John was the first to step forward, as he had faced something like this in the Lightning World Trial. That lightning was much more terrifying, and only served to test the participants to see if they were worthy of the reward. It was pure destructive lightning, and contained no gentleness nor mercy.
However, John was able to feel that the lightning for this trial was much more gentle. While it was still powerful and destructive to the average cultivator, it was still a night and day difference. His divine sense reached out and touched some of the lightning lingering in the air.
'While it's still quite powerful, there's a gentle and even slight healing property to this lightning. It's most definitely meant to temper comprehensions, and not test willpower or worthiness. This should be simple.'
As Elder Orin said, the trial was meant to temper comprehensions and affinity towards lightning. Most of the disciples who had just joined the sect came from powers not specialized in lightning, and so their comprehensions towards it was effectively zero.
However, John was the complete opposite. He had extensively studied the Celestial Lightning Script so far, changed his body into a lightning attribute body, and spent an entire month bathed in a destructive lightning field.
His comprehensions and affinity towards lightning was immense, but he had not learned any techniques in which to use those comprehensions.
John quickly stepped forward and entered the lightning field. All eyes immediately fell on him, as he held the status as the first ranked Core Disciple. Everyone was curious if he would be able to repeat his miraculous performance from the entrance exam.
As soon as he stepped into the lightning field, John felt the nearby lightning detect him and immediately snake towards him.
Boom!
Several streams of lightning crashed into his body, and continued to wash over him nonstop. The nearby disciples gasped from the force of the lightning they felt, but their gasps soon turned to wide eyed surprise as they saw John walk forward completely uninhibited by the lightning field.
His steps were completely steady, and John walked as if there was no lightning field at all.
'As Elder Orin said, I am unable to push forward with pure strength and pain resistance. Only by controlling the nearby lightning Qi and pushing it aside am I able to move forward. And it seems like the lightning is getting more powerful and profound the closer I get to the tablet...but at this level, it shouldn't be a problem.'
A frown appeared on Mason's face as he witnessed John's performance. He was about to step forward as the first to enter, but John had beaten him to the punch. As such, he wanted to see if John would make a fool of himself. Although he displayed a terrifying pain resistance in the Trial of Pain, Elder Orin said such a talent was useless here, and Mason was sure John would struggle within.
However, his expectations were completely subverted, and John was walking as if he were taking a nice leisurely stroll. Mason's eyes narrowed, and his fists clenched as he watched John's performance.
"Elder Orin," Mason turned to the Elder. "Didn't you say that pain resistance has no advantage here? How come he is able to walk forward like that? Surely his lightning comprehensions aren't that impressive?"
He was still unconvinced by John's display, and figured he had found a loophole in it somehow.
Elder Orin stared closely as he watched John proceed forward flawlessly. He too was quite shocked by John's performance so far.
After a moment of observing, realization dawned on him, and he remembered something another Elder told him regarding one of the entrance exam participants.
He pointed to John, and asked a question towards Mason. "Do you see those glowing runes on his skin?"
Mason and the rest of the disciples all carefully looked at John, and after close scrutiny were able to spot faint runes on his neck, face, and hands. They looked quite exotic, and many disciples had no idea what they were. However, there were a few well educated disciples in the group, and one remembered what runes such as these signified.
"Elder Orin, are you trying to say that he has a lightning attribute body?" One girl asked.
"That's correct," Elder Orin responded, causing all eyes to go wide once more.
"What the fuck? Isn't his luck a little too much?" One disciple muttered out unhappily. Mason stared at John with cold eyes, unhappy with what he had just heard.
"How the hell are we supposed to compete with someone like him," Another disciple grumbled. Many nearby heads nodded in agreement.
John had slayed a beast above his cultivation level, showed incredible pain resistance in the Trial of Pain, and now showed his lightning attribute body. Such a series of incredible things were too much for many disciples to handle.
While in the lightning field, all John could hear was the loud cracks of lightning exploding on his body. However, with his comprehensions of lightning, as well as his lightning attribute body, John was able to completely ignore them. While the lightning was raising his comprehensions slightly as he walked forward, it was not by much.
This trial was meant for those who were just starting to walk the lightning Qi path, and so such a tempering trial was mostly useless for John.
Within a few minutes, John walked all the way to the center of the field and touched the central stone tablet.
Unlike the Trial of Pain, his body was not transported away, and so John began to walk back towards where the Elder and disciples were.
By this time, most disciples had entered the trial, and most were struggling to move forward at the very edge of the test. John looked around, and managed to spot a few familiar faces within the trial.
Russell was at the very edge of the trial, his face red with exertion. Although the Elder explicitly stated that power and pain resistance would not help in this trial, Russell was still attempting to break through with brute force. He was almost always able to solve any problem he had with his powerful body, and was attempting to do so once more. However, his attempts were for naught, and he had made almost no progress within the trial.
'What a meathead.' John shook his head as he stared at Russell.
John spotted Mason, Hartley, and Mae, who were at the front of the pack once more, but still struggling at the outer edge of the trial.
The only one steadily moving forward was June, however her progress was just a bit slower than John's.
John walked past all the struggling disciples, and their eyes looked towards him with a mix of respect, envy, and displeasure.
John ignored these looks and walked directly towards Elder Orin.
"Not bad. I remember Elder Ragur mentioning you, and he has quite high hopes for you. It looks like you haven't disappointed so far," Elder Orin said to John with an approving look on his face.
After John's performance in the entrance exams, many Elders were looking forward to how he would perform within the sect itself.
"Thanks," John replied with a smile and a light chuckle.
A small item suddenly appeared in Elder Orin's hands, which was a small jade piece similar to the Celestial Lightning Script. However, it was much less profound than the Scripts jade piece, and did not glow like the Script either.
"This is the first stage of the Heavenly Lightning Tome. Take it."