“Did you record it?”

“Of course, I did, why do you think the Record Crystal exists? It’s for moments like these!”

“I seriously can’t believe someone reached the hundredth step in such a short time, that’s an EX-grade talent you know?”

“I know right? Hey, who is in charge of scoring that kid?”

The conversation between the teachers could be heard loud and clear. Many of the students looked dazed, not believing what just happened, but a certain amount of people had a different look in their eyes.

All of these individuals were commoners, being of a relatively low background.

One of these individuals was Xiong Liliang, an orphan who had to become a beggar to survive for 10 years.

A beggar in this world had a lower standing than farm animals so they were treated horribly. In fact, if the law didn’t abolish slavery in this country, he would’ve become a slave long ago.

He was the shortest out of all the teens currently taking the test, his body skinny like a twig and his skin dry like dead wood. It was clear that he was incredibly malnourished.

He looked at his withered hand slowly, with determination so incredible seeping through his eyes. This was his only chance for survival, if he didn’t grab it, he could only wallow in despair and hatred.

As he didn’t have the capacity to study the language of the world, he could only speak it and not write. As such, he didn’t know which rune he possessed. He had looked around to find an individual with the same rune as him, but he didn’t see one. He was the only one with this rune.

Not only that… He was avoided with incredible speed and he couldn’t even ask anyone what his rune was. Despite that, the individual that just reached the 100th step gave him hope. He would put his all, every inch of his strength in his withered hands and legs.

His rune glowed with a red light of madness, as the ground beside him flaked, seemingly slowly getting destroyed.

The individual that was there to supervise Rui’s result looked at this scene and his pupils dilated. He was incredibly surprised. He had extremely high expectations of Rui so he wasn’t as surprised as the other teachers when he reached the hundredth step so fast. However, this seemingly weak individual was causing such a phenomenon. He looked at his rune and his pupils dilated once again.

Hagalaz.

‘Shit, this is a worst-case scenario, how did they allow an individual with a Hagalaz rune to enter, what if he goes berserk in here?’

He swore inside his mind, but as soon as he was about to take action, he stopped himself. The destruction had suddenly stopped and the teen took slow steps forward. His eyes were calm.

In fact, a bit too calm.

‘Weren’t Hagalaz rune users insane? Is he hiding it?’

He started climbing. He climbed and climbed with all his might, while others scattered away from him in fear and disgust.

He had reached the 50th step after an hour of climbing. He was covered in sweat and his eyes were barely open.

He slowly rose his head and looked at the hundredth platform, an individual was there, sitting in the lotus position.

His eyes wavered for a second but they soon recovered. He once again put energy in his feet to drag himself forward, insanity clearly seen in his eyes.

Nonetheless, no one stopped him. Every teacher and student just glanced at him from time to time.

Han Dong had just reached the 85th step and he could hardly hold himself together. The pressure was incredible. He looked next to him and Huo Liang was standing there stretching himself while laughing. It was clear that he was having the time of his life.

He smiled bitterly and looked below. In the 84th step Ning Yinin was currently standing there, looking at Rui with an indifferent expression.

In the 80th step an individual he had never seen was standing there. He had a bowl cut and was wearing a pair of black glasses. The Eihwaz rune was glowing dimly with a white light on his forehead. Noticing that Han Dong was looking at him he waved towards his direction.

Han Dong greeted him back, a bit of shock visible on his face.

He continued scouting down below, glancing at the individuals on the 79th, the 78th and 77th step.

Surprisingly there were more people with such talent and very well-known figures at that. At the 79th step two individuals were talking with each-other, clearly having fun.

One of the figures was relatively overweight wearing monk clothing, having large smile plastered on his face. He had short purple hair and eyes that were barely visible beneath the fat. The Wunjo rune was glowing with a small green light on his forehead.

This person was known as the small Buddha, a title that was of incredible status. His real name was Song Liwu and from a young age he was a pure individual who saw no evil. He was later on taken in by the Shaolin temple.

The individual next to him had medium length pink hair and yellow eyes. The Mannaz rune was glowing on his forehead. He carried what seemed to be blades.

