BXBX NOVEL Chapter 65: True Genius
At first, the Affinity Orb only glowed a slight pale red. There was nothing special or flashy about it at all. Some disappointment showed in Elder Wen\'s eyes. Was I wrong about the kid? He isn\'t actually suppressing his Mana and it\'s actually just this much?
William noticed Elder Wen\'s frown out of the corner of his eye.
I will fail at this rate! he panicked and sent a larger burst of Mana into the Affinity Orb, causing the glow to spike in intensity.
The room was filled with a flash of light. The disciples squinted, not expecting the sudden change in atmosphere. Elder Wen was relieved, since the display just then proved that William\'s talent was at least 50 points.
William wasn\'t done yet. The Orb was accepting 20 percent of his Mana, yet he knew this wasn\'t enough to place first. William slowly increased his Mana being sent into the Affinity Orb to approach 40 percent power, leading to yet another blinding lightshow for the disciples.
When the 40 percent threshold was reached, something changed within the Affinity Orb. Instead of increasing the glow further, flames began to rise up from the orb, making it seem as if William was holding onto a giant fireball.
Elder Wen\'s eyes bulged. He knew exactly what this meant. He can already use his Magic...he\'s a Manamatus! But...why didn\'t he use it against the Prairie Bear the other night?
The other disciples were confused. "What is happening? Why is the Orb on fire?"
"I don\'t know, but it must be good. Look at Elder Wen\'s face!" A disciple pointed at Elder Wen.
William was still concentrating on controlling his Mana, but 40 percent power was a bit too much and other Elements were leaking into the Orb.
Everyone was surprised to see the Orb change once again, this time turning from fiery red to a bright blue. Water formed on the outside of the Affinity Orb like condensation and increased in quantity until the Orb was completely submerged.
"Another Element! As expected from a disciple declared to be one of the strongest of our group by Elder Wen." Warren exclaimed.
Elder Wen was stunned. He hadn\'t even sensed the Water Element from William, rather it was the Life Element he felt. Did that mean he has more than two Elements?
He assumed William was hiding the Life Element to avoid attracting too much attention. Elder Wen gave William a thumbs-up in his head. Little did he know that William couldn\'t control which Element the Orb noticed first.
The Orb changed colors again, this time to a bright green. A miniature tornado formed around the Affinity Orb, carrying William and the Orb a few feet into the air.
William was startled and felt he had revealed too much, so he reduced the Mana flow until the tornado carried him back down. He swiftly pulled his hand off the Affinity Orb to cut off its Mana supply.
The room was silent. There were a few who had displayed the talent for two Elements, but William was one of only two disciples with three. This was a big deal! Only a dozen disciples would appear every hundred years with the talent for three Elements! And for each of them to have such intensity...William was a true genius!
Elder Wen needed more time to evaluate William\'s scores. He wrote some things on his scorecard, then looked at the group.
"I will evaluate by each Element displayed on the Orb.
William: Fire Element, 104 Points!"
The first evaluation caused a wave of murmur among the group. So his Fire Element alone was enough to crush us all?
"Water Element: 93 Points!
Wind Element: 92 Points!
Total Score: 289 Points!"
"289 Points?!?" The disciples were dumbfounded. William had beaten the highest scorer by over 200 points. Did he even need a second test? He was pretty much guaranteed the number one spot as is.
William was also surprised. If he knew his score was so high, he probably would have stopped after using the Water Element. It couldn\'t be that big of a deal though right? After all, triple Element Cultivation Techniques were available in the Great Hall.
He was at least thankful he suppressed his Fire Element to a low C Rank Talent, otherwise the A Rank evaluation would probably give Elder Wen a heart attack.
Elder Wen gathered his thoughts and silenced the group. "The first part of this test is over. I will now explain the second portion.
It\'s actually quite simple. I will split you up into groups of six and you will fight each other one by one. You will be awarded 20 points per battle that you win, meaning you will not fail as long as you defeat one person.
After the battles have ended, your scores will be added up to the points earned from the Mana Affinity Test. Anyone who ends this test with over 80 points will be allowed to challenge the Ranking Board. To those who score below this but still pass, you will have to wait a month before you can place any challenges."
Some disciples that knew about the Ranking Board became excited. "I didn\'t expect this to be a reward for doing well on the test. How generous of Elder Wen!"
"What\'s the Ranking Board?" a female disciple asked a boy next to her.
"You don\'t know? It\'s our monthly resources provided by the Sect! Usually you don\'t get them until the first month, but Elder Wen is giving us a chance to earn a ranking before the end of this month." the boy answered.
The girl became excited too. The monthly resources from a famous Sect must be good!
The room was becoming loud again, so Elder Wen was forced to silence the group a second time. "Now that you understand the situation, I will form the groups at random."
Elder Wen pulled out a large bowl filled with what appeared to be a gallons worth of ink or just very dark water. He reached into the bowl, pulling out a slip of paper that somehow wasn\'t wet and read it off like a fortune cookie.
"Group one: Yu Min, Warren, Su Ming, Jinny, Yuka Mei, and Daroman."
William noticed the first group consisted mostly of the first twenty people to go up to the Affinity Orb. At this rate, William would be one of the last names called out.
Elder Wen continued reading off group names, further confirming William\'s theory. This was probably intentional, since most disciples took their test together with their friends. Of course, William was an exception since he didn\'t have any friends.
"Group twenty-five: Gunther, Tia Marie, Natsu Mori, William, Filipe, and Carl."
Elder Wen stored the ink bowl and paced around the stage. He activated an Array involving the Space Element, stretching the stage to a size of ten square kilometers. A series of 25 Intermediate Barrier Arrays were formed, serving as the stage for the battles.
"I do not have enough eyes to watch all of you at once, so your senior disciples will be the judge today."
As Elder Wen spoke, 25 men and women wearing Inner Core Disciple robes that were numbered 1 througj 25 walked up with pride. They all looked to be in their mid to late-twenties, and emitted an aura similar to the Golden Core Cultivators William had fought in Blue Moon City.
"You have 10 minutes to rest. When you are ready, go to your respective judge and enter the Barrier."