"Sir, the top 64 have been confirmed; #323 has failed at Level 4. Shall we end the a.s.sessment...?"Mitsui, Mr White"s most trusted employee, paused then and watched his superior for a response.
Mr White just continued watching the magic screen and one boy"s progress as he mumbled to himself, "Still at level 7, huh... When are you going to reveal the fullness of your earth-shattering might, I wonder...?"
Curious about what his boss was looking at, Mitsui put his question on hold and peered closer.
Based on the latest status, after 38 minutes of the a.s.sessment, 69 candidates had already dropped out, though of those 69, some were actually placed in the top 64 and qualified to the next round. They might have been eliminated in the illusion array earlier, but that didn"t mean they were lower ranked. Some of those candidates had blazed through to Level 5 within just 14 minutes before failing at that stage, indicating they had tremendous offensive capabilities, but perhaps poorer control, footwork or defensive skills.
As such, the top 64 were also made up of those who were no longer continuing, but the qualifying was pretty much settled. So there was no reason to continue the a.s.sessment, right...?
"Oh! I forgot! There IS a reason to continue!" Mitsui smiled abashedly as he remembered.
Natalie Sarouneh would definitely want to challenge her Aunt Lina Sarouneh"s record of making it to the ending phase of Level 9!
And true enough, as Mitsui followed Mr White"s gaze, what he saw was Natalie Sarouneh"s screen, where she braved on continually against enemies far above her cultivation!
"Wow... What a paramount warrior...! So young but already with combat power far above her level... She"s limited to only the beginner Adept level, and the most she can do is utilise her dragon"s bloodline strength boost in there... She can"t even benefit from the crazy physical strength or blood energy that she has..." The stern black-haired office worker had a look of awe on his face as he admired the girl"s whirling and turning dance of death as she slew the enemies in Level 8 despite being covered in wounds and (virtual) blood!
"And still she"s nearly managed to make it through.. No! She"s doing it, she"s really doing it!"
"Sir, she"s made it through Level 8! She"s matched Lina Sarouneh"s heaven-defying record as the strongest cultivator under eighte--"
"SHUT UP! Can"t you see I"m concentrating!?" Mr White roared in irritation, then suddenly he realised that he had just lashed out at his most beloved staff who had never let him down before. He had an incredibly remorseful look on his face as he hurriedly said, "Sorry, sorry Mitsui! No no no, it"s not your fault, you don"t have to apologise!"
Mitsui had almost dropped to his knees in repentance, but the older man quickly stopped him and drew him up to his feet while apologising profusely.
Then as the not-just-slightly shaken Mitsui tried to gather his calm again, Mr White explained himself.
"Mitsui, take a look at the screens up there. Go ahead, take a look, and tell me what you see. What do you observe among all the different candidates as they contend with the testing program...?"
The always fully-dedicated employee then nodded and began to cast his earnest eyes across the multiple images one by one.
Some candidates were struggling to survive at Level 5, while others still looked relaxed at Level 6. Each one displayed a resplendent array of abilities and skills, some having excellent evasive footwork while others showed domineering attacking arts. Others still demonstrated sublime skill and control that made their battling look effortless.
Mitsui watched, skimming his gaze over some screens while studying others carefully.
But look as he may, he could not find one single similarity between the candidates; there was too great a variety of situations and approaches, almost nothing could be found in common...!
So he could only take a wild guess and volunteer his thoughts, "Sir... Is it that all of them are trying their best...? Each and every one of them is fighting with their life on the line; some slow and steady while others are rus.h.i.+ng with all they"ve got... But each one is giving their all for this contest...?"
Mr White"s face broke into a wide smile as he proudly patted his favourite staff on the shoulder. "Good, good! Very good! There"s a reason why I chose you as my successor even though you"re so young, haha!"
The elderly adminstrator was so happy that he nearly hopped on the spot as his mentee gave a spot-on answer.
"Yes, Mitsui my lad. Every candidate, every contestant is giving their all and doing their best, placing their lives on the line for the sake of glory, fame, honour or money! Albeit, their illusion lives... But still..."
Then Mr White grew serious and spoke gravely to the black-haired oriental man.
"All except for one."
Then Mr White pointed at one screen, a panel just beside Natalie"s display and said, "Look."
So Mitsui looked, but though he frowned, squinted, widened his eyes and tried whatever means he had to understand what he was looking at, nothing seemed to stand out.
"Sir...? What... Am I supposed to see...? I"m sorry, I truly can"t discern what you"re seeing..." He bowed his head and apologised as he spoke.
Mr White had a gentle smile on his face as he explained and guided the man.
"If only I had a son, I would have liked him to be just like you, Mitsui..." He thought before speaking.
"Look, currently #777 Lars is at Level 7. As you watch, can you see that he is just repeating the same few motions with his footwork, again and again...?"
