Free Web NovelChapter 675: Can You Still Stand?
Rovak led the entire group into God Gym’s temporary base.
The moment they entered the main area, everyone immediately noticed the man waiting for them.
Garion stood near the training ground with his arms crossed, looking completely relaxed.
At first glance, there was nothing especially terrifying about him.
A second later, the eight candidates realized just how wrong that first impression had been.
The pressure around Garion felt far heavier than they had expected. It was dense, strange, and difficult to understand, and even the Star Realm beings they had met before had never given them the same feeling.
Even Feron, who came from a much higher echelon than most of the others, stopped smiling for a moment.
Azton’s eyes narrowed slightly.
"This pressure... is he really only at the Star Realm?"
Garion, however, was staring at the group with a completely different concern.
He looked at Rovak. "Hah? Are you sure these are the people?"
Rovak nodded. "Yeah."
Garion slowly looked over the entire group again.
Including Slifera and Elisa, there were four men and six women.
His mouth twitched. "Damn. Why are there way more women than men?"
Alira sighed from behind the group. "One of them is Supervisor Bruno’s son."
Garion’s eyes immediately moved toward Feron.
Alira continued, "And he came with his harem. The other four women are with him."
Garion froze for a second as his gaze moved from Feron to Iris, Varka, Loraine, and Erlin. "Ahh. I see."
His grin widened. "Damn. As expected of a proper young master. He even came to training with his entire harem."
Feron laughed proudly. "Naturally."
Varka cracked her knuckles.
CRACK! CRACK!
Feron immediately stopped looking so proud.
Garion burst out laughing before looking at Alira again. "You’re sure all of them can handle my hidden ultimate training?"
Alira nodded. "They should. Every one of them is considered among the best of the best."
Garion’s expression became more interested. "I see."
He looked over the eight candidates again, this time far more carefully. "Fine. I still need to test them myself later anyway."
Rovak suddenly grinned and stepped forward. "Why don’t I test them?"
Garion turned toward him. "You?"
Rovak nodded proudly. "Yeah."
Garion gave him a flat look. "Even your ability can affect me. How the hell are they supposed to handle it?"
Several candidates immediately became more cautious.
Azton narrowed his eyes slightly, while Kaelvar looked toward Rovak with growing curiosity.
Varka’s grin only became wider.
Rovak laughed. "Relax. Of course I’m not going to use my Unsealed State."
Garion raised an eyebrow.
Rovak crossed his massive arms. "I’ll stay in my Sealed State and only use my bloodlust."
His grin became more savage. "Nothing fancy. No transformation, no roar, no blood control. Just enough pressure to test their will."
The eight candidates immediately understood.
This would not be a test of physical strength.
It would test whether they could keep standing while facing the bloodlust of someone who had slaughtered an entire pirate fleet by himself.
Garion stared at Rovak for a few seconds before sighing. "Fine."
Rovak’s grin widened.
Garion immediately raised one hand. "Not yet."
Rovak paused. "Huh?"
Garion turned back toward the candidates. "Before that, let me look at them properly."
His expression became more focused as his eyes moved over Kaelvar, Azton, Oriana, Feron, Iris, Varka, Loraine, and Erlin.
"Atlas. Show me their current status."
Atlas’s voice immediately sounded inside his mind.
[Okay, okay.]
A series of status screens appeared before Garion.
---
[Name: Kaelvar Ignis]
[Race: Ignis Dragon Race]
[Realm: Peak Awakening Realm — 100%]
---
[Name: Azton]
[Race: Human]
[Realm: Peak Awakening Realm — 100%]
---
[Name: Oriana]
[Race: Golden Human Race]
[Realm: Peak Awakening Realm — 100%]
---
[Name: Feron]
[Race: Human]
[Realm: Peak Awakening Realm — 100%]
---
[Name: Iris]
[Race: Ignis Dragon Race]
[Realm: Peak Awakening Realm — 100%]
---
[Name: Varka]
[Race: Drakhor Race]
[Realm: Peak Awakening Realm — 100%]
---
[Name: Loraine]
[Race: Golden Human Race]
[Realm: Peak Awakening Realm — 100%]
---
[Name: Erlin]
[Race: Moon Elf Race]
[Realm: Peak Awakening Realm — 100%]
---
No matter which one Garion looked at, every single candidate was at the Peak Awakening Realm.
More importantly, all eight of them had reached one hundred percent.
They were not merely Peak Awakening Realm cultivators. Every single one of them had reached the absolute peak of the realm and pushed themselves as far as they possibly could without breaking through.
Garion looked toward Alira. "Damn. You weren’t exaggerating."
Alira crossed her arms. "I told you. They’re among the best of the best."
Feron grinned proudly. "Naturally."
Varka glanced at him.
Feron immediately coughed and straightened his posture.
Garion ignored them and looked toward Rovak. "Alright. Go ahead."
Rovak’s grin immediately widened. "Finally."
The eight candidates became serious.
Slifera and Elisa, who were standing nearby, also stiffened.
Garion noticed them and swung his thumb toward the others. "You two are joining too."
Slifera stared at him. "What?"
"You heard me." Garion pointed toward Rovak. "Stand with them."
The weak blue energy patterns beneath Slifera’s metallic skin flickered slightly. "Garion, we literally just finished training."
Elisa quietly nodded in agreement.
Garion gave them a calm smile. "Exactly. Let’s see how much you have left."
Slifera’s expression darkened.
"This place really is hell."
Elisa sighed quietly before stepping forward and standing beside Erlin.
Slifera reluctantly followed.
Rovak looked over all ten of them and cracked his neck.
CRACK!
His usual cheerful grin slowly disappeared.
The atmosphere inside the training area changed almost instantly.
A faint red aura began rising from Rovak’s massive body as he simply stopped holding back his bloodlust and allowed it to spread toward all ten of them.
Kaelvar’s eyes widened.
Azton’s body immediately stiffened.
Oriana’s calm smile vanished.
Iris gritted her teeth as flames instinctively flickered around her body.
Varka’s wild grin remained for only a few seconds before her expression became serious.
Loraine’s face turned pale.
Erlin’s breathing changed.
All of them had expected pressure.
None of them had expected anything like this.
Rovak’s bloodlust felt like standing in the middle of a battlefield covered in corpses.
For a moment, the image of the pirate fleet he had slaughtered seemed to appear in their minds.
Three seconds passed, and changes quickly began appearing among the group.
Kaelvar’s knees started trembling.
Azton clenched his fists and forced himself to remain upright.
Iris growled through gritted teeth as the flames around her burned more violently.
Varka’s body shook as she stubbornly resisted, her battle instincts refusing to let her back down.
Loraine and Erlin were already struggling to breathe.
Oriana remained standing, but beads of sweat slowly appeared across her forehead.
Feron was the only one who still looked relatively stable.
Garion noticed and raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"
The next moment, Rovak increased the pressure slightly.
BOOOOM!
Kaelvar dropped to one knee.
Azton followed almost immediately.
Iris cursed as one knee slammed against the ground. "Damn it!"
Varka resisted for several seconds longer before finally dropping to one knee with an angry grin. "Fuck... not bad."
Loraine and Erlin soon followed.
Oriana lasted slightly longer, but eventually, she also lowered herself onto one knee.
Feron remained standing.
His playful expression had completely disappeared, and his entire body was clearly under enormous pressure, but he still refused to kneel.
Rovak’s savage grin slowly returned. "Not bad."
Garion nodded slightly.
Feron really was worthy of being Bruno’s son.
