Percy noticed that one of the corners of the amethyst badge pinned to his host’s tunic was glowing in a bright, white light. There was no mystery as to the reason behind this change, but he wasn’t very pleased with the idea of everyone knowing that they had lit up the seventh circle during the durability assessment.

‘Seriously? What’s the point of conducting the tests in private rooms only to announce the results later?’ he asked his companions with a grimace.

‘This might be good for us,’ Kassorith argued.

‘How so?’

‘Well… anyone who wants to know more about us can easily just look up the tricks we’ve used on Thess’kala. It’s true that we’ve grown stronger in a bunch of ways, but the core of our skillset hasn’t changed much,’ the scaled man said. ‘At least we now have a way of learning more about our opponents too, so it’ll help us more than it hurts.’

Percy sighed, unable to refute his host’s logic. Either way, they would have to fight over a dozen powerful opponents during the second round of the competition. It would have been impossible to keep their abilities hidden after the first couple of battles regardless.

Exiting the room, they were promptly picked up by the same female attendant from before. She proceeded to lead Kassorith to a different stadium for his second assessment, this one split into fewer, larger rooms, suggesting that the next test required more space.

The attendant explained that they would be evaluating Kassorith’s domain this time. Apparently, this was a category that often stumped even the most talented participants, since there weren’t that many ways to bolster one’s willpower.

“We regularly see powerful mages who easily manage to light up not just the sixth, but also the seventh circle in most categories, only to be stuck in the fifth circle for this one,” the orange-skinned Maradorian said. “Those who have two cores at the same grade have the greatest advantage during this assessment, but even that is typically insufficient – unless of course they happen to also possess a bloodline or Decree that further empowers their domain.”

Percy nodded, thinking that this made sense. Luckily, he and his companions already had this particular assessment in the bag.

The test was fairly simple, and it wasn’t nearly as violent as the previous one. Kassorith still had to stand within a small circle, though he wasn’t allowed to use mana this time. He had to lift lots of heavy weights, strike moving targets, and solve various physical puzzles from afar using only his willpower.

The organizers clearly wanted to evaluate both the strength of his domain and his control over it.

Percy’s willpower was already on par with a Violet’s, since he had formed it while possessing a Blue and a Green core boosted by several instances of Circulation. The addition of Kassorith’s willpower sealed the deal, allowing them to easily light the sixth circle up.

Unfortunately, they didn’t have as many tricks up their sleeve as they had during the durability test, so they didn’t get much further than that.

Technically, Percy did have a fully charged Zelesian bead inside his seal, but it would have probably taken all three of the artifacts to bolster his domain enough to reach the seventh circle. Besides, it was an external object, so it wasn’t allowed in the tournament. Since he had no idea whether the Void Hand was aware of the bead’s origins, he wouldn’t want to reveal its existence either way.

The good news was that Percy was no longer worried about passing the preliminaries. It would take a miracle for them to fail all three of the remaining assessments. However, he still wanted to light up the seventh circle in at least one of them if possible, so that he would feel more secure about their odds in the next round.

As soon as the test was complete, he checked the ticket once more, noting that it hadn’t changed this time. Other than the previous corner that was still glowing in a white colour, the other four retained their amethyst hue.

Evidently, a Blue participant lighting up the sixth circle in every assessment was the expectation – not the exception – so the organizers didn’t feel the need to announce such a result to the world.

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“The third category is called ‘mana’,” the attendant said. “It might sound a bit vague, but that’s because you’ll be tested in multiple overlapping areas at the same time. It’s actually similar to the assessment you have just completed, the difference being that you are only allowed to use your mana and not your domain.”

The woman gave Percy and his host more information as they travelled to the location of the next test. Apparently, the reason for the generic title was because the assessment would simultaneously evaluate their mana capacity, regeneration, and control.

They would still have to lift weights, destroy moving targets and solve simple puzzles from afar, though they would also have to carefully manage their mana expenditure throughout the test, since it wasn’t possible to replenish it nearly as quickly as one’s willpower.

