Minutes went by in silence until Darian noticed several gazes coming from far away. It was subtle, and normally he didn't have senses that sharp, but this time it was crystal clear—there was a heavy animosity and a strong, dark karma behind it.
He was sure they were people from the Wube family, the ones running the tournament. Even so, he didn't feel the slightest bit afraid. That was because Irana's mother was also on that planet; if things went really bad, he was certain she'd step in to help.
Almost an hour later, the skies shook. Then, a middle-aged man radiating a white power appeared. Nearly everyone turned toward him, taking a deep breath, tense.
"I'm Atticus Wube. I'll be in charge of the tournament," the man announced, staring coldly at the thousands of human youths. "The first stage, as you all know, is the hardest. We'll be picking the top hundred directly, and they'll be the only winners."
He waved his hand, and the circular artifact above began spinning, releasing an intense silver aura. Within seconds, countless glowing runes in all kinds of colors started flowing endlessly from it.
The sky was soon blanketed with tiny runes, and more and more kept pouring out. They began falling, surrounding the entire field—there were millions of them.
"The test is simple," Atticus said, motioning with his hand and stopping the flow of runes. "These runes are natural mutations from another universe, stored inside this artifact. Each one is a mix of several elements at different levels, but at their core, every single one has a single base element."
"Half of these runes have one of the five natural elements as their base. Your goal is to use your senses and knowledge to correctly identify a hundred of them. Once you've chosen your hundred, the Supreme Artifact will tell you if you're right. If there's even one mistake, you're out. The first hundred to pass will be the winners."
He paused for a few seconds to let the rules sink in. When people started studying the runes around them, he went on: "There's no time limit, but it's a race for the first hundred. You may begin!"
Everyone focused, activating their ring's power to sense the runes nearby.
At the same time, Darian took a deep breath. Since when was his luck this good?
He had "lost" the white ring and its power, but his ability to sense and control the natural elements—or life powers—hadn't changed. He'd tested it before, and even with just the black ring, he hadn't noticed much of a difference in that skill.
So he simply activated the black ring and sensed the runes around him…
Without hesitation, he started walking and picking them up one at a time, not overthinking it.
In less than five minutes, Darian had gathered his hundred runes, using the ring's power to bring them together.
He looked up at the sky and saw Atticus watching him coldly. At that moment, the Supreme Artifact pulsed…
Right after, the hundred runes vanished, and a subtle silver aura wrapped around him.
"The first to pass has appeared," Atticus announced, emotionless.
Everyone heard it and was surprised, but they only gave Darian a quick glance before going back to the test with full focus.
Darian stayed quiet, just waiting it out.
The test was tricky—everyone had to use their ring's power to feel the runes' energy and figure out their base element, relying on their own knowledge and experience.
It was like getting a bunch of everyday objects, being blindfolded, and having to identify each one by touch alone—and also guess which one had the strongest color. Depending on the element, it could be almost impossible to tell. But since there were so many runes, if one was too hard, you could just look for another quickly.
After nearly half an hour, Atticus announced: "The second to pass has appeared."
Darian turned and saw Vanh in the distance, already surrounded by a silver aura.
'That bastard does have some skill…' Niara muttered in her head.
Time dragged on. An hour after the start, the third winner appeared, and then several more popped up within minutes of each other. At that point, Niara noticed something strange in their expressions.
'They're all hiding something… and they're a bit nervous, even after winning.'
Darian thought about it. Sure, everyone was tense during the test, but after passing, that tension should turn into joy—after all, they were now in the top 100 and officially winners.
Niara began watching everyone more closely. That's when she spotted a human woman in the crowd.
Darian focused on her and pushed his senses to the max. A few minutes later, that same woman also picked the correct hundred runes.
After two hours, seventy people had already won.
Then, right next to Darian, a silver light flared. He turned and saw Irana's eyes light up with excitement—she had passed. But it didn't last long: she quickly turned, anxious, watching the ones she had brought from her planet giving it their all against the clock.
"The hundredth winner has appeared!" Atticus announced — and it was like a lightning bolt struck all the young contestants.
Everyone quickly looked up, their eyes trembling in disbelief. They'd given it everything they had; they were the brightest and most talented from their planets — how could they not have made it?
Irana clenched her fists tightly. When she looked at her allies, she saw the disappointment written all over them: none of them had made it in time…
…yes, they hadn't picked wrong and gotten eliminated that way. In fact, very few people had been disqualified for choosing the wrong rune. The overwhelming majority simply hadn't had enough time to select all one hundred runes. It was as if three hours was an almost impossible deadline for most of the competitors.
Irana herself had also relied on some luck, since her blessing was complex — it had a strong connection to all five natural elements at once. Because of that, she had studied a lot, knew how to tell them apart, and on top of that could feel her blessing's link to the runes — making her way faster.
But most people had blessings tied to just one natural element, or none at all. So they needed more time.
The fact that so many hadn't even had enough time to be eliminated… was very, very strange.
Atticus waved his hand. "You all did your best, but unfortunately only a hundred can be honored. Now, everything is over—"
Suddenly, a calm voice cut him off.
Everyone turned… and stared at Darian, confused.
He locked eyes with the man above, and then a mocking smile spread across his face.
"I can say without a shred of doubt — at least eighty of the people who passed cheated blatantly. You're in charge, right? You really didn't notice anything wrong?"