Chapter 148: Chapter 148: Second Trial
Chapter 148: Second Trial
The two hundred geniuses of the Outer Frontier stood clustered together within the massive stone ring, none of them daring to take even a single step ahead.
They weren’t fools.
They all knew that whoever dared to strike first would become the primary target for Navarre, and would be instantly thrown out of the ring.
The safest strategy was obvious: hide in the crowd, avoid confrontation, and let the clock run out.
Navarre’s elegant smile didn’t waver, but a flicker of cold amusement passed through his eyes.
He had expected this.
Sheep always huddled together when the wolf appeared.
"No volunteers?" Navarre chuckled, tilting his head. "How disappointing."
The geniuses gritted their teeth, but the group remained entirely stationary.
Just then, from the very edge of the circle, a calm voice drifted across the arena.
"I have a question! What happens if we eliminate him instead?"
Two hundred pairs of eyes, along with the thousands of spectators in the stands, instantly snapped toward the source.
The two hundred candidates inside the ring quickly parted, star at Rhain with expressions ranging from shock to outright disbelief.
Several of them instinctively took a step away from him, as though his audacity might be contagious.
Rhain stood with his arms crossed, looking up at the elevated platform.
The hundred thousand spectators gasped in collective disbelief.
"What did he just say?"
"Eliminate a Stormveil disciple? Is he insane?"
The Stormveil Academy disciples also reacted with a mixture of incredulity and open mockery.
Calanthe sneered, looking down at Rhain with an expression of pure disgust. "He couldn’t even light the tablet past a single foot, broke the artifact out of sheer dumb luck, and now he thinks he can defeat Navarre? He must be dreaming good!"
The other Stormveil disciples joined in with sneers and scoffs.
"A rock must have hit his head when the tablet exploded."
"The Outer Frontier truly breeds the most entertaining clowns."
"Foolish. Absolutely foolish."
Sitting nearby, Aurelian frowned slightly. Rhain was their benefactor, and he could not just simply listen others mocking him like that.
"Honored disciples, you should not be so quick to judge," Aurelian defended with a solemn tone. "That young man’s strength is far beyond what you perceive. I would advise you not to underestimate him
Calanthe didn’t even bother to look at Aurelian, waving her hand dismissively. "Patriarch Aurelian, you might have been fooled by him. A boy who couldn’t produce a single foot of light on the Origin Insight Tablet is, by every conceivable standard, trash."
The other Stormveil disciples nodded in agreement, entirely disregarding Aurelian’s warning.
"Hahahaha!"
A burst of amused laughter suddenly rang.
Fabian sat in his high seat, looking down at Rhain with an intrigued expression.
This boy had shattered his measuring tablet without a clear result, and now he was spouting such arrogant words.
"If anyone standing in that circle manages to knock Navarre out of bounds or force him to surrender," Fabian declared loudly, "I will bypass all further evaluations. That person will be directly accepted as an Inner Palace Disciple of the Stormveil Academy!"
The Colosseum erupted into murmurs.
Inner Palace Disciple!
A direct admission into the second-highest tier of the Academy.
It was an offer of staggering value.
Down in the arena, Navarre’s handsome face darkened.
He slowly turned his head, his icy gaze locking entirely onto Rhain.
"You think you can eliminate me?" Navarre asked dangerously.
Rhain met his cold gaze with a completely unbothered expression.
He simply shrugged his shoulders.
"Don’t take it so personally," Rhain replied indifferently. "I was just asking for general knowledge."
The nonchalant response only deepened the cold fury simmering behind Navarre’s handsome facade.
But before he could respond, a graceful figure moved through the crowd of candidates and came to stand beside Rhain.
It was Liana.
She stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Rhain, her silver longsword drawn, her beautiful eyes locked warily on Navarre.
Seeing this, Navarre’s face turned green with jealousy.
First, the peerless fairy with the True Heavenly Physique called him husband.
And now, the second most beautiful woman he had laid eyes upon in this city was openly siding with the same commoner?
A dangerous light flickered in the depths of Navarre’s eyes.
He forcefully smoothed his expression back into an elegant, harmless smile and turned away from Rhain to address the entire ring.
"It seems no one is willing to come forward," Navarre sneered, "Very well. If you refuse to take the initiative, I shall stop wasting everyone’s precious time."