In other words, having a higher capacity would give someone a head-start in the test, but so would having faster mana regeneration or being able to complete the required tasks more efficiently.

“Is it fair to assume that all the founding factions have a major advantage during this test due to their ancestral Decrees?” Kassorith asked upon listening to her explanation.

“Indeed,” she confirmed. “This is slightly less true for the Inimits than the other three, but even the least talented participants from the founding factions are basically guaranteed to light the sixth circle up, regardless of their skillset. Those who also have the Void Decree almost always light the seventh one up too. In fact, this is the test where the eighth circle is most commonly lit up, though it’s difficult to call somebody a paragon if they only excel in a single category,” she added with a chuckle.

Percy sighed, fully aware that his host was currently at the opposite end of the spectrum. While they had all sorts of ways to bolster their performance in other categories, raw mana efficiency was the one area where Kassorith would be most disadvantaged.

At best, stamping a few enchantments onto their constructs would make them more effective at a lower cost, but it wouldn’t be enough to lift the Thess’kalan’s magic up by a full grade, let alone two. Had they been allowed their second core or boosting art, they would have done as well as anyone else, but they sadly had to make do without either of those things.

The actual test proceeded pretty much according to Percy’s expectations.

It was the shortest one so far – for them at least – since Kassorith ran out of mana for the required tasks fairly quickly. They had barely made it over halfway to the sixth circle, yet they couldn’t keep up with the steep difficulty curve.

Adding insult to injury, their ticket shifted again in response to their failure. The third corner of the pentagon dimmed and lost part of its amethyst hue, taking on a dark blue shade that broadcasted their shortcomings to anybody who so much as glanced at their tunic.

Percy was glad that they had undertaken the durability test first, otherwise he would have been too embarrassed to be seen walking around with nothing but the blue stain on the badge.

Fortunately, the fourth assessment went significantly better.

This one was held in an open stadium and was meant to evaluate one’s agility. Naturally, flying was not only allowed but practically required. Kassorith was chased by numerous enchanted orbs that he wasn’t allowed to attack or even touch, and he was graded based on how long he managed to evade them for.

The magical spheres moved slowly at the beginning, though they grew exponentially faster over the course of the assessment, and an additional orb was added to the flock about once per minute.

Due to possessing a domain roughly on par with a Violet’s, Percy and Kassorith could have flown with just their willpower. However, they’d opted to use one of Kassorith’s flying greatswords, since utilizing both mana and willpower allowed them to move faster. They’d even enchanted the construct with sharpness and weight reduction runes to maximize its speed.

Once again, they managed to light the sixth circle up rather effortlessly.

Leaving their domain and enchantments aside, they had another major advantage in the form of their enhanced senses. The Sage’s Pond allowed them to keep track of the pursuing orbs at all times, and even predict their movements.

Consequently, they avoided getting hit way longer than their speed alone should have allowed, though they weren’t able to dodge the devices forever. Even if they knew where the orbs were coming from, there was only so much that they could do while surrounded from every direction and not allowed to fight back in any way.

‘We were so darn close.’ Micky clicked his tongue in annoyance as soon as they were back on solid ground.

They had been less than half a minute away from completing the seventh circle, though they’d ultimately fallen short.

‘It’s indeed a pity, but it isn’t all gloom and doom. Don’t forget that we’ve just qualified for the next round, and that comes with a free reward from the prize pool. Maybe we can find a nice Decree to make up for our weaknesses,’ Kassorith consoled in a fashion somewhat atypical of his usual, snarky demeanour. Clearly, the Thess’kalan understood that they had to leave their differences aside and cooperate properly in order to reach their goal.

Percy smiled wryly at his host’s words. The scaled man wasn’t wrong, but what he had left unsaid was that their opponents would also get to pick a Decree of their own. The strongest among them had probably collected many of them from previous tournaments, and those were exactly the people that they would have to overcome to get their hands on their third core.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep