Krune nodded and moved to the new testing machine equipment. He just channeled earth first as he did with the first machine.
-Earth Element, 14597 points-
Finally, a precise result came out. Seeing that score, everyone in the room went in an uproar!
"What's up with that number? Is that even possible?!"
"That's wrong! I refuse to believe that my earth element score is so much lower than him!"
"Can we even be considered inside the same Foundation Establishment Realm?"
"You are wrong there! He is still in the 8th stage of the Foundation Establishment."
Elder Loni's eyes were on fire! It was as he thought, the results of the previous test machine equipment couldn't measure Krune's score.
Krune, on the other hand, was amazed by that score. He didn't expect to reach such a number. Doesn't that mean that all his other element scores are like that? Suddenly, he heard Elder Loni's voice.
"Krune, test the other elements as well, I want to see just how far you can go!"
Krune didn't want to try that at all!
"Errr... Elder Loni, one number is enough, no? More than that might attract too much attention."
Everyone heard that and felt like spanking Krune right there and then. Is it possible to attract more attention than this? They would find out that it really is.
"Cut the crap, do it!"
Krune felt helpless, but then, an idea came out, he thought about using his other elements wrong on purpose.
'Yes! It should work.'
Just as he was about to do that, Little Light advised him against that.
"If you are thinking about deliberately doing bad, you better forget about that."
Krune was taken aback! Why can't he? Little Light then Explained.
"That elder of the Divine Path Sect is a Void Breaking Realm cultivator. He will notice straight away by the moment that you channel your spiritual energy to control the elements. You will only succeed in incurring his wrath by doing it wrong."
With his fate sealed, Krune sighed helplessly and then proceeded with his tests.
-Fire Element, 15125 points.-
-Wind Element, 15628 points.-
-Water Element, 14826 points.-
Every time a new element score appeared, the voices in the room increased a fold, those scores were simply out of everyone's scope. Krune had already given up. His life, which had got pretty quiet in the last two months, was probably about to become tumulted again.
He then tried his Lightning Element, but because he was feeling sad, he subconsciously used 30% of Tribulation Lightning and 70% Lightning Element as he always does.
-Lightning Element, XXXXX points.-
All the noise in the room disappeared once again. Elder Loni was already going crazy! The others might not have noticed, but how could a Void Breaking Realm Cultivator like him not? That was definitely the power of the Tribulation Lightning! Krune noticed the silence in the room and looked at the score, after seeing it, he felt like killing himself. He immediately tried to use an excuse.
"Cough, cough. It's a mistake in the machine, I will try again.
This time, he only used Lightning Element without any Tribulation Lightning.
-Lightning Element, 29834 points.-
Krune finally vomited blood.
"What the hell is that? Is that testing equipment making fun of me?!"
Little Light answered that question for him, though.
"Tribulation Lightning is much more powerful than simple Lightning Element. Because of your constant use of Tribulation Lightning, it goes without saying that your control over the lightning element improved much faster than the other elements."
The reason that Krune didn't notice that is exactly the same. He stopped using skills of the Lightning Element without Tribulation Lightning a long time ago. So he didn't see the improvement in the Element alone.
As for Elder Loni, he couldn't be any more excited! This Krune had surpassed all his expectations! His control over the elements is on par with Middle and Late Stages Core Formation Realm cultivators. Not to mention his Tribulation Lightning! And as the elder presiding over the Makui Planet martial Gathering, great rewards are waiting for him after bringing Krune and his friends back to the sect.
Of course, although he was delighted, Elder Loni didn't let it appear on his face, he just praised Krune better than he did with the other three. It made the contestants feel like Elder Loni had seen a lot of cultivators like that before.
"Alright, the test is over. Now I will announce the ten qualified ones."
"Mercenary Guild Alliance, Krune."
"Mercenary Guild Alliance, Arlan Rosier."
"Mercenary Guild Alliance, Ao Sulian."
"Mercenary Guild Alliance, Lofa Harcken."
"Divine Swords Sect, Jade Masfey."
"Eien Clan, Rick Eien."
"Mercenary Guild Alliance, Thunder Hawk Tasier."
"Mira Kingdom's Third Prince, Abaleu Mira."
"Carlen Clan, Yona Carlen."
"Divine Swords Sect, Sword Mantis Revain.
Except for the Mercenary Alliance Members, everyone else was surprised. The Mercenary Alliance took five slots at once, not to mention that they only had five contestants to start with. They couldn't believe that everyone sent by the Mercenary Alliance successfully got five slots of the Martial Gathering.
But the results were up for everyone to see. The Divine Path Sect would never go out of its way to trick some ants of a small planet like Makui. So there is no doubt that those scores are real.
Tasier was looking at Krune's group, Arlan and Ao had scores much higher than himself. Tasier couldn't help but feel that something is wrong. But what really surprised him was Lofa's score. He knows her power very well, and she shouldn't be that proficient in Ice Element. He decided to go look for Lofa later after Elder Loni was done talking.
But things weren't over yet, Elder Loni looked at those who failed and then said.
