Novel Full 116 Internal Tryouts
The internal Tryouts for the four slots of Avalon were conducted in the capital city with 25,000 strong crowd in attendance.
The trials were divided into three small tests and the final judgement of internal slots was reserved by a pannel of 40 judges including all the clan leaders , general Sam and his lieutenants and finally in the hands of Augustus .
Naturally Augustus was heavily biased from the start regarding his two grandsons and with him as a selector everything else was just a farce , but no nepotism was needed for the selection of the two royal princes as even without him being the final selector , those two would undoubtedly shine as number one and number two in the tryouts.
The three tests for the internal selection were
1. Punch strength test
2. Elemental strength test
3. Strategy test
There were a total of 43,000 youths competing for the 4 internal slots with the young masters from all the clans under 18 eyeing the spots vehemently.
Each clan had devoted a lot of resources to groom their young scions for these internal selections as should any of them get the opportunity to enter a big sect after fighting in the coming tournament , the entire trajectory of their clan might change forever.
So amongst the hopes and watchful eyes of the various elders and citizens of Avalon and their King , the first round of the internal Tryouts started as 100 punching machines were lined up infront of the crowd as candidates were called in batches of 100 to register their scores infront of everyone’s watchful eyes..
Every participant was given a number and unless they were extremely popular amongst the crowd like Percy and Ronan and some of the other young masters of big clans , the crowd would only recognise them from their assigned number and nothing more.
Most participants ranged between the level 30-45 range with only a handful being above level 60 and even less above level 80 while Percy and Ronan being the only two ascended level warriors.
It was unrealistic for most born with a 4 star talent or lower to think they could break past the mortal realms into the ascended ones in their entire life , much less before 30.
However those that did manage to be level 60 or higher at such a young age were undoubtedly very promising seedlings that could become a pillar of the nation in the coming days.
General Sam was hence more interested in recruiting potential seedlings into the army early on than selecting candidates for the coming tournament as the current average army strength was only level 62 . Should he recruit such promising seedlings early on , who were bound to blossom he could most likely pull the average up to 75 in the coming 5 years.
One after another candidates went upto the punching machines as they gave the strongest punch that they could without using elemental affinity to get a reading on the punching machine.
Everyone was given two chances with the best of two being selected.
The threshold value that Augustus had set for this test was a score of 55 and above in a machine that rated one from 0- 100 and those who were unable to score atleast this number in two punches were automatically eliminated.
To the horror of the candidates all 100 of the first batch failed to meet the threshold as the best score was only 22.
Groans could be heard from the crowd as noone from the first 2200 candidates could meet the threshold as the candidates complained that the test was too hard.
Those whose turn was yet to come felt increasingly nervous about going up , while the various clan leaders now worried about saving their clans face should their scions not be able to even clear the first round.
Augustus had indeed set the bar a bit too high as it was impossible for warriors under level 60 to clear this challenge as unless one had a powerful martial art that boosted their attack strength , the natural strength of a level 60 warrior was near 55 .
Only when the young master of the 3rd clan of Avalon , Sierra’s home clan cleared the stage with a score of 72 did the crowd break into cheers and celebrations , as from then on in every batch one after another someone managed to qualify.
Most of the big clans had access to some form of martial arts and their scions were trained in atleast the basics hence to the delight of the clan leaders all 37 of their participating direct descendants managed to clear round one , although two cleared it only by the skin of their teeth with a punch strength of 55.
While some clans did not have any scions under the age of 18 that could participate efficiently in the selections , some had multiple siblings qualifying.
Not including the branch members and other clan members there were a total of 37 direct descendants competing and all 37 of them managed to qualify for round two , giving a massive ego boost to the clan leaders and reinforcing the image in the common public’s mind that the big clans were indeed different from common blood.
When it was finally Percy’s turn to walk upto the stage the entire crowd broke into mad cheers as their crown prince and the nation’s pride finally walked out onto the arena.
The chants of ‘ Percy! Percy ! Percy! ‘ were deafeningly loud as the other 99 candidates felt like they were invisible with not a single individual even looking at their existance.
Percy too was a good sport as he raised his arms wide and embraced the chants with a smile as being the centre of attention did not make him feel anxious at all.
He was a prince and he enjoyed the appreciation of his people.
Taking a deep breath he took a punching stance against the Machine as he lightly extended his arm to touch the sensor twice without hitting it as he mentally prepared the spot where he wanted to hit the machine precisely.
The trick to landing a strong punch was to reduce the area of impact as much as possible and landing and using the strength of the full body to land one and not just the arms.
Twisting his hips Percy used explosive speed to precisely land a strong punch onto the machine as a loud bang resounded throughout the arena .
The sensor read a whopping 89 on the score-board as percy surpassed the previous best score of 81 by a fair margin and that too without using any martial arts.
The crowd went absolutely ballistic at this show of strength by Percy as his chants only grew louder.
Not bothering with having to punch a second time Percy walked back down the alley as the other candidates continued for their second try to succeed .
As he walked back he saw Ronan standing in the front of the next line clapping for his performance with an innocent smile plastered on his face.
Percy grinned looking at his brother and tapped his shoulder as he said ” Don’t embarass yourself trying to beat my score “. and coolly walked off from the arena.
Ronan giggled when he heard this , he did not know how the machine worked or if he could beat Percy’s record but internally he absolutely wanted to .
When his chance came to walk-upto the stage , the crowd were still chanting Percy’s name however again broke into cheers to see the cold second prince walk onto the arena.
Unlike Percy , Ronan did not care much about the crowd as while it did not make him nervous it did not motivate him either. For him only his own self mattered and from the second he walked infront of the punching machine he was only laser focused on what he needed to do next.
This temperamental difference between the two brothers was for everyone to see as while both the scions of Draco clan were extraordinary they could not be more different than each other.
In his mind Ronan thought about Karna sensei and the first time that he taught him the raging fist infront of the riverbank destroying the massive boulder , as he decided to throw this punch in his honor to commemorate his martial arts that he so trustingly passed to Ronan , and remind the world that his techniques were not yet dead.
It was a move that Ronan had practiced day in and day out for years and had gained a complete and absolute mastery over.
Getting into stance , Ronan positioned his legs at shoulder distance as he slowly opened his eyes to look at the machine infront of him.
In a shadow image of Karna sensei’s movements that he showed him all those years ago Ronan unleashed the same punch at the machine with a cold voice that said ‘ Raging Fist ‘.
BOOM!
To the absolute horror of everyone present in the arena Ronan did not just clear the criteria for passing scoring a whopping 99 , but he also cracked the punching machine in half with his power as the two pieces were embedded into the walls 20 feet away .
Everyone broke into an uproar and looked at the refree to see if any elemental affinity was involved but when the mana crystal remained clear and the refree did not sense the use of any elemental affinity the resounding cheer was unreal as Ronan simply outclassed anyone and everyone of his age group including Percy himself.
Not only did he score a perfect 99 , he also broke the entire damn machine with his punch showing that the machine was not even strong enough to