"Congratulations for making it past this first section, but the rest of the exams will only get harder from here. We will be testing your will, battle prowess, strength, teamwork, endurance, hunting ability, and have a tournament at the end. We will start off with the strength test next. There will be 3 lines. The first line is for people in Qi Condensation Stages 1-4. The second line will be for Qi Condensation Stage 5-9 and the Third line will be for anyone in the Foundation Realm. Now Split!" The middle-aged lady yelled and everybody went to their respective lines.
There wasn't anyone in the Foundation Realm so only the two Qi Condensation lines were filled up. It didn't take too long for everyone to line up in their respective lines as most of them were in Stage 1-4. Mira and Maria joined the second line and were somewhere around in the middle of the line.
"Good. Now that everyone is lined up let me explain how this test is going to go. This is the strength test. One needs enough strength to be able to live freely in the cultivation world and getting stronger requires training and hard work. This will separate the ones who only cultivate and the people who put in work and try to train their bodies. All you have to do is walk up and punch this stone. We have set up an inscription on the rock to measure your strength that is set to recognize your cultivation level and adjust the scoring system. Your strength will be based on a score of 100. To score a 100 then you have to be able to damage the rock. A passing grade is a 50. Just as a reference, someone who only cultivates is a 0. If you trained your body as well as cultivated then you will get higher than a 0. If you don't make it past a 50 then you will be disqualified and unable to continue on with the Examination. Don't worry about breaking the rocks because we have many more if any of them do break. Now Start!" The middle-aged woman explained as everyone nodded their heads in understanding.
The people at the front of the line then started. The woman at the front of Mira and Maria's line walked up to the rock and brought her fist back and punched the rock with all her strength.
"51, Pass! NEXT!" The Examiner lady yelled. The girl smiled brightly as she was led to the area for the people that have passed. The next person in line then walked up to the stone and took a stance and punched the rock with all of her strength.
"60, Pass! NEXT!"
"55, Pass! NEXT!"
"62, Pass! NE..."
The examinees continued punching the stone and passing before there was a sudden change and people started to fail.
"40, Fail! NEXT!"
"10, Fail! NEXT!"
"22, Fail! NEXT!"
"31, Fail! NE..."
People continued to fail and were escorted out of the area as they were now unable to continue with the Exam. Mira was a bit surprised that there are so many people that didn't work hard to improve their cultivation. She guessed that they might be poor or don't know how to train their bodies properly. Training the body is a difficult and brutal process. If one doesn't know how to properly train their body and recover then they might end up hurting themselves rather than getting stronger.
The number of people passing and failing was about half and half when it finally reached Mira's turn. Everybody's eyes were on Mira as she was the one with the ice affinity and seemed incredibly strong. As Mira walked up to the stone she thought about how she should punch the stone. Mira then thought of the perfect technique to use. Even though she doesn't like to show off, this could hardly be showing off. Mira was sure that she wouldn't even have to try to pass this stage.
Mira walked up to the stone and stood within arm's length of it. She extended her hand out like she was going to shake hands with the rock until the tips of her fingers touched the rock. She took a deep breath then formed a fist and punched the rock with full force.
*POP*
The rock tried to move but it was stuck in place. Mira's punch sent shockwaves into the rock that kept reverberating in it. Cracks then started to form on the rock before it exploded into large chunks.
Everybody watched this scene with their mouths agape!
"What the hell just happened?! It looked like she barely even punched the rock! Why did the rock explode all of a sudden?! Did she cheat somehow?!"
"What the hell was that?! I couldn't even see what she did!"
"I can't believe that someone so small can have such a strong body! She's so cool! Take off your mask!"
Many people were in awe of what Mira did, but there are quite a few people that are skeptical.
The Examiner was also shocked by this. She thought that Mira was just going to try and show off by barely punching the rock, but why did it suddenly explode? She also couldn't sense any Qi being used to cause this. The Examiner then started to investigate the pieces of rock to see if she can sense any signs of Qi being used, but after checking the rock thoroughly she's forced to say that Mira passed.
"100, Pass… Next!" The Examiner paused a bit after saying 'pass'. Mira just nodded and walked off, but underneath her mask, she was smirking.
'Fools! If you think that I barely hit that stone then think again. If they knew anything about martial arts then they would know that the punch I just threw is incredibly difficult to pull off, but the results of such a punch succeeding are amazing. Hehe.' Mira thought in her mind as she kept snickering in her mind as she walked over to the place for people who passed this test.