"I know that quite a few of you are not satisfied with this Elemental Control test. You were expecting to get your places through the bracket battles. I also know that quite a few of you are thinking that you are stronger than someone who got a slot. Considering that I changed the contents of the Martial Gathering because of my bet with Elder Kirian, I will give you all another chance. I will bring to the Divine Path Sect Entrance Exam more five cultivators or demon beasts."
The eyes of those who failed immediately lit up, a lot of them were really angry with using only elemental control to select the ten winners after all. But in the end, what was supposed to be only 10 slots, became 15! This also shows Elder Loni's good mood. It seems like that that Dragon Essence Liquid Bottle was essential to him.
"The 10 who already passed can leave if they want, those who didn't will now enter the last five slots selection. 101 contestants are remaining, so I will separate you into five teams of 20 or 21 competitors. After that, we will start a round-robin competition. There will be five battles per day, in the next four days, we will find out who are the last five cultivators or demon beasts to go the Divine Path Sect Exam."
Everyone was excited, they immediately checked their weapons and recovery pills. Everyone here is the cream of the crop between their own powers, so there was no such thing as seeded players. After drawing the lots, the battles started straight away.
Krune sent a message to Shinja and Yusa to see if they wanted to watch the battles as well, it didn't take long for the two girls to appear after that. Lofa, on the other hand, went back to her room again. She took Krune's robe out of her spatial ring and held it on her arms. She wanted to stay with him but had no courage to approach by herself.
Suddenly, Lofa heard a voice coming from the window that she forgot opened.
"Isn't that the robe that Krune used during the Mercenary Selection?"
Lofa's body immediately froze on the spot. She then looked at the window and saw who was there. Turns out that it was none other than the Thunder Hawk Tasier! Lofa then screamed so loud that Tasier's ears almost exploded! But she was still holding the robe, she was so flustered that she completely forgot to put it back into her spatial ring.
"Shut up! My ears are going to break! Don't you know that Hawks have super sensitive ears?! And what are you screaming for? There is no one idiot enough to attack another contestant under the Divine Path Sect watch, don't you think?"
Lofa finally regained her senses and noticed the robe in her arms, she then immediately stuffed it back into the spatial ring. Tasier looked at her face, which was as red as a tomato, and finally understood what was happening.
"Could it be that you-"
Before he could even finish speaking, Lofa rushed over and closed his beak.
"Shut up! You have nothing to do with it. If you tell anyone, we are going to be enemies forever! Understood?!"
Tasier, of course, wasn't the least bit afraid of Lofa. But for the sake of his questions, he accepted her conditions.
The reason that he could identify that Robe was because Krune did really use it in the Mercenary Selection. Hawks have a vision that is several times better than humans, let alone a Thunder Hawk Demon Beast at the peak of the Foundation Establishment Realm. He was able to tell that it was Krune's robe with a single glance!
"Anyway, what you do with that is not my problem, I came here to ask you something."
Lofa looked at Tasier and then nodded.
"What is it that you want to ask?"
Tasier then explained to Lofa about the fact that she wasn't that good with elements control before, at least, definitely not better than him. After inquiring around, he had found that she spent quite a few days with Krune's group during the first phase, which led to him putting together the pieces of the puzzle.
Lofa understood that denying it would be useless, anyone with a mind in the correct place would think the same thing. Especially him who had seen her battle prowess during the Mercenary Selection several times.
"That's true, it was thanks to Krune's teachings that I got this good in controlling my Ice Element, his view about the elements control is simply unbelievable!"
Tasier was finally able to confirm his hyphotesis.
"I see, no wonder you lik-"
Boom!
The Thunder Hawk was suddenly sent flying until he hit the wall of the room.
"If you open your beak to say that again, see if I don't cut your wings off!"
Tasier was amazed, since when Lofa became this physically tough? That kick really hurt him!
"Cough, cough. Alright! Alright! I really can't understand you, humans. If it was us demon beasts, whether female or male, we would be extremely direct about our feelings. This is to show to the other gender that we are mighty and imposing, but I guess you humans are too complicated for that."
He then looked at Lofa's scary face and changed the topic.
"Okay, back to the main issue. Help me get acquainted with Krune and the others, I want to get better with my elements control too. Not to mention that Krune is best at lightning, which is exactly the one I'm best at."
Lofa was taken aback, help him get close to Krune? She doesn't know how to do that herself, how is she going to help him with it? But it was then that her eyes suddenly lit up!
'Right! If I used Tasier's training as an excuse to get close to him, wouldn't it be perfect?'
She then looked at Tasier as if he was made out of gold!
"Tasier, we are friends, right?"
Tasier was puzzled by that question. But since she is helping him and he knows her secret, it somewhat does count as a friendship of sorts, no?
"I guess you could say so."
Lofa became delighted!
"Great! I will introduce you to Krune and his friends then."
Tasier, obviously, was happy with that. But for some reason, he felt like he was selling himself off.
'I guess I'm overthinking. Yes, I probably am.'