Selection

Finishing his oatmeal at great speed, John quickly hugged his caretakers at the orphanage and rejoined the crowd walking to the plaza. The various sects and military units were already on the site preparing their speeches to attract the young candidates. This selection, happening every two years, is one of the most decisions that adolescents over thirteen years old will take since they will stay in their faction they chose for the mandatory ten years and several of them would stay there all their lives.

Only wealthy and noble families will skip this process to send their kids to a more prestigious place even if their child's talent wasn't the minimum requirement, but that rarely occurred as powerful families groomed their children with the best resources they could use to boost their innate abilities.

Though, all that didn't matter to John as he already decided to join General Li, the man who regularly came to the orphanage training the children since he was born there and grateful to the old-timers. Although, he wouldn't have chosen this unit if they weren't up to his standards. The famous squad known as the white tigers were reputed to possess the best martial arts standing at the top in this region. They had stringent requirements, but, formerly trained by them, it wouldn't be a problem to join them, even more, is that John was well-known as the madman as he trained himself until complete exhaustion.

Once, upon receiving a new martial art involving a strong burst with the rotation of the arm, he was so overwhelmed with joy that he trained until he broke one of his arms. Still embarrassed by this, he learned his limits and reviewed at the library all the pieces of information he could get with involving muscle regeneration and how to optimize his natural healing so he could optimize his training regime to be the most efficient possible.

Finally, at the destination, the young man took a short glance to the sects to see if he could recognize famous ones amidst them but, none of the higher sects were here since the last time there was any anything worth of keen interest was when a girl got rated as a mid-tier high talent was a century ago.

Furthermore, there was a treaty instructed that if anyone was talented in the high range and there weren't any rank four sects attending the ceremony, the sects or military squads needed to protect the person and bring them to the second round of recruitment. Anyone who attempted to bring the talented youth in his rank without the required rank would be severely punished since they were squandering the person's future. In the constant threat of the monsters, foreign species and rivals surrounding the empire, nothing could be wasted.

John finally glimpsed General Li and waved at him, causing Li the smile and greet him in return. It was well known, on lands lacking Qi, only one person over a thousand could join even a bottom of the barrel sect. In fact, to the detriment of rank one sect, several dojos or military squads were chosen by young men over them.

Over the years, these institutions earned many cultivation techniques by defeating foreign sects, by grabbing stuff from death cultivators in the wilds, by finding them in ancient ruins or simply creating them since the martial arts, using vital energy often juxtaposed with Qi.

Of course, these methods using only vital energy lacked the depth of Qi and the power accompanied by it, but the lower sect didn't necessarily have better technique. For the true prodigies of martial arts, they could even create Qi techniques with no cultivation. Nonetheless, this was a rare occurrence. If they were ever found, higher sects would often bring the anomaly with them and raise his talent with various means since his comprehension was a lost opportunity. Comprehension couldn't be tested as each individual had their own experience and it changed over time.

'Ding!'

The gong's resonance ended John's daydreaming as he watched the empire's envoy proceed to sing with fervor the hymn everyone citizen of Valeria knew by heart as he threw the mallet in the fire pillar, blazing the sky.

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Crawlers in the south, we feast upon you!

Vermins in the north, we trample upon you!

Forsakens in the est, we invite you to the north.

Unknown in the west, we conquer you, like the north.

Our will, strong as mithril, glory to the Dwarves!

Our passion, scorching as fire, glory to the Dragons!

Our hatred, icy as Ymir, glory to the Lycans!

Our intelligence, endless as time, glory to the Elves!

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Immediately after his performance, he looked at the list containing all the names, yawned and started to call the prospect one by one. Each prospect would nervously go in front of the man who placed his index on their forehead.

"Peng Hardrock: high-tier low talent."

"Sasha Sunchaser: low-tier middle talent."

"Hodor Frostbitten: mid-tier low talent."

"Rick Clevermind: high-tier middle talent."

Still bored, the envoy continued his task as the crowd began to excitedly speculate which sect Rick would join as his talent was rarely.

"It's fire boy!"

"Wait... It's trouser boy!"

A few who knew the story laughed and began to tell the story as they all debated which sect he would join. Rick shot an angry glance to the public then looked over the most reputed sects attending the event mulling over his choices. He finally decided to join the Huying sect as he could join the main quarter, a rank four sect if he did well in the tournament they prepared.

While the young man determined his future, the envoy kept calling names as he was slowly reaching the end of the long list of three thousand participants. Until now, only four were judged adequate to join a sect and, even then, it was one of the best years for the city.

"John Ironfist, may you come forward."

Interpellated, he quickly went over the man who dropped his list in the fire pillar as he couldn't wait to join the wild hunt organized by the white tigers. Nonetheless, hazard deferred from his ideals.

As John felt a push in his forehead, he felt something leaving him, feeling discomfort, he tried his best to resist the suction but his efforts were in vain as he felt a mild headache. Immediately afterward, he felt engulfed in the same sensation as his body craved the substance lingering around him eagerly absorbing all of it and circulating it all around his body in accord with his training method. To his surprise, he felt the new energy within him mingle up with his vital energy returning him to his usual state.

"John Ironfist: middle-tier superb talent."

The crowd burst in cheers as several ravenous glares examined every nook of John's body, shivering under the sudden attention.

"Thank you all for coming here, this was the last participant who'll come with me."

The envoy then took John on his flying mount before he could say a word and the duo flew towards the blue star.