Death... and me

That week passed in a flash as the preparations for the first Freedom Sect recruitment went smoothly. Just as Rean mentioned, an airship passed through the few cities that could be found in Fausec Country one day before the test as well. It's just that almost no one knew about it, so a lot of the humans were somewhat skeptical about it. Because of that, there weren't as many candidates as Rean thought there would be from these cities.

The parents of the kids couldn't be blamed, though. They had suddenly found out that they wouldn't be slaves anymore and then were thrown inside a continent they knew nothing about. They were already busy enough trying to keep their families fed, so they couldn't think about such a weird thing as sect recruitment.

Nevertheless, the sect still got over 20000 candidates, all of them with at least Yellow Color Talent or higher! Roan's prediction of only ten or so Blue Color Talents was considering Freedom Island alone. When Fausec Country was added, that number jumped to 47 Blue Colors while two Red Colors were found. However, Purple Color Talent was still incredibly rare. Not a single one was found among those kids.

Rean decided to not participate in the test, though. They were busy enough with the antennas and other things, so they continued their work. Fizer and Julia were in the same boat. They were considered the ancestors of the sect, so they shouldn't participate in this kind of thing unless there was some danger to it.

Roan, however, was there first thing in the morning with Malo and Poliana. As the one responsible for most of the disciples' training, he took it as a personal duty to watch over it. Fizer only cared about Malo and a few other disciples. Other than that, he didn't spend much time with the rest of the sect. Julia did like to train disciples, but they were only females. In fact, she didn't like the sect recruitment since it would sully her land of female cultivators...or so she said. Obviously, Fizer and the others ignored that comment and deemed her unfit to preside the tests.

Roan looked at Freedom City's north gate, which couldn't even be considered a gate yet. It was basically a marker demarcating the end of the city and the start of the Freedom Sect's territory. There, he could see a sea of kids, all around the same age. Roan could tell that some of them were in the Body Transformation Realm, other in the Energy Gathering Realm, and surprisingly, five were at Foundation Establishment.

If one thought about Dalamu Sect's recruitment back in Sunkan Planet, they had a lot fewer disciples taking part in it, just around 3000. However, the number of Foundation Establishment participants back then was way higher than that. Even if one considered that Dalamu Sect allowed candidates up to 13 years old, the number of Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators present in Freedom Island is way too small. That just showed how harder it was for humans to cultivate in this world.

Roan then turned his attention to Malo, who was the one talking at the front. Roan would overwatch the test, but Malo was still the Sect Leader. Presiding over the trials was his responsibility.

Many cultivators from several different cities from Fausec were there as well to watch the test. Naturally, the lords at Nascent Soul Realm and even Mitamo, the king, were there as well. They were expecting a bunch of old men and women to go through this test. However, all they could see were very young people coming from the sect so far. The oldest in that batch looked like to be Roan's age, but they wouldn't have noticed him if he didn't have Nascent Soul Realm cultivation.

Of course, there was one more thing they could notice with their Spiritual Senses...Fizer! Fizer wasn't appearing there, but he made sure to keep his cultivation open so that everyone knew he was there.

Eventually, the time arrived for the test to start. Malo then infused Spiritual Energy into his voice so that it could reach everyone as he said, "Welcome, everyone. I'm happy to see that so many kids are here to participate in the first entrance test for our Freedom Sect. I also want to thank their parents, who understood that this was a great opportunity and allowed their kids to come here."

"First, let me talk a little about Freedom Sect and what we expect to achieve now the human slavery era is over." Malo had a big speech prepared, which he got Poliana and the others' help to write. Roan also saw it as necessary since most knew very little or nothing at all about their sect.

"With that, I hope every new disciple will give it their all once they become part of the sect. We have a very strict punishment and reward system. Believe me, you don't want to fall behind too much. The elder responsible for everyone's training is the reincarnation of the demon king himself. This is my friendly warning to you all." Malo wasn't joking. Only the sect's disciples knew what awaited the lazy ones. That was truly his goodwill to warn the candidates ahead of time.

Roan glanced at Malo for a moment but didn't say anything. He was fine with that title as long as it had some effect.

"Alright then. Let's start the test."

Malo then used his Spiritual Energy to gather Fire Element and create a giant fire arrow. It didn't have much power, but it was very eyecatching. The arrow then pointed in Freedom Sect's direction as he said, "The first trial is a marathon. All of you have to run to the sect, which is located at the island's Freedom Mountain."

Up to this point, the first test was very similar to Dalamu's test. However, the changes started after that.

"However, there's a different time limit depending on your cultivation. Ordinary kids have three days to arrive, and only the first 4000 will be accepted. Those at Body Transformation have two days to get there, and only the first 500 will be accepted. Those at Energy Gathering have one day to get there and there are only 200 vacancies for you. Last but not least, those at Foundation Establishment only have half a day to get there. Since there are only five Foundation Establishment kids here, you will pass the test as long as you arrive in time. You may start!"