Mitsui nodded. "Yes, but isn"t that normal...? He"s just merely repeating the same 4 footsteps, maybe he just has learned that portion of the martial art he is practising...?" He couldn"t see any problem with was happening on Lars" screen.
Mr White patiently enlightened his mentee, saying, "What level of enemies is he facing? I mean, what realm are his opponents in...?"
"Well... At Level 7, he"s facing 10 drow hunters at the beginner Elite-level."
The older man then nodded, before clarifying, "Mitsui, since you"ve never cultivated, you may not know this. But do you know that for a beginner Adept pract.i.tioner, it is incredibly difficult to fight against 2 others of the same realm...?"
Mitsui nodded slowly.
"Then that should explain why all the remaining top 128 candidates, despite all being talents in their own right, would fall at even Level 3 or 4 - even with beginner Adept strength, it is exceedingly challenging to fight 50 Normal level enemies; much less 10 similar beginner Adepts!"
"So what if the same person were to face 10 Elite level opponents...?"
"Do you think you could "just merely repeat the same 4 footsteps" and still remain unscathed after minutes and minutes of battle...?"
A look of realisation quickly dawned on Mitsui"s face as his expression changed from one of doubt and apprehension, to understanding to one of appreciation, then finally one of shock!
Mr White nodded, pleased that his staff now understood.
"Yes, my dear man. What he"s doing is as difficult as breaking a brick with an egg - impossible..."
Then the elderly man walked back to the windows to stare at the screen once more.
"But the boy is doing it in front of our eyes... Without using his hands in battle..."
* * * * *
At the same moment, Lars was indeed continuing at Level 7 without using his arms to defend himself or strike back.
"Alright... Looks like after my sword arts and attacking skills, I"ve integrated the s.p.a.ce-time laws into my defensive and evasive movements as well! All that"s left is to show juuuuust a liiiiittle bit of my abilities and, surprise the folks up above..."
He smiled.
"Just a little won"t hurt, right...?"
He finally stopped using the same four footsteps that he had been using to distil and absorb the s.p.a.ce-time laws. He had managed to avoid every single blow not relying on the footwork itself, but based on lengthening or shortening the s.p.a.ce-jumps he made, or speeding up his movements by virtue of using the time-laws instead of his muscles!
And as a result, he felt greatly confident - he was more than twice as strong as he was before!
"Duke handsome f***ing Silvan... Just you wait... The moment I settle the situation back home..."
Lars then stopped moving and brandished a magnificent backhand slash around him in a rotating circle.
All 10 of the drow hunters then suddenly stiffened and came to a halt, paused in their steps, one even still with his leg above the ground, about to leap up into the sky but falling to a stop on the ground.
Then all ten of the shadows simultaneously fell apart, cut into 17 pieces from 16 smooth cuts released from Lars" slas.h.i.+ng finger sword.
10 Elite level combatants were wiped out in a seemingly relaxed wave of the hand.
As Lars felt the Level changing again, he finished his thoughts.
"The moment I settle the situation on Earth..."
His eyes flashed with vengeance.
"I"ll crush your face so badly, even your mother won"t recognise you! Serves you right for being too close to my Moira!"
As he prepared to face the next level, he added:
"...And I"ll take your money too... Hehe..."
Maybe that was the main point.
"Hey kid! Kid! Psst! It"s really important!"
Surprised that the lazy penguin would call out to him suddenly, Lars answered.
"Yeah Kizorik, what"s up?"
"Y"know... There"s something really curious about this so-called illusion array..."
"...? It does seem pretty sophisticated, yeah. Is there anything else special about it...?"
"Yeah... Yeah there is... You see, Abyss Points are only acc.u.mulated when you kill living things, right...? Or when you sacrifice items of value... But when you "killed" each of those "illusions" just now, you received Abyss Points... Nearly 100 for each kill..."
Lars" eyes widened in surprise. That was a good thing, right...?
"That"s good, right...? I mean, yeah it"s curious and all but... Is there some special significance about it...? What does that tell us about this testing ground...?"
The penguin rubbed its belly as it burped from some raw fish it had somehow conjured to snack on. Lars tried not to think about how there were raw fish in his mental world, and tried to ignore the idea of the disgusting fish scaled and blood that were scattered over the floor...
"Hmm... I don"t know yet but... Maybe, just maybe, there might be more than meets the eye in this illusion array. Far, far more... In fact, I thought it was just my imagination, but ever since we got in here, I"ve been feeling a sense of, how should I say it... Familiarity. There"s just this particular smell that makes me feel like it"s some place I"ve been to before."
Shaking its head in helplessness, Kizorik then shrugged and said, "It"s alright, kid. If I figure anything out, I"ll tell you later. For now... Just do your best to go as far as you can and maybe we"ll find out what"s so special about this place..."
Lars nodded but did not agree. He guessed he would have to wait and see whether it would make him stand out too much, right...?