The representative's eyes opened wide in shock as the flame crescent barreled towards him. This attack was simply too powerful for the fifth stage, he wouldn't be surprised if it came from a Cultivator in the seventh or eighth stage, however Khaos was in the fifth!.
Just when the attack was a meter away from him, his skin turned golden as he activated is Law. A loud explosion shook the clearing as fire met skin. Everyone held their breath as they waited for the smoke to clear.
No one had not even noticed that Khaos had stumbled a bit before falling flat on the ground after his attack.
Five seconds later, the smoke cleared, as expected shocked gasps went all around. The male representative had a gash going across his chest, and even the front of his shoulders were visibly cut. The wound was about 2 centimeters deep and blood flowed out of it.
Khaos was not the first participant to injure the representative to that degree. The shocking part was that the representative's right foot was behind the left, meaning that he had braced before the impact. He had not even done that for the seventh stage participants.
Also, no one, except for one, noticed that Khaos had actually managed to pass the test meant for the sixth stage since his target had activated the Rank one Law of Stone Skin.
While everyone was looking at the injured Cultivator in shock, three people moved their focus to Khaos, who was still lying flat on the ground. The first was obviously the female representative of the Black Academy, the second was Kato, who had a worried look, while the last was the only eighth stage cultivator in the clearing.
A few seconds later, Khaos stood up and barely stumbled towards the group of Cultivators that had been accepted. He did not need to look at what his attack did, he was confident in his abilities. However, the female representative motioned for him to approach her while the tests continued.
"Are you okay?" she asked as Khaos almost walked straight into a tree.
"I will be, that attack leaves me dizzy for some time", Khaos answered, not sure which of the three images in front of him he should look at.
"Tell me about your attack, walk me through it", the center image in Khaos' mind said.
Khaos nodded. "First i run as fast as i can towards my target, usually i fly but i was not sure if that was against the rules or not", he began.
"Then when i am at a certain distance away depending on the circumstance, i start spinning, using my wind element as a support. I keep doing so until i am almost out of Wind Flux, then i change to fire, and shoot out the attack. But honestly this attack is not practical in a fight".
"It takes too long to prepare and leaves me disoriented afterwards". Khaos finished his explanation as his vision cleared up. It was then that he noticed that all the other participants who passed where listening to him intently.
"How did you gradually change your element like that?" one of the seventh stage participants asked as he summoned a fireball above his palm.
Then the fireball disappeared only to be replaced by a water sphere a second later. "When you were spinning, you slowly changed the element instead of dispelling the first. It's like you turned wind into fire", the same participant said.
Every Cultivator on Zylon could use all of the five elements : Fire, Water, Lightning, Earth and wind. Even though some had a preference, like how Khaos preferred Wind, they could all use all of them, although with varying levels of mastery.
Due to this fact, everyone present could replicate Khaos' attack, but there would be some challenges, like the one this Cultivator pointed out.
"Well i...".
"Stop, you will all learn this at the Academy if you manage to enter", the representative said. She could not allow Cultivators to teach each other stuff just like that. If they did, what would be the point of Academies?, excluding Laws of course.
"About that senior, so we have not been enrolled into the Academy yet?" Khaos asked.
"No, you just passed the test. After this we will all go to the Academy, where you will take part in the exam, it will be the deciding factor", the representative answered.
Those words worried most of the participants, they all thought that their futures where set, however it turned out not to be the case.
It took almost an hour for the fifth stage participants to finish their tests since they had the highest numbers. In the end, from the 60 fifth stage Cultivators, only 15 made the cut. And that marked the end of the tests.
"We will rest for today and leave for the Academy tomorrow morning", the female representative said. "And by the way, my name is Kira, and that is Dern. But use the prefix 'Instructor' when addressing us", she added.
The participants nodded as they all sat on the ground and began Cultivating. Some also chose to sleep, and Khaos was part of them.
The next morning quickly arrived and the sleeping participants were woken up with a loud explosion. As he had expected, Khaos opened his eyes to see instructor Dern with his hands together. "Let's go, we will fly at the fastest speed a stage five Cultivator can manage", Instructor Dern said.
"Also, we will rest after every 200 kilometers so you can replenish your Flux". Instructor Kira added. After her words, the group of 33 participants and two instructors flew away towards the north. They were flying at an altitude of 50 kilometers, just inside the clouds.
This was Khaos's first time moving at such an altitude, and like most of the fifth stage Cultivators, he was mesmerised by the scenery. The landscape below them looked like a giant green blanket that covered the whole of Zylon, hiding behind a white mist made by the thinner clouds.