accepted. No matter how talented you are."
Kael was suddenly somewhat scared of the last test. Even though he didn't doubt that his personality would pass the test as he was not a vicious or greedy person, he was afraid that the focus of this test was on saving Green Planet.
If they somehow tested his conviction to fight to the death for the future of humanity, he doubted that he would pass that test.
But before he could think about the third test any further, the voice of elder Beatrice interrupted his thoughts.
„Now that all candidates have been tested, please follow me up the mountain towards the next testing area."
The elder started walking on a path ahead of them that lead upwards. On the way Kael was impressed by the beautiful nature that surrounded the path due to the high amount of spiritual energy in the air.
The energy here was almost as high as inside the cave which meant that all plants here were able to thrive and grow beautifully.
After a few minutes they arrived at a height of about 15000m. Before them stood about 1000 sparring fields with each having a puppet made of wood standing on them. The puppets were covered with engravings all over their body.
„Within the next three days, each of you will have to fight against the puppets on these arenas at least once. To pass you need to beat a puppet that has the strength of your realm."
„Due to the time this test will take, each of you will have a temporary residency in the near vicinity."
„I will now show you a rune code which you will need to scan with your rune phones to gain a place on the waitlist. You will get a notification 30 minutes before you will be called up for the test so always be ready."
The rune code just looked like a qr code from Kael's past life with a few squiggly lines added. Kael chose to not think about the unoriginal names of these things too much and just scanned the code.
His place on the list was 213.484 which meant that he would only take the test as one of the latest of all the people gathered here.
Alex and Alexandra also didn't have a lot more luck than him, with one being placed 201.674 and the other 158.000.
All of them would probably only have their turn at the end of the second day the earliest, so they chose to spend the time in their residences and exchange their experiences over the last year.
The first thing they did was ask Kael for his talent. Since he reached silver refinement it should be pretty high, but they were still amazed when he told them about his actual grade. Well not his real talent but rather his public one.
Since he didn't experience all that much stuck inside a cave for over a year, he instead asked the siblings what they did after they parted ways last time.
As it turns out they had a pretty hard life. Their dad was an alcoholic. After being crippled on the battlefield and returning home he drowned his sorrows in alcohol and even hit his children.
Their brother made their life even harder. Since he awakened a low talent he let out all of his frustration on the two siblings when they still weren't awakened.
After Alex awakened A level talent his father and brother were even angrier. Even though the rest of their family was pretty supportive of them, the siblings still didn't like how they took the side of their brother and father whenever they had a dispute.
After Alex and Alexandra came home on the day they lost Lexa to the bear, their brother once again told Alex that he was too weak and said that only he was to blame.
This was the last straw for the siblings and they finally left their family for the beastforest where they continue to train until the sect examination. They even made some pretty impressive progress.
Whilst Alex reached the 6th stage of Energy Refinement, Alexandra only reached the 4th since she only had B-Level talent.
„My goal is to reach the peak of this world and show my brother and family how high my actual worth is. I want to never feel so weak or lose a loved one." Alex said. His eyes and tone were filled with resolution and ambition.
At the end of the story Kael suddenly realized that Karl was missing from his shoulder. Fearing that the raccoon would do mischief, he searched for him around the room, only to find him lying inside Alexandra's lap. He was enjoying headscratches and there was a content expression on his face.
‚So much for no dirty human is allowed to touch your sacred fur.' Kael provoked the raccoon, speaking directly in his mind.
Karl, having no way to retort, simply acted like he couldn't hear Kael.
In this way almost the group of four spent almost two days. Eating, talking and resting before it was finally Alexandra's turn.
Alex and Kael along with Karl accompanied her towards the stage where her trial would be held.
Once there she had to once again state her name to an outer disciple before entering the platform, facing the puppet.
The puppet was adjusted to have 4th stage Energy Refinement Realm strength before the disciple gave the signal to start.