After everyone registered their weapons, Mentor 1 led them towards the battle tower. He was walking ahead of the disciples in a way that they couldn't see his face.

“Now that everyone has their weapons it would be beneficial to experience our battle tower, you will need battle experience to figure out your style and it will also help your cultivation since most of you guys are still in the Hardening Skin stage.” He almost whispered the last segment of his speech as if those words were not all that important.

Most youths were distracted looking at their newly acquired weapons and didn't pay him any attention, Aegon included, but those who did became slightly worried, if what they would experience inside the battle tower helped their cultivation it basically meant they were going to be getting a beating.

To train in the first stage of body refinement is to basically torture and beat oneself until the skin gets sturdier. That is one of the reasons why a lot of people choose not to cultivate.

Aegon was still mesmerized by his weapons, he just couldn't stop thinking they were super cool and imagining himself as a lone hero with weapons strapped to his back but those thoughts were interrupted when the First Elder appeared right next to Aegon with the same smile he had previously when Richard looked at him.

“Youngster, you made an incredible choice!”

“Work hard, you can't lose face for us twin swords practitioners. I'll keep an eye on you.” and just like that he disappeared, Aegon even thought he had hallucinated all of it but looking at Kuro who had the same lost expression he figured... “ It was all real.”.

As he looked around no one seemed to have noticed anything and even Mentor 1 did not react but maybe he just chose not to.

They soon reached an old stone tower that was slightly tilted. It had one window on each floor but people couldn't really see inside and the door had a type of fog that also prevented people from seeing it’s interior. Richard stopped right in front of the entrance to the tower and turned to face the students.

“This is our battle tower, this is the place where everyone that wishes to increase their rank comes to, normally after you are kicked out of the tower the martial house’s ranking changes according to your performance but that won't happen today .You can treat it as just a test run so that you are prepared for the future.”

“So, who wants to go first?”

Aegon's arm instantly shot up just like some other eager youths.

Mentor 1 studied everyone that volunteered and his eyes had a brilliant glint when he spotted Aegon.

[ That’s the kid that picked the twin swords... this might be a good opportunity to make him quit, when he realizes the difficulty of those weapons and on top of that is humiliated for his lacking performance he might just look for me in secret to return one of those swords hahahaha, I wouldn't mind being a bit lenient and breaking a small rule for his future, I don't want to see more futures ruined…] He lightly sighed and seemed genuinely dejected. That confused those youths waiting for him to speak.

He pointed in Aegon's direction “You… Aegon right?”

“Yes sir.”

“You will be the first one, once you enter there will be one martial artist that will fight you like his life depends on it. After you defeat him two others will appear and so on, after defeating a certain number of martial artists there will also appear some cultivators but you don't have to worry about it because you guys aren't strong enough to get to that point. You are defeated and consequently kicked off the tower when any opponent is a moment away from dealing a fatal or crippling blow to you, is everything clear?” Mentor 1 asked Aegon but was paying attention to everyone's reactions.

“Yes sir.”

Seeing that everyone seemed to understand, Mentor 1 lighty smiled and nodded to Aegon signaling that he could go.

Aegon and Kuro walked side by side then stopped just in front of that mysterious fog for a moment and then walked inside.

The tower was completely empty on the inside and the fog only existed close to the floor and the walls.

[This is probably what the inside of a cloud looks like.]

Out of thin air a small hurricane of fog formed 5 meters in front of Aegon, it took the form of a martial artist with a large battle axe.

As soon as it was completely formed it rushed in Aegon's direction brandishing its battle axe, still fascinated by the way his opponent had appeared. Aegon was a moment too slow in his retreat and was slightly cut across the chest leaving him dripping blood.

“Fuck that was painfull!” The wound was rather small but Aegon wasn't some heavenly master cultivator that forgot how pain feels and was quite enraged at his illusory opponent.

As if understanding his owner's wish, Kuro moved behind the axe wielding man. This in a way was their ace move… and also their only move.

Both rushed at the same time and it was impossible for one person to defend against both of them, the axe wielding man chose to attack Kuro first but that proved to be a bad decision since the wolf simply jumped above the axe and dodged to the side while Aegon tried to use both swords at once but due to his lack of experience and strength it only gave the man two wounds across his back that weren't lethal at all.

[ GOD!! How do people kill with these? It's so hard to apply strength.]

The martial artist was already turning to face him and Aegon, not wanting to waste an opportunity, threw his swords to the floor and slashed the man's throat with his trusted hunting knife.

The man slowly dissolved into that strange fog while Aegon was dejectedly looking at his swords which were laid on the ground.

“Maybe they aren't the right weapons for me...Well I made my choice, might as well train and see if I really have no future with them.”