Undercurrents

The young warrior slowly walked towards the Asura statue. Although he was young, his body was strong and muscular, and he exuded an air of toughness. When he reached near the statue, he respectfully stood still and waited for Rexton's instructions.

At this time, the eyes of everyone present were on the young warrior from the Blue Swan family.

Rexton glanced at the youth and said in a low voice, "Begin."

The crowd had already started to discuss among themselves in hushed voices.

"He is Leo, the prodigy from the Blue Swan family. I heard he drinks the blood of Ranked Apocalypse beasts on a daily basis," someone exclaimed. It appeared Leo was a famous figure from the younger generation.

Several people sucked in a breath of cold air at his words, and the way they looked at Leo also changed.

After all, anyone who knew some basic things about this world knew just how difficult it was to hunt these ranked beasts.

To kill a single ranked beast, a fully equipped human party was required.

Like human knights, apocalypse beasts were also divided into many categories on the basis of the strength they possessed. The weakest ranked beast had strength comparable to a legendary knight, if not stronger.

"These people are really fortunate. When we were young, we had to go to the enemy tribe and bring their heads back; only then could we participate in the ceremony," a member of the older generation sighed and reminisced about the past.

Nods of agreement from other seniors met his words, but the murmuring quickly died as Leo raised a ceremonial knife, slicing a thin line across his palm.

"Ceremony initiation," Rexton said in a low voice. Although his voice was low, it seemed to be filled with vast and majestic power that reverberated throughout the square, weighing down on everyone.

Feeling the stinging pain in his skin, Gray's eyes narrowed. Indeed, Rexton was definitely a Sky Knight, but Gray couldn't understand why he was displaying his powers so domineeringly.

Unknown to Gray, the expression of the Elder from the Blue Swan family turned extremely ugly as if he had swallowed a fly; however, his face quickly returned to normal.

Before the crowd, Leo pressed his bleeding palm against the statue's foot, letting a single, bright drop of blood fall. It struck the stone, and suddenly the statue's eyes gleamed with a savage, almost living intensity. The air pulsed with a sense of bloodthirsty madness that swept through the square like a wave.

The hair on Gray's body stood as a gaze filled with madness and bloodthirstiness aslo landed on his body.

He remained calm as he was already prepared for such a scene. However, not everyone was like him. Some of the faint-hearted youths who weren't prepared fainted and fell to the ground one after the other, like broken puppets with their strings cut off.

Gray's attention remained locked on the statue as a crimson glow slowly rose from its feet, creeping upward until it reached the chest, where it abruptly stopped as if bound by some invisible force.

Looking at this scene, Leo Blue Swan smiled; his smile was filled with confidence. Not just him, the elder from the Blue Swan family also started to laugh loudly, his laughter filled with pride.

The face of Rexton remained unmoved and he announced in a cold tone, "Leo Blue Swan, corruption level 80%, talent to become a Magus is high. Next."

Though his tone was emotionless, whispers filled the crowd, and awe was unmistakable. An 80% corruption level was rare and powerful; only a handful appeared in a decade.

This also represented a 80% chance of becoming a Magus in the future.

Leo's face beamed as he walked back to his group. If no accidents happened, the path to knighthood would be extremely smooth, and he might even become a magus in the future.

But it was not a guarantee, as in the past years many geniuses with 80% corruption level had appeared but none had managed to become a magus.

His companions immediately started to fawn over him, and some of the girls also tried to act close.

Gray observed from afar, his expression amused, though inside he was wary. What a clever move by the Blue Swan family, he thought. They've set the bar high, ensuring everyone remembers their name first.

He wasn't wrong. The Blue Swan family's calculated display of Leo's talent had set a new expectation, one hard to follow.

"Sigh! There is really a huge difference between a noble clan and ordinary people," someone lamented in an agitated voice from the crowd.

Many people threw Leo gazes filled with jealousy, while even more had fixated stares at the second youth moving towards the statue.

The process repeated once more, and it was a pity that this youth didn't reach Leo's level; he barely reached the 40% mark, barely qualifying.

Just like this, all twenty youths from the Blue Swan family completed their ceremony. Most of them easily reached the 40% mark except for a few unlucky ones.

After Leo, no one managed to reach the 80% mark, and it was understandable; no one had any expectations either.

If everyone reached the 80% level, the Blue Swan family would have already dominated Light Heaven City.

Next, it was the turn of the second strongest noble family, the Stormwind family.

The performance of this family had remained mediocre; they hadn't been able to nurture a super genius like Leo. As such, their fate was also similar to the Peace-loving family. Fortunately for them, their Legendary Knight was still around.

The fiery atmosphere had calmed down, with people chatting and laughing among each other.

However, Gray noticed two strange things. First was the attitude of Rexton; he was even smiling while talking to elders of the Stormwind family and even looked at their genius with an encouraging look.

Secondly, the Earthly Knight of Stormwind looked too confident; he didn't look like someone who was from a mediocre family.

While Gray was busy thinking, the surroundings seemed to have suddenly fallen extremely silent; for a moment, there was pin-drop silence in the square.

Puzzled, Gray turned his head to look in the direction of the statue, and then his eyes almost popped out of their sockets.

The grand statue of Asura was radiating an incomparably crimson light, and not just that—the whole statue was lit up from head to toe.