This youths name was Hua Dao and from a very young age he lost his parents. It is said that to cope with this he fell in love with the blade and has always been seclusive.

The only individual he would communicate with was Song Liwu.

On the 78th step a woman with long black hair was standing there, her red eyes were looking directly at Han Dong. The Perthro rune was glowing with violet light, seemingly trying to bewitch him.

Han Dong smiled bitterly and shook his gaze from her. Individuals with the Perthro rune were known as witches that would charm any individual that would look at them, he was already expecting something like this.

On the 77th step a young man with short black hair was sitting cross legged on the floor drawing on a sketchbook. It wasn’t clear what he was drawing to be so immersed. The Kenaz rune on his forehead was glowing with a dark blue light.

Glancing at this young man Han Dong recognized him as the third young master of the Zhou Clan. It is said that from a young age Zhou Huajia was enraptured by all of methods of art, be it music, poetry, drawing, calligraphy and others. Not only was he in love with them but he was good at everything he did. The called him an art prodigy.

After observing Huajia for a while Han Dong glanced even further below. From the 76th to the 71st there was no one.

However, the 70th step was different. There were currently 10 individuals standing there, resisting the pressure. Han Feng was one of them.

He was unable to take a single step. He attempted multiple times but it felt like he would die if he tried. He couldn’t believe that some commoner trash was able to reach the hundredth step and he couldn’t.

Looking at the individuals next to him, he clenched his teeth. Five of them were commoners while the others were individuals from high clans. Just When he was about to show his anger, Lei Shan appeared next to him.

He looked at him with disappointed eyes and proceeded to go ahead. It was clear that this Han Feng wouldn’t be able to go any further.

Rui had endured an hour in the hundredth step. He felt like the pressure could kill him at any moment, but he endured. This was an opportunity for him.

It might be a chance that he would never be able to get. He slowly opened his hard shut eyes and took a glance below. It was clear that people were making a lot of progress, there were still a lot of hours left before the test was over.

He didn’t know what sort of test would follow after this one, after all this test was just a “absorption” test. A basic talent test. There might be other tests such as “comprehension” or “intelligence” tests.

Although this test also included determination and tolerance, it basically was just a bare-bones cultivation talent test.

After all they needed a quick method to filter out all the bad seeds and keep the good ones. A survival of the fittest. Out of a few thousand individuals only a few would be given the best treatment and be “nurtured” for the future of the country.

In reality Rui like many others didn’t like this system. However, he could do nothing about it. This is how this world worked, the strong trampled on the weak.

As he had those thoughts, he looked at the first steps. There were individuals that were unable to take even a single step. They were constantly being pushed back even though they tried so hard to take a step, to the point of spitting blood.

While on the other hand some people effortlessly passed and reached the 50th step before being unable to go further.

Most of the individuals were on the 50th step and it was clear that this was the average. It looked like those grade graphs he had seen on earth. Most people fell into the “average” and then a small few were on the high while the others were on the low. It was cruel but that’s how the world worked.

Nature didn’t make all creatures equal, just like humans were born with intelligence, created language and society, so was every human different from each other. Every human was different, even though their DNA was 99.9% similar.

Just like a cat’s DNA was 90% similar to that of a human. That small genetic difference determined their standing when it came to cultivation talent.

Time passed.

And passed.

Two hours…

Five hours…

Twelve hours…

The sun had already set a few hours ago.

There was only an hour left before the clock would reach midnight and for the test to be over. Truthfully speaking, the test could’ve been over much faster, however this was a personality, resistance and perseverance test, along with being a talent test.

A loud stepping sound was heard on the top steps as a tall tanned individual with fiery red hair stepped in to the hundredth step.

Rui smiled as he looked ahead. He was covered in sweat, blood and he seemed to be in great pain, but he was still resisting.

On the other hand, Huo Liang that just stepped into the hundredth step was in a better situation, despite that, as soon as he stepped into the hundredth step he fell into the ground like a log.

Silence issued in the final step, before a large amount of laughter was heard by both of them, resounding across the whole area.

“I made it, I finally made it brother!”

