Official Tier 3 (2)

The materials required for the hundred mirror army array were easy to find, but they cost quite the amount so Emily only had enough for one attempt. Usually, she would have no reason to worry, but in this critical setting she kept running through various terrible what-if situations.

'I have to do this right. I can't fail.'

She could handle the pressure for now, but who knew for how long that would be. However, because there was not a single change in her expression, her competitors thought that she wasn't having any difficulty. They would have preferred to think that she was just going for an easy array, but one glance at the edge of her outline told them otherwise. As caution and fear brew in their hearts, one of them decided that they had to make a move.

The exam continued and Emily was able to pull herself out from her constant worrying by engrossing herself in drawing the array. She took her time building the array, but it was clear to any expert that she had the highest chance of coming out on top. With this in mind, a man among the few spectators made his move. He took out a thin needle from his sleeve and held it between his fingers. In addition to being hard to see with the naked eye, the needle was an artifact made to be especially hard to sense with spiritual sense.

The man flicked this needle at Emily with excellent precision. It slipped past the awareness of almost everyone in the room and was only a few feet away from Emily's neck when it was stopped in mid-air. The man narrowed his eyes at this and reached for another needle, but this time he felt a strong force around his wrist.

Shui kept his eyes on Emily so he was able to respond to the needle despite its discreet nature. He didn't want to alert anyone so he couldn't spread out spiritual sense to find the culprit, but luckily the assailant exposed a brief air of irritation, so Shui could spot him. With martial intent squeezing his wrist, Shui inquired through telepathy.

"Are you sure this is where you want to risk your life?"

The man wondered which senior was stopping him, but he didn't dare defy them since he didn't want to cause a ruckus at a time like this. The man returned the needle to his sleeve and stopped all resistance. A few moments later, the crushing force around his wrist faded, but a dull pain remained. He couldn't risk another attempt, so he informed his master of his failure through secret hand-signs.

His movements were so natural that it would be impossible for Shui to tell that he was signalling someone if he wasn't still watching him. On the other hand, the young man in his mid-twenties who he answered to, did a terrible job of hiding his reaction. He wasn't stupid enough to completely ignore the risk of being caught, so he didn't order the man to make another attempt, but he still had an ugly expression.

He thought that this was a failure that could be hidden, but what he didn't know was that in addition to Shui, other competitors who were aware of his temperament had been watching him in the midst of their work.

Once they saw his disgruntled expression, they knew that he had failed to take care of the newbie. Many among them felt the urge to handle the task themselves, but it was because they were afraid of the risk that they relied on a borrowed knife in the first place. In the end, with Emily remaining ignorant, the test ended.

For those of the same tier, the array had to be tested to see if it could work properly, but for grandmasters like the three examiners overseeing the test and Shui, one good look was enough. Even so, a demonstration was necessary to decrease any feeling of dissatisfaction.

"Will her array work?" Alicia asked.

Emily had been able to complete her array, but with only a couple seconds remaining, much to the joy of her rivals. Since none of them found the courage to make a move against her, they could only wish that they did well and that she did poorly.

However, Emily brushed off this malice with a unflustered expression.

"She'll do fine. Just watch."

After sweeping across the arrays and the examiners with his eyes, Shui could already see what the outcome of this test would be.

"We shall now begin the final evaluation," one examiner announced.

The three examiners then split up and tested the arrays of the nine array masters. Although some arrays were more flashy than others, all of them properly activated which meant that everyone passed the test to become an official tier 3 array master, but none of them were satisfied with just that knowledge.

After testing all of the arrays, the examiners came together and spent a short period discussing something before turning to face both the ones taking the test and the spectators.

The examiner in the middle cleared his throat and said, "After looking over the results of all three portions of the exam, we have decided on who placed first among the ones present. As you all know, the first place winner will be recommended to the council for a placing on the Alterna Array Master Minor Ranking. This is a great honour that cannot be given out lightly, as such..."

The examiner continued his boring speech but Shui didn't bother to listen any further, because he knew that the winner wouldn't be Emily.

"So that's who won, huh?"

As she heard the name of the person who won first place and saw as he accepted the honour with a bright smile on his face, there was a sharp edge to Alicia's voice. Even though she hadn't seen the results of the previous rounds, she was keen enough to see through the difference between winner's skill in comparison to the rest.

Sensing that she might do something rash, Shui grabbed her hand and warned her in a soft tone.

"Don't bother. Even if you don't need to fear any retaliation, Emily's not the same."

Alicia knew what he was worried about, so she only snorted and held his hand tightly.

Emily was also suspicious, but she wasn't that surprised. Although she was frustrated by this result, she had already been exposed to similar situations, one of which had caused her master's downfall. She tightly clenched her fist, like the rest of her competition, trembling in anger, but she hadn't given up hope. There was still a way for her to make it on the Alterna Array Minor Ranking.

After the first place winner was announced, everyone who had passed was given a circular seal with a bronze '3', and then they began to leave. Everyone besides the winner had dark expressions, but if any of them had failed then a more dramatic scene could have occurred. Emily also dragged her feet out of the room, but she stopped when she felt two people approaching her. She looked at them with narrowed eyes at first, but then showed confusion when she saw who they were.