[Name: ****]
[Cultivation: level 5]
[STR: 14.2] [CON: 14.9] [DEX: 14.8] [AGI: 14.5]
Seeing the status of that old man, Lothur smiled as all of his attributes were superior to that person's, with Dexterity being the only point between the two that were close.
However, Lothur did not underestimate this man and soon picked up his ax, playing with it in his hands.
"The rules are the same as you have heard for other competitors." The old man looked interested in Lothur since he felt no cultivation from this young man. "All right, for you?"
"Hmmm, be careful," Lothur said in a low voice, causing a smile to appear on that individual's face.
"Do your best!" After he said those words, the examiner nodded to Lothur, signaling the combat to begin.
Meanwhile, the remaining candidates in that area watched this battle of the masked individual with interest since no one there could see through him.
Some thought Lothur was just a foolish mortal and wanted to see him take a good beating to learn his place. But others genuinely hoped to see a surprise in this place as the world was vast, and one could not underestimate people so quickly.
So, the half-dozen people there soon saw the start of the fight, as Lothur activated his movement technique, moving at great speed toward his opponent.
"What?"
"So fast?" Voices of surprise rang out there, where almost no one could follow Lothur's movements.
Speed was something that depended on Constitution and Agility. Because these attributes of Lothur's were considerably high, one of them close to level 7, those mere 5th Transformation cultivators could not keep up with him.
And that was true even for the examiner, who was already near the peak of level 5.
'How does he move so fast without leaving any disturbance of spiritual energy in the surroundings?' The old man wondered as he moved, trying to evade the offensive movements Lothur was already making.
'Don't tell me he's just using his physical strength? Is he that strong?' The old man felt a rush of air pass across his face as Lothur's weapon passed close to him.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtAs this old man began to sweat, feeling the difficulty of facing someone stronger, Lothur was reveling in the feeling of oppressing someone weaker than him.
Usually, he had to fight against unfavorable numbers, opponents stronger or of equal power to his. Other than that, only when training with Elke did he fight someone weaker, which did not give him the chance to oppress someone as he was doing now.
Because of this unusual situation for him, the silver-haired young man was smiling as he deftly moved his feet and swung his ax toward the non-vital points of his opponent.
Swooish!
"Hah... Hah..."
Swooish!
The old man began dripping in sweat after only a minute and a half of fighting as Lothur pressed him against one end of that combat platform.
At this moment, while everyone was looking with open mouths at that one-sided fight, Lothur saw the first opening in his opponent's defenses and made a decisive attack!
He firmly held his ax and leaped into the air, spinning his right leg hard towards his opponent's face.
'Damn it!'
'I won't be able to dodge it!' The old man felt like he was off balance and saw Lothur's blow approaching him at an alarming speed.
Pow!
At that instant, the examiner was struck in the face by one of Lothur's feet, which momentarily made his chin turn away from his opponent's foot while his cheeks trembled.
If anyone there was more powerful than Lothur and that old man, such a person could see the incomparable expression on the old man's face in slow motion.
His eyes seemed to have opened wider, vibrating as the expression of pain slowly formed on his face. Yet, at the same time, all the sagging of his face was showing to its fullest at this instant.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"
He was thrown in the direction Lothur had kicked, screaming in pain from his opponent's unmerciful kick.
"Phew, that was a good fight!" Lothur commented in a low voice, smiling as he looked toward the fallen old man outside that platform.
"I suppose that was my victory, right? I'm freed from this test?" He asked the old man, who was in agony on the ground.
The old man heard this but did not say anything right away, continuing to massage one of his cheeks, feeling a pain that was hard to ignore.
'What a ruthless bastard! Did he need to kick me so hard?' He tasted blood in his mouth while one of his teeth seemed to have gone significantly softer.
But even in pain, this examiner did not take long to answer Lothur. "Yes, you passed. Go to the next test!"
"Hehe, thanks for the dance, sir." Lothur put away his weapon and calmly left that area amidst the many comments from the spectators there.
"That fellow is mighty!"
"I wonder what his cultivation is? Why does he hide behind a mask?"
"Who knows..."
"The fact is that someone like that has a lot of future within the Cultivation House. And with the possibilities of this place..."
The people there continued to talk about Lothur while the old examiner tried to recover to the next fights.
...
After a few moments of walking through the Cultivation House building examination area, Lothur arrived at the third and final examination site.
At this place in question, unlike the previous ones, the number of candidates was almost non-existent. In fact, only one person besides Lothur was there with the two officials who made the examination.
One of them then saw Lothur and approached this masked person while holding a clipboard in his hands. "Sir, before this test begins, I will have to ask you some questions while you hold this object." He showed a small sphere that seemed made of cloth, like a pillow.
Lothur took it without hesitation, looking into the eyes of the man in front of him.
The examiner then began. "Do you hold any grudges against House Leopoldine?"
"No."
"Do you have any connection with any organizations in the Three Great Lakes region?"
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm"Not that I know of," Lothur replied while the soft sphere in his hand showed no sign.
The examiner continued. "Are you part of any organizations in the empire?"
"Yes."
"Is that organization an enemy of the Leopoldine family?"
"Not that I know of."
"Does anyone in your family have a connection to the powers in the Three Great Lakes region?"
"Not that I know of."
"Would you agree to join the Leopoldine family if invited?"
"No."
The person looked strangely at Lothur upon hearing that answer. But since the sphere of truth had not shown any sign in the previous questions, he could not consider this person an enemy just because of that.
Such a device could measure the integrity of the words of the person holding it. So, it was safe and reliable to determine possible problems with someone's answers.
"Are you hiding your cultivation for some plot?" The examiner asked this question that was not on his chart.
"Yes."
That man's eyebrows drew together tightly. "What are you up to?"
"To surprise my wife." Lothur smiled beneath his mask as that man looked at the sphere that still showed no signs.
'What an idiot!'
'He made me raise expectations for nothing...'
"Sigh!"
"All right, let's test your mental qualities, Mister Stuart."
...