1563 Selection
Walls standing a hundred meters tall appeared on the plains. Ancient and covered in vines and moss, they appeared like sentinel giants, telling all the world that the land behind these walls was a forbidden region of the Lower Realm!
The Mythical Beast landed before them. The white light above the walls was a barrier that no living creature could pa.s.s, not even a tiny fly. Anything that collided with the white light would be swiftly bounced back; not even the wind could blow past it!
“Subduing Demon City has a total area of ten million square kilometers,” Armstrong said as he looked at that endless wall. He sighed, “An invisible barrier stretches up to the heavens and down into the earth, preventing mortals from ever getting close.
“The stairs to the lower level are in the center of Subduing Demon City. They require a special ID in order to activate. Come on, let’s go and see the guards. I hope that you can pa.s.s their test.”
!!
Xia Fan nodded and followed Armstrong to an ancient and gloomy tower-style building. There were many flying beasts in the clearing around this building. The Lower Realm continent was too vast for humans to cross on foot. Thus, the people of the Lower Realm used incredibly swift flying beasts to move between territories and cities.
The Demon Subduers had a transcendent status. They had never cared about any of the wars that happened on the continent. In their view, war was actually a good thing. With each war, an expert was bound to be born, and those experts would then become targets for recruitment by the Demon Subduers.
The Lower Realm existed to select the strong and eliminate the weak. The people outside Subduing Demon City fought for their lives, and experts would be forged from the flames and offered to Subduing Demon City for protection and combat resources.
Xia Fan saw many young people like him. They had been brought here by experts from various countries and cities to the gray tower. If they were fortunate enough to be accepted by Subduing Demon City, their respective country would receive a rich reward.
The most valuable reward was a protective barrier. The White City’s protective barrier had a time limit. If it went too long without offering an expert to Subduing Demon City, the barrier would automatically disappear, at which point their enemies could invade them!
Xia Fan was wearing very ordinary local clothes, appearing neither too impoverished nor too flashy. After all, he was coming here as a representative of the White City. The ruler of the White City would be shamed if he looked like a beggar.
There was a line in front of the tower, where the guards were distributing small transparent stones to visitors. Xia Fan also received one, and found that it felt cool to the touch, like an ice cube. As Armstrong was already a registered warrior, he simply needed to show the metal nameplate hanging from his neck to be let in by the guards.
Inside the tower was an arched hall, dim sunlight coming in through the gla.s.s ceiling. Sound was amplified here, and everyone subconsciously lowered their voices when they spoke.
“Name?”
“Xia Fan.”
“Where are you from?”
“The White City.”
“Have your guarantor sign here, and place the Ice Crystal in this box.”
Sitting behind a long counter, a warrior had his head lowered as he registered Xia Fan, placing a paper slip with his name and status into a metal box. The Ice Crystal that Xia Fan had just received was also placed in the box. The warrior then sealed the box and placed it in a round tube. The box was carried by the tube into the bas.e.m.e.nt of the tower.
“Go wait over there. The results will be announced in the afternoon,” the guard said emotionlessly as his eyes didn’t move from his quill.
This hall had several hundred chairs, where people were sitting and waiting quietly, nervous looks on their faces. Armstrong and Xia Fan joined them, drinking a little water and eating two pieces of bread that had been slathered with b.u.t.ter and honey. Xia Fan felt like the raisins studding the bread were tastier, while the bread itself was rather dry.
“The Ice Crystal is the first test. The Demon Subduers use it to test your potential, though I’m not very certain about the exact details. This is their unique technology. When the results comes out in a little while, only those people who have met the standards of the Ice Crystal test will be allowed to take part in the second round of interviews!” Armstrong whispered to Xia Fan.
As expected, the doors to the hall were closed around noon. The latecomers could only set up camp for the night and wait for tomorrow morning, when the selection process would start again. This scene had repeated itself day after day, year after year, with countless youths with potential sent here and browsed over by the Demon Subduers, like products on store shelves.
