CHAPTER 32

As Oka said, not knowing how far one needed to go was challenging one’s resolve. This test was really well-thought, Mir couldn’t help but admire it and respect whoever made it this way. But there was still one really important question:

“Elder brother, can they see what happens inside?

-Yes. But they don’t ever disclose any information so you guys go all out and don’t worry about it.”

Mir was not really liking the idea of being observed. He suppressed elder Lan and elder Fin to hide his abilities not to have everyone here aware of them. He resolved himself not to use his dragon bloodline core whatever happened.

When the elder called for “Mea Mir”, he got up and walked to the stage, bringing many stares onto himself. He passed warily through the gate and arrived in a white square room. The door disappeared and a monotonous man’s voice was heard:

“Eight years old Candidate – Difficulty set to ‘lowest R1R1’ – Begins”

At that time, a metal-like humanoid figure appeared from a wall. It was 1.60-meter-tall and stared at Mir. Using his eyes, Mir could tell this was the dummy he had to destroy and it was only rank 1 first realm. But he couldn’t see through anything else. He had no idea what it was made of or how and what it could do skill wise. He did not need to wait too long to learn about it.

The dummy did not have any martial skills, it was just fighting with the energy in its body. That being said, even though Mir could easily evade everything and saw through its moves, he had no idea what to do himself. Even if you know the theory, it is not easy to put it to practice.

The thing is, Mir never fought once before in both lives… So, he ended up dodging instead of counter-attacking. He knew he was strong enough to beat that dummy, and far stronger at that but he just did not know how. The same way a bird won’t know how to fly until it tries.

He punched out and his fist met the dummy’s head. But that was it, the dummy didn’t get destroyed or anything. It just kept throwing its own attacks at Mir. This startled Mir.

After dodging a few more attacks, it hit him. Not the dummy, the obvious. He was not channeling any energy in his body at the moment! When it comes to cores, they are inactive most of the time. They are a very weird organ, one that needs to be consciously awoken to work. As soon as one starts to lose his concentration, the core stops working.

With each passing realm, the body grows stronger, faster and tougher but the energy itself doesn’t flow through one’s body unless they consciously make it happen. This is why it is so difficult to see through someone else’s power normally.

While Mir learnt many skills through his sight, he never practiced them himself and he did not really battle yet. He killed someone, sure, but using a tool as a one-shot sneak attack. It doesn’t count as battle experience unfortunately. But fortunately, he also knew the theory behind it.

He had a twin-core and a M-bloodline core. He decided to activate the twin-cores. It would be a pain if the ones testing him could get datas on him through the battle and found out about his bloodline. He would already be deemed quite the monster just from his being in the fourth realm at eight…

He concentrated and made the energy flow from his twin cores throughout his body. He focused slowly on his hands and formed fists. After dodging one more hit from the dummy intended to reach his stomach, he threw his own towards the dummy’s face. The hit connected with a loud bang and the dummy’s head exploded while the rest of its body was thrown meters away.

Instant kill, without using any skills. This is the difference between a fourth realm and a first realm. There’s a gap impossible to cross as soon as energy is being used. While it isn’t impossible for a being of a lower rank to kill one of a higher rank than his, it is not short of a miracle and extremely rare, at least in a true open battle. Sneak attacks are something else entirely…

Anyways, Mir rejoiced as he had destroyed the dummy so easily. He shouted in happiness and didn’t think about the words he screamed: “Fuck yeah! It’s too easy! Send some true opponents to this genius! Ahahah!” and much more insults were said.

After some time, there was a gong and the mechanic-like voice answered his pleas: “Mode unlimited opponents activated – Upgraded opponents to realm 2”. That made Mir stop doing anything and he stood there with his mouth open. He had only a single thought left in his mind “Dammit”.

From there, dozens and dozens of dummies started to appear and rush Mir. Of course, since they were only of the second realm, it did not mean anything to him. He dodged one on his left and sent a punch on his right, that was enough to destroy a dummy and disrupt all others around if not destroying them as well. After a time, the voice spoke once more “Upgrading opponents to realm 3”.

The difficulty changed a bit but the results were not that different. It was taking a bit longer though. And finally, the voice said, “Upgrading opponents to realm 4”. The worst is that the dummies were not alive and so, Mir couldn’t grasp their power level with his sight. He was forced to find it out by himself…

They were slightly weaker. Though it needed more than one punch to end one now, he was able to deal with the incoming army of dummies. He did not need to use skills though they would have helped him a lot. The reason he chose not to is simple: energy is limited.

At his fourth realm, if he started to use skills without care, he would run out of energy and this would mean the end of the test, probably in failure. Not being able to pace oneself is really bad. Acting without thinking only brings failure after all. He believed that being unable to battle through to the end of the timer meant failure. Was it?

No. The test was far simpler than that. Dummies were sent out to fight you and you had to take them down. As many as you could. That’s it. The time limit was set so that the guests would not have to wait for too long. The school itself, with this test, could not care less about how long one could battle.

Even though it was a very important aspect to consider, they did not. They only see the number of kills and power of those killed. But Mir did not know that and was fighting the test as if he was the one who had designed it. Basically, he was giving himself many more aspects to consider than necessary. In all aspects, it was good training. The voice was never heard again.

Oka had a different approach. He activated his bloodline right at the beginning and his body changed alongside the fluctuation of energies. From then on, he slaughtered hundreds of rank 2 realm 1 dummies. Tearing their limbs with his own and roaring at the world. He was like a bloodthirsty monster.

