Lightning Is the Only Way

The participants were very confused. From their distance, they felt nothing special. Why did the protection disciples act this weirdly as soon as they started closing in on Gravis? They really were not sure. The area around Gravis looked like any other.

"Before we begin, please state your name one at a time," shouted the Guild Master of Lightning. The participants quickly started listing off names, and every Guild Master noted some of them down in a book.

The Guild Masters of Fire, Water, Wind, Lightning, and Darkness noted down 20 names each. One took the first 20, another the next 20, and so on. In the first wave, they had decided to let 100 participants attempt the exam due to the limited space around Gravis. Also, it was easier to keep track of them if there weren't too many at once. "Alright, you can start now."

The first people started closing in, and for no particular reason, the participants started feeling nervous. As they came closer, their fear intensified, and they started feeling like they were walking to their deaths. It took all of their will and courage to continue.

The first people already stopped at the 25-meter mark. They were too afraid to continue. When the Guild Masters saw them, they frowned. Why would people with such weak wills even participate in the entrance exams? The will to move forward was the most important thing. If someone were not ready to put their life on the line, then how could they ever reach even a satisfactory height?

The youngsters who had stopped looked like their fear had paralyzed them. They were unable to even move their bodies. This showed their inexperience. If any of them acted like this in an actual fight, they would die immediately. Stiffening up out of fear was the worst thing anyone could do in a fight.

Only 30 of the 100 participants reached the 20-meter-mark, and they looked like they were nearly dying from fear. In the end, only two people managed to reach the 15-meter mark, and no one reached 14 meters. Now, every participant was staying still, breathing heavily.

Many of the participants thought the protection disciples had put up an act earlier. They saw nothing happening around Gravis, yet, also, their fellow participants couldn't reach Gravis. They didn't know what was happening to the participants, who currently were inside of Gravis' Will-Aura, but they slowly grew nervous and serious.

In the next five minutes, some participants managed to gain some additional meters. Now, there were five people at the 15-meter mark, and the first two had reached the 14- and 13-meter mark, respectively.

How could the participants, frozen in fear, move,

move over to this side of the arena and stay together," ordered the Guild Master of Fire while pointing at

scribbled the results down. His book only recorded the winners, and they were not

the Guild Master of Fire. The next participants stepped forward and announced their names. The same thing repeated,

best to get as far as possible in those five minutes. A lot of time passed like this, and evening was slowly

the names took another five. Only one group of Participants could be judged every

slowly setting on the horizon. The best participant had reached a distance

names of the people who qualified," announced the Guild Maser of Light and started listing them off. The named

were read, the Guild Master of Light stopped, and the faces of the remaining participants started whitening. Did the Elemental Guilds actually disqualify 95% of the participants in the first round? This was

from the losers-bracket. "I was in front of that guy," he shouted as he pointed at one of the winners. "How can he win when

of Wind as she jumped down from her 'bench' and landed gracefully on the floor. The Guild Master of Earth released a deep breath and slumped on the bench, drawing complaints from the other Guild Masters

earlier. "You would pass by fulfilling

participants were shocked. Reaching the 15-meter mark was insanely difficult. On average, only one or two people managed that, in each batch. No wonder there were

other criteria," the Guild Master of Wind said while lifting another finger. "Is advancing another five meters

would've known that, I would

why didn't you tell us?" shouted another