The Examiner had to replace the rock, but that didn't take too long as the next person in line was able to start almost immediately after. Maria just so happened to be the next person in line as everybody's eyes went away from Mira and were now focused on Maria. Maria walked up to the new stone and wondered how she should punch it. Mira has been teaching her a lot about how to throw a proper punch. Maria then thought of what she should do. Maria took a stance in front of the rock. Mira was watching as she was interested in how Maria would punch the stone and she was not disappointed. Maria took up a boxing stance and had both of her hands up near her chest. Her chest was faced perpendicular to the rock as her left foot was near the rock and her right foot was further away, about shoulder length apart from the left foot. Maria took a deep breath and narrowed her eyes. She rotated her hips as she gathered momentum and swung her right arm with full force at the rock.
*BOOM*
When her fist collided with the rock and loud boom was heard. The rock then exploded into large chunks as there was only around 30% of the rock that was still intact. Maria went back to her cheerful self after she saw she broke the rock!
"I did it! Hahaha! Mira look! How was that punch?! Pretty good right?! Haha!" Maria yelled as she asked Mira. Mira just nodded her head slightly and closed her eyes. She had to admit that it was a pretty good punch.
Everybody that was watching Maria had their jaws drop again.
"Not just one, but two people were able to break that rock! She also seemed to be acquainted with that girl who broke the rock before her!"
"What was that technique she used to punch the rock? I've never seen something like that!"
"Holy shit that girl is pretty! If she just looked at me, I could die without regrets!"
Many people had different opinions about Maria. Not as many people were as skeptical with Maria's punch. Part of it was they were able to see her swing her fist and hit the rock with a full-power strike and another was just Maria's natural charisma. She seems too innocent to cheat.
The Examiner was also looking at this scene with a complicated expression.
'Those two seem to be acquainted. I didn't feel any Qi with that attack as well, but she used a totally different move than what Mira used. But both moves looked much different than what you might normally see. I wonder how these things are related?' The Examiner wondered, but just shook these thoughts out of her head for now and inspected the rock to make sure no Qi was used. She was able to confirm that no Qi was used after inspecting all of the pieces of rock.
"100, Pass! NEXT!" The Examiner yelled as she replaced the rock again.
Maria just hopped over to Mira with a wide smile on her face. The two of them watched the rest of the examinees and waited for this test to be over so they can move onto the next test.
***
In an area located above the Entrance Exam Site, there were 6 people watching the Entrance Exam unfold. 3 of them were Diana, Ellie, and the Elder they were talking to before. The other 3 people were also Elders at the Battle Maiden Sect.
"See Elder, I told you that Maria was probably just as strong as Mira. There is no way Mira would allow someone weak to follow her around." Diana said to the Elder.
"I now understand what you were saying earlier. It also looks like either Mira trained Maria in hand-to-hand combat or they trained together with the same teacher. But what I want to know is what technique Mira used to make the rock explode like that. I've never seen anything like that. It looked like she barely put any effort into attacking the rock." The Elder said back.
"Right, right? I want to know that as well! I also want to know what that girl, Maria, did as well. It looked extremely simple, but she was able to gather so much power behind her fist! I want to try that out! Haha!" Another Elder spoke up, but this one was much louder and battle-crazy. The two other Elders also nodded their heads as they would like to know as well.
"Umm. I think that it was probably Mira that taught Maria." Ellie suddenly spoke up and caught the attention of all of the Elders.
"Why do you say that?"
"Well, there are a couple of reasons. The main reason is that when I was talking to Maria, she said that Mira was drilling her in unarmed combat every day for hours. The other reason is that Maria said that Mira calls herself a Grand Master in terms of unarmed combat. She was also able to incapacitate Diana before Diana could even blink with just her hands. I don't know if she is at the level of Grand Master, but I don't think Mira would boast about something like that for no reason." Ellie explained to them as Diana put her head down in shame.
"Hmph! Merely the boasting of a child! I will have to test her myself after she joins the Battle Maiden Sect to determine whether or not this is true." One of the Elders snorted and already assumed that Mira would pass the Entrance Exam. The rest of the Elders thought the same thing as well.
Ellie and Diana just silently shook their heads. They don't know Mira's personality and it is definitely not prideful or arrogant. If Mira speaks, it is probably the truth.
The six of them continued to watch the Entrance Exams.
***
Only an hour or two went by for everyone's strength to get tested and the people who passed heard the powerful middle-aged woman from before.
"Congratulations on passing the Strength Test! We will now be moving on to the Test of Will!"
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