Picking Soldiers

Turning back from the window, Minos shut his eyes as he enjoyed the rest of the trip in peace, only opening them back up as the carriage came to a halt.

"We've arrived." Setsu said from the front.

Standing up, Minos squeezed through the carriage door, the familiar sight of the Forbidden Palace immediately coming into sight.

Around the palace were dozens of other carriages, all sorts of princes and princesses staring at the tightly shut door with anticipation, not a single one daring to say a word.

Instead, they all stood patiently, seemingly everyone's nobility reduced to nothing as they stood in front of the Forbidden Palace's grand gates.

Looking around, Minos quickly put faces to files, having already understood all these people before even meeting them.

Considering pretty much all of them were in the Aperture Opening Realm, his Omniscient Eye unfortunately didn't grant him much help, but it still helped him broaden his knowledge slightly.

As he was looking around, so was everyone else, aware that these people around them would soon become their worst enemies.

"Oh man, I'm so nervous…" Tylia couldn't help but whisper from the side, the sharp eyes staring at her from all angles causing her to unconsciously hide behind Minos.

Just as Minos was about to say something, the doors of the Forbidden Palace suddenly swung open, an archaic voice sounding from within the darkness.

"Those who are chosen, enter…"

Minos immediately recognized this voice as the old man from last time, so after saying goodbye to Tylia and the others, he headed inside.

Despite dozens of people entering at once, the doors were more than wide enough to welcome everyone in.

As the final competitor entered inside, the doors suddenly slammed shut, torches igniting on all the walls at the same second.

With the torches to provide light, everyone could finally look around inside, their eyes immediately focusing on the old man standing at the top of a grand staircase.

"Welcome… The coming days will be long, so let us not waste any time. The first test, as I'm sure you're all already aware, is the battle of strategy."

"You will all be supplied ten soldiers from the Forbidden Force who will follow your commands loyally."

"While cultivation will be restricted, it goes without saying stronger soldiers will have an edge over weaker ones."

"Besides that, not all warriors are made the same, and each soldier has their own unique skill set, of course whether you can notice or even exploit that is a reflection of your own ability."

"So without further ado, let us begin the first challenge, picking your soldiers." The old man said, his gentle yet far reaching voice causing the soldiers in the shadows to immediately gather.

Soon enough, hundreds of soldiers had gathered in the massive lobby, standing tightly shoulder to shoulder, barely a gap between them.

They all stood firm and strong, their entire bodies except for their eyes covered in heavy armor, making it impossible to tell what breed they were.

"Well then, let's begin." The old man said, a smile unconsciously forming on his face, somewhat excited to see who would choose who.

As his words entered the lobby, everyone immediately burst into action, afraid that the better soldiers would be selected before they had a chance.

Without any other identifiers, most people just went towards the taller and broader soldiers, naturally assuming the bigger the better.

With cultivation restricted, they weren't completely wrong, and a bigger heavier soldier would definitely have a big edge over a smaller lighter one, much like a larger mortal could easily deal with a smaller one.

Beyond that, Minos noticed some princes that went against this rule, instead heading towards soldiers that were hidden further back as if they already knew who they wanted.

This wasn't completely impossible, after all there was no such thing as a seal proof wall, so odds are they managed to gather some info about these soldiers beforehand.

Minos didn't have such a privilege, but he had access to an even more broken ability, which were his Omniscient Eyes.

Most of the soldiers here were still in the Inner Heaven Realm, so Minos could read their minds thoroughly, getting a complete blueprint of them.

Beyond that, he could also use his Omniscient Eyes to indirectly figure out which soldiers were in the Aperture Opening Realm, giving him another hidden advantage.

Unfortunately there weren't many Aperture Opening Realm soldiers, and it seemed most of them were picked off almost immediately, their cultivation likely figured out beforehand.

Of course a few would always slip through the net, so Minos quickly gathered the four left behind, causing the old man to look down at him with some interest.

