The students of the five major academies had all arrived, and they gathered at the entrance of the valley, waiting for the trial to begin.
The differences between the academies were easy to see. The Aegis Martial Academy students carried their familiar monster-slaying sabers, while First Martial Academy was completely different, most of its students carried large two-handed greatswords, because the main martial art of their academy had been built around that weapon.
Among the students from the other academies, Ryan could see sabers, glaives, poleaxes, and even several enormous heavy mauls. After all, different academies had developed different combat systems, so there was naturally no reason for every Blood Warrior to use the same weapon.
Ryan walked around, seemingly wandering aimlessly, but in fact he was secretly using his copying ability to inspect the talents of the people around him, and his main target was the students of First Martial Academy.
He deliberately passed within three meters of them one after another.
"Primary Cultivation Talent, Primary Cultivation Talent, another Primary Cultivation Talent..." Ryan muttered as he continued walking.
He found that most of the students sent by First Martial Academy possessed Primary Cultivation Talent, and there weren't many of them participating, only around thirty.
Ryan's eyes moved across the crowd, and he also noticed Adrian Blackwood among the participants from Aegis. With Adrian's strength, it was hardly surprising that he had come. Not far away, Damian Reed was also present.
Ryan only glanced at the two of them briefly, then continued to search through the crowd, looking around once more, but Victor wasn't here.
He had half expected Victor to return before the trial, but there was still no sign of him, it seemed he had not yet come back from the Langford family.
Ryan quickly put the matter aside and turned his attention back to First Martial Academy.
"There are only five people left!" Ryan looked at the five students standing together and slowly walked over.
When he came within three meters, he inspected them one by one.
"Good guys, all of them are Medium Cultivation Talents!" Ryan was surprised.
Obviously, these five were the seed students of First Martial Academy. Judging from the aura and physical condition they displayed, several of them had probably already reached the Peak Stage of Blood Warrior Apprentice and were only one step away from Rank 1 Blood Warrior.
However, Ryan didn't immediately become tempted by their Medium Cultivation Talents.
His own cultivation talents already consisted of Advanced, Medium and Weak talents, so another Medium Cultivation Talent would still be useful in the long term, but it wouldn't immediately increase his combat strength during this three-day trial. Moreover, his copying opportunity could only be used once before entering another month-long cooldown.
"If I can copy a talent that can directly assist me in combat, it will be much more useful during the trial!" Ryan thought silently.
Unfortunately, after walking around for a while, although he discovered several other talents, none of them were valuable enough for him to immediately spend his monthly copying opportunity.
Just then, a young man with a saber at his waist suddenly walked toward the five seed students of First Martial Academy.
"Connor Blake, I want to challenge you!" The young man pulled out his saber and pointed it directly at one of the five.
"This boy..." Ryan looked at the young man with some surprise.
The young man was a student from another academy, one that, unlike Aegis, focused heavily on saber combat, yet he actually dared to challenge one of First Martial Academy's seed students, he was really very bold.
"I wonder what kind of talent he has?" Ryan became curious.
He hadn't carefully inspected every student from the other academies, but since this young man dared to challenge one of First Martial Academy's strongest students, he probably had something to rely on.
Ryan slowly walked closer, and the young man didn't care about his actions at all, only staring at Connor Blake, who carried a massive greatsword on his back.
"Leon Vance, I heard that you are called the number-one saber genius of your academy, but no matter how strong your saber technique is, it can't make up for the gap in strength!" Connor looked at him with contempt. "I now have around 125 points of strength, and you only had around 85 points the last time we fought. You lost last time, do you want to lose again?"
"Hmph, I'm already at 100 points now!" Leon hurriedly said.
"Hehe, is there any difference between 85 points and 100 points in front of 125 points?" Connor said disdainfully.
The other four seed students beside Connor also looked at Leon with contempt. They knew Leon's situation quite well, his cultivation talent was poor, so even though his saber technique was unusually good, the difference in physical strength between the two sides was simply too large.
"You..." Leon was obviously unconvinced and was about to make a move by force.
"You are not allowed to fight here, and violators will lose the qualification for the trial!" A teacher's voice suddenly came from nearby.
Leon looked toward the instructor and immediately restrained himself. After all, this trial was an opportunity for him, and he didn't want to lose his qualification because of a moment of impulse, so he put away his saber and turned to leave.
