章 3: City in the clouds
"I see."
"Although I have never seen her before, they say her beauty is among the highest on the continent and she is said to be extremely talented." Olivia continued, she seemed to take an interest in the these types of topics so Vasari just listened and took in as much information as as e could.
"There are also rumours that she has a powerful bloodline that has something to do with the metal element. Ah what was it called again...oh yes, she has the Copper Dragon bloodline."
Vasari raised his eyebrows in surprise. Although Copper Dragons are on the lower end of the spectrum in the Dragon race in terms of strength, it was still a dragon at the end of the day. Copper Dragons were known for their robust scales and their insane control over the metal element.
------
Hours passed until Vasari heard another commotion in the front of the lines.
"87%, 16 years old, pass!"
"Wow the Timore princess really does the rumours justice. She is gorgeous."
"Not just beautiful but so talented. If only I had such talent."
Stunning wavy hair that freely cascaded her back. The crowd was mesmerized by the unique reddish-brown hair colour of the third princess which looked very similar to copper. Her skin was like unblemished, pale ivory. Her soft-arched eyebrows were a darker shade than her hair but her eyes were the same mesmerizing reddish-brown colour. Her small nose paired with her full lips sent many men drooling as their imaginations went wild. She was of average height for women, about 167cm(5ft5) tall. The princess wore a black casual dress with a brown coat, giving her a classy but reserved look.
"The person that just passed was the third princess of the Timore Kingdom, Talia Timore," Olivia informed Vasari who nodded in understanding.
Not long later many youths cheered as Talia easily exchanged 3 moves with the training dummy.
Vasari patiently waited in line until it was his turn. Vasari did not know that he was dead last in the queue and it would be quite a while until it was his turn.
Hours quickly passed and Vasari was thankful for Olivia since her constant talking made the hours fly by.
"Vasari it is finally your turn. Just walk 5 metres forward then you will be in front of the mana aptitude testing monolith. You know what to do from there. Good luck!" Olivia cheered Vasari on but in truth, she did not think he would pass but she still held on to that slither of hope that he does manage to pass.
Vasari smiled warmly at Olivia before following her instructions. He walked 5 metres forward before stretching out his right hand and placing it against the cold surface of the monolith. He sent small strands of Qi into the monolith before it started to light up from the bottom.
10%
20%
30%
50%
70%
80%
Only when the light filled 80% of the Monolith did it begin to slow down.
85%
90%
Those who were not paying much attention to Vasari at first had looks of disbelief etched on their faces.
Having a 90% affinity to mana was basically unheard of. It was as rare as dragons and phoenixes, and throughout the history of over 40 000 years since the sects founding there have only been 4 disciples who had over 89% affinity to mana. However, it did not stop there.
91%
92%
Some in the crowd forgot to breathe as they watched history being made.
93%
94%
95%
The light suddenly stopped moving and Vasari removed his hands from the monolith.
Hearing the instructor not announcing his results, Vasari got a little nervous.
He turned around to face Olivia who was standing with her jaw dropped, nearly touching the grass beneath her feet.
"Olivia, how did I do? Did I pass?"
Olivia snapped out of her daze after hearing his question.
"A-ah yes, you did. Uhm, Elder Rema!" Olivia called out to the elder in charge of overseeing Vasari's monolith.
"Oh yes, sorry. Uhh 95%, 16 years old, pass." Elder Rema took a moment to compose himself before announcing the results.
Those who could not believe their eyes after seeing the silver monolith basically light up entirely, could not believe what they were hearing.
"Jeez, 95% is so insane. Who is this guy?"
"I'm not sure but why is a cloth covering his eyes? Is he blind?"
"The heavens are truly fair. He is the most handsome man I've ever seen and his affinity for mana is unheard of. It is unfortunate that he is blind."
"True. He might not even pass the next exam. Isn't that such a waste of talent?"
Conversations of a similar manner were being held between all those who passed the entrance exam and were viewing from a distance. Those 20 figures were unusually quiet as they all closely watched Vasari from their hidden stands.
Oblivious to these conversations, Vasari continued to the next exam.
"Are you ready young man?" Elder Rema asked and he received a nod from Vasari before activating the training dummy.
The training dummy sped off towards Vasari who remained still, seemingly oblivious to his surroundings. The dummy reached 2 metres in front of Vasari before it swung its fist aimed at the body of Vasari.
The dummies fist was mere centimetres away from impacting Vasari's chest. Everyone from the spectating youths to the elders overlooking the exam thought that Vasari would fail this exam. Some sighed in pity, some gloated at his misfortune and others had little to no reaction.
It was then that Vasari finally made his move. He bent his knees and leaned his upper body back until he formed a perfect 90-degree angle. The dummies punch missed his chest and was about to perform its next attack when it suddenly went flying forward after Vasari kicked the back of its head.
If one had to describe the type of kick Vasari just performed it would be the perfect bicycle kick.
