William didn't hesitate to think about Elder Wen's words. He immediately walked over to a male Inner Core Disciple numbered 25 and introduced himself.
"I'm William, nice to meet you Senior." he eyed the Inner Core Disciple secretly. The man had medium length brown hair and a short beard. Tied around his neck appeared to be a necklace made of small seashells of various colors.
His hands were rough from many battles, and strapped to his back was the outline of a sword wrapped in cloth like a mummy.
"Call me Trevor." he waited until the other five disciples arrived before continuing. "I will be your judge for arena 25. Do not underestimate me just because I am a disciple like you. I have full control over your evaluation, so if you want to pass you better behave yourself."
The disciples nodded. There were still 10 minutes left, so William took the time to inspect his opponents.
Gunther was the shortest individual present, just under 1.5 meters tall. He had a thin build and wore thick, dark-rimmed glasses. He didn't wear a Space Ring and there were no visible weapons.
Tia Marie had long red hair and a short nose. He knuckles were calloused and William could see a visible outline of muscles under her thin grey t-shirt and jeans.
She must be a martial artist. William guessed.
He looked at Natsu Mori and couldn't tell whether they were male or female. They wore medium length black hair and had a piercing through their right eyebrow. A knife was sheathed on their left side, and a flute stored on the right. A curious combination for sure.
Filipe was a mystery to William. The man had a Space Ring on each finger minus the thumb and a bandana was concealing his mouth. He had white hair and bright green eyes that didn't even glance in William's direction. The boy was completely focused on their judge Trevor.
Carl was a medium height individual with short brown hair and expensive looking clothes. He wore three Space Rings, each probably worth over a thousand Gold Coins, and a canister of some sort was strapped to his side and sealed with a bright red stamp shaped like a hedgehog.
William completed his evaluation. It seemed that only Filipe gave off an aura similar to Trevors. William didn't need to win all his matches, so he considered forfeiting right away when he faced off against Filipe.
Elder Wen's voice could be heard from a distance.
"The time is almost up! Judges, call the first pairs into your Arena and start the battle when ready."
Trevor turned to the group. "You heard Elder Wen. I don't like picking, so who wants to go first?"
No one raised their hand. Since no one had fought yet, the others had a wait and see attitude. It would be great if someone else could do the heavy lifting and weaken one or two opponents.
Carl looked with disdain at the others, but didn't make a move either. His trump card was only good for one win after all, and he wanted to save it for the most troublesome opponent.
Trevor looked at the disciples with a cold smile. "If no one wants to volunteer I suppose I will just take away twenty points from everyone. How does that sound?"
Tia's expression changed. She couldn't afford to lose points now. "I'll go first!" She jumped into the ring and waited patiently for her opponent while Trevor smiled viciously.
Seeing no one else volunteer and not wanting to risk any points, Gunther stepped inside the ring calmly. He clasped his hands together and used the Ice Element to create a frozen sword for his left hand and a shield for his right.
Trevor raised an eyebrow. "A Manamatus, how rare. This may be a more interesting competition than I thought."
Each year, a different group of 25 Inner Core Disciples are picked to oversee the new disciples. Having been picked this year, Trevor wasn't excited. Other than the additional resources given to the Inner Core Disciples, this task was nothing but a babysitting chore. Trevor was glad that there would be a little excitement.
Back in the Arena, Tia wasn't worried about Gunther's Ice Magic. She pulled out a pair of gauntlets from her Space Ring and put them on, then charged at Gunther.
Gunther quickly identified Tia to be a close-range type and opted to keep his distance from her. He jumped backwards, creating an Ice Spike and launching it at Tia.
Tia was powerful, but she still wasn't a Cultivator and could only move at the speed of a mid-stage Qi Refinement Cultivator and couldn't completely dodge the attack. The Ice Spike impaled her left shoulder, disabling her arm and spreading frost across her body. The frost turned to ice, and within moments Tia was unable to move.
Trevor pulled a piece of parchment from his Space Ring and marked Gunther's performance, then raised his arm in the air.
The other disciples were surprised. The fight only lasted a few seconds, yet a winner was already decided. They didn't have much time to think though as Filipe jumped into the Arena.
"It's my turn." Filipe said. He drew his sword with the wrappings still attached, but Trevor stopped him before he could charge forward.
"I see you're eager to fight, but Gunther gets his five minutes of rest. Your opponent will be the next volunteer."
William stepped forward. "I'll go."
Seeing Filipe's confident reaction to Gunther, William knew he would probably be the toughest opponent. It was better to fight at his peak now than struggle later.
Trevor nodded and allowed William to enter the Barrier. He didn't waste any time and started the battle since there were still many fights to go.
Filipe made the first move. His green eyes shook and the pupils started spinning in a clockwise direction. William locked eyes with Filipe and instantly felt his head turn fuzzy. Another weird ability...
William guessed that Filipe's eyes were obviously the source of the sudden event and chose to avoid eye contact with Filipe. William adjusted his speed to the late stages of the Qi Refinement Realm and dashed towards Filipe.
Within moments William made contact, throwing a suppressed punch at Filipe and knocking him off his feet. Surprise showed in Filipe's eyes as he expected William to not be able to move.
How did he resist my Magic Vision? Did I miss?
Filipe couldn't figure out the reason. He didn't have a chance to think further, since William came flying at him with another punch, knocking Filipe out of the Arena.
The other disciples were dumbfounded. How can he have such talent for Magic and also maintain a body ? It didn't make sense that the world could be this unfair!
Trevor made a few notes on William and recorded his battle for review. "Winner, William!" ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ novel⁂fire.net
William remained in the Arena after he was declared victor. His arms were clasped behind his back and he stood motionless.
Trevor called out to William. "Come down so the next competitor can enter."
William shook his head. "I don't need a break, can you just let the next person come in?"