"The test this time is simple… those who can persist for ten minutes can pass… the longer you stay the higher your score!" Archon Agnes explained.
Her wrinkled face carried the weight of countless years, each crease telling a silent story of battles, knowledge, and sacrifice.
A sagely aura surrounded her, calm yet oppressive, like a quiet storm waiting to erupt.
Anyone with even the slightest perception could tell, she was already nearing the end of her lifespan, yet the depth of her power remained unfathomable.
"However, the first place… that is, the person that persists the longest, will be assigned more resources for magical development, so do your best!" she said once more, her voice echoing across the testing grounds.
Hearing this, everyone wore a tense expression. The air itself seemed to tighten, as if the weight of expectation had already begun pressing down on them.
"Do your best, Davi… I bet 200 mission points on you!" Lady Stacy called out, her voice carrying both confidence and calculation.
"And how the hell is that my business? I am not even a mage to begin with…" Davi cursed inwardly, irritation flashing across his thoughts.
Yet despite that, his eyes hardened slightly.
Naturally… he would do his best.
Not to impress Lady Stacy, but for more resources. Perhaps… just perhaps, it could help him even though he couldn't be classified as a mage.
Immediately, Archon Agnes raised her hand, her fingers tracing an ancient and precise pattern in the air.
The surrounding mana trembled in response, gathering like obedient soldiers.
"Gravitious!"
Boom!
Boom!!
Boom!!!
The gravity around each candidate multiplied threefold in an instant.
The ground groaned faintly under the sudden pressure, and the air itself felt heavier, thicker harder to breathe.
"Aahh!"
A girl amongst them screamed after resisting for about three minutes, her knees trembling violently before she suddenly collapsed and knelt.
Her body shook uncontrollably as sweat poured down her face.
Suddenly, the pressure around her vanished.
Then she heard Archon Agnes' voice.
"Disqualified!"
The girl sighed, her shoulders slumping in defeat as she slowly backed away, her eyes filled with unwillingness.
The test had been on for seven minutes now, and two more people were already disqualified.
The remaining candidates clenched their teeth, their faces pale as they fought against the invisible force crushing them from all sides.
Suddenly, three people screamed… the nen energy around them was rapidly dissipating, flickering like dying flames.
And one of them was the candidate Francisca had found, making her face darken instantly.
Luckily… she hadn't bet on that candidate.
"You three are disqualified!" Archon Agnes said calmly, as if announcing something trivial.
About nine minutes in, Davi realized he couldn't hold on with just his body alone… which was already impressive enough compared to most.
"Assuming I tempered my blood, it would have been countless times easier… well, this is already good enough!" Davi thought inwardly, his breathing steady despite the immense pressure.
Suddenly, he sat down willingly.
Then, without hesitation, he began to madly circulate the Hell of Torment Scripture!
The gravitious spell pressing down on him began to distort slightly, as if something within it was being pulled apart.
The nen energy surrounding him trembled, then slowly, almost unnaturally… began to flow toward his body.
The energy was being devoured.
Rapidly disintegrating.
And transformed into Asura Qi.
The pressure around him suddenly decreased.
"Haha… this is a great place to cultivate… I better seize this opportunity…"
Davi relaxed his mind, allowing himself to sink deeper into the process, his focus sharpening as he aimed to cultivate his bones to saturation.
Seeing this, everyone gasped in astonishment.
"Is he… devouring nen? Totally absurd!" everyone thought, disbelief evident in their expressions.
Just then, two more people backed out, bringing the total number of candidates who passed to fifteen.
Archon Agnes watched all this in astonishment. In all her years as a mage… she had never encountered anyone who could devour nen in such a manner.
"Now, all you fifteen candidates have passed… but to help determine the winner, I will further increase the gravity!" she said.
Immediately, the gravity intensified once more.
It tripled again.
Right now… the gravity was ten times that of normal gravity.
The air itself felt crushing, as though the sky had descended upon them.
Noticing the change, about eight candidates directly gave up. Their bodies simply couldn't endure any longer.
Resisting for ten minutes had already pushed them beyond their limits.
Not even noticing these changes, Davi furiously focused on cultivating. His mind was completely immersed, detached from the outside world.
He could already sense it.
His breakthrough.
It didn't matter if the gravity increased ten times… or a thousand times.
All he had to do…
Was absorb it.
Just then, the albino guy suddenly radiated a pale light.
A chilling aura spread from his body as his skin began to change.
Instantly hardening.
Pale white scales slowly formed across his body, glistening faintly under the pressure.
At this, everyone's eyes widened.
"Crazy… he has already awakened his bloodline… and it seems to be a powerful one at that," everyone thought, shock rippling through the crowd.
Just then, two more people couldn't take it anymore and suddenly backed out.
Seeing the changes on the albino youth, Anthony burst out laughing, his excitement impossible to hide.
"And what if yours could absorb nen… mine has awakened a terrifying bloodline!"
The total people still resisting dropped to about five candidates.
Two were from Francisca, with one of them being the young girl she bet on.
Then there was Anthony's candidate… the albino youth, Nimue, and Davi.
They had been resisting for over fifteen minutes already.
