'Woah! This place is so amazing! It's like a return to the past but with a much grander atmosphere even beyond what i've already seen in the castle of Haran.'
Clark looked around and appreciated the epic show of carefully arranged furniture in the place.
There were a few scattered guards all over the area and these watchers took a uniformed shade of black which in turn painted their cultivator's robes with an intimidating dark light.
It was surprising to see that every sentinel in this inner sanctum all held a cultivation of Peak Stage Foundation Establishment Realm.
It could be gathered from this fact alone on how important this Assessment Pavilion really was unto the Demonic Sword Sect's Foundation.
He got from Wu Da's uninvited monologue earlier that this particular structure seemed to be the key of the Demonic Sword Sect's Formation and perhaps even provided a vital part in the totality of this entire space artifact's complex weave of mysteries.
Our good gamer of course did not believe that the Evil Boy has somehow completely refined this treasure. Far from that in fact.
'I highly doubt that a single piece of this weapon would stay above ground if that Evil Boy has already absolute command of this World Traveler Artifact.' Clark uttered his conclusions inside.
"Young Master Clark, the place that we are going to is called the Sword of Destiny.
This ancient artifact is used by the sect to determine a close prediction of our students' potential. You only need to..."
Outer Disciple Wu Da kept on blabbering on the side but our bored gamer only gave the middle aged man his peripheral attention at best.
As of this very moment, he was very much preoccupied with something else entirely.
'Would the spiritual abundance of the elements return in Nexus, Nancy?' Clark asked because he was concerned about the future prospects of the city and its people.
Those residents in the metropolis were basically a part of his own untapped troops already and it would be a waste if the cultivators growth in there would get stunted to a halt before they could truly hatch their wings and fly to the skies.
'Nexus was a good hub for practice before but it was unfortunate that I completely sucked all the energy from within one hundred and thirty square kilometers of the city.'
Clark shook his head in lament and he was only too thankful that nobody was killed because of his rashness and stupidity just earlier this morning.
"Affirmative, host. This world could hold trillions upon trillions of people and magical beasts alike. A little area like the City of Nexus would get refilled with substantial spiritual energy in no time.
The mortals won't feel any difference at all but the same could not be said to the cultivator clans living within its borders." Nancy explained promptly.
Our good gamer was also not dumb to not perceive what the system was trying to say to him.
'Yeah. It seems that i need to replace the formation array inside the city with something more effective.'
Clark knew that it was his fault that every Spirit Gathering Array in Nexus turned to dust in his mishap. He was of course very much willing to compensate them after his entrance in the sect.
'SIGH!'
'Should i wait for when i get another 1 million shop points before purchasing a Mythical Grade Defensive Formation in the city or should i spend it on myself instead?'
Clark mused some more as he was keen to balance the pros and cons of his actions.
'Nah... Nexus ain't going away and there's no danger also for those people right now.
I could just reinforce the same level of Spirit Gathering Array from before and they would never even see any cause of complaint afterwards.
Not like a beast tide or something of worse calamity is on their way towards the city right now also.'
Clark decided and wordlessly commanded one of his undead summons to cast the formation around the city of Nexus.
He chose the cheapest of them all because there was really no need for such a drastic upgrade on the city's defenses.
"Congratulations, host! You have purchased the Basic Turtle Defensive Formation." Nancy's sweet voice rang in Clark's ears after his quick selection.
* * *
- 100 shop points
* * *
And the corresponding amount of shop points was also deducted accordingly thereafter.
'No worries. Tonight, i can have another million of these precious shop points and then i can finally choose one more Mythical item in the bag.'
Our bored gamer was thrilled for his next pick and it reflected very much on his face at the moment.
All the way, he sported a cheeky smile on his face which brought forth a lot of hopeful misunderstandings on some people around.
'I must be doing something good! It appears that Young Master Clark is very happy with my efforts!'
Outer Disciple Wu Da straightened his back after this conclusion and went to even greater exhaustive lengths to share whatever shred of knowledge he had unto the party behind him.
Ten minutes of slow walk later and the group arrived at a large archaic hall with little to no design.
At the center of this sparse chamber was a huge sword that floated against the pull of gravity.
There were nine horizontal lines along the weapon's body and it could be seen that a sporadic glare would time and time give a hint of the tones that were hidden behind its every partition.
Wu Da hushed everybody with a firm hand raised in warning before shouting loudly into the empty room.
"Greetings, Elder Tan Hai! I am Wu Da from the Outer Disciples Court and is here to bring new blood to our sect's prestigious name!"