Xia Fan looked around and saw that the vast majority of people had symbols on their arms: Fire, Beastification, Ice, Light…almost every kind of ability of the Middle Realm one could think of could be found here. But that ability took the form of a natural symbol here instead!
The symbols made the power structure of the Lower Realm more obvious. Warriors would be born with their symbol, so it was basically impossible to feign weakness to catch someone off guard. By showing one’s arm, anyone would be able to tell what ability you had and what rank it was. As for an outsider like Xia Fan, he wasn’t subject to the rules of the Lower Realm. Though he didn’t have a symbol, his combat power still wasn’t lacking in the slightest.
Of course, there were disadvantages to everything. Xia Fan would be in big trouble if it was found that he was an outsider.
There were also some people without symbols on their arms. They were all owners of abilities that were not of the combat type, supportive powers. This might be proficient in math, or it could be strange abilities like Fa.r.s.eeing Eyes or Super Hearing. In short, their abilities had nothing to do with battle, so there was no symbols on their arms.
According to Armstrong, those with non-combat abilities had a lower status. In the Lower Realm, only the fighters received respect. Those with support abilities were treated like lackeys!
——
The hours ticked by, and the people waiting took out the food they had brought with them for lunch. Around two in the afternoon, a tall warrior in hard silver armor came out with a white paper covered in names.
“I will now announce the results. The people whose names I read out should follow me. The rest of you must leave!”
“Flash City’s Collins!”
“Red Desert’s Jia Dongdong!”
The tall warrior read out a location along with every name to avoid any confusion from duplicate names.
There were fifteen people in all. The first thirteen called out were all warriors. Xia Fan and another youth called Fariel were left for last. Neither of them had combat abilities.
Disappointment was unavoidable, and the vast majority of people sighed and left the hall, mounting their flying beasts to return to homes. That process often took several days and nights, sometimes even several months!
Xia Fan and the other fourteen people, together with their guarantors, obtained the right to enter the small hall beyond. The small hall and great hall were connected by a semi-circular door. There were two long rows of chairs, and everyone took a seat and prepared for the interview.
The first to be called into the room was Collins. Five minutes later, the golden-haired youth walked out, his eyes unfocused and his legs stiff, like a rusting robot. He slowly sat down next to his guarantor, obviously still thinking back on his interview.
“Forget it. At least you pa.s.sed the first round. The Demon Subduers are always very crafty in their interviews. Don’t take it to heart.”
Collins’ guarantor was a middle-aged woman with a sharp chin and very high cheekbones, a harshness to her face. But when she saw Collins almost coming out in tears, she couldn’t help but comfort him.
It was just too miserable…
After the first three interviewees came out, the others began to realize that an interview by the Demon Subduers wasn’t as simple as they had imagined. The third interviewee was called Amy, a rather pretty young warrior. After standing in a daze for a while, she suddenly started crying, her tears raining down. It was clear that the results of her interview had been so bad that she had lost control of her emotions.
The seventh interviewee, a dark-skinned and brown-eyed youth called Alai, was one of the more composed ones. He spent twenty minutes in the room before returning to the corridor. Although he appeared somewhat confused, he at least held his head high.
“How was it?” Alai’s manager excitedly asked.
Alai looked out the window and shrugged. “I’m not sure, but I really didn’t think that they would ask that sort of question.”
The grueling interviews continued, and almost everyone who came out of the room acted like a defeated rooster, their heads drooping as they wept or grabbed their hair, or else stood around like blocks of wood. In short, it was like the interviewer had violated them!
If I can’t sneak in, Xia Geng will probably start a war!, Xia Fan thought to himself. The Skywings would not accept being stuck in the Lower Realm’s first level. They would think of every method they could to charge into Subduing Demon City. If that happened, the situation would go out of control.
The interviewer finally called Xia Fan’s name. “White City’s Xia Fan, it’s your turn!”