He was fully aware that Minos didn't have access to the same knowledge as the other princes, so how he managed to pick four Aperture Opening Realm Cultivators in a row was a complete mystery.

However he had already experienced Minos's extraordinary nature in the past, so he didn't think much of it, just raising his evaluation of him even more.

After picking out the four Aperture Opening Realm Cultivators, Minos turned his attention back to the Inner Heaven Realm one's, focusing mainly on the ones with special Aptus's.

While using one's cultivation was forbidden, one could still use their Aptus as long as it wasn't battle-based, for example Minos's Omniscient Eyes could still be used without breaking the rules.

Hence, in this first stage, those with auxiliary Aptus's actually had an advantage, but this wasn't unfair given that the battle of strength would once again give the advantage back to those with offensive Aptus's.

Of course, given that most Aptus's happened to be offensive in nature, those who could actually take advantage in this first battle were few and far between.

Not one to miss out on an advantage, Minos ignored all the soldiers with offensive Aptus's, only choosing the one's with auxiliary ones that could provide useful.

Finally, after shifting through the hundreds of soldiers, Minos picked out six more soldiers, of course what he was really picking out were their Aptus's.

The first Aptus was called Echo-Ear, which provided its user tremendously strengthened hearing capabilities.

The second was Blood Nose, giving one an enhanced sense of smell, the third was Eagle Eyes, which went without saying.

The third was Mind Map, which allowed one to create a perfect map of any place they had ever been within their mind.

The fourth was Mark Touch, which was quite unique, allowing one to leave a mark on anyone they touched, which they could sense within hundreds of miles.

Fifth was Limb Tattoo, an especially strange Aptus that let one 'tattoo' their body parts onto foreign objects.

For example, one could 'tattoo' their eye onto a building, allowing them to see from that location, or tattoo their 'arm' which they could control and attack with.

This was a special Aptus in that it was technically both offensive and auxiliary depending on how one used it, and it was one of the strangest Minos had ever seen.

But compared to the sixth and final Aptus, it actually felt somewhat mundane, Minos himself even feeling shocked when he saw this final ability.

Its name was simple, Stitch, and it allowed one to literally 'stitch' two people into one as long as either their strength was weak enough, or those being stitched didn't fight back.

Once stitched, not only would their strength surge, but they could use each other's Aptus's, even combining the two into something stronger.

While Minos couldn't use the offensive aspects of this Aptus, he could absolutely use its Aptus fusing effects to tremendous ends, his mind already coming up with multiple different uses.

Not to mention Minos just wanted to study this Aptus, amazed at its nature and curious as to how far he could push it.

Of course that was something for another time, instead, Minos focused back on the present, gathering his soldiers as he waited for everyone else to finish.

Soon enough, everyone else also assembled their men, leaving dozens of soldiers behind who had unfortunately not been picked.

But these soldiers didn't seem sad at all, just disappearing back into the shadows as they realized their services would no longer be needed.

"Very well then, I take it you're all prepared. You will all be assigned eleven unique flags, and remember, if your flag gets torn from your body, that's an instant game-over, so make sure to protect yourself well."

After saying that, the old man tapped on his spatial ring and tossed out dozens of bundles perfectly, Minos catching his to reveal eleven flags tightly strung together.

Pulling them apart, he handed one to each of his soldiers before tying his to his belt, his eyes focusing back on the old man as he listened to his final words.

"The next 24 hours will be a safe period which you can use to prepare accordingly. Once the time is up, you will hear a chime through the kingdom, signaling that the battle has officially begun."

"That's everything. You're all dismissed, and I wish you luck."

As he finished speaking, the torches on the walls suddenly went out and the palace's doors once again swung back open, a reminder that it was time to leave.

Looking towards his adversaries one more time, Minos stepped out of the palace and onto the streets.

Seeing him, Tylia immediately ran up, but Minos ignored her as he pointed to the palace behind him, reminding her that he wasn't allowed to communicate with civilians.

Realizing this, Tylia immediately covered her mouth tightly, just waving goodbye to Minos as he and his men vanished into the streets.