"Congratulations on passing the Strength Test! We will now be moving on to the Test of Will! Pain is something that a cultivator must endure in order to get stronger. We will be testing how strong your will as a cultivator is and whether you can endure the pain that comes with it. All you have to do for this test is sit down in a lotus position where you're standing right now. We have an array already prepared around all of you. This array will affect the mind rather than the body as you will feel pain without actually being hurt. Now, all of you sit down and we will activate the array!" The middle-aged lady commanded them to sit down as everyone who passed the last test did as she said.
Mira looked around at all of the examinees that passed the strength test and realized that around half of them have failed and were disqualified from the rest of the Exam. At the beginning of the Exam, there were thousands of examinees, but around 10% were lost after having their age tested. Then another 50% failed after the strength test. There were only a little over 1000 people still participating in the Exam now. Mira guessed that they probably wouldn't end this stage until around half of these women were left to participate.
Regardless, Mira and Maria just sat down and waited for them to activate the array.
"We will activate the array in 3, 2, 1. Now!" The middle-aged lady counted down and activated the array.
Everybody within the array felt a lightning bolt strike their heads. It didn't take long for the people in the array to start feeling pain. At first, the pain wasn't that bad for most people as it just started off with the feeling of getting cut or slashed over and over again. There were a couple of examinees that couldn't endure the constant sensation of being cut and slashed over and over again and fainted.
For Mira and Maria, this feeling was an everyday occurrence, especially for Maria. Mira was constantly beating Maria up, slashing her, throwing her, and causing any other type of pain that Mira was able to dish out. Mira was used to many types of pain by now. Having her soul forcefully ripped out of a dead body and forced into a cycle of reincarnation is something that Mira will never get used to. Pain on this level is essentially nothing to Mira. This type of pain went on for a while before the level of pain seemed to escalate.
The pain went from the feeling of getting cuts and scratches to getting deep gashes.
"URGHH!!"
Many people groaned in pain as they tried to resist the pain. It felt like gashes kept forming on their body and the cuts were so deep that they cut into their bones. This is definitely a pain that normal people won't be able to deal with 1 time much less it happening over and over again.
The women left in the array seemed to be much more resilient to pain than the first batch that fainted from the cuts and scratches. Not many people immediately fainted, but as time went on and the pain continued more and more people started to faint and get disqualified.
Mira and Maria just kept sitting there like nothing was happening to them. This type of pain was also a daily occurrence for Maria. She experienced receiving gashes all over her body while in the trial and Mira will also occasionally hit her a bit too hard in training or sparring. For Mira, this type of pain is something that she has experienced too many times to count.
Maria opened her eyes while the pain was still going on and wanted to look around. She saw most people gritting their teeth as they tried to resist the pain. Even the girls with the dark and lightning elemental affinities weren't much better off. She then turned to Mira and asked her a question.
"Mira, why is everyone struggling already? You do this every day to me and I don't even have a choice to quit!" Maria whispered to Mira, but everyone was able to hear her.
'What do you mean this happens to you every day?! Isn't she supposed to be your friend?! And why are you talking?! Asshole!!' All of the examinees thought in their minds as they continued to try to resist the pain.
"What the hell are you talking about? Are you stupid? This is not something normal people can handle. Why don't you use that tiny brain of yours and think for a second? You were in a state worse than these people when I first beat you half to death! This is the bare minimum of pain that one has to be able to resist to be a cultivator. Knowing this, why don't you take a guess as to why I've been so rough on you." Mira said back in a calm voice like none of this was affecting her.
'What the fuck is wrong with these two?!' This was the thought that was going through everybody's minds.
Even the spectators were wondering what was going on with those two. Everybody else seemed to be in pain and these two abnormals were talking like this happened all of the time for them.
After a while, around 100 people fainted during this section of pain but the rest seemed unwilling to give in. The pain then started to skyrocket. The pain the examinees now felt were their bones cracking, fracturing, or breaking constantly. Many people immediately fainted when they felt this as their minds couldn't handle it. Even the examinees that had pride in being able to endure pain were starting to feel an immense amount of stress. It felt like a mountain was weighing down on their body and took all of their focus and mental power just to be able to resist this pain.
