Chapter 23: Assessment Begins
On the day of the admission of the Starwood academy. As soon as sun rose everyone in the city is making their way to the academy. The academy occupies a large amount of land. All the streets were bustling with people. Everyone is talking excitedly. There are many people who came from various villages under the jurisdiction of the Starwood city. Every village will send their suitable candidates, to take part in the examination. There is a large crowd gathering at the academy. There will be hundreds of people gathering at the academy to participate in the admission. There will be better guidance and resources if they were able to enrol into the academy. There are five villages under the control of the Starwood city. Anyone from these villages are suitable for joining the examination. Everyone is here for opportunities
Sam slowly walked towards the Starwood academy. As he slowly walked towards the academy, the crowd became denser. There are lot of people gathered in groups and talking. There are a lot of counters with queues. These counters are here for registration. Sam walked towards one counter and joined the queue. When his turn came, he took out his city resident token and registered his name. Then he slowly made his way, where all the candidates are gathered. After the registration process is completed, a group of people in same type of clothes came. They have a symbol of Starwood tree on their clothes. They seem to be staff of the academy. They guided all the candidates through the huge gate into the academy. After passing through the gate Sam started observing his surroundings. The place is a huge empty ground. In the centre of the ground there is a huge stage and there are several tents in the ground.
There are several viewing platforms on the other side of the huge stage where several groups of people can be seen seated. Each platform belongs to each major power. The central two platforms belong to the city lord and the Starwood academy. On the platform belonging to the city lord, there is a middle-aged man with a majestic appearance in Ice blue colour robes sitting in the chair. That is none other than the City lord. He is a Baron ranked noble who is in charge of the territory under the Starwood city. He is the strongest of all people here. Only the principal of the Starwood academy is his match. There is a familiar face beside the City lord. She is Haley. She seemed to searching for someone in the crowd of candidates.
Sam then turned towards the Starwood's academy's platform. There are several elderly figures in the same uniform sitting there. There is a middle-aged man who seemed to be a little older than the city lord sitting in the main seat with his eyes closed. He has a scholarly air around him. His eyebrows are clear indicating his peaceful state. His figure is not muscular and more on the lean side. He has bronze skin giving a faint l.u.s.tre of unique charm. He is the principal of the Starwood academy who is also the only match for the city lord.
Sam then looked towards other platforms and found some familiar faces. Marcus Evergreen can be seen as he is chatting with Philip and Paul is also trying hard to get into the conversation. They seem to be in good mood. Then Sam saw another familiar face on another platform. It is Freya. There is a robust middle-aged man who has a fiery air around him sitting next to her. He has a scowl on his face as he seemed somewhat unhappy and Freya also has a pout on her face. She wore her battle robes today which she wore when she came to Sam's shop in Lava rock village. Sam then turned towards the Grey hound family and searched for some one. When he found Leonard and Raymond. Sam gave a wicked smile. He really wants to see how Leonard will react when he saw him.
He then saw other four platforms. They belong to the four towers. When he saw the Artisan tower platform, he saw that Kelly is also present along with the Tower head and other friends, Sam didn't care much about them and just started looking around with the calm face.
But the rest of the candidates are not as calm he heard two boys chatting.
"Oh, look there three goddesses are all here. I feel like I am already in heave. A handsome young man said to an average looking man who has a sword on his hip. The average looking man has an irritable expression as he spoke. "Shawn, keep it low."
"How can I keep it low? I can see all the three goddesses at same time. Jack you should let me loose sometimes and stop your nagging. When will you understand my youthful and handsome self? Learn to appreciate beauty." The handsome young man whose name is Shawn said with the exaggerated sigh. The man named Jack didn't know what to reply and just sighed. Shawn then continued.
"Look at the three goddesses. Fiery goddess Freya, Ice goddess Haley and the Artisan goddess Kelly all are here at the same time. Do you think that anyone of them will take interest in me? Oh, by the way do you know that Kelly is daughter of the tower head. They hid this too deeply. I heard that an arrogant young and talented not so handsome artisan has humiliated Kelly. If I know who is I will kick his butt…" Shawn kept on blabbering.
Hearing his words, Sam furrowed his brows. 'He wants to kick my butt. We will see then.' Sam thought and then started thinking about the other point. 'The fact that Kelly is tower head's daughter is hidden is new. That is why Philip didn't strongly oppose, when I had a conflict with Kelly yesterday. If he knew he would probably have stopped me.' Sam thought to himself.
"Attention Everyone." The principal of the academy came to the stage and started speaking. "Today is the day our Starwood academy welcomes new blood. You will all be the future of the academy and also the kingdom. So, I wholeheartedly thank all the candidates for appearing here to join in the exam." The principal paused and looked at the candidates. The first round will be age and cultivation assessment. If you don't meet the requirements you will be disqualified to participate in further. Now, there are around 400 students and we will only select the top 100 students today. So, I request candidates to go to any of the tents to complete your assessment." The Principal finished and went back to his place.
There are around 20 tents in the ground. Sam walked towards a tent and stood in the queue. Coincidentally, Shawn and Jack are in the same queue. When Shawn completed his assessment he had a proud look as he came out of the tent and a grin showing all his teeth can be seen. After a few minutes Jack also came out of the tent. Both of them have a bronze colour token in their hands. This is token saying that, they are selected for the next round of assessment. Within no time Sam's time came. When Sam entered the tent, he saw a young man in his twenties sitting behind a desk. The desk has two crystal balls of volley ball size resting on it. After entering the young man looked at him and asked.
