Chapter 456: Disciples 2
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
"I've heard that dangers are everywhere deep in the Snowy Mountains. Ferocious beasts roam the place and living conditions are harsh. The Seven Night Tower, as one of the strongest forces, can be known as the representative of the Snowy Mountains range. I never thought I would be able to meet the three Lords here." Ivycius slowly opened his mouth. As someone who already entered a mysterious level between fourth and fifth form, his speech gave off a strange indescribable feeling.
His words were clearly gentle and warm with extra attention to the terms, but it gave off a cold strange feeling to others.
"My apologies. I had some enlightenments recently, which changed my body." He himself knew the current state of his body and added on a few words to avoid any misunderstanding.
"This should be the Lord of Silver Palace? A hundred twenty years ago, White Rose Sword Sage Ivycius consecutively defeated the twelve Demon Lords of the East Sea, eradicating the Demon Lord Totem organization. For an achievement like that, even if we are located in the North region, we would have heard about it." The lady in the middle opened her mouth and said.
"Your words are too kind."
There was a commotion in the crowd below. Now only they knew that the White Rose Sword Sage from a hundred years ago was the current Silver Palace Lord Edin. His original name should be Ivycius.
"Let me introduce to all of you." Garen started to speak. He pointed towards the first person on his left - the white-haired elderly man.
"This is the Second Lord of Seven Night Tower, Moroba Blizzard. Known in the North as the Master of Eight Realms. The one behind him is his disciple."
The white-haired elderly man smiled as he stood up, and bowed towards the crowd below. His mannerism was a little different than central countries. He joined his hands and touched the tip of his own nose.
His disciple behind him followed in the same manner.
Garen continued to introduce the second person.
"The second one is the Fourth Lord of Seven Night Tower, Lucy Starnight. Known in the North as the Angel of the Night. The one behind her is also her disciple."
"Angel of the Night?" The one that just took a seat, Second Lord Blizzard grinned slightly. The Fourth Lord's nickname wasn't "angel", but "demon"... Her favorite thing to do on a normal day would be killing youths. Uncountable innocent lives have died in her hands. After aging in the recent few years, she toned down a little and stopped killing innocents. Before, just by mentioning her name in the North would stop a kid from crying.
Calling her an angel instead of a demon. Seeing Demon Girl Starnight smiling in pleasure, Blizzard knew a new side of Garen.
Garen didn't care and continued introducing the last one.
"The last one is an old friend. Third Lord Anjiad Spellcaster, known as the Spellmaster in the North."
Anjiad was the same wizened old man. He was short, but his sharp eyes gave off a feeling that he should not be trifled with. As he heard Garen's introduction, he stood up and forced a warm smile. He put his hands together and touched the tip of his nose, then sat down.
Master of Eight Realms, Angel of the Night, Spellmaster. These were the three masters sent by the Seven Night Tower to support Garen.
They were all true fourth form elites. Because of the harsh conditions around the Seven Night Tower, it caused the top to be incredibly strong, but the middle and lower class were severely powerless.
Moreover, differing from Kovitan and other strong countries, Seven Night Tower was located in the Snowy Mountain range. They were the strongest force in the vast region, but a peak fourth form was already their strongest representative.
The strongest First Lord was also only a peak fourth form. The only difference from the other Lords was that he controlled the only ultimate heirloom in Seven Night Tower. Throughout all the elites in the Snowy Mountain range, there were no totem users who could withstand him. Those that were slightly weaker than him had to group together to even put up a fight.
However, in the central division, even Kovitan already had three out of the Four Gargantuans. They each had their own ultimate heirlooms and were peak fourth form units. Kovitan as a single nation already far surpassed the strongest forces in the Snowy Mountains.
Not to mention an Original Heirloom like the Ultimate Shelter, people from the Snowy Mountain would never even have heard of it.
After understanding the frightening strength of the central region, an internal force in the Seven Night Tower instantly had some thoughts to leave Snowy Mountain. The three Lords were the representatives of that force.
Fortunately, Anjiad and Garen had crossed path multiple times and were familiar with each other. During his journeys to the North to kill monsters to recuperate potential points, Garen would meet Anjiad every single time.
The first time was a coincidence, but for the past few times, it was evident that it was Anjiad that took the initiative to approach Garen. Garen's Blackfire Palace was also currently lacking elite forces. Hence, the two sides hit it off well.
After a few interactions, the friendship began to grow.
Anjiad was a man of capricious nature. He was soft and conflict averse. Although he was a peak fourth form, he didn't like taking an enemy heads on, instead using his trained mutated beasts to do battle for him. After testing Garen a few times through their interactions, he realized his opponent was the type that countered his abilities. Since he couldn't defeat Garen, he was naturally convinced.
Garen relied on his frightening regenerative abilities. With his nine lives, he was never afraid of death and was incredibly ferocious. Within a few rounds, he broke through a huge wave of mutated beasts and headed towards Anjiad. Anjiad could see him regenerating from the wounds he had just obtained.
After two tests, Anjiad was completely won over.
It was the first time the crowd below had met masters from the North.
They have heard of the Snowy Mountains. After Garen mentioned the Seven Night Tower, some of the elderly faintly remembered. Before the mutation epidemic, the North and the central region had some relations. Representatives of the major business remembered a little clearer.
