Academy Tests (1)

Pell was happy to hear that Yun wanted to know more, but he was also skeptical looking at Yun, wondering why Yun had come here without even knowing? It seemed a tad too mystical, so he could not help but inquire about Yun's past, this time he held back only asking a few simple questions.

Yun answered honestly about his life, he was homeless for as far back as he could remember. Practically speaking, Yun was the same as the people Pell usually ignored when he went out to shop and eat, he had never spoken with the homeless people or given them anything. When Yun told him that he only asked twenty people a day, and how he was even living in one of the crucially hit poor cities, he could not help but frown and gasp. Hearing about Yuns boring and harsh life, sentimentality was written all over his face.

He enthusiastically grabbed Yun's hands and stopped him mid speech. "Do not worry Yun, I will take care of you, you will no longer need to worry about food or clothing! My family is rich, and since you are only ten years old you can just call me big brother Pell!" Pell vowed to protect and help Yun as if he was his little brother. Yun was a bit awkward but he felt very touched.

Although it sounded very good, Yun eventually sighed and freed himself from Pells grasp. "Sorry Pell, but I never had a family, and I have been managing to survive, I do not want to bother you or your family so suddenly." Yun declined Pell openly, and before Pell could say more, the door was opened and a man walked into the square room.

Knocking a bit on the door after he had entered to gather the attention of the ten youths in the room, he told them to all come forward and stand in a straight line before him. Everyone did as told, Pell gave Yun a last glance as he nodded and went forward to join the line. Yun had not even gotten out of his bed yet, so he hurried too, accidentally stumbling on the way he also hurried to do as the others and stand in line.

The man nodded seeing everyone was in line, and then started explaining a bit. "You are all here to participate in the academy entry tests, whether or not you get invited to join any of the academies is up to the seniors from each of the sects."

Looking over this group, seeing they understood he went on with the explanation. "There will be seniors from the four major sects, and this time we also have three minor sects participating in picking out talent. You have to make your own choice in regards in which sect to join. However, remember that you can only join the sect of those that stand up. Meaning that if the Royal Liu sect senior stands up, but no one else does, you can only choose to join them or leave without joining any sect."

All of them nodded, the only to be quietly shocked and frustrated was Yun, he was half absent minded but still listening to the man's explanation. Looking at the others nodding he saw the man gazing at him, so Yun nodded slightly too. The man just wanted them all to understand what was going on and did not want anyone to be left out. He also had a schedule to follow, therefore he wants the explanation over with.

"The first two tests are relatively simple, it tests your mortal and immortal talent. Goes from E talent to SS talent. Normally you would need an average of at least B or A talent to be picked but with a few minor sects here you can hopefully manage to enter a sect with a C or DD talent too. Your name will be called when you need to go up on the platform, further instructions will be given to those who are oblivious about the tests, you can just follow and do what the people in front of you do when the time comes. The last test is a tournament, where your martial power is tested, apart from your talent. The tournament draws are picked at random, and I wish you good luck at this part." Once again the man stopped, seemingly this was not the last of his explanation.

Everyone nodded, even Yun. This time there was a youth who raised his hand, the man looked at him and nodded, signaling that he could speak. The tall youth with long blue hair raised his chin as he spoke, exhibiting his pride. "Sir Senior .." at his first words the man cut him off.

"My name is Clark, I am not your senior, please call me Master Clark. I am a teacher in Dimension."

His sentence blew the minds of the youths, except for Yun who had no idea what kind of power a teacher had, nonetheless a teacher from Dimension! The youth who was addressing his question instantly changed his stance and bowed respectfully before continuing. "Master Clark, I am Khill, when do the senior stand up to let us know we can choose?" this time the youth did not speak with as much pride, and his voice eventually trailed off the further he got into his question. He was very slow with his words so that all of them could hear the question.

Clark's right eyebrow rose and he coughed a bit as he answered casually. "I was coming to that, when the tournament is over, everyone will be called on after the other, when called you will step forward and the seniors will make their choice. Within a minute those who have not stood up will not choose you. If no one stands up, you will be told to leave after the minute is up. You will all be called up in accord with your average talent, so you can calculate at approximately what time you will have to be present, do not be late!".

When he finished everyone nodded, and Khill even said thanks. Soon he Clark waved his hand and they all followed after him with awe. When they left the room they entered a hallway, Yun was completely amazed by the size, there should be at least around fourty or fifty doors in the hallway, all leading to similar sized rooms!

Such a huge building could compare to the palace of his current city, yes the one where the king and his family lived. This revelation had him delve in shock for a moment, although he paused, he shortly resumed and followed the others.

Leaving the hallway, they entered a huge corridor, where pillars were raised every five meters with drawings and carvings of dragons and emperors. At a glance you could see that this was some kind of hall leading to most likely the throne hall., serving as a memory of the glory for the palace. They came in from the side but did not pass one of the pillars to walk into the middle of the corridor. Instead, they walked along the side reaching the end of the corridor in no time.