Outer Disciple Wu Da bowed to knee level and motioned for the rest to follow his actions.
The twenty one students who were indoctrinated to unquestioning obedience during their time in the savage factions took only a moment of pause before accepting the subservient act despite a heavy heart in their chests.
Lai Peng, and the two servant girls also followed suit in which Clark has not forbidden at all.
These slaves took pride in their stations in life and he was not about to get rid of what little dignity they had left for themselves.
But the same could not be said at all towards our good gamer and the gorgeous ladies from Haran.
They were used to being the ones who received such obeisance and the long years of having the nobility of blood in their veins was not about to be uprooted in just meeting someone they did not know nor care about.
"FLASH!" An old man suddenly materialized on the scene and this one wore nothing but only the humblest of robes.
There wasn't even an ink of a sect insignia on his lowly garb. It was plain white. Pure and simple.
This old goat may have tried to subtly hide his cultivation base to the untrained eye but to our matchless protagonist, this old man's neat tricks failed to completely veil his eyes with lies.
'A Golden Core Expert. This is a surprise indeed!' Clark smiled openly at this aged cultivator named Tan Hai.
His attention was particularly embedded at the old man's eyes and he could see well enough at the burning gaze of gold that overflowed from within their hollowed sockets.
Our bored gamer's spiritual sense broke all barriers of deceit and it has not gone unnoticed by the seasoned expert before him.
'What an interesting kid.' Tan Hai mused inside. He could feel the blatant scrutiny towards his form and he was not the least bit offended by it at all.
This was probably because of the child's earlier performance just outside of his domain.
'Hmmm... The strong has their arrogant capital indeed. I like this kid's spirit!'
Instead of lashing out in anger, Tan Hai only understood too well the character of our very own Young Master Clark.
'Looks just like me when i was younger.' Tan Hai nodded but kept his silence nonetheless as he returned the calm gaze of the boy with one of his own amused observations also.
Three beats of this stalemate elapsed before someone in the vicinity could not anymore keep his tranquility on the side.
"I apologize for Young Master Clark's behavior, Elder Tan Hai. He is young and very prone to ar..."
Outer Disciple Wu Da prostrated on the scene to beg for leniency in our bored gamer's stead. Although he was forced to kill his friends earlier but he had done much worse in his life.
This small sacrifice was nothing compared to what he was going to get once he received the backing of somebody like Young Master Clark.
Alas, Wu Da was not even allowed to finish his words before a silencing palm halted him completely in place. Both in action and speech.
"I understand. No need to belittle yourself, young one." Tan Hai said briefly but deep inside, he did not care at all with this Outer Disciple's feelings.
This old goat was a whole lot more interested unto our enigmatic protagonist.
"Let the test begin!" And with these words, the newly arrived students lined up neatly in place.
"BOOM!" The first level shone in the brilliant colors of yellow and almost reached the second step upwards the long blades of the sword. Unfortunately, its momentum stopped there.
"Wen Jing, Potential: Mortal Shedding Realm!" Wu Da announced the result on the side and looked at an 18 year old boy with clear derision in his eyes.
"NEXT!" This time, the rainbow colors reached up to the third level before stopping at an ocean blue ending.
"Hu Qing, Potential: Golden Core Realm!" Wu Da roared and immediately noted the girl's appearance to his memory. He even granted the beautiful girl a creepy smile from his lips.
'A good seedling!' On the side, Elder Tan Hai nodded his head as he approved of this girl's promise in the endless path of cultivation.
"NEXT! Xuan Guo!"
.
..
...
The rest followed and even Wan Fei and Ning Xi also took the test.
"Wan Fei, Potential: Foundation Establishment Realm!"
"Ning Xi, Potential: Mortal Shedding Realm!" This result was of course not surprising.
With how barren the city of Haran was, no one expected further for these two lovely ladies to achieve much from their lifetime.
Only those that had exceptional bloodlines could birth more of its same kind unto this very chaotic xianxia world. A frog can't turn into a prince after all.
In the end, the highest that anyone reached so far was only a Golden Core Potential which was Hu Qing.
"NEXT! YOUNG MASTER CLARK!" Wu Da proclaimed the final student. It was of course the protagonist's way to come last.
And Clark was also very much happy with this sequence of events also.
'Let me show you how it's done, newbs!' Clark grinned and stood in front of the ginormous drifting sword at the center of the dome.
A ray of light descended on his body and before a half breath even passed, a marvelous phenomenon exploded in all directions.
"BANG!" The foundation of the earth trembled and up above, the vaults of heaven opened up the parting rivers of salvation.