Stealing the Show

Yeter was anxious to see Oli steal the show but before he could find Oli, the entire crowd and all of the youths in the pit became silent as everyone looked up in awe at the magicite.

It was black, showing dark affinity, but the crystal wasn't glowing like it did for everyone else. The magicite was enshrouded in darkness, appearing to have been a stolen piece of the night sky. No one had any idea what was happening or how the magicite was reacting like this.

The lively Rathe was humbled by the scene in front of him. After almost a minute, the magicite stopped glowing and everyone slowly exited their former trance.

"How was that?" asked Netra as she removed her paw from the magicite.

"Umm…" Rathe couldn't think of anything to say and chuckled to himself. "I'm sorry, I don't know myself."

"Perfect dark affinity." Vloz's statement shook the crowd to its core. "I've never seen it myself, but I think she has perfect affinity."

Rathe looked up to see Vloz in the first row of seats. When he saw the seriousness in Vloz's eyes, Rathe understood what had to be done. "Perfect dark affinity! With such talent, we would hate to see it wasted. To you, we extend the first seat in the advanced novice class. Also, we will offer your clan another one hundred gold in hopes that they will nurture you properly as their greatest genius. After the testing is over, we will also discuss what perennial grade cultivation technique you would like to train. We hope that you can grow to be a shining star within Iron Town, so you will always have our support."

Time stood still for a moment as the entire world was staring at the young fox and understanding the amazing benefits that the gorilla clan was able to offer. If Rathe hadn't publicly announced their offer to Netra and the fox clan, any of the visiting powers would have offered their own deals to try and pull them away from the Iron Territory. It was clear to everyone that Iron Town would stand against anyone here to keep their newly found genius.

Puula was the most shocked of the entire crowd. Not only had her clan just received on offer for gold and perennial grade technique, she learned that her daughter's potential was unfathomable. The better the affinity, the easier it would be to absorb, control, and cultivate essence. If she was taught properly, she would be the perfect candidate to inherit the clan.

At that moment, Puula felt torn and full of regret. She had already made Netra's twin brother the clan's young master and passed him her own perennial level technique.

According to custom, only the young master or heir to the clan is allowed to use that technique. That was the clan's only perennial level technique, which was why her twin brother was already an early-adept while she was only a mid-novice with an elder grade cultivation technique. There was a way to pass the title to someone else, but for that, the two must duel for the title and Netra was already far behind Mrado in terms of cultivation. Puula would never want to see them fight in the first place, so she racked her brain to find an outlet for her guilt.

Netra looked up at Rathe and shrugged her shoulders and replied, "Sure, I'll accept." She turned around and returned to the pit with everyone like nothing had changed.

Oli finally had a guess as to why Netra could sense his dark essence and decided that he would need to find a way to tell her in private. He looked around and saw that no one else wanted to follow her. Taking advantage of the moment, Oli walked up the stairs and cut directly to the front of the line.

When his hand touched the magicite it turned a deep yellow, like a mountainside in bright sunlight. It wasn't as spectacular or amazing as Netra, but it wasn't too far off either. The crowd could tell that it wasn't quite perfect, but the potential of the gorilla youth was still extraordinary.

"Peak earth affinity!" Rathe yelled in approval and gave Oli a thumbs up.

Oli bowed his head to his uncle and left the stage. He was glad that he followed Netra because it allowed him to keep a somewhat lower profile before the tournament. After he exited the stage, the smooth pace gradually returned, and they were through everyone before half the day was over. They all remained in the pit, waiting for Rathe's next announcement.

"The affinity testing is finally over!" Rathe shouted to the crowd. "All that's left is the tournament to help us decide the order of the students' seats and the level of support Iron Town will give them. I've already awarded the first seat to Netra from the Night Fox clan, so she will be guaranteed a perennial grade technique of her choosing. That leaves only two seats the chance to gain a perennial grade technique and the town's full support to grow. All other seats with be given out according to a cultivator's affinity level and can be aided by their good performance in the tournament. But remember, the tournament is not mandatory, and anyone can just accept their rank according to their affinity."

Stopping to breath, Rathe got a good look at the crowd. Suddenly, he equipped his gauntlets and yelled at the top of his lungs, "Now who's ready for a fight!"