Vasari gracefully stood up straight and turned to face the dummy slowly returning to its feet. As if mocking the dummy, a slight smirk adorned his handsome face.
"Did he just land a hit on the training dummy?" One male youth asked while rubbing his eyes in disbelief.
"M-m-maybe he just got lucky." Another young male youth countered.
"Let's see if it's luck then, the dummy is making its next move."
The dummy did not sprint towards Vasari this time but instead slowly walked towards him. When it felt that the distance was right, it performed a basic heel kick aimed at Vasari's head. As the dummy's foot was about to impact against his head, Vasari moved his left arm to block the kick but the dummy suddenly raised his leg higher and swung it downwards to hit the top of Vasari's head instead.
As if he had eyes at the top of his head, Vasari raised his right hand with amazing speed and precision just in time to block the surprise kick. Vasari felt his knees bend slightly due to the impact but a small smirk remained on his face as he pushed the dummies leg away from him to create distance between them.
The dummy did not allow Vasari to rest and as soon as it stabilized itself it once again approached Vasari for the last exchange.
It got within striking distance of Vasari before it performed a basic right-hand uppercut which Vasari easily dodged by leaning back thereby passing the entrance exam to the CloudHaven Sect.
"Congratulations young man, you pass." Elder Rema congratulated Vasari and announced that he officially passed.
A few of the youths were left dumbstruck at how easy Vasari made the dummy test look and what's worse, is the fact that he is blind.
"And with that, this year's Entrance Exam for the CloudHaven Sect is officially complete. Out of over 300 000 hopeful youths, only 350 of you managed to pass and become disciples of one of the best sects in the world. You should be proud of your achievement but I will be the first to tell you that if you do not work hard and begin to slack off from your training then your life inside the sect will be absolute hell. You can't get anywhere without hard work and this is especially true in our CloudHaven Sect that strives for excellence."
Elder Rema started a boring lecture that seemed to last longer than the entire Entrance Exam.
"I will give you lot 2 minutes to rest before we leave for the real sect."
A few youths were shocked to find out that they were not already in the CloudHaven Sect grounds while a few did not react almost as if they already knew about it.
"Wow, Vasari you were amazing! How did you manage to predict the dummy's movements." Olivia appeared in front of Vasari and reached out to grab his hands before bombarding him with questions.
Vasari Chuckled lightly at this girl's antics before quenching her thirst for answers.
"Since I can't use my eyes, the rest of my senses have developed to be better than average cultivators. It is nothing special."
"Hmph liar, I can literally see the arrogance oozing from your body." Olivia teased Vasari and playfully flicked his forehead. "Vasari, I have to help the elders get the transport ready and we probably won't see each other again for a while...so look after yourself until I find you again, ok. Don't get into too much trouble."
Vasari smiled before saying goodbye to the reluctant-to-leave Olivia.
Not far away from where Vasari and Olivia were conversing, a young woman with copper-like coloured hair was watching the duo, more precisely Vasari, with interest.
When she saw that Vasari was left alone she approached him but before she could get close, the loud voice of Elder Rema sounded out again.
"Okay everyone come to me, we are almost ready to depart."
Elder Rema was standing on the back of a large Roc that measured 27 metres (90ft) from head to tail and had a wingspan of 73 metres (240ft). What made the sight even more amazing for these youths was that there were 15 Rocs of similar size, standing obediently behind the Roc Elder Rema was standing on.
"Organize yourselves into groups of 22 and make your way towards a colossal roc. 2 groups will have 21 but don't stress about that."
The youths quickly organized themselves into 16 groups of 22 and 1 by 1 they walked up the massive wings the colossal Rocs lowered for them to board it.
Vasari who was in one of the groups with 21 youths, waited in line for his turn to board the Roc. When he stepped onto the wing of the Roc, it involuntarily shivered slightly. It was barely noticeable by anyone on the bird and not even Elder Rema noticed anything suspicious.
Vasari grinned mischievously and went to take a seat.
------
"Everybody all aboard?!" Elder Rema asked but he knew everyone was already on a Roc. Nevertheless, everybody still screamed 'yes' due to their excitement.
"Elder Rema, where are the rest of the elders?" A pretty female that was sitting slightly behind Elder Rema asked.
"They left soon after the exams ended on their own beast mounts while taking the blacksmiths, alchemists and formationists with them." Elder Rema answered and the girl nodded in understanding.
Seeing that there was no more questions, Elder Rema whistled loudly causing all the rocs to spread their wings as far as they could before they flapped once and took off.
Although they were moving at speeds that mere Mortal Ascension Realm cultivators could not survive, the rocs protected the bodies of these youths with its Mana and also made it impossible for them to fall off.
After flying for over 12 hours they finally reached their destination. The group of 349 youths were let speechless by the sight infront of them.
An actual city was floating above the clouds. The city was huge, no smaller than some of the biggest cities from whatever kingdoms these youths came from. The sight was mesmerizing and forever etched into the hearts of these young cultivators.
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