Blake had thoughts of running back to his dorm, but if someone was to see him running in tattered clothes, it would be very hard for him to explain.
The dorm was not too far from the arena, even with his reduced speed it would only take him a few minutes tops. Besides with him advancing to the warrior level in both elements his stamina and vitality had been greatly increased.
When he finally arrived at the dormitory, he was tempted to take a shower because he was feeling dirty, but he knew if he bathed, he would feel weak and might end up taking a 'short nap'.
"What if I overslept and I was being called to receive my reward and no one answered, only to be found sleeping.
Not only will I pour away my little reputation into the sewers but it would also be a disgracing thing for the school and I might even get punished or executed based on the empire's feelings." Just this line of thought alone shattered all the unknown forces that tempted him to take a bath.
Unfortunately for him, when he returned to the arena, he found out that he missed Castile's match.
He asked around and from those who watched the match, Castiel had also unlocked the flame element and had easily defeated his opponent who was nothing special.
Blake had miscalculated the time for each game, he had thought Karina would have lasted at least 5 more minutes before she was defeated but it seemed he had underestimated the power of the golden flames.
Even the timing of Castile's match was unexpected, even his opponent was one of those gamblers that wanted to try their luck and gamble their way into the elite class, but ran out of luck when he met him.
When he returned Camilla's match was already in its late stage.
Camilla had unlocked the lightning element just like him and this made the random thought of both of them being soulmates pop into his head.
'Thinking of it, she is stunning and comes from the Karius family what more can a man ask for.'
[You are truly shameless.] Only if the system had a hand it would have probably been face-palming at Blake's thought.
Camilla's match was an easy one. Although her lightning reinforcement was not much when compared to that of Blake, her opponent was not that outstanding.
With her lightning reinforcement and her flawless martial art skills, she ran laps around her opponent who was not aware of what happened till he was knocked out cold.
After a few more matches the test ended, and it turned out that only a few numbers above 50 were able to make it into the elite class.
Blake didn't know whether to laugh or cry because the number of students that made it into the elite class was a little bit below the number of those in the wind griffin dorm that passed the awakening test.
After all the tests and fights that had occurred, the students who had passed either the normal test or the elite test were brimming with joy, while those who were deemed unworthy of being nurtured by the school were weeded out by the judges.
The set of weak hearted students in this group could be seen wailing their hearts out and the strong ones tried their best to hold back the river from flowing.
Even those who tried to gamble their way into the elite class were not left out, they all had one thing in common and that was them waiting to be evicted the next day by the school staff.
This would surely be one of the longest nights of their lives, but tragically no one cared about them.
The event was to be rounded up by the presentation of a gift from the school to the top student in terms of cultivation and that was to be done by the one with the highest authority present in the arena, Bryon.
As Bryon walked up the stage the entire arena was drowned in thunderous applauds. It was very clear he was a fan favorite of the commoners, but the energy coming from the nobles were quite different.
Although they were all on their feet and were applauding him, some did have resentments towards him but didn't have the balls to show it, but this was among the least of his concerns.
With a smile on his face, Bryon casted a voice magnifying spell before giving his speech.
"The purpose of this test was to assess and select promising talents so they could be trained and nurtured by this great institution into being the future mages that will rise up to the occasion whenever the empire is in need of their services.
The path to becoming a mage is not an easy one, it is a thorny one filled with challenges that will either break or make an individual and this depends on the effort you put in as well as the choices you make.
Although this is a great victory for you all, remember that this is just the beginning of your journey, so keep working hard and do not relent.
To those that made it into the main school, congratulations, and to those who didn't make it, I wish you all the best in your future endeavors."
Bryon took a short pause as he waited for the applauds to lessen before he continued.
"It is a tradition for the empire to reward excellence and the good deeds of its people and that also applies for this test.
This reward will go to only the top position of this test. Not only did he win his match with ease but he also the one with the top cultivation level. Blake Wilson, please step up."
'Thank the heavens that I decided to change my clothes.' Blake walked up to the stage and bowed.
"On behalf of the royal family and school, I present this gift to you." Out of thin a Katana appeared.
'How did he do that?' Although Blake was bewildered, he didn't let it show neither did he pause. He immediately went down on his and received the gift, before performing a bow and leaving the stage.