The first pair stepped forward.
A boy with spiky black and purple tipped hair and a lightning-infused spear introduced himself as Jian and a girl with short brown hair wielding twin lightning-charged Sai named Mei.
They had never worked together before but exchanged a quick glance before charging at their construct.
Jian’s spear thrusts were precise but lacked a bit of power, barely denting the metal plates of the construct’s armor, while Mei’s sai strikes were swift but a bit uncoordinated like she wasn’t quite as completely ambidextrous as she needed to be.
Despite their best efforts, the construct’s counterattacks forced them on the defensive.
"Come on, we need to synchronize our attacks!" Jian shouted, deflecting a bolt of lightning shot towards him from the construct with his spear.
"Got it! You create an opening and I’ll dash in!" Mei replied, her movements becoming more relaxed as she adjusted to Jian’s rhythm.
Slowly, they began to work together, their attacks complementing each other.
Jian’s spear created openings for Mei’s swift strikes that knocked off the plates of armor from the construct and exposed its core.
After a short while their combined efforts eventually brought the construct down when Mei launched a double stab directly at the core and disabled it.
The second pair was a tall, lanky boy named Chris with lightning-infused gauntlets and a petite girl named Julia with a lightning whip.
Chris’ punches were powerful but slow, while Julia’s whip strikes were fast but lacked precision. Their initial attempts were clumsy, and the construct pressed them hard, but they learned from watching the previous duo’s efforts and didn’t waste as much time before trying to work together.
"Focus, John! Time your punches after my whip strikes!" Julia instructed, her voice tense.
John nodded, adjusting his movements to match Julia’s. Their coordination improved, and soon, they were landing effective blows on the construct’s cores. After a tense struggle, they managed to defeat it and disabled the core much quicker than the other group.
The final pair, two identical twins named Lei and Li, wielded matching lightning blades that managed to get lucky and pull matching lots somehow.
Lassim observed that their blades were a bit too long to be a standard sword and a bit too short to be a two-handed sword. They were a bit odd but the designs were nearly identical, which was interesting to Lassim.
Their synchronization for the duo was quite natural compared to the others, and their movements mirrored each other perfectly.
They moved as one, their swords flashing in tandem, often their blades crossing to attack at the same time but never interfering with the other’s techniques.
Their battle was the shortest, as their combined attacks overwhelmed the construct quickly. They were definitely the best at working as a team innately.
Lassim watched intently, noting the different techniques and strategies each pair used.
He could see the potential in each recruit, but he also recognized their weaknesses as Spirit Growth stage warriors. He could easily overwhelm them without even needing to use his halberd, but thankfully they were hopefully going to be his future sect disciples.
Another thing Lassim noticed was that all of the cultivators he’d met so far with the Lightning element had traditional weapons of war. They were cold steel style elemental weapons or first wrappings that he noticed Grandmaster Volten wore.
Speaking of that, it was a bit odd to Lassim that he was still wearing his martial weapon and hadn’t stored them in his inner world since he appeared, but he’d save that question for another time. Possibly, he enjoyed the feeling of having his hands wrapped and ready to punch at any moment. He wasn’t sure.
As the battles concluded, Sect Master Volten stepped forward, his gaze sweeping over the recruits.
"Not bad," Volten said, his tone grudgingly approving. "You’ve all shown enough potential to be fine members of the Lightning Sect, so congratulations, but there’s much to learn. Elder Qin will guide you through the next stages of your training, and he’ll explain your schedule in the quartermaster’s hall where you’ll receive your initiate level sect robes from henceforth."
He turned to Lassim. "As for you, you will have your chance soon enough. Though I suspect for someone as privileged and blessed as you it will be trivial. How about this, if you can beat the level of the construct I set, I’ll let you join the rest as initiates. If you lose, then you must join as a sect servant for at least one month before you’ll be allowed to advance to initiate rank?
Or, is that too hard for the golden spoon boy?" He stared provoking at Lassim as he offered his challenge.
Lassim grit his teeth, "Sure, I’ll beat whatever you send my way."
Sect Master Volten walked to the center of the training hall’s arena. He tapped his foot on the floor, and a complex rune activated beneath him.