Maria kept looking around after the pain seemed to increase again, but Mira was used to this type of pain as well. Not only did she have to experience this pain multiple times in the trial, but Mira also breaks or fractures her bones quite often. This is especially so when they train in unarmed combat. Maria feels lucky to be alive every time unarmed combat training ends with Mira.
"Mira, look at these people. They don't have to go through what I do! You break or fracture my bones all of the time! Why do I have to go through this and not them?!" Maria continued to complain to Mira without even thinking that other people can hear her.
"This is your fault. You said you wanted to follow me. I'm only doing my job as a leader. Why don't you think back to the times before you met me? Your life was probably only sunshine and rainbows. Now you live in what you like to call 'a never-ending hell'." Mira said back to Maria like she didn't care about the other examinees at all.
Maria was shocked by that answer. Was it really her fault? What's wrong with her? Why did things turn out like this?
'I didn't know Mira would be like this when I first met her though!! I think it's a bit too late to back out now as well. There is no way Mira would let me after she's put in years of work into training me and tempering me.' Maria thought to herself, but how could Mira miss the changes in expression.
"It seems you are thinking of something rude right now. I guess I will have to scold you properly after this is done, hehe." Mira sneered at Maria for thinking of something stupid.
Maria felt like a lightning bolt just dropped on her head. She wanted to scream and beg Mira to not do anything, but she knew it'd be futile so she just decided to shut up.
'I better stay as far away as possible from those two. I might actually die if I get involved with them!' All of the women thought as they listened to Mira and Maria's conversation.
Time passed slowly for the examinees as around a few hundred were disqualified this time and there were only around 700-800 people left in the array. It didn't take long until the pain they were experiencing reached a new level.
"AAAAAAHHHH!!!!!" Almost everybody screamed in pain as they tried their hardest to stay conscious.
It felt like someone was ripping the bones and organs out of their body. Even Maria had to grit her teeth in pain as this was something that most people wouldn't be able to handle with a straight face.
Mira frowned as well. If this ever happened in battle, they would already be dead. Most people wouldn't even do this when torturing someone because they wouldn't survive long enough to be able to give you any information.
This pain only lasted for a couple of seconds. That was all it took for the 7-800 examinees to drop down to 500. When the examinees reached 500, the pain stopped and everybody started gasping for breath as they felt like a mountain was lifted off of them. The middle-aged lady then stepped up and announced the end of the Test of Will.
"Congratulations to you 500 that have passed the Test of Will. We will end the tests here for today as it's getting late. Come back here before dawn tomorrow morning. Be sure to get a good rest tonight as you might be able to sleep well for a while afterward! One more thing! If you have a beast companion then you may bring them here tomorrow. That is all! You may leave now!" The middle-aged lady said to them and walked away.
Everybody was a bit shocked by this, but they were glad. It took most of the examinees a while before they decided to get up and move. They immediately looked for Mira and Maria to yell at them a bit for being rude during the test, but they seemed to already be gone.
This was true as Mira and Maria left as soon as the middle-aged lady said that they could leave, both of them left.
***
Back in the area where Ellie, Diana, and the 4 Elders were staying, the middle-aged woman from before walked over to them after she announced that they could leave. The middle-aged woman then asked the Elders a question.
"Are you sure it's okay for us to allow beast companions tomorrow?" She asked the Elders.
"It's not ideal, but we just got word that one of the contestants has a bit of a troublesome beast companion. I don't really want a massacre to happen because it misses its owner. We will just have to add some restrictions for beast companions tomorrow as not everyone will have one." One of the Elders explained.
"I understand. I will not allow them to use their beast companions to help kill, but maybe they can use them a bit to hunt or find other beasts." The middle-aged lady said what she planned on doing. The Elders nodded their heads at this as this was acceptable. The middle-aged lady then left the area as only 6 of them were left.
"Mira and Maria are definitely abnormal. It also seems like Mira is the one training Maria. I wonder just how well they can fight. I'm really looking forward to tomorrow as well. Tomorrow is the group hunt. I wonder who will join Mira and Maria's group? I wonder who will be the leader? Haha, it seems this year is much more exciting than previous years!" One of the Elders said as this was what the rest of them were thinking.
***
