Alex looked at the different people on the stage and saw that he recognized a few. He obviously recognized his senior sister as well as Wan Li and the other 2 participants of his own sect.
But he also saw Du Yuhan, as well as the guy his senior sister seemed to hate for some reason, Yang Ma. He tried searching for other people, but he couldn't recognize any of the other participants aside from their robes, which wasn't very helpful.
Just as he was looking at them, 3 Metal puppets appeared on the stage out of nowhere and stood there just waiting to get hit.
Fu Zhem walked to the puppets and said, "I will now explain the rules of this competition."
"The Damage test, as its name suggests, will be looking at your ability to deal damage to these puppets. The puppets have zero defense and no resistance, so you can attack without any worries," Fu Zhen said.
3 screens appeared in the air above the puppets, as well as 3 others high in the air for the audience to see what was happening.
Each of the small screens was blank for now, while the screen in the air showed everything that was happening around the wooden puppets, including the smaller screen.
"Alright, this screen up here will show your damage on the wooden puppet," Fu Zhen said as he flicked the head of the puppet.
The word appeared on the black screen. "As you can see, this is my physical damage."
Fu Zhen then moved to another puppet and flicked it, "As you can see, the screen doesn't pop on this one. That's because this one only accepts elemental damage," Fu Zhen said as he threw a small Qi attack towards it.
Suddenly, the screen lit up and it showed the words
"Lastly, this is a special puppet as it only takes damage from mental attacks. Close your ears," Fu Zhen said as he called for someone. A young female walked up and suddenly screamed.
The nearby people thankfully had their ears plugged, so didn't take any damage.
"As you can see, if you have a strong mental attack, you can use that here as well," Fu Zhen said.
"I will call out your names one by one, please come forward and attack the puppet of your choice. You will get 3 attacks and may use any weapons. The top 256 people with the highest damage will move on to the next round."
"First of all, From the Undying sect, Tian Hao. Please come forward," Fu Zhen spoke.
A strong-looking young man walked out of the group and walked to the puppet that took physical damage.
"Alright, attack," Fu Zhen said.
The man nodded and took out a blade from his storage bag. He took a deep breath and the blade started glowing red. He immediately dashed forward and swung the sword right at the chest of the puppet.
There was not a single scratch on the puppet, but words did appear on the screen.
"Good, you have 2 more chances. Do you want to use it?" Fu Zhen asked. Tian Hao thought for a few seconds and nodded. He attacked the puppet twice more, but the result was the same.
"Okay. Tian Hao from the Undying sect. The highest attack is at Meridian Tempering - 6th Realm," Fu Zhen announced.
"Next up is Hua Mexin from Hanging Fruit sect," Fu Zhen announced.
Alex watched from the seating area and was a little confused, "Is… is it going to be just this for the next 300 or so turns?" he asked.
"Yes. This will work as an introduction for the audience to the various people fighting in the competition. Besides, it won't take just as long as the first one. Since the others know what to do, they won't take much time," Ma Rong said.
"Alright," Alex said and looked back at the stage.
The elemental damage-taking puppet had a hovering on the screen above it. The lady who just attacked, however, decided to not attack twice, and it was time for the next contestant.
"Oh, she must be confident in her skill huh. Is the peak of Meridian tempering really that strong?" Alex asked.
"It should get you to the Top 50 in terms of strength with just that," Ma Rong said.
"Oh, then the overall strength must no— " Suddenly, gasps rang out from the people. Alex turned around to see that the physical puppet had 4 words hovering over it.
Seeing those words made him stop speaking and rethink what he was going to say.
"Who is that guy?" Alex asked as he looked down below. The guy was wearing a white robe and had a smug smile on his face.
"Tsk. I want to punch that face."
Alex looked to the side with surprise when he heard Ma Rong speak that sentence. "What?" He asked in confusion.
"Sigh, never mind. I just hate that robe," Ma Rong said.
Alex looked back and focused on that robe and realized where he had seen it before. "Ah, it's that guy's sect," Alex said as he remembered Sect Leader Li of the Golden Eagle sect who tried to flirt with Ma Rong.
No wonder she was getting annoyed.
"Did they never take part in the production competitions?" Alex asked.
"Probably not. Their sect is a normal one like the Tiger sect, so a few might have taken part in different competitions. But none were good enough to stand out.
The Damage test actually went far faster than Alex would've thought it would. Every minute new people were being tested, sometimes 2 or even 3.
In half an hour, nearly 50 people were already tested.
Amongst those people, only 3 people managed to go beyond the Mind Tempering realm. Alex soon realized how hard it was to find a Mind Tempering expert in the Crimson Empire that was also below 25 years of age.