427 Aptitude Exams 1.1 (1/2)

”Roll out the hill for this Old Man!”

The angry roar of the Elder sounded once more. He flicked his sleeves and an invisible force swept the pale faced and unwilling guy out of the hill. And true to the old man's words, the pitiful guy was sent rolling down the hill and there's nothing he could do to stop it.

The participants had varying reactions towards the pitiful guy and the elder. Some of them mocked and disdained the guy from acting like that and some were even laughing coldly inwardly. They were of course wary about the elder's strength but they knew that so long as they don't act inappropriately, then the elder won't do anything to make their lives difficult.

”Well, he's asking for it. He thought too highly of himself.” Jason sighed and said in a whisper beside Raven. He then leaned in closer and said: ”But hey, at least he gave us some hints about the tests. You heard that too right?”

Raven silently nodded in confirmation. In truth however, Raven already had an idea on what's going on due to him spying through curtain of light earlier.

”The poor guy though…” Raven sighed, ”He got humiliated pretty bad. He will never have a face to show anyone from now on.”

”What he did was worse than courting death. I mean, who gave him the gall to question the authority of Ancient Elysium Sect? Not only that, he's also making things difficult for the Twin Star Academy. His guts is as big as the heavens, yet he doesn't have the strength to back it up. That's his fault.” Jason shook his head as he spoke.

Raven didn't say anything since he knew that what Jason said was correct. That guy was truly asking for it. He was akin to an ant trying to shake a tree. Without strength to back it up, everything else is hollow. Isn't this why they were trying to join a great power? How absurd of that guy to think that he had the qualifications for the Ancient Elysium Sect and Twin Star Academy to give him an explanation.

”Before we proceed, let me clarify this once and for all.” The Elder's cold voice sounded amongst the participants. ”No one asked you to be here. We, the Twin Star Academy and the Ancient Elysium Sect never forced anyone to participate in this recruitment. You came on your own accord because you have your own reasons.”

”The Ancient Elysium Sect is already kind enough to allow you people to take the tests. Don't think to highly of yourselves like that idiot over there since if you truly are someone with a great status, then there's absolutely no reason for you to be here. Now, if you want to participate, then follow the rules. If you passed then you passed, if you fail then you've nothing but yourselves to blame. Those who doesn't feel like doing so can scram away from here. Your presence isn't welcomed here.”

The hilltop was silent for a bit, no one walked away even after being berated by the Elder. The old man snorted and said:

Hearing this, the people who were called out stepped forward, amongst them was Raven and Jason. As they walked forward, Jason leaned in towards Raven and whispered:

”Dude, they're not switching the test even though that idiot earlier gave us hints.”

'It means that they are either confident about the tests or they didn't notice it. Either way, we're in no position to question it. Let's just do our best.' Raven replied via voice transmission.

'Right. Good luck.'

'You too.'

As soon as they finished transmitting to each other, the participants were then enveloped by a thick curtain of light. As soon as this light touched them, all of them lost consciousness, Raven included.

Everyone went into a seated position and an absolute silence permeated their surroundings. Once this occurred, the Elder closed his eyes and waited until this batch finished their tests.

***

Loud sounds of explosion woke up Raven.

A frown surfaced on his face as soon as he saw debris flying across his head. Everything around him was burning, screams of pain, agony and unwillingness sounded on his ears causing Raven's heart to pound inside his chest.

”Get down!”

”Ahh! Noo!”

”My baby! No!”

”Honey, please wake up! Don't leave me!”