Just then, Nimue burst out with darkness, a deep, suffocating energy that seemed to swallow light itself.
It rapidly gathered and formed a cocoon around her, shielding her from the overwhelming pressure.
"Is that… a trace of origin energy?" Archon Agnes was surprised, her calm expression finally cracking.
So were the other grandmasters.
"Haha! This is truly the golden age… I heard that with every impending danger comes the rise of a new generation!" one grandmaster laughed out loud, unable to contain his excitement.
Suddenly, the girl Francisca bet on was the first to back out.
Now only four remained.
Davi was still lazily cultivating, his aura strangely calm despite everything, rapidly approaching his breakthrough.
At this point, Francisca cursed out loud…
"Damn it… I could have bet on the other person!"
However, she knew… she had already lost the bet.
After about seventeen minutes, Nimue suddenly backed out, her cocoon dissolving into nothingness.
Only three remained.
The dark-skinned youth whom Francisca had not bet on.
The albino youth from Anthony.
And Davi.
Suddenly, Davi seemed to have gained enlightenment.
"So… that's how it is…"
"The blood isn't just as firm as the bones, elastic as the muscles, or soft like the skin…"
"It's versatile…"
"And the strength which all others rely on…"
"From blood… flows life!"
Suddenly…
Boom!
The rate at which he absorbed nen increased threefold.
In an instant, Davi condensed three drops of Asura Qi.
Slowly, carefully, he integrated them, first through his skin, then into the bones of his chest… then into the muscles surrounding his heart…
Finally…
The blood absorbed the last bit of qi.
Boom!
Boom!!
Boom!!!
His heartbeat accelerated violently, uneven yet powerful, as a surge of energy coursed through his entire body.
It was wild.
Unrestrained.
Alive.
He suddenly burst out laughing.
"Haha… yes!" Davi said, his voice filled with raw excitement.
He had finally tempered his blood.
Right now, his strength was equivalent to a Class 2 Level 5 mage, or a beast of the same level.
All that was left… was to saturate his blood with qi and begin tempering his meridians.
Then…
He would undergo the Hellfire Baptism
Under the astonishment of all, he suddenly stopped absorbing the nen.
The full force of the gravity crashed down on him once more.
"Ughrrr…!!"
Shouting, he slowly backed away, his body trembling under the immense pressure.
Seeing this, Stacy cursed, though there was a hint of satisfaction in her eyes.
She had lost… but she had also seen something far more valuable.
She began calculating the commission the ICM would give her for discovering such talent.
As for Anthony… he was ecstatic.
"600 mission points! Haha, they're mine… now kindly hand them over!" he laughed wildly.
"How does it feel to be a loser? I guess you have to look up to me now… haha!"
Francisca and Stacy snorted coldly before taking out tokens inscribed with ICM and transferring 200 points each to Anthony.
"Good… good… good!" he said three times, his grin widening.
Mission points were a form of currency within the ICM.
They could be exchanged for numerous items… beast potions, specialized feeds, spell books, or even private training sessions.
Their uses were endless.
All the candidates looked at Davi like he was a monster.
They had witnessed something they could not understand.
Nimue looked at Davi, her earlier confidence from wielding a rare elemental affinity slowly fading.
"If he can devour a spell of that level, can he devour darkness too?" she thought, unease creeping into her mind.
Lady Stacy could only sigh at her loss, but remembering the beast cards she had previously won, and the potential commission… she quickly regained her composure.
Now, twenty minutes had passed.
The albino youth slowly backed away.
His name… Philip.
His monkey pet jumped excitedly onto his back, chattering loudly as if celebrating, its antics oddly amusing. It clung to him, laughing in a way that made several people chuckle despite the tension.
Finally…
The dark-skinned youth remained the longest.
He had become first place.
Meaning… he would receive the highest resource allocation from the ICM.
"Congratulations to all fifteen of you that passed. You can now be enrolled within the ICM's Special Academy Institutes."
"Now, the grandmasters that brought you here are your seniors, you must respect them in the future."
"Now follow me. Let me show you to your dormitories. Classes begin tomorrow at 8."
Archon Agnes said.
Immediately, she cast a levitation spell.
The fifteen candidates and their respective pets were lifted effortlessly into the air.
Then, they soared.
Everyone marveled at the power of a Magic Archon. Her level of nen mastery was simply insane.
Turning back briefly, she addressed the twelve grandmasters.
"Report back to the mission hall for the completion of the assessment and to your level coordinator. Give him those eight youths that failed to enroll… he might have a use for them."
With that, she turned then vanished into the distance.
Those eight youths immediately perked up.
Perhaps… there was still a chance for them after all.
Soon, they arrived at their dormitories.
The land was vast and breathtaking, stretching toward the edge of the floating island where the ICM was located.
The air was fresh, the atmosphere rich with energy, and the structures around them radiated quiet grandeur.
The ladies were assigned their own section.
The men, theirs.
After explaining a few final details, Agnes departed.
Tomorrow they would be oriented into the ICM's SAI (Special Academy Institute)
Davi quickly settled into his dormitory.
Lying back slightly, his mind drifted.