The disabled lightning constructs, which had been lying inert on the arena floor from the previous fights, began to reassemble themselves. Metal plates floated back into position, cores hummed with renewed energy, and sparks crackled as the pieces fused together.
However, this time, the constructs did not return to their individual humanoid forms.
Instead, they began to merge, their cores aligning to power different parts of a singular, massive entity. The metal plates collided and layered over each other, transforming the amalgam into a towering simian beast. Its eyes glowed with an ominous and thunderous light, and the air around it crackled with intense energy.
Volten extended his hand, a spark of his mana energy dancing on his wrapped fingertips. With a flick, he sent the spark towards the construct.
The simian beast snapped it up with a hungry chomp, and its power surged, raising it from Spirit Growth 3 all the way to the Spirit Transcendent stage level 5.
The beast roared, a deafening sound that reverberated through the hall, sending the pairs of new initiates tumbling backwards from the sheer pressure.
Elder Qin hurriedly activated the barrier around the arena with a sigh of relief once it was up, protecting the weaker students from the intense energy.
The recruits stared wide-eyed at the monstrosity before them, their earlier battles seeming trivial in comparison.
Volten turned his gaze to Lassim, his eyes filled with expectation and a hint of challenge. "Your turn, golden boy... Be ready to wear the sect servant clothes for the next month."
Lassim stepped forward, feeling the pressure of the challenge weighing onto his shoulders.
The simian construct’s presence was overwhelming, but he felt determined to give it his best. He was mainly just annoyed at how rude this Sect Master was. He had such a different attitude than he expected, or rather he didn’t know what he expected but someone as nice and kind as Headmaster Ferrum should have recommended someone equally as nice, right?
He gripped his halberd tightly and readied himself.
The construct charged, moving with surprising speed for its size, but it was a being mostly made of condensed Lightning mana. It was mostly weightless compared to the energy ratio powering its form.
Lassim leaped to the side, narrowly avoiding a massive fist that shattered the arena’s ground where he had been standing.
He countered with a [Thurst], his halberd infused with lightning and water mana, shooting at the beast’s plated chest. The attack barely dented its thick armor.
The battle raged on, each clash sending sparks flying. Lassim used every technique at his disposal, from swift [Tempest Steps] to agile dodges, and even his powerful [Grand Aegis] defensive barrier that deflected a particularly brutal strike as his ice dragon soul tried to aid the battle.
The barrier of the arena was coated in a thick layer of frost as the thick ice barrier shattered into a million pieces under the simian constructs’ double fisted slamming attack.
The recruits watched in awe, impressed by Lassim’s battle arts, dual elements and sheer power to fight something two whole stages of cultivation ahead compared to the construct.
Despite his best efforts, the construct’s power was overwhelming.
It struck with relentless fury, and Lassim found himself on the defensive from the very start and his attacks barely did anything to the armor, let alone reach the cores within that they protected.
He did manage to land a few solid blows, but each strike seemed to only enrage the beast further as if it was really alive. The simian construct roared, this time sending its massive fist colliding with Lassim, catching him off guard, and sending him sprawling across the arena in a tumble before a hard slam against the barrier.
Pain shot through his body as he tried to stand, his limbs barely responding.
The construct advanced, its eyes glowing with malevolent energy.
Lassim gritted his teeth, pushing himself to his feet. He knew he couldn’t afford to give up.
Summoning the last of his strength, Lassim launched a desperate assault.
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His halberd crackled with lightning as he launched a [Lightning Lash] striking the construct with all his might; hoping that it would catch it off guard and allow him to close the gap to strike a core.
For a moment, it seemed like he might succeed, merely faltering for a moment, but when Lassim arrived just before the construct to strike it at a unique angle with [Thrust] through a gap in its armor—it retaliated.
Lassim was too close to the simian construct after that last ditch effort and already in too much pain to react quick enough.
Its massive fist crashed into him, breaking several bones and sending him crumpling to the ground.
"Lassim!" one of the recruits gasped, the tall lanky boy Chris, but the barrier held them back, preventing any interference.
Volten stepped forward, raising a hand. The construct halted, its eyes dimming. "Enough," he commanded.