Upon leaving the palace and going outside to the palace grounds, they were at the back of the palace, where hundreds of people were present. The grounds resembled a square arena with erected stands for people to view and watch the ongoings in the center. At the frontmost area, there was an even higher seating area, with four big thrones at the front, and two smaller thrones respectively on each side and around half a meter behind the four thrones. The thrones were grey with red broidery, and dragons were swirling up the back of the throne and even made up the armhold.

It looked very ancient and pricy, taking in the sight Yun gasped with wide eyes and a slack jaw. He had never in his life seen such a consummate and beautiful sight. In the center area where the hundreds of people were, he could see that they were all like him, agewise. They were all standing behind a huge line that went across from one side to the other and facing the thrones seating area.

In front of the line, five big battle stages stood tall, each one of them having two pillars standing side by side. The pillars looked very ordinary, one was blue and one was red, with nothing special about them. The only thing that was out of place for the pillars, was that at the top of each pillar sat a small crystal, purple in color.

After waiting for approximately half an hour, an elderly man with grey hair and a thick walking stick walked out in the seating area at the front. People were currently chattering and joking with each other, so most did not notice his presence. Once the man saw the huge crowd he frowned as they did not quiet down.

Five minutes passed, and around a hundred people noticed his presence during this time, they quieted down and did not make further trouble. The elderly man got impatient and tapped lightly with his walking stick.

The tap resounded eight times, each time it got louder until it eventually reached such a deep tone that everyone was shocked, some people trembled and a few even passed out from the shock. Seeing that everyone understood and had shut up, he saw their fervent gazes turned at him. Coughing a few times, he started speaking.

"I will not introduce much since the task was given to the ones that acted as your guide. Now let the testing commence. Everyone will be called up, from group A to E, please go before stage A to E too. As such we can begin the tests of mortal and immortal talent. Place your hand on the blue pillar first, then the red when the elder in charge of the stage tells you to. The faster we get through this dull test, we can all get to enjoy the tournament test. Good luck everyone!"

His monotonous and dull voice reached everyone, and while everyone was going to the stage their group belonged to, people walked into the stands. These should all be family and friends of the youths taking the tests, lots of people stood in the stands and chatted while waiting for the test to begin.

The most eye-catching thing that happened, was seven middle-aged men walking in at the throne seating area, respectfully the nodded to the elder with the walking stick before seating themselves in their designated areas.

This also caused a bit of commotion in the center, everyone recognized the emblems on the robes of the middle aged men that just sat down in the throne area. Yun did not know any of them, as such, he just left it at that. He did not even have a goal to be accepted, he just wanted to find out how to get home again, he really missed his peace and quiet.

Deep inside he did though feel ecstatic and excited at getting to know his talent. As far as the tournament goes, he decided that it was best if he forfeited, especially since he had never fought anyone or trained in any martial arts ever.

Pell who had pulled Yun along to their designated group, started whispering to him. "The four major sects are sitting on the four big thrones, from left to right they are The Great Liu Sect, Cliff Immortal Sect, Flickering Light, and Dimension. Also from left to right on the three thrones, the three last seated men, they are from the sects Cloud and Wind, Immortal Evergreen and the last is Feeble Stone." As he finished the youths started being called up one after one.

Pell instantly focused on the stage to see if there was anyone with special talents. People on the stage garnered the attention of everyone, even the seniors from the sects, as these were as expectant as the youths taking the tests.

The first person in group C, which is the group Yun was placed in, was called up. "Hun Yu, please ascend!". Hun Yu walked up nervously as the elder nodded to him and explained for him to touch the blue pillar first. The youth nodded and did as told.

After placing his hand on the pillar, text showed up on the pillar. The lines showed Mortal Talent, Martial Talent, Body Talent, and Reaction. Hun Yu managed to do quite good with his talent ratings, as his Martial Talent was ranked CC, Body Talent ranked B, Reaction ranked CC and his Mortal Talent showed what his average was. With two CC's and a B, which made his talent average on C. This was quite good, on the other stages, their mortal talent ranged from DD to E. E being the lowest meaning they probably had no chance at joining a sect.

Along with Hun Yu's mortal talent, his immortal talent also averaged C, he got a B for Cultivation Talent, Immortal Technique Talent D and Immortal Strength Talent D. At the top of the pillar, it showed Immortal Talent C

Along with his mortal talent, Hun Yu was quite delighted, with his average being a C in both Mortal and Immortal talent, he would surely be picked, if not by the major sects at least one of the three minor ones would choose him. With that, he did a martial bow and left the stage.

As such, they kept on calling people up and testing their talent. Astonishingly, Yun thought C was quite a rare thing, but around a tenth of everyone actually managed to pull an average of C. The ones who managed to get more than that had not yet been tested.