"No need... let's do it," William already selected twenty different techniques, training manuals, and other stuff to modify and change in front of these elders.
As he persisted, Tara could do nothing but to let him enter the building. There they were welcomed by a master standing at the reception hall, one that was empty and void of anyone.
The process to enter the place of his audition was simple. Tara just mentioned his name and the name of the group of elders and that master instantly led them towards the stairs to the bottom.
They walked down spiral shaped stairs, ending up crossing close to fifty metres downwards, before arriving at a single large, oval shaped hall.
The hall was carved in stone as William expected, but most of the walls were covered with a layer of thick wood, one that looked quite special to endure whatever happened here.
The size of this place was enough to accommodate hundreds of people, with a semi-circular stage and a curved, multi-layered, rows of seats.
The place seemed to be dedicated for teaching or something, not a place that would be used to run tests and such. The place was empty except for seven old looking masters, the elders who were supposed to test him.
"Oh, you came with little Tara?" one of the elders noticed Tara and said in an annoying tone.
"That tells us a lot about what's going to happen then," another one sighed, shaking his head as if he was going to get disappointed or something.
"It seems the day when we are going to give contribution points isn't today," another said, and William felt like he was a little sad about this.
"Ahem," William cleared his throat when he arrived at the stage, advanced a little towards the masters, cupped his hands, "I'm William, and I'm here to introduce the theories I have invented."
"Yes, yes, go on and speak," an elder waved his arm in a bored way, "we don't have much time to waste. Just show us the most incredible thing you discovered."
"But if you fail, and I believe you will, then you'll get punished for wasting our precious time."
"I won't fail," William didn't care about the air of arrogance brimming in the place. He calmly faced all of this mockery and didn't even get shaken for a single bit.
As for the two other girls who sat on the empty seats, they were feeling totally the opposite. The moment the elder greeted her and she felt like her stomach got riled up and about to throw out everything in there.
Angelica had a pale white face as she felt how scary those elders were. She knew William was special, but she felt like he was doomed to fail. And when the elder threatened him if he failed, she felt instant panic.
From Tara, Angelica learnt that the punishment for a failure ranged from just doing public service for the city for a specified period of time, ending up with getting locked up in prison for a long time.
William already heard this scary part from Tara when she was trying to dissuade him. But as he never placed the thought of failing in his mind, he never considered the harsh punishment for failing.
"I read through the common library in the city, and I found twenty things that were done wrongly," William started his audition and test by these words. And then he followed them with lots of words.
He kept speaking, speaking for close to ten hours straight. At first, the elders never took him seriously, thought he was just another country pumpkin who came here to fool around, overestimating his abilities and knowledge.
But soon enough they started to get more focused with him the more he spoke. And slowly they turned from listening with attention to what he was saying into experiencing mixed feelings.
Shock, doubt, disbelief, and even fear stormed inside their spirits. One by one they lost themselves as if they were entranced by what William was saying, ending up forgetting all about the test here and started to listen attentively like they were in a lecture or something.
William spoke about the changes he had in mind about twenty different aspects of knowledge. At first the masters asked a few questions here and there, randomly trying to expose his fake attitude in their minds.
But after the first hour, they went all silent. And starting from there, they never spoke again. Even when he ended, they kept sitting in their seats in silence, without saying anything for a long hour.
William knew they were in a deep state of mind and spirit, so he didn't interrupt them anymore, grabbed a seat and leisurely waited for them.
As for the two girls, they were feeling more awed than everyone else. The two belonged to this world. And even if Angelica didn't know as much knowledge as Tara, she knew what William said was quite revolutionary.
William spoke about lots of modifications and new techniques. They were subtle, yet very genuine and effective. According to his words, if any master did these twenty techniques, formulas, and blueprints the way he said, then totally new products and results would be produced.
William didn't just add a few modifications here and there, he totally renovated the entire process of each and every thing he spoke about.
Tara knew more about this better than Angelica. And without knowing it, she looked up towards the elders, waiting for their final decision about William's performance.
"This…" after an entire hour passed without anyone saying a single word, the elders finally broke awake from their trance state.
"We need time… More time to test these theories out…" Another said, and his words gained the approving nodding of other elders.
"I'm fine with that," William knew they wanted to test everything he said, try out the new ways to see the results themselves, "I'm going back then. If you need me, contact Tara and she'll find me easily."
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