BOOM!
He didn’t target any specific individual. He simply shot into the densely packed crowd of two hundred geniuses like a hawk diving into a flock of sparrows.
The effect was immediate and devastating.
The two hundred geniuses scattered like frightened sheep.
Panic erupted as they desperately tried to flee and save themselves.
But there were still a few unlucky ones who could not escape in time.
A young woman from a minor sect couldn’t change direction in time.
Navarre’s open palm struck her squarely in the shoulder — a casual, almost lazy blow that nonetheless sent her body hurtling through the air.
She crashed into the stone floor ten feet beyond the carved boundary line.
She was the first one to be eliminated.
"No—!" the girl cried out, clutching her bruised shoulder.
"Gah!"
Three more candidates who had been too slow to react were swept aside in rapid succession.
"Eliminated."
"Eliminated."
"Eliminated."
Just as Navarre moved forward, a towering man wielding a giant battle-axe leaped into the air from behind him.
"Face this!" the man roared, bringing the heavy axe down toward Navarre’s unprotected back with all his might.
It was a perfect sneak attack.
But Navarre didn’t even turn his head.
As a Spirit Manifestation Realm expert, his Spiritual Sense had already mapped the entire arena
It was as if he had eyes on the back of his head.
Navarre simply sidestepped at the very last second.
The giant axe smashed into the stone floor, and before the man could recover his balance, Navarre struck his chest with an open palm.
BAM!
The axe-wielding man was launched like a cannonball, skidding across the stone and tumbling out of bounds.
The crowd gasped in horror.
That man was the genius who had lit the tablet to fifty feet!
He was considered one of the strongest among the candidates to enter Stormveil Academy, yet he was already eliminated in a single move!
"He’s too strong!"
"This trial isn’t as easy as it seemed! They can’t even get close to him!"
The spectators in the stands began to murmur anxiously.
"At this rate, Navarre is going to eliminate the vast majority of them! Who could possibly survive this brutal trial?"
"Only the top geniuses, the ones who lit the tablet above a hundred feet, they might have a chance. Sylvan, Liana, and that three-hundred-foot prodigy are probably safe."
"But what about that boy who broke the tablet — he’s just standing there at the edge! He’ll be eliminated for sure! Navarre is perhaps just saving him for last to make an example out of him."
Obviously! He couldn’t even light the stone. He’s the weakest person in that ring. The moment Navarre turns his attention on him, it’s over."
The consensus among the spectators was virtually unanimous.
Rhain was placed squarely among those who would definitely fail this trial.
Up on the elevated platform, Seris sat with her hands folded neatly in her lap, her expression serene and utterly unbothered.
They were all completely blind.
Even if Navarre possessed the strength to eliminate all one hundred and ninety-nine candidates effortlessly, she knew with absolute certainty that there was one man in that ring he would never, ever be able to defeat.
Fabian glanced at her from the corner of his eye, curious about her lack of concern.
The boy down there was her husband, and a Spirit Manifestation Realm expert was systematically dismantling the competition around him. Shouldn’t she be worried?
Fabian’s eyes flickered with a deep suspicion.
Watching her serene expression, he finally could not help but ask, "Your husband... what exactly is he doing? Why is he not moving at all?"
Seris’s pale purple eyes gently shifted toward Rhain, who remained still with his hands folded before his chest, watching calmly as contestants frantically ran away in all directions to not be the next person to be eliminated.
She slowly shook her head. "I am also not entirely sure. But I know that he never does anything without a reason."
Her pink lips parted into a faint smile, "And I am not worried at all. Even if my husband simply stands there at the edge of that line until the end, that Navarre will definitely not be able to move him a single inch without his consent."
Fabian stared at her, completely astonished.
For a girl who possessed a True Heavenly Physique to say these words with such deep faith in an apparently ordinary youth...
"Could it be... I missed something?’
Suddenly, an intense, burning curiosity ignited within the half-step Domain Master.
If a peerless genius of her caliber believed in this boy to such a staggering degree, then perhaps the shattered Origin Insight Tablet truly wasn’t a mere malfunction.
Fabian slowly leaned forward in his high seat. He completely tuned out the rest of the frantic, scrambling candidates and Navarre’s elegant brutality.
His piercing gaze locked exclusively onto the dark-robed youth standing motionless at the edge of the ring.