"Name?"
"Sam."
"Please come forward and place your hand on this left crystal." The young man said in a low voice. Sam placed his hand on the left side crystal ball and the crystal ball glowed. Sam, then felt a prickling sensation on his palm. Then a string of letters projected on the crystal ball. '15 years and 1 day.' Sam felt dumbfounded. Even though Philip said that the age will be measured up to the days, he didn't think that it would look this cool. He was awed by this age measuring device. Then he saw the young man behind the desk. He also had a shocking expression on his face. But his shock is for a different reason. He is shocked because of the close shave Sam had. Then he came out of his daze and said to Sam.
"Now, please keep your hand on this crystal." He said as he noted down Sam's age in the book. Sam nodded and kept the hand on the right crystal ball. This time also another string of words projected.
'Acolyte level 3'. This time the young man felt his world turn upside down. A fifteen-year-old at Acolyte that too at level 3. This time young man almost had a heart attack. He stood up from his chair in shock. Sam felt quite puzzled from his actions.
"Excuse me, what should I do now.?" Sam asked.
"No- Nothing." The young came out of his daze and handed a bronze token to Sam. The bronze token has a symbol of Starwood tree engraved on it. Sam took the token and left leaving the young man.
The first-round assessment went very quickly. Sam underestimated the number of eliminated contestants. Sam thought that since rules are not hidden, he felt that not many non-eligible contestants will attend. But they are many who still came to just try their luck. This is because there are special concessions made for special constitutions. But there are very rare. Now, there are only two hundred something people left.
Sam came and joined in the group with the bronze tokens, there he saw someone familiar. It is none other Oliver. The c.o.c.ky son of the village head.
When Sam saw him, he also saw Sam by coincidence. Sam gave him a smile. Looking at Sam, Oliver immediately broke out in cold sweat. He still remembered the way Sam, ruthlessly dealt with his lackeys, if it wasn't for his father, he would have suffered miserably, just like his lackeys. Both of them are crippled. Sam just made their worthless. One of them can't bear the torment and committed suicide. Oliver didn't want to provoke Sam again. Oliver then turned towards the viewing platform of the city lord. Sam also looked towards same direction and saw someone he failed to notice earlier. The village head of the lava rock village. He is standing behind the City lord, along with four others. These are all the village heads of the other four villages under the city lord. Sam turned towards Oliver again and gave an evil smirk. He really wants to see, how the village head is going to react after he was finished with his son. Then a voice interrupted Sam's thought.
"The first-round assessment is completed. All the candidates with a bronze token are eligible for the second round." The Principal said as he stood up and walked up the huge stage.
"The second round of the assessment will begin in a few minutes. The second round will take place in the testing grounds of the Starwood academy. The condition for passing the second round is quite simple. You have to survive. In the testing grounds, all of you will be assessed at the same time. The last hundred who will stand are eligible for the next round. There will be ranking in this round. The one who has more points will have highest ranking. In this round the candidates have a free for all royal rumble competition in the grounds.
Along with the candidates, there will be some Level 1 and level 2 beasts in the grounds. Each level 1 beast carries one point. Each level 2 initial stage beast carries 2 points. Level 2 final stage beast carries 3 points.
Other than the beasts in the competition, every other participant is also an enemy. The last hundred to survive will have extra points according to the ranking. The person who ranked in the hundredth place is awarded with 101 points. The candidate in 99th place will have 102 points, then so on so forth. Even if you have killed many beasts and have gained so many points, if you failed to survive till top hundred, the rest of the points will be deleted. So, be careful.
Your lives are your own responsibility. If you are in a life-threatening danger and wish to give up. Crush the bronze token and the hunting grounds formation will protect you. But if you don't do that and continue, your life is your own responsibility. You can use any means except for the external assistance to survive in the competition. If you use external means like inscribed weapons, inscriptions and array discs, that would be tantamount to the provocation of Starwood academy and you will be bearing the consequences."
Then the Principal turned towards the noble families and said. "The eligible families from the noble household please come forward and join the group." Then a group five to eight people came forward from each house-holds viewing platforms. After all the people joined. The Principal again addressed the crowd and said.
"You will be following this Elder to the testing grounds. You guys will be placed in different locations in all of the testing grounds. If another candidate is nearby you will get the signal from your bronze token. The time limit is until dawn tomorrow. May the most qualified win." The principal said and went back to the viewing platform.
The Elder who is pointed by the Principal gestured all the candidates and took them towards the gate behind the ground. The gate led to the entrance of a majestic looking place, which looked like a city square. There are various buildings. The world behind the gate itself looked like a city. Then the Elder guided them to an entrance which can allow only one person at a time. On both sides of entrance are majestic looking tall walls banning the view inside. The Elder gestured the first person to go through the entrance and the person vanished.
'Teleportation Formation' the thought came to his mind. Then Sam felt confused. Even the lowest quality teleportation formation needs a rank 4 formation master. But the Starwood city only has a rank 2 formation master. How did they get it done? Sam thought inwardly and finally his turn came.
Sam felt a little dizzy when he opened his eyes. He landed on his back as soon as he teleported inside. When Sam looked around all that came into his view are trees. He is in a place like woods. After he stabilized a bit. A voice came in his mind.
"The Second round assessment begins"