"This friend, I admire your saber skills very much, can we make friends?" Ryan suddenly walked over with a sincere expression and stretched out his right hand.
"You are..." Leon looked confused, but he still subconsciously reached out and shook Ryan's hand.
"My name is Ryan!" Ryan said.
After chatting for a short while, Ryan turned around and left, leaving Leon standing there with a confused expression, while Ryan, walking away, thought about the talents he had just seen.
Human: Leon Vance
Cultivation Talent: Inferior
Martial Art Talent: Medium
Reflex Talent: Medium
Ryan naturally had no interest in Leon's Inferior Cultivation Talent. The Medium Martial Art Talent was impressive and superior to his current Primary Martial Art Talent, but he only had one copying opportunity before another month-long cooldown, so if he was going to use it to improve his Martial Art Talent, he would rather keep searching for an Advanced Martial Art Talent.
The Medium Reflex Talent, however, was completely different. It was a new talent that could directly improve his combat ability regardless of the weapon he used, and faster reactions would improve his defense, his timing, his ability to avoid beast attacks and his ability to seize openings during combat. In other words, it was exactly the kind of talent that could help him during this trial.
Moreover, if Leon died during the trial, Ryan might never get another opportunity to copy it.
Therefore, he did not hesitate, and during the handshake he had already copied the Medium Reflex Talent, and the moment the copy succeeded, the one-month cooldown immediately began again.
Ryan quietly walked behind a large stone, and seeing that no one was paying attention to him, he allowed the automatic fusion to continue.
Boom!
A sharp pain suddenly spread through his body, and his nerves and senses seemed to be undergoing some kind of subtle transformation, but Ryan remained behind the stone without making a sound.
Around ten minutes later, the pain gradually disappeared, and Ryan slowly opened his eyes and, with a thought, checked his talents.
Cultivation Talent: Advanced + Medium + Weak
Martial Art Talent: Primary
Reflex Talent: Medium
"Reflex Talent..." Ryan moved his hand slightly.
The change wasn't as obvious as an increase in raw strength, instead, everything around him seemed easier to respond to. The movement of leaves in the wind, distant footsteps, the shifting of people beyond the stone, his body reacted to what he perceived more naturally than before.
Ryan picked up his monster-slaying saber and swung it forward lightly.
Whoosh!
His eyes moved slightly. The saber itself hadn't become faster, because his physical strength hadn't suddenly increased, but the connection between seeing an opening and moving his body to exploit it had become noticeably smoother.
"This is the effect of the Medium Reflex Talent!" Ryan was very satisfied.
If he had time to properly train and adapt to it, his combat ability would undoubtedly increase further, but unfortunately, the trial was about to begin.
Ryan wiped the sweat from his forehead and returned to the crowd, and it didn't take long before the trial officially began.
Everyone took the trial seriously, and Ryan was no exception.
The rewards were quickly announced. First place would receive three portions of Intermediate Beast Blood and 170,000 denari, second place would receive one portion of Intermediate Beast Blood and 170,000 denari, third place would receive three portions of Low-Grade Beast Blood and 85,000 denari, and the students ranked fourth through tenth would each receive one portion of Low-Grade Beast Blood.
The ranking would be determined by points, after killing a beast, participants only needed to cut off the designated part of its body and bring it back to exchange for points.
The trial would last for three days, and during these three days, all participants would remain inside the controlled wilderness area. For a group of Blood Warrior Apprentices, this trial was undoubtedly a genuine challenge.
"All Blood Warrior Apprentices, enter the trial area in turn!" An instructor shouted.
The students began moving. First Martial Academy entered first, its students carrying their enormous greatswords as they gradually disappeared into the valley, then the students from the other academies followed one after another, carrying sabers, glaives, poleaxes, heavy mauls and other weapons suited to their own combat systems, and finally, the students from Aegis Martial Academy entered with their sabers.
Ryan followed the crowd through the entrance, and not long after entering the controlled wilderness area, the trees and uneven terrain quickly separated the students from one another.
"I can't see anyone anymore." Ryan looked around.
Although this was only a controlled section of wilderness carved out specifically for the trial, its area was still enormous, and the dense trees, slopes, rocks and uneven ground made it extremely easy to lose sight of other people after traveling only a short distance.
Ryan tightened his grip on his saber, and before long, he encountered his first beast.