8) The Test For The Apostle

"Rai"

"I see. Then again, which sect is he from?"

"He is not someone from a sect, he showed exceptional talent in the qualification rounds, so we were observing him."

"Hmm I should meet with him and ask if he wants to be my disciple."

"I'm confident that he will accept your offer."

While hearing this conversation, the people around the thunder god and the elder werewolf became serious and concentrated their auras towards Rai, the werewolf which won the battle. One could even sense bloodlust among those auras, becoming the thunder god's disciple is something that every warrior in their kingdom worked for tirelessly afterall.

Rai was flustered by all the attention he is gaining and gulped down a good amount of saliva before shouting

"Oh, great thunder god, I, your subject plead you to take me in as your disciple!"

The only reason a God would come to a tournament would be to find capable people who could increase his influence. Even participating in such a tournament is hard enough, however Rai did not only manage to enter the tournament without being a part of any sect, but he also showed exceptional talent. As the thunder god was already preparing to ask Rai to become his disciple, he had no reason to decline. However, he needed to make it clear that Rai had exceptional talent since he needed to show the other werewolves that his choice was correct.

"Fine then, however, you will have to defeat the master of the demonic-thunder dual blade arts, the sect leader of the sect the person you had just defeated belong to, in an 'only skill' battle."

The noice across the stadium suddenly stopped. And after a moment the silence was broken with laughter from all over the crowd.

"Haha, he has to defeat our sect leader?"

The guy who just lost the duel also started to laugh. An only skill battle is a battle in which both the individuals are given exactly 100 stats in each department and all skills and authorities would be blocked off. It would be the perfect stage to decide who had higher skills among two people. Ofcourse the chances of the sect leader, who obviously fought tons of battles and gained a lot of experience over years would win than that of a genius who is new to fighting.

The sect leader tried to refute but couldn't dare to oppose the decision of the thunder god.

After an hour, as Rai was completely healed, they started the fight.

"Child, I do not wish to hurt you too much since it would be disgraceful for me to do so, however I can't go easy on you since this duel has been requested directly by none other than the thunder god. So make sure to try your best and not get hurt, I believe in the god's selection, so it should be fine."

Thankfully, the sect leader seemed to be a good guy.

"I shall do my best oh great master."

"Commence the duel!"

With that announcement the fight begun and to the surprise of all the crowd, the sect leader lost after a battle of 40 minutes.

"How?"

"All his movements are refined. He certainly is more proeficient at the thunder god's dual sword arts."

"It is probably because he practiced the thunder god's dual sword arts real hard while them being undoubtedly the greatest dual sword arts."

"As expected, the thunder god's eye for talent is astounding. He is totally capable of being his disciple."

"Darn, wish I was that talented too..."

Many people could be heard murmuring about all sorts of things among the crowd.

"Well then, as I promised, you will be my disciple from this moment onwards."

And the first thing that thunder god thaught him was something rather unexpected.

"Whenever you see bastards who are unusually strong and are wrong in head, make sure to not mess with them. They are existences that one should never mess with, the 'Apostles'."

***

"I see."

Mumured Rai while looking at Gi Wan.

He then quickly sheathed his swords and knelt before him to say

"Oh great apostle, forgive me for being rude towards you earlier, I couldn't recognize that you were an apostle. My name is Rai, and as you said I am the Thunder God's disciple. I came here because my master wanted me to gain some stats which would help me accomplish my first transcention."

"I see. But, how did you know I was an apostle?"

Gi Wan couldn't understand. Apostle. A word which he was completely unfamiliar with even with his authority over information. However Rai knew that he was an apostle after a simple conversation that didn't even last a minute.

"My master said that apostles are the ones who are unreasonably strong and have a screw loose."

"Ok"

Gi Wan knew he wasn't lying since he still had that serious expression on his face. And it is more likely for thunder god, who is an unbounded entity to know about apostles.

"Anywa-"

「The error as been corrected.」

A sudden message interrupted his words. Gi Wan felt like his head was being grinded between two trucks.

'W-What's with this pain?'

He wobbled about while gripping his head tight.

「Your second proof quest will begin.」

He remembered the first test, which he just passed a while ago by defeating the orc and formed a displeased expression.

「You will be teleported to the proof tester.」

「As the rank of the certain apostle is too high you will be sent to the ####」

The words were tagged. This meant that the place's name was something that could bring upon distruction just upon being mentioned. He, then, felt as if his whole existence was being broken down to tiny atoms and felt them coming back again. It was truly a horrifying experience.

「You are in ####」

「The system will temporarily shut down.」

Gi Wan found himself in the space. The space had many stars, golden particles moving like a stream and shining objects moving too fast to even see them.

'Where am I?'

『You are at the beginning of the universe.』

A voice so deep that it felt as if he would vomit his organs just by hearing it could be heard.

"Urk!"

「Oops pardon my rudeness.」

It was the system. No, the system certainly closed down after it's last message. Which meant that the existence he heard earlier was a being who can play with the system however it wanted.

「This should be good enough for you to comfortably talk to me.」

「You have aquired the world's helper.」

「The world's helper is a function outside of the system. So you should be able to use it even now and for reference, it will make you immune to any mind attacks, although it would be pretty much a status resistance skill for you considering you are the Apostle of nothing.」

『Ahem! child, are you fine now?』