The Martial Unity

Most of the applicants didn't understand what was happening. Only the applicants from the Martial community or applicants with a connection to a Martial Artist or repeat applicants knew what was going on. The first phase was unchanging, but that wasn't public knowledge, not exactly.

Yet people soon understood as they tried approaching the Martial Apprentices.

"Waaah!" One boy squealed in terror as he stumbled back, away from the Martial Apprentice holding a pass in his hands.

The Martial Apprentices glared at him with a fierce expression, terrifying him even more, while eying all the applicants, daring any of them to step forward and grab the pass.

The applicants froze as waves of bloodlust came from the Martial Apprentices. It exerted a terrifying pressure inside their minds as their subconscious danger and risk evaluation systems evaluated them to be terrifyingly strong, posing a huge threat to their life. A tremendous amount of pressure was generated in a lot of them.

"Damn...!" Another girl gritted her teeth as she did her absolute best to push herself towards the Martial Apprentice. "Not again!"

Just because one knew about the test did not mean that one could pass it. Just knowing about an obstacle did not mean that they could overcome it, and a good chunk of the applicants of the Martial community and of those who attempted the entrance last year was realizing this the same way. Mental fortitude was much harder to train than physical fortitude because the rate of success was low, there was no guarantee that the training would yield success.

"Applicant 538; Crea jenken, pass!"

"Thank you." Crea plucked the pass out of the Martial Apprentice's hand before walking past him to exit the hall.

"Woah," Max mumbled. "She was so cool."

"We can do it too." Mana reminded him. "Just remember what big brother Rui taught us."

Max nodded. "Concentration."

their focus and walking towards

harder

they approached the Martial Apprentices, the fear generated within them grew more intense. Their steps become labored as they walked on, as though they were wading through a river. The deeper they crossed through

STEP

panting by

Mana

Max Quarrier,

took their passes

did it!" Max

did."

than the training we did big brother Quarrier?" Max

absorbed in thought. "Big brother

shrugging. It didn't really matter since they had already passed it. They simply followed the directions to the second phase of the exam. They were eventually

smaller group of applicants that had passed through the first round. The two could vaguely feel that this group of applicants was much stronger.

an increasing number of applicants poured in, each having passed

estimate of the number of applicants that had made it through the first phase. The sheer number of applicants that didn't make it through

capabilities, he had always made the first phase sound basic and fundamental. They had assumed that most of the applicants would be able to pass it. To their utter surprise, it was the exact

than ten percent of the original population made