Chapter 8: Commencing The Operation

In the third level’s hour of the Incarnation Scouring formation soul’s trial, an additional child like creature appeared atop the white cloud.

The might of the third level was equivalent to a Peak Core Master with endless soul energy. To keep his facade, Zax had to relinquish the black sphere he used in the previous two levels and come up with an actual defensive soul formation.

Of the remaining one hundred and fifty seven contenders, around fifty were eliminated.

In the fourth level’s hour not a cloud, but a storm emerged in the sea of consciousness of every contenders, and atop the array of white clouds was a legion of the child like creature. Individually they were not as strong as in the second and third levels, but as a large unit even a typical Beginner first level Martial Mortal would find it straining to resist them.

When the fourth hour came to a close, sixty six contenders got eliminated, remaining forty one.

“Everyone, please congratulate the forty one brave participants who will accompany us to the third trial day of the Elite Tryouts!” Armin enthusiastically called for the crowd’s applause.

The number of eliminations for the second trial day was undefined since it was already estimated that between fifty and forty contenders will pass, an ideal amount to proceed with to the third trial day, and there were no planning to initiate the fifth level of the Incarnation Scouring formation.

The crowd rose to their feet, exploding with the cheers they kept inside in the duration of the enlightening trial.

“Everyone, please thank his grace, Archbishop Silternja, for the erection and preservation of the Incarnation Scouring formation!”

“Thank you, your grace!”

“Thank you, Archbishop Silternja!”

“Thank you!”

“Thank you!”

Even some of the members of the church who were first level Martial Mortals had profited from the trial, and so could not restrain the tears flowing down their eyes when they express gratitude to their Archbishop, without him the would have lost on a great opportunity.

Armin finished with a prayer to The Almighty, following with inviting the forty one contenders to the Grand Abode, until the third trial the day after tomorrow.

Zax, naturally, accepted the invitation, and as he headed to the largest structure in all of Onzengvas city, he skimmed the group of contenders that remained.

‘Neyrar passed’. He was not surprised. In fact, he had the feeling that this compatriot had much hidden beneath his sleeves. ‘Bogon somehow managed’. The Dry Shell Tortoise’s expertise was in bodily cultivation. In terms of soul, he had to strive several times harder than others, just so he could manage his enhanced physique. ‘Bin Bin, that girl Benni and Nirik Je also made it’. Hason and Shila forfeited at the fifth and seventh minutes of the fourth level. ‘These two are from Kingdom Earth ... besides Neyrar they are the only ones to pass’. He remembered their faces from the Martial competition, but did not pay attention to their names. ‘Luminous Church has seven members still in the tryouts’. It was not unexpected if they even had been drilled in the testing methods of the tryouts. ‘They passed, too’. Sioul and Els, the two other underdogs ... if one will bother to look at Sister Mafita’s face; he or she will find satisfaction reflecting back from her black eyes.

“His grace Archbishop Silternja was really impressed by your performance and sees you all as honorary members of the church, if not official members”. Sister Juliet said with a proud smile for being Archbishop Silternja’s messenger. “Therefore he would like to host you yet again in his Grand Abode, this time in the fourth floor, so you could immerse yourselves more in the splendor of the church”.

Zax, as well as the other twenty nine contenders, including those of the church, who accepted the invitation were led to their new and grander chambers.

‘I don’t feel comfortable with senior Gid’s date of commencing the operation ... the cleansing day may sound optimal, but the church will probably change its conduct and I can’t predict the changes in its security. Tomorrow night’. Zax lay on his bed, disregarding the holy scriptures on the cabinet beside it and the overall religious atmosphere that was instilled in the chamber, just from being part of the Grand Abode. ‘Tonight I’ll wonder on the floor, pretend to be interested in the church’s formation portraits’. The fourth floor had unique formation portraits that worked like Screens, enabled to view recordings of pivotal congregation in the church’s history. ‘If I won’t locate a timely passage to the fifth floor, then I’ll just make a go for it. I’m also not sure what level of attention will be on us after the third trial... ‘ He decided.

There were several hours before dinner. He closed his eyes, concentrating on one topic in his mind.

‘The dark devours and the light birth... ?’

After dinner Zax refused Bogon, and a few other contenders who were not part of the church, to insight exchange. The third trial was of Martial art and his path was with the dark maneuvers, a road he could only rely on himself to formulate, and he also had plans for the late evening.

There were four stairways from the fourth to the fifth floor. Zax walked across them all as he examined the formation portraits and acted as if he contemplated over some of them.

‘The stairways aren’t guarded by formation, but every time I walked by one of them, I feel a pair of eyes watching me’.

Since members of the church, of all ranks, walked up and down often through all the storeys of the Grand Abode using identification measures would have been cumbersome on the daily operation. Furthermore, though members that work in the above floors were kidnapped in the past, there never was the event of someone infiltrating the abode. Still, Archbishop Silternja could not take the risk of a contender, even if by ludicrous mistake, climbing to the fifth or above floors, so he ordered for surveillance to be stationed at every stairway.

‘I can’t use Soul Sense to determine the cultivation of the expert hiding or locate them, but the chance of them being fourth level Martial Mortals is zero and even third level Martial Mortal is too much of a stretch. The church thinks that it’s accommodating, at best, Peak Core Master who can rival weak first level Martial Mortals. The guards in the stairways are, most likely, maximum second level Martial Mortals’. In other words, a threat he could get rid of quickly. ‘No matter what, I have to assume that the instant I’m detected, the whole church is aware of my presence and its strongest experts are on the move. To avoid getting caught I’ll have to come up with a diversion’. For a fraction of second he thought that it will be a problem, but then his pupils fell down in a deep stare, as if penetration the tiles of the fourth floor to the third...