“Haha, I’ve been waiting.”

Both of them laughed for a while. They were both in horrible states, but this moment meant a lot to them.

Just as they stopped laughing another footstep was heard. Both Huo Liang and Guang Rui turned around to look at the individual who stepped on the final stair.

“Yinin, I told you not to push yourself so much.” Suddenly said Huo Liang.

That’s right, the individual that had arrived was Ning Yinin.

Yinin smiled bitterly before collapsing on the ground just like Huo liang.

Looking at this seen Rui laughed out loud once again, a look of understanding appearing in his eyes. After looking at the two who could hardly breath for a while, Rui spoke up.

“You two should probably cultivate together, otherwise you won’t last any longer.”

Yining blushed, while Huo Liang was taken aback.

“What does brother mean?” asked Huo Liang.

“This guy…” Rui sighed, barely holding himself together.

“I mean you two should become Dao companions. It is clear that you possess Yang, while she possesses Yin, you two are a perfect match made in heaven. Not only that, you two are both EX talent individuals and its clear you have a bond between you.”

Huo Liang still seemed confused, however the always stone faced Yinin was red as a beet.

Seeing that none of them would make a move, Rui slowly got up and pushed his already well damaged body towards them. After dragging them next to each other he just instructed them to just hold one another tightly.

Not knowing what was going on Huo Liang agreed, hugging Yinin tightly, while Yinin hugged him timidly.

Suddenly the pressure that was weighing on their bodies was dissipating bit by bit and they felt much better, being able to stay on the hundredth step with room to breathe.

“Brother, it worked!”

“Of course, it did… you klutz…” Rui shook his head before collapsing. He had already exhausted himself far too much.

Just as his consciousness was about to disperse another figure stepped into the final step.

He was covered in blood from head to toe and was in a way worse condition than Rui. The Hagalaz rune was glowing with blood red color on his forehead, his skeletal figure barely being able to stand.

His body swayed and a smile finally bloomed on his malnourished face.

He had finally made it. He reached the peak. He was saved, he finally escaped his horrible life. Now he could take a step towards freedom.

Just as those thoughts appeared on his head, he collapsed like a stick falling into the ground, making an unnoticeable thud.

Just as silence ensued once more a siren was heard in the whole area.

"THE TALENT TEST HAS CONCLUDED, WILL NOW STATE HOW MANY INDIVIDUALS HAVE STEPPED IN WHICH CLASS. EACH CLASS IS DETERMINED BY ABSORPTION RATE TALENT.

E CLASS 956 PEOPLE

D CLASS 1453 PEOPLE

C CLASS 2432 PEOPLE

B CLASS 1350 PEOPLE

A CLASS 441 PEOPLE

S CLASS 20 PEOPLE

THIS YEAR THERE ARE 4 INDIVIDUALS WITH EX GRADE TALENT, ALL 4 OF THEM WILL BE PLACED IN THE S CLASS.”

The announcement shook the area and made all the successful individuals happy, while the ones that were in the low-level classes were disappointed. The day had ended just like that.

After all the individuals that took the test were returned home by the teachers the middle-aged man wearing a scholar’s uniform arrived at the academy elder’s quarters.

Looking at him the academy elder smiled and said.

“Huan Lian Qi, how were the students this year?”

The middle-aged man smiled, before his appearance shifted completely to become that of a young man. The young man had long black hair and deep black eyes. His whole vibe was quite feminine, possessing a stunning beauty. The Perthro rune was glowing on his forehead.

“Honestly speaking sir, I think this batch is incredible, especially the four EX rank individuals. I never expected the individual with the Ansuz rune to possess such frightening potential, what’s more the individual with the Hagalaz rune seems to have a sane mind and has an incredible mental strength.”

Pausing for a second, he continued.

“While the individual with the Yang based physique and the one with the Yin based physique seem to have formed a basic bond already. I’m expecting quite a lot from them.”

“Hoh, it’s been a while since your evaluation for new students was this high.” Said the elder while stroking his chin.

“I’ll inform the sage about this, since his new ‘student’ seems good enough.”

He grinned mischievously.