After the time limit was reached, they were sent out. One after another in the order they entered. They went to sit back with the Prince. He was trying hard not to laugh at the two kids. He told them:

“Congratulations on not tarnishing my name kids”

After a few minutes, all the kids were seated back to their original seats with their respective patrons. The Palace School Elder went up on stage and took out a table from his space bag. Then, he took out a crystal screen and said:

“I will now show you the results of this test. Only those with their names on this crystal are admitted to our school.”

The crystal lit up and names formed on it in black ink. Everyone here was a martial artist, they could easily distinguish the scribbled names. Mir and Oka were there. They passed. Both smiled, looked at each other and nodded in satisfaction.

The Prince was unable to contain his laughter anymore when the numbers of dummies slaughtered appeared. Mir was third with 1206 dummies destroyed. Oka was first with 6512 dummies destroyed. The gap was incredible but understandable if you considered that Oka used his bloodline from the start and fought at 100%.

Only Mir was surprised that he was not second. Someone else had taken out a high number of dummies. A certain Ary Josh with 1531. Mir did not know him but he surely would keep an eye on him. Or maybe not. There are so many powerful people, why bother with one out of them all?

Right now, it was a time to celebrate and the prince was doing just that. He was even forcing Oka to join him by placing his arm over Oka’s neck and laughing between slurps of beer. It felt strange since most people here had seen their prodigies fail.

Out of them all, only thirteen names appeared on the crystal. The weakest had dealt with 689 dummies. A number already high. Whatever the minimum amount was, it was too high. This really was a high-class school. One needs to remember that Mir and Oka were no average jacks and their scores were extreme. To think there were others with similar strengths…Meant the world was vaster than Mir thought. There is surely a man beyond every man.

Once the party ended, the guests had to leave. Obviously, the Royal Palace School was a boarding school so Mir and Oka would be staying. They had to say their goodbyes to the ninth prince. He looked at the kids and said:

“You did good to succeed the test. Both of you. I had this strand of fear that you would humiliate me even though I heard of your abilities. I will be able to tease some brothers of mine with this. Make sure to do good in the school. They will explain you the rules tomorrow I think so I won’t go there. It only slightly differs when compared to the Burning Sea school anyway. You were probably familiar with the intern-alliance system?

-Oh yes, we are, elder brother Nio.

-..Of course. Well, go and join the “Followers of the Ninth”. It’s the one containing my followers as the name implies.

-We will think about it.

-Do more than think. They will probably contact you as soon as they hear about me bringing you in personally, they will treat you nicely, I swear. So, I will see you next time. You two kids take care and don’t do something stupid again, alright?

-Sure. Thank you for everything, elder brother Nio.

-Thank you for everything, ninth prince.”

Both Mir and Oka bowed while cupping their hands to show their appreciation and the prince pat them on their heads. Having brought those two in meant his name was linked to theirs. But they did good, very good, on the test at least so, he had high hopes. What’s more, there were many candidates coming from his brother and sister’s factions and most failed.

It is a rare feat to succeed this entrance exam on the first try and that is the reason why the exam is opened every month. This would be enough for him to enjoy some fame and do some teasing for a while. He left in a great mood with his guards. One of the guards said to the two kids before following him:

“Make sure to enter the Followers of the ninth, don’t waste the care the Prince showed you.”

Basically, it was a threat hidden as an advice. He did something nice for you so you have to repay him kind of thing…

The Royal Palace elder led the thirteen kids inside the school once everyone else had left. They were all around nine years of age except for Oka. Mir didn’t know which one was which so he looked at them all and soon, found Ary Josh. It was a kid at the third realm with a (E)-rank bloodline. No wonder he made such a high score. He would not need to be wary of him in the end. As the elder arrived at the first level, he said as he walked:

“You will all be granted a room on level one. Someone will come pick you up tomorrow morning, until then, don’t wander around and don’t leave the level one.”

Mir and Oka had rooms next to one another. They were very simple and like the ones they had in the Burning Sea School, except it was more luxurious. A bed, a closet and a desk with a chair but the materials they were made from felt like they were of a higher quality. And most likely, they were.

However, compared to the Burning Sea School, there was nothing on the bed. Mir looked around and except for the furniture, there was nothing: no robe, no bag, nothing. That’s when someone knocked on his door.

It was easy for him to see that it was Oka. Seeing through things isn’t an ability for show… He told him to enter and Oka sat down. He was quiet so Mir sighed and asked him:

“What’s bothering you?

-Elder Lan and Elder Fin’s deaths. Are you behind it, young boss?

-You already know the answer…Yes.

-…Why? They were good to us.

-We need to keep a low profile. Those two old men were the only ones who knew about my true abilities. There would have been risks sooner or later. Rather than find a solution, I would rather eliminate the problem.

-…Will you also eliminate me if I became a problem?

-…Yes. I would.”

Mir decided to be honest. A silence ensued and Mir continued:

“I doubt you will ever become a problem Oka so, I want to remain honest with you. I told you before about my goal. I won’t let anyone hinder me from reaching it, that’s all there is to it. To me, you are far from a potential risk but rather, an asset. No, a partner!

-A partner?

-Yes, you work alongside me so we can both achieve our goals.

-Alright. But anyway, how did you even kill them, young boss?

-I laid a trap. At first, it was just a security to save our asses as a last shot but, well, it worked better than I planned. It does not really matter since it’s done. Let’s talk about the future.

-I understand. Are we going to join the Followers of the Ninth, young boss?

-Of course not. Who would be dumb enough to willingly side with someone for the royal selection or whatever. I don’t want troubles so we won’t reach out to any factions, let’s keep a low profile.

-I do hope so too...”