Max, Neer and the driver arrived outside a huge Colosseum where recruitment is supposed to be held. It was in the centeral part of the city, only a few kilometres away from the City lord’s castle. This Colosseum was built here for the sole purpose of selecting disciples.
The arena inside the Colosseum was five hundred in length and breadth and was one meter high. It was protected by magic formations that could endure a peak three star mage’s all out attack. So candidates didn’t have to hold back at all.
This Colosseum had four entrances in four directions and all four entrances were congested with people. Long lines were formed for the entry despite the fact the everyone had to pay a 50 silver coins entry fee.
More than half of the people were here to spectate their friends or family member taking part in the recruitment and possibly getting selected.
Max, Neer and the driver stood in the line, waiting for their turn. Noticing that gatekeepers were charging 50 silver coins, Max turned to look at Neer and asked curiously “If you hadn’t met me, how would you have collected 50 silvers in two days for the entrance fee?”
Neer had a proud look on his face as he said in a low voice “Young master, I planned to wait at the one entrance until envoys came and before they entered the Colosseum, I would have shown them that I’ve awakened dual elements. I don’t think, after seeing that I’m an dual elemental mage, they would’ve ignored me and not select.”
“That was a good plan indeed.” Max nodded.
After standing in the line for around an hour, they finally entered the Colosseum after paying the entry fee.
Colosseum seemed bigger from inside than it did from outside. Tens of Thousands of people were already in the Colosseum. Max and others found empty seats and sat down and watched people enter in droves.
After waiting for more than two hours, people finally stopped coming in. There were a few hundred thousand people in the Colosseum right now.
A middle-aged aged man in green robes went on the arena and raised his hand to stop people from making any noise.
All the chatter stopped and silence pervaded the Colosseum. Everyone turned their attention to the middle-aged man.
“Greetings everyone! I’m Zhan, an elder of Green pagoda. I’ll be your host for this year’s recruitment events.” He introduced himself. His voice resounding through Colosseum.
‘Green pagoda?’ Max quickly recalled that this was one of the top five academies of Green leaf kingdom, ranked fourth.
Elder Zhan continued “Before I explain rules, let’s welcome envoys in charge of your selection this time.”
As his voice fell, a group of ten people walked in the Colosseum. The Five people in front attracted most attention as they were from top five academies.
There were six women among the group of envoys. Two among them looked to be in their twenties while rest of them were middle-aged. Four men were also middle-aged but each of them had physique comparable to Ashton who was a peak three star mage.
Everyone in the audience stood up to show their respect. Envoys also slightly nodded their heads toward audience and walked up where their seats were arranged beforehand.𝑂𝒱𝓵xt.𝗇𝓔t
Their seating also signified their academies’ ranks. In the middle sat one of the two young women in golden robes. She represented the Royal academy. Other four envoys from five academies sat beside her while rest of them sat on rest of the seats.
Clap!
Elder Zhan clapped his hand to attract everyone’s attention to him and said “Most of you might already know the rules from previous recruitments. However, let me repeat those rules once more so thst everyone who aren’t familiar with them will know.”
“First of all, those who aren’t one star mages or above and those who are more than 25 years old aren’t eligible to participate in this recruitment. Anyone who comes down for recruitment will be punished severely.” A few people who were proud of their talent despite not being eligible shrunk their necks. Not daring to entertain the thought of trying their luck, clearly afraid of the punishment.
Elder Zhan continued “The recruitment will be conducted in three phases. In the first phase, Candidates will be tested to gauge their affinity with natural mana. Those who don’t have even a second grade affinity will be disqualified directly. Only those who have above second grade affinity will proceed to second phase.
In the second phase, you will be tested to see the limits of your strength in accordance with your mage realm. For example, if you are a one star mage, your total attack power must be between 20-50 units. However, if you can exceed this limit, you will be counted as rare genius and upon entering any one of the ten academies you will receive core disciple title. Of course, that’s only possible if you also pass third phase.
Third phase is the most important aspect of this recruitment in a sense, that is Battle. If you can’t fight and emerge victorious in real battles then no matter how high your affinity grade is or how strong you are, doesn’t mean anything. As we cultivate and struggle in order to become strong and we want to become strong so that we can survive and live until past today without fear.”
His tone grew serious as finished his explanation. However most people didn’t understand the real meaning of his words.
Elder Zhan then waved his hand and four crystal orbs with stands appeared on the four sides of the arena and eight two star mages dressed in black jump onto arena. They went and stood beside crystal orbs.
“These crystals are designed to test your affinity with natural mana. The two mages beside each crystal will be incharge of your testing and recording. Now those of you who want to join our academies and are eligible may come forward and test yourselves.” Elder Zhan said. He sat down in the middle of the arena and closed his eyes in meditation. This indicated the start of first phase.