On a levitated ground before the teenagers, ten adults stood as they watched the teenagers below.
"Aures, what do you think of this batch?...Any one with promise?" a fox-eared woman said to a man who was dressed in black tuxedo while wearing a top hat, his eyes were blood red and his skin was pale.
"I'm not one to judge having not seen what they can offer, some of them might be hiding their strengths and we may miss those" Aures responded as he looked down at the teenagers.
Just then, a small boy appeared above the grounds and looked down, his eyes scanned across the teenagers before he nodded as he floated downwards towards the levitated and stood in front of the adults.
Seeing the boy, most of the teenagers began to murmur amongst themselves while others who knew who the small boy was just kept quiet as they waited for the boy to speak.
"I welcome you all to Helios Institute, I am Reigan, the 43rd Principal of the Institute, as I have said in the letter, it is fate that brought you here, whether you stole the letter or it appeared to you or it was handed onto you, all is fate..." The boy said as the grounds quietened.
Despite how large the ground was, everyone could still hear his voice as if he was directly in front of them.
"...you haven't become students yet, the admission letter is just an opportunity to control your own fate, out of you all here, only hundred people would be able to admitted...the rest would be sent to our subordinate institutes" Reigan continued before he looked at the teenagers who remained quiet as they had understood the requirements getting into Helios.
"Unlike our previous entrance exams, this is different, there are three stages..., the first stage you all will be sent into a secret realm and you have a week to survive, and you are not only surviving, you must accumulate the cores of exceed beasts, how you get the cores does not matter" Reigan began.
"The second stage is the rank requirements, you must be Peak Adept or Mid Master rank in order to qualify..."
"The third stage is the PVP battle, the remainders would fight for their ranks, the higher your wins, the higher your ranks" Reigan finished before he turned around and faced the teachers, he waved his hand as a barrier covered them.
The teenagers began to whisper to each other, some were frantic while others were excited while some were just nonchalant.
"You do not seem wary about the first stage?" The girl beside him asked as she turned to look at him.
Caesar shrugged, "what's there to be wary of, it's just a mild difference to where I'm coming from"
"Oh, and where do you come from?" The girl asked, her eyebrow rose in curiosity.
"Where else, the lawless hollow" Caesar just replied as he opened up his status in order to look through his available skills which he wasn't able to check.
The girl stared at him in surprise and she nodded her head in understanding as if she had gotten answers to questions she had.
Meanwhile, an elf dressed in ranger clothes with two swords strapped at her back and a couple of daggers at her waist, she was looking around before her eyes stopped on Caesar's back.
"Did he survive?" She muttered.
Caesar removed his eyes from his skill list screen and turned around as he felt the gaze on him, he noticed an elf girl in ranger clothes staring at him. He frowned as he felt a familiar feeling from the elf.
Her eyes reminded him of the dark elf who had held a katana to his neck. He shook his head and looked back at his virtual screen.
"So he survived, guess he abandoned the box, since he is here, which is a good thing" the elf thought to herself as she looked away from him.
Caesar looked at his skill list.
[Skills]
1. Ascendance: the more you defeat or kill, the stronger you become. As an Infernal Eldritch, your strength lies in slaughter.
2. Kai Break: take on the primal form of your kai. Increase depends on your MP.
3. Enhanced Healing: heal from injuries at a fast rate, healing rate depends on injury.
4. Aura Manipulation: manipulate the aura around your body, which you can use to attack and defend.
Caesar looked at his available skills and nodded his head, he was satisfied with what he had, the first three skills were the innate skills of exceeds. The last one, aura manipulation was a skill which he awakened specifically.
It was not everyone who had the opportunity to awaken the ascendance skill, what they got in stead of ascendance was cultivation, instead of slaughtering, they could meditate to upgrade their strength. Even though it is not as fast ascendance, the foundation is stable.
He turned his head to look at the girl by his side and it occurred to him he had not gotten her name.
"What's your name?"
The girl turned to look at him, "Xenovia Lancelot"
"Oh, that's nice..." Caesar said which made the girl almost stumble as she looked at him incredulously.
Seeing his oblivious expression, she sighed, "you don't know about the twelve dukes of Sacred Empire do you?"
"Nope" Caesar shook his head before he got a realization as he looked at Xenovia with a raise eyebrow.
"Your family is one of the dukes and it is amongst the top five"
Xenovia nodded to which Caesar shrugged.
"Not like that matters to me, not like your family name would save you in lawless hollow, you're lucky, cherish it" Caesar said as he faced forward.
"I'm Caesar by the way, Caesar Hydrae"
Xenovia looked at his side profile and just shook her head.
"Now the first stage of the entrance exam will commence..." Reigan removed the barrier and said.
"...death in the secret realm is true death, if you want to forfeit you can do that now, you will still be sent to our subordinate institutes where you still hold another entrance exam" Reigan paused.
Among the teenagers, several hands rose up wanting to forfeit which was not surprising. One of the adults stepped out and clicked his fingers, the teenagers with their hands raised disappeared reducing the number of teenagers to about 700.
"Now you all that are here you can begin, your destination is random, also you will be given a random weapon, your weapon would depend on your luck, you can choose to team up or advance alone" Reigan said as a portal opened in front of each and every teenager on the grounds.
"Wanna team up?" Caesar asked Xenovia.
"No, thank you" Xenovia replied as she walked into her portal that disappeared.
"I'm her knight, when I see her in distress, I'll save her" Caesar shrugged as he walked into his own portal that disappeared.
****
What do you think?
Since it's my first book, I'm sure I'll make mistakes, correct me wherever you think I'm wrong.
Chapter 3 - Entrance Exam.