NOVEL NEXT Chapter 24: 99x
Hearing Ace's wager left EVERYONE speechless.
"ACE, STOP THIS FOOLISHNESS!" Lance attempted to rush forward, only to be promptly stopped by the church's guards.
"You should listen to him, boy. If you go through with this, you shouldn't expect me to be light-hearted just because you're a child." Brutus said disdainfully.
"Who needs your mercy? I just thought it'd be the perfect handicap to give that little lizard, so he at least stands a chance if he ever does choose to challenge me in the future." Ace retorted with a mocking snort.
"HAHAHA, your arrogance truly knows no bounds!"
The other adults with the power to stop this bet wanted to but ultimately decided against it, not wanting to offend an influential member of one of the world's strongest forces in the world for an arrogant child that didn't know what was good for him.
"Do we have a deal?" Ace asked, paying no attention to the reaction of the crowd. He had no idea what was going through their minds, nor did he care.
"Fine, brat. It's a deal." Brutus said as he licked his lips sinisterly.
Seeing Ace nod at him, the examiner started the test with a regret-filled sigh.
Ace felt an ethereal energy attempt to pressure his mind, but as someone who'd literally had a front-row seat to sky-splitting battles in his last life, this pressure was virtually non-existent. If it weren't for the fact that he was actively paying attention to it, he wouldn't be able to feel it at all.
Seeing Ace's face of boredom, Brutus sneered. "Just wait, brat. This is only the beginning."
Ace didn't respond; he simply stood with his hands in his pocket as he stared Brutus dead in the eye with a calm confidence.
As the pressure increased, the people in the audience sighed regretfully.
"It's already surpassed Wharton."
"If he weren't so arrogant, he would've had a magnificent future."
"A shame, a real shame!"
"We all make our own choices in life, and this is his!"
Ace was no longer even looking at Brutus. He was casually staring at the ceiling, thinking about food, when he heard someone in the crowd gasp.
"He's reached the rare level of spiritual essence." A man in the crowd who was paying attention to the time said.
"He doesn't seem to be too affected yet, either."
"You don't reckon…"
"Unlikely, the difference between rare and exceptional is like the difference between Heaven and Earth. Even if he can easily withstand this, it doesn't mean he has an exceptional level of spiritual essence."
"He's right. I remember a few years back, there was another child in a similar position to Ace. She could easily resist the pressure at the beginning of the rare stage, but in the end, she only reached 42x her peers."
As time passed, everyone who doubted him started doubting themselves, especially Brutus. On the outside, he was confidently looking at Ace with disdain, but on the inside, he was beginning to worry. 'This is impossible…
There's no way this brat has an exceptional level of spiritual essence.'
Eventually, Peter, the recruiter for the Ernst Institute, broke out into a boisterous laugh. "HAHAHAHA. Brutus, it looks like you messed up on this one. The boy just passed the time for exceptional spiritual essence!"
"IMPOSSIBLE!" Brutus shouted in disbelief.
"And yet the facts are clear for all to see!" Peter replied, seeming to take pleasure in Brutus' misery.
Though the Ernst Institute and the War God Academy weren't enemies, the former was the leading institute for mages, whilst the latter was the number one school for warriors. There has always been a rivalry between the two factions.
Ace, who was only just starting to feel it, smiled indifferently at the oversized idiot in front of him but said nothing.
Looking at Ace's smiling visage angered Brutus more, he was so close to jumping on stage and snapping the boy's neck, but he could feel Peter had locked on to him. With the amount of talent as a mage Ace had shown so far, there was no way he'd just stand by and watch him kill him. Especially as getting Ace to join him would mean getting Killian and Alissa as well.
The more he thought about it, the angrier he got, but there was nothing he could do at this point.
Ace was no longer paying any attention to those around him as he began to make plans for the future. 'With the 100,000 from that idiot, Mom and Lance should be able to live comfortably whilst Killian and I are at school. I just need to find a way to hide their location so no one can use them to get to me.'
"63x…
His spiritual essence has reached 63x. His spiritual essence just surpassed young master Dixie of the Leon family."
"This kid Ace just set the record for the highest score of this generation."
"And it looks like he can still carry on!"
At that point, Ace was starting to feel uncomfortable by the ever-increasing pressure, but it was far from unbearable. He hadn't said a word from the start of this test to now, but his eyes had never left Brutus.
Thankfully the intimidating recruiter was dressed in full body armour. Everyone present would have seen the man's tensed, vein-filled arms if he weren't. It took every ounce of willpower he had to keep himself from jumping on stage and tearing Ace limb from limb.
Even if the others couldn't, how could Ace, who had his observation locked on Brutus, not notice just how angry the petty recruiter was? But the angrier he got, the wider Ace's smile became, which only served to anger the man even more. It was like a vicious never-ending cycle.
Even as the pressure intensified and Ace began to struggle, his expression never changed. His mocking smile still present.
"His Spiritual Essence…
His Spiritual Essence has just reached 90x?" A member of the audience who had been monitoring the time said aloud.
Peter looked at Ace with stars in his eyes. 'Even if he has a low affinity, the fact that his spiritual essence is over 90x his peers will make him no less talented than Dixie.
I don't care whom I have to offend; he must join the Ernst Institute!'
As time passed, the crowd watched Ace's trembling figure with bated breath.
"92…"
"95x…"
"96x…"
"97x…"
The crowd was counting in anticipation as they excitedly watched Ace make history.
As the overawe formation reached a spiritual pressure of 99x, the formation finally dimmed, but by then, the room was deathly silent. It wasn't until they heard Ace's calm young voice that they snapped out of their shock.
"Woah. That was harder than I thought."