At that time, the kingdom's business alliance would go to the North to re-stock from time to time. Their fur and rare herbs were decent and of high quality. People from the North were not exposed to the world; a hundred-year snow ginseng only needed a hundred gold. It was incredibly cheap.
For other countries, the market price would at least be fifty thousand gold or above.
Gold was a common trade commodity. To convert to Rumbs, it was 10 to 1. Fifty thousand gold would be able to convert to five thousand Rumbs. It was abnormally cheap.
As time passed, some people from the business alliance looked at the North as a deserted land. No one thought that now the strongest force in the North, the Lord of Seven Night Tower would appear.
The crowd below were whispering, but the people on the top didn't care.
Next the servants made the announcement to bring the fighters from the audition.
The participants were brought up in batches. For this opportunity, they were selected winners out of tens of thousands of participants. Although it was merely one week of auditions, the things they've faced were already more than their previous years of lives. They were also much more complicated.
Noble businessmen played dirty tricks. Bribery, scheming, blackmail. Some noblemen fighters secretly hired totem users to severely injure other participants.
There were some used little tricks such as hidden tools to obtain victory.
Fortunately Garen requested for Ivycius' three disciples plus Lala's supervision, and also a few professors from The Grand Duke Benoc's institute to settle the various problems.
This successfully put an end towards most of the unhealthy competition.
As they winners were brought up, Garen asked people do place a giant jade-like stone in the middle of the court. All the winners would place their hands on the jade stone. For those who qualified for the Black Water True Technique, the jade stone would faintly blink in black. Using this testing tool that Garen created himself, he could identify the most suitable fighter to train his Black Water True Technique among the sea of participants.
One by one Garen pointed out the participants. The rest were brought away.
For the people that were brought away, although they failed this test, there was another one waiting for them. It was a determination test by using special methods to simulate the pain of during the infestation of the Green Vine Sphere. It started from mild to extreme, as it got closer to the actual level.
This was the achievement of the forgers that the Trejon's Household recruited recently.
If they couldn't even pass this test, they only could become the lowest level sentry in Blackfire Palace. Although the Blackfire Palace's sentry had benefits far above other forces, but it was nothing compared to the Blackfire guard, one rank higher, and the core disciples.
As the participants went up and down one by one, Garen only selected five people out of seven or eight crowds. These five people made the jade stone blink in black for the longest period of time. The test ended when there was no longer anyone to bring up.
Garen furrowed his brows and looked at the five men before him. There were three females or two males. One of the females was already over forty years of age while the rest were still very young, not more than twenty three. Two of them were dressed as nobles.
Five of them stood at the furthest end of the court. They were already considered core disciples of Blackfire Court. Garen would personally take them as disciples. Although they were still standing, many seated representatives gave them gazes of admiration.
"Bring in the top three!!"
The final moment had arrived. The three strongest men from the auditions would definitely be discipled by Garen. To be able to stand out among the sea of paricipants, their abilities were unimaginable.
Very quickly, three middle aged people with outstanding auras walked into the court. There were two males and a female. All of them looked around thirty forty years of age.
At they entered the court, Garen instantly let out a smile.
"Indeed…." It was exactly as he had expected.
The three of them were Master-level elites!
If they were placed in the Martial Arts World, they would at least be at fighter level. The fighters of Totem World were different from the Martial Arts World. They did not have any aura, nor would they use their own essence to suppress the enemy's abilities.
They chose a different path - heightened self-condensation.
They kept all their essence in their body, sealed. It was like a living sealed can, trying to prevent essence from leaking out. The purpose was to increase lifespan and strengthen the body. This caused Garen to think of one of the highest realms of Earth's martial arts, Secure Golden Body.
As the three people walked in, they gave off an extraordinary feeling. They had strong temperaments, causing people to fix their eyes on them.
People like that stood out among the crowd. They were clearly visible, like oil on water.
The three master-levels stayed solemn. As they stood in the court, there was a certain pride and grace in them.
"Good!" Garen slapped the armrest. The smile on his face intensified.
The three of them had trained their essence in their body to a terrifying level. The firmness of their body was at an unimaginable level, as if they were evolved beings.
If they were placed in the Martial Arts World, the three of them should at least be at peak fighter level.
The three of them wore the issued black Chinese robes. They bowed towards Garen and the surrounding people.
"Are the three of you willing to join me? Label me your master?" Garen was, in fact, young, but as he spoke, others could see that he had strong momentum on his side.
No one in the crowd thought it was awkward as if it was natural.
"I, Bale, am willing!" The first man finally couldn't control his joy and quickly answered.
The remaining two had equally strong reactions. Uncontrollable joy could be seen on their faces.
"I, Kamar, am willing!" The girl answered loudly.
"Saloma greets the master!" The last one bowed to the ground. He was shaking as tears came out uncontrollably from his eyes.
He looked simple, and evidently was from a peasant background. He thought about something at the moment and acted so intensely.
In fact, the three of them as the top three were the first to touch the big jade stone. But the jade stone's reaction was incredibly weak.
They initially thought they had lost all hope.
The audition was just the first stage. If they couldn't pass the second stage, all hope would be gone.
They never thought as they were brought up to the court, Garen would directly take them as disciples.