After all the participants finished their tests, elder Loni came to take them back to their rooms. He already told them that the Exam will start tomorrow, so he prohibited any dangerous activity before it happens. Krune and the others nodded, they also know that they need to be at peak state for that.
Everyone spent that night relaxing. Krune, once again, invited everyone to eat. As always, he was the one cooking. There was no training or teaching, just chatting and food. Of course, Arlan and Ao still found a way to challenge each other, but Krune simply ignored the two idiots. Even Mina, Arlan's fiance, was helpless at that sight.
While the night passed uneventfully for Krune's group, the same couldn't be said for the outside. The news that a fourth Major Core appeared started to spread like wildfire. In just a few hours, no contestant didn't have Krune's picture on their communicators. They all knew the other three Major Core participants. After all, they were known even before the Divine Path Sect Exam arrived. But Krune really appeared out of nowhere, and there was way too little information about him.
Gomat and Colen also got the information about him, but they didn't care. Everyone who came to the Exam at least has confidence in their own abilities, let alone Major Core owners. Besides, this is not an exam to find a single cultivator or demon beast, but to find those who qualify to enter the Sect. In that case, it is almost certain that all for Major Core Owners this time will join the Sect.
There is a reason why the Divine Path Sect doesn't let the Major Core Owners enter straight away. First, they want to check their strength. And second, not only the major Core Owners but all the successful contestants' position inside the Sect will be determined through this test. Depending on your results, directly entering the inner Sect isn't impossible. Of course, it will be extremely hard.
The next day, Makui Planet's participants were gathered in front of Elder Loni, who was going to guide them to the test.
"I hope you are all ready. Remember that once the test starts, you can only leave if you fail or die. But as long as you succeed, you will be able to join the DivinePath Sect, so I hope you won't disappoint me. Let's go!"
Everyone agreed with Loni started to follow him. On the way, they could see several other elders guiding their Planet participants.
After more or less one hour, Makui Planet's contestant could see an enormous open field ahead, which was packed with cultivators and demon beasts. A lot of the demon beasts there are of rare or strong races, so they couldn't change into their human form yet. Because of that, they occupied a lot of space. But even so, there was more than enough for everyone.
Still, Makui Planet's contestants were amazed by that sight, there is definitely over a hundred thousand here, maybe even over two or three hundred! But that was to be expected, each planet had at least ten slots to come, and there are thousands if not tens of thousands of worlds in the Divine Path Sect territory. Not to mention that strong planets have more than just ten contestants with good chances of passing the test, so they had even more slots opened for them.
As the Makui Planet's contestants got close, the other planets opened the way. This time, it wasn't because of elder Loni, but Krune instead. Everyone could recognize him, which made him feel quite gloomy. But Krune didn't regret his past day decision, he got ten thousand Rank Six High-Quality spirit stones, it was definitely worth it!
The field was also full of monitors. In the distance, one could see a giant stage where several outer and inner elders were staying. The monitors were obviously there to show what will happen on the stage.
More and more contestants from other worlds arrived on the field, after just one hour, the previous enormous area was now almost full. Fortunately, everyone was already there. There were several places in the middle where everyone wouldn't get too close. Those were the top-ranked planets contestant areas and the four Major Cores participants area. So, thanks to Krune, Makui Planet had quite some space around.
Finally, all the monitors turned on, and they could see the stage in the distance. The field became silent as everyone paid attention to the elders of the Sect. One of them came forward and talked to everyone.
"Welcome to the Divine Path Sect Entrance Exam, I'm the Core Elder Tiago Galey. I will be overseeing this Exam together with the other two Core Elders of the Sect. As everyone knows, we only accept the best! Race, Clan, Planet, Territory, Wealthy, here in the Divine Path Sect, they are worth even less than a copper coin. All that matters is one thing. Strength!"
Tiago looked at everyone with a serious face.
"Of course, there are those that are more talented with something else other than combat. But for that purpose, there are the side occupations alliances that are maintained by our Divine Path Sect as well. And the best place to learn the techniques from those alliances is no other than our Divine Path Sect too."
Some cultivators and demon beasts immediately understood what the elder meant, Krune included.
"I can see that a few already understood what I'm saying. That's right, the best side occupation professionals of those alliances have also joined our Divine Path Sect. That means that not only are they the best in their fields, but they are also strong! What use is there if you can't even protect yourself?"
Tiago then looked at the demon beasts.
"I believe that the elders that were overseeing each planet had told you that the beasts will need to use their true form. The only exception is those who have a higher fighting strength in their human forms. Once the test starts, the formation inside will activate, and only those with a seal will not revert to their real form.!
Krune and all the other demon beasts in the human form already knew about that too. Tiago then started to explain the Exam. The exceptions that Tiago mentioned usually are given to sea demon beasts. After all, a fish moving on the earth in its true form would be very disadvantageous.
"There are several contestants at the Core Formation Stage under the age of forty, but there are even more Foundation Establishment ones. For the first test to be a little fairer, it will happen inside the Sects illusory realm. There, you will all have a cultivation at the peak of the Foundation Establishment. But do not relax just because it is an illusory realm. If you die there, your soul will die outside too. We said before, we want everyone to give their best, and only life and death situations can bring out one's real potential."
No one seemed to be surprised by that. Their elders had told them time and time again that the death rate during the Exam was extremely high. So they were already prepared for something like this to happen.
"Now then, let's talk about the first test itself. It is called the hundred floors tower! Your objective is to reach the hundredth floor in the time of one month. But the higher you go, the lesser the number of contestants are accepted inside that floor. That means that you have to fight for the right to go up. Each level has a certain amount of doors that lead to the next floor, and all entries have a max number of contestants allowed to enter."
Tiago then continued.
"After entering the second floor, the third one will only open after the former is full. But you don't need to worry about running out of time or not having enough contestants to fill up that floor, everything is accounted for. There is a time limit for you to enter the next level, if you don't find a door or if you are too weak to fight for the right to enter, then you will fail. Of course, if you die, you fail too."
It was then that Tiago smiled.
"Another thing, you can't enter a door straight away. All doors have several slots around them, you need to enter inside and stay there protect it for at least ten minutes. As you can imagine, if someone wants to take away your slot during it, they can do it. Of course, you can also give up if you see that you are not someone's match and come back later. As long as the total number for that door hasn't filled, you can try again."
Some people got puzzled, what if they can defend their slot once and someone comes right after you finished a battle? Wouldn't they be feeling weak to fight once more? Tiago immediately noticed their doubts and said.
"Haha! You think it is unfair to force someone to battle several times? Then I tell you that the Sect is already being very merciful for keeping everyone at the same cultivation level. Do you think that on a battlefield, you would be able to complain about the enemy ganging up or that that enemy has higher cultivation? Keep dreaming!"
There was something that Tiago didn't mention, though. All he said was that you must defend your slot for at least ten minutes. In that case, you can basically delay a battle for that duration and defeat your adversary after that. Of course, he didn't say it on purpose. The Divine Path Sect Disciples also need brains, after all.
"Alright! This is all, you can form teams if you want, but slot battle can only happen in a one vs. one. In the end, your individual strength is what matters! Good luck to you all!"
Before anyone could say or ask anything, the entire field started to shine! It turns out that they were already inside the illusory formation, and no one had noticed. When everyone opened their eyes again, they were already inside the illusory realm.
But that wasn't all, immediately after they were sent inside, all demon beasts in human form, started to revert to their original appearance. Krune, of course, was no exception!
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