A surprisingly bustling atmosphere permeated around the Illusion platform.
Inner and outer students were all busy chatting with each other discussing a variety of topics.
Most of them were nearly fervent in their discussions as if they had just heard the most shocking news in the world. The main topic these conversations extended from was the only sibling duo.
Some students even sneakily took glances over to where Cain and Kali stood. While a few other students blatantly gazed upon the sibling duo's form as if they were a new specimen of being.
"Hehe~." Kali suddenly giggled. Her lips curled in amusement, and her eyes danced between the students.
To anyone else, it would seem like this young maiden is simply basking in the limelight. She looked equally elegant and pure. All who gazed upon her gained a genuine sense of hypnotic entrancement.
The only one who knows that her expressions and thoughts mean different was, of course, Cain.
That amusement smile and seemingly light giggle was more of Kali finding entertainment in these Lower Realm people.
With her domineering mentality, she was more of giggling at their awe than truly respecting anyone there.
'Still….she's a pretty good actor if she wants to be. Nobody can even tell the difference.' Cain internally chuckled to himself.
Personally, he doesn't have any problems with Kali's overwhelming arrogance. On the contrary, she is quite clever about showing and hiding it in appropriate situations, once again showcasing her acting ability. Moreover, he also found it was just a part of Kali's charm.
Cain thought it would be stranger if she actually acted friendly towards others. While musing to himself, he then shot a look over to Kali just to see what got her attention.
"Mn~?"
Upon trading glances, Kali promptly teasingly nudged him in the sides. As she did so, her eyes glinted with a slight cruel light.
Kali then whispered in a slightly mocking tone, "Look at this, brother. We have so many admire just gazing upon our great talent. But it seems like you're certainly more popular than me. Those mortal young girls looked quite enamored with you. Heh….if only they knew…."
Because Kali brought it to his attention, Cain finally took notice of the more intent stares on him. His brows curled just a bit, finding some amusement in these young maiden looks.
These beautiful young women flashed Cain either a goodwill teasing smile while others bashed a flirting smile towards him.
Towards this, Cain decided to listen in on their conversations for a moment.
"My….to have talent and the power to match our Senior brothers that is indeed quite the heavy achievement."
"Fufu~. He's also a natural charmer with those looks and that calm temperament. Just by looking, you can see his Martial Heart is so firm."
"I'm just wondering what his relationship to that girl? She also has a graceful beauty. They seem really close."
Hearing these kinds of talks, Cain lightly smiled while shaking his head.
'Strength really does receive attention. I can even some admiring light in the guy's eyes. In any case, the higher our fame, the easier our plans will go.' Cain's analytical mind was at work again.
The attention of beautiful young women genuinely couldn't sway his mind at all. And it wasn't the fact that he believes he's above them all, like in Kali's case.
He simply couldn't care all that much about appearance. This was a mentality he had developed long before even coming to this universe.
In the end, looks are just looks after all.
If he couldn't form some type of connection beyond a surface level, Cain honestly couldn't force himself to care.
This is why he's so latched on to Kali because they both meshed together nearly perfectly.
Seeing and using people just to further their plans also didn't even bother Cain at all.
This Mortal planet is just his and Kali's training ground. It's only natural they use all they can to their own advantage.
"Hoh? Seems like you couldn't care less? I can see why, though."
Kali could immediately tell what Cain was thinking. Even down to the slightest detail, it was easy for her to accurately guess his mood swings.
Looking back over to their other competitors, Kali continued to say, "Barring those students, hasn't it been an hour already? You think those supposed high talents would wake up around this time?"
Shifting his gaze off the students, Cain then started to pay close attention to the other competitors. It was now that he also noticed the varying expressions contorting the other examinees' faces.
None of them looked serene at all. Many of them looked as if they were having the worst nightmares of their lives.
By this point, their clothes were drenched in sweat, their hands tightly clenched down on their legs, and even a tiny stream of blood slithered down from their nostrils.
Most obviously, these students were on the verge of getting entirely consumed by their Heart Demons.
Cain reckons if they don't forcefully wake up soon, they'll end up severely harming themselves.
Moving his attention from the average patch, Cain then focused on Zhao Tan, Zhun Yi, and Zhao Li. Their current expressions didn't surprise him at all.
These three High-Class Family talents all had intently focused expressions.
They all appeared as if they were valiantly facing the greatest challenge of their entire lives. Beads of sweat trickled down their faces, showcasing the intense amount of strain they were under.
Twenties minutes soon flashed by.
