Ning and the rest were brought to a giant room that seemed to be a training hall. In the middle of the hall was a 20 meters long and 10 meters wide metal stage that rose 10 centimeters off the ground.
Ning wondered how this stage even came to be. There was no way someone brought, what was basically a massive metal sheet, all the way up the tower.
Even in pieces that would be an impossible task.
So the only answer Ning could see was that someone had directly made it on this room.
Ning was sure he couldn't make this thing even if he wanted to right now. Even as an Aether saint, that looked like an impossible task.
An Aether supreme could likely do it, but that would require them to put a massive amount of effort into releasing all the Aether they had.
With how slow their Aether absorption likely was, Ning didn't think this to be true either.
So, the only possible culprit for bringing forth this giant metal sheet was very much likely someone higher than Aether Supreme.
A face floated into Ning's mind.
The Lord of the Tower.
Perry Thatcher, he had named himself. Ning looked around and nodded. If it was him, he could easily make this and more.
A short man with purple hair stood on top of that metal sheet, looking at all 100 or so new arrivals.
The man wore a silver robe that made him stand out a lot.
Tristen Grant, one of the 3 Supremes of the tower was tasked with finding the best of the best to be part of the Tower's Battle force. That was what Ning's Aether Analysis told him.
"You don't need to know who I am," Tristan said. "You only need to know that I am the person who will be the person that decides whether you can become what you came to be or not."
"Since you are all here to serve the tower and the world, I will give you all a fair chance at victory."
The men and women from the crowd looked with confusion, but no one dared question anything.
The man took one step forward and a gust of air sent him flying down to the ground, off of the metal platform.
"Alright. Everyone, on there, now!" he said, pointing towards the metal stage.
People didn't dare slow down and immediately rushed to the metal stage. As far as they knew, the test could have already started.
Once all hundred plus people were on there, Tristan nodded. He slumped back onto empty air, and a chair formed beneath him, catching him as he sat down.
A gust of air at first, and now a chair. Tristan had created 2 different things from what the participants could see, making them assume he was an Invoker.
However, Ning didn't get taken in by the lie. With his Aether Analysis, he had already seen that the man was actually a Dual Awakener.
If this trend were to continue, Ning was sure that the final Supreme of the tower was also a Dual Awakener.
Given how unknown this man was, Ning was absolutely sure that the tower hid information about these individuals as much as they could.
Which was why he hadn't even heard of their names yet.
The man lazily looked at the participants on the stage and gave a big yawn. "Okay, now separate and go as far apart as you can," he said.
Everyone did as they were asked, and now everyone was at least a meter away from someone else.
"Okay on the count of 3, you will fight until there are only 20 of you left. 1.2.3. Go."
"Huh?"
"What?"
"Do we fight now?"
A scream appeared from somewhere as one person was shoved off of the edge of the metal stage. Suddenly, everyone got more aware of their surroundings.
The fight had begun.
A person tried to follow what the first person did and push Ning off of the edge he was standing on as well.
Unfortunately for him, Ning had eyes on the back of his head.
Ning quickly turned around and used a simple kinetic force of the man's outstretched hands to push them slightly to the side.
At the same time, he stretched his legs a little, over which the man tripped and fell off the arena.
"That's what you deserve for trying to sneak attack," he said and turned around to the rest of the fight.
He looked at the many fighters and realized that he massively outranked them in terms of Aether.
The best he could see here was an Aether Emperor girl who fought like a tempest on the battlefield.
Not only that, but she was also an Invoker who kept creating items one after another to help her fight.
One man tried to send out metal balls towards her, trying to hit her from Afar.
The girl saw it and instantly created an object on her hand that was immediately pulled to the ground for some reason.
Suddenly, the metals that were flying toward her fell to the ground in front of her, making the attacker shocked.
Ning whistled in surprise as he saw her create an object with massive magnetic energy. Now that the magnet was touching on a metal base, the whole metal base turned into a magnet.
People felt tugging from all over their surroundings. The metal cuffs, jewelry, and any other items they may have had on them were being pulled to the ground.
The battle nearly came to a standstill for a second. However, that all changed when Rachel attacked.
She suddenly slammed her palm on the metal base beneath her, turning that directly into a magnet, rather than through the connection of a magnet.
And the magnet she created had reverse polarity.
Suddenly, the strong magnet zoomed past the Emperor lady's head, nearly striking her, and flew out of the stage onto a metal plate on a wall.
She felt shocked by what was happening and looked around to see who had done it.
When she saw Rachel, Rachel was already glaring at her. Then, she smiled.
Finally, a worthy opponent had come up. Now, their battle would be legendary.
