It was a faint blue in colour, with a tinge of green there. He knew this wasn't just a spirit element, but also an affinity.
"Is there something wrong?" Ford grew restless when William took much longer to examine his crystal, especially when a small row was formed behind him during the past hour.
"You, my friend, have dual spirit affinities… Great!"
"What… What does that mean?!!" Ford was acting shy and didn't know what William was speaking about.
"It means your future has changed, for the better indeed," William responded with a wide smile, "go and find Sara, tell her that I've granted you access to the Black Tails team."
"F… For real?!!!" Even if he was a shy master coming from a small place, from a remotely away place, he still knew what William's words meant.
"Just go," William even laughed, "a master with dual affinities, with one that's touching the requirements of the fate and destiny rules… Hahahaha, he is indeed a gem, hahahaha!" William muttered while watching Ford walking away, heading towards Sara.
His expectations got revived again, and he soon found more gems like Ford. It looked as if Ford got lucky and blessed him with it. In the next five hours, he found ten suitable members to join his special team, all with spirit affinities and rare elements.
Yet after that, he rarely found any talent. The screening process lasted for an entire week, with hundreds of thousands of masters going through the process William established here.
Out of them, he ended up adding close to five thousand masters to the Golden Tails team. It might look few, but compared to the little figure of the masters he added to his Black Tails team, this looked great!
He allowed for less than a hundred to join his Black Tails team, gaining most of them during the first couple days. As he ended the selection, he didn't feel dejected.
[You need to allow the old masters to join this] just before he'd start another round of screening, one that was directed towards the ones coming from the other world, he heard Sloth's voice ranging in his mind.
"Old man, stop spying on youngsters, it's not appropriate," William knew the timing Sloth spoke wasn't coincidental. That old man, and many others perhaps, were watching the whole process.
Even if they were looking, without William explaining things over to them, they'd learn nothing in the end. [I just can't see the old masters standing and watching without having such a chance!]
"You know I tried to teach you, and what was the result? What's the point then?" William sighed. If it was going to produce any result, then he'd do it. But it was futile to try and teach anyone living for decades something new.
[How about this then, let me hold a round with oldies, teach them what you told me, and see… If anyone passed, you can add him or her, right?]
"You are dreaming about the impossible old man," William sighed.
[Just try it, you won't lose anything, right?]
"Fine," William felt like if he didn't accept even such an offer, Sloth wouldn't stop pestering him. So he decided to let the old man waste his time and effort, "once you are done, let me know. I'll personally test the ones learning the techniques I told you about, got it?"
[Deal! I promise you'll get shocked, and regret not allowing old masters to join] Sloth laughed, and for a moment there William felt like he was speaking out of something solid.
"Let's see what you are trying to do here, old man," William faintly smiled, knowing that Sloth was watching and hearing everything he said, "clear the area, send the ones from the outer world inside."
[Is it necessary?] Berry paused, [the ones from the outer world are just a few thousands, not that much!]
"I know, but just do as I say," William felt that most of those coming from the outer world would have too many gems. And he was correct!
Batch after batch of those masters started to get screened. Not a single one was allowed to go out from the place, all were sent towards William to screen.
Amidst all, around half were allowed to join his Black Tails team! That was quite a shocking result! In just a single day, the Black Tails team gained thousands of masters, exceeding the total of four thousand in the end!
As for the Golden Tails team, it got another boost, ending up with a staggering number of ten thousand masters!
Seeing such a result made William's friends quite surprised. They never expected that masters coming from the outer world would be this special. And they couldn't help but recall the weird request from William to evacuate the entire place before letting them in.
"He knew that… He expected such a result…" Sara muttered, and she did indeed guess it right. William guessed all this, as the ones coming from the other world weren't normal masters.
They were handpicked by the various forces back there. They were all prodigies, hailing from strong and ancient families and forces in that world.
It was quite expected to find such a large number of gems in them. After the screening rounds were over, William watched the two teams in front of him with pride.
"Now I can aim to head towards the outer world with more confidence," he grinned, and couldn't help but laugh from time to time. He knew not all of them would follow him towards the outer world, but at least he'd go there with hundreds of his gang.
It would be a great boost for him out there. The hardest time for any master going to the outer world would be the initial stage, the one in which everyone would lose most of their powers, returning back to square zero and starting over.
They wouldn't lose their power indeed, but the standards of the new world were quite high, and their former power would look useless out there.
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