Seeing that those Family talents weren't waking up even by now, Cain thought this trio would just barely pass the exam.
However, contrary to his expectations, a faint pulse of Spirit Energy suddenly discharged from Zhao Tan.
Accompanying the vague Spirit Energy pulse, a very light layer of blue Spirit Energy briefly engulfed Zhao Tan.
The Spirit Energy only lasted for a mere split second before immediately vanishing.
"Hm? Zhao Tan also waking up? Hasn't it only been close to an hour and a half?"
"Really, I supposed their Martial talent isn't anything to lightly scoffed at either."
"And also seems like he just got an average ranking result. Not bad at all."
While nowhere near as much of a frantic uproar as with the sibling duo, some students did note Zhao Tan's completion. Compared to the sibling duo, Zhao Tan's results were much more within their expectations.
The disparity was still massively large. But the Crimson Sea Academy students could still appreciate talent when they see it.
At this moment, Zhao Tan was slowly opening his eyes. As he came to reality, he was filled with boundless confidence.
His Heart Demons was immensely mentally taxing, to the point where he thought he would actually fail the exam.
But by relying on his firm Martial Heart, he managed to pull through in the end. And now, after finishing such a colossally challenging task, Zhao Tan firmly believed he would be the first to wake up.
After all, this is an exam of actual ability! It didn't matter how potentially great their Qi is; they needed to rely on themselves for this.
And surely, that arrogant woman and the boy in no way is better than him!
Suffice to say, Zhao Tan's confidence was at an all-time high. However, upon fully opening his eyes, reality heavily struck him like a truck.
"You-you two?!"
Zhao Tan immediately jumped up in utter disbelief.
His eyes dangerously narrowed as his whole body violently trembled. He had even briefly forgotten about all of his previous mental fatigue.
Standing tall and confidently just several meters away from him were Cain and Kali.
In that instance, Zhao Tan shot his eyes and Spirit Sense all around him. Unfortunately, this had only caused his mind to further scrambled into utter chaos.
Nobody else but him and the sibling duo was up!
If it's like this, this would only mean….
"Dammit!" Zhao Tan couldn't suppress his frustration. His smoldering emotions was beginning to boil over.
Just why can't he surpass who are supposed to be nobodies?! None of this made any sense at all!
With unwillingness and frustration building within his heart, Zhao Tan was nearly about to provoke the sibling duo again.
But right as he opened his mouth, he promptly clamped up.
The last moment of Kali shutting him up with just a seemingly 'innocent' smile struck his mind like thunderous lightning.
Even now, the sibling duo had the same calm expressions from when they completed the first part of the exam.
Suppressing all of the boiling rage within him, Zhao Tan only cast a cold gaze at the sibling duo. "No matter your origins, true strength between each other is where everything matters."
After saying so, Zhao Tan was about to walk off to his own corner. But right then, another pulse of Spirit Energy breezed from the illusion platform.
At that moment, everyone set their sights on where the pulse emitted from, a beautiful young woman.
"Ah? Zhun Yi is right behind Zhao Tan! She certainly is a genius in her own right."
"She also scored average ranking results. To think our Academy would receive so many talents all at once."
Indeed, in the exact same manner as Zhao Tain, Zhun Yi passed her Heart Demons.
In that instance, Zhun Yi was slowly opening her eyes, adjusting back to reality. As she came to, her confidence was at a similar sky-high level.
She felt as if defeating her Heart Demon was the same as scaling the grandest mountain in existence!
This level of difficulty, surely nobody else came close to her!
Not those Zhao family talent or the no-background sibling duo.
Upon opening her eyes, she expected all attention to gathering on her. But reality was a cruel mistress.
The first image that entered her sight was Cain and Kali standing confidently off to their own side.
At that moment, Zhun Yi froze. Her Spirit Sense quickly swept the whole illusion platform, and her suspicions were confirmed true.
"These two again….tch."
To Zhun Yi's credit, she didn't have an over-exaggeration as Zhao Tan. Her gaze remained chillingly cold, staring upon Cain and Kali's forms as if they were her greatest enemy.
Never in her life did she feel so much pressure within the same generation.
And to think it wasn't even from another High-Class level Family!
Zhun Yi didn't bother speaking or provoking the sibling duo. But in her mind, she couldn't help but think,
'This is too suspicious. Talent like them simply can't be nobodies. They must come from somewhere. I refuse to believe they're from some common background.'
Little did she know that her guess was frightening close to the truth, though she would never come to know this in her life.
