Grey looked in the direction of the voice and noticed the speaker was a man whose hair had started turning gray with deep eyes and an obese build.
“You people are always too eager”
The man who was in charge of the group from the Qilin empire retorted in contempt. The man who just spoke was a member of the Azure empire.
The man snorted coldly before turning his gaze to the other camps.
“Since everyone is here, we shouldn’t waste any more time”
The members of the other camps all agreed, the quicker the youths get into the place, the better it was for them. The leaders of each group all walked out.
“Are we going to enter the place now?”
Klaus asked as the leader of their camp walked towards the others.
“Seems like it”
Grey nodded.
“But, we just got here. Shouldn’t they at least give us some time to rest?”
Klaus complained.
“Seems not”
Grey replied. Although the journey was tiring, since they wanted them to head in now, he had no problem with it.
He curiously stared in the direction the leaders all gathered, and he could see them placing some stones on the floor in a specific pattern. Looking closely, one could see the lines which formed up a huge array on the floor.
‘Essence stones’
Grey searched his memory for the information about them. These stones are formed in places where there are high concentrations of elemental essence. It usually takes a long time before they are formed, and they are divided into three grades; low, mid, and high grade.
These stones are great resources used for cultivating since they have pure elemental essence inside them, but they can only be used after one breaks through to the Origin Plane
After the stones were placed in their required spots, the array lit up. The stones were what was used in activating the array, Grey hasn’t gotten to this level yet, but he already knows of it.
“Step into the array, you will all be transported into…”
The leaders all told each group entering the land of trial about some of the dangers they knew about. They also reminded them to keep track of time, and they should always be wary of those from the other empires.
The youths all nodded enthusiastically before slowly stepping into the light shining off the array and disappearing. It soon got to Grey and his friends’ turn, he stilled his mind and stepped into the array. The light shone on them, and just like the others, they too disappeared.
After all the youths entered the place, the leaders all went back to their camp. They will spend the next six months here, waiting for those who would be lucky enough to come back out of the place. Sometimes, the number of people who make it out is higher, while on other times, not even up to thirty percent will make it back. The only thing which has never changed was the fact that over ninety percent of the people who came out would have already broken through to the Origin Plane.
At the camp of the Qilin empire
“How many do you think will make it?”
“I have no idea, but if more than half of the youths from our empire make it out, I’ll be content”
They weren’t the only ones wishing for this, the other empires also hoped at least half of the youths they sent into the place makes it out.
************
Grey felt like his body was being dragged by an unknown force after the light covered his entire body, he was unable to keep his eyes open and shut them tight. The feeling didn’t last long before he felt a cool breeze on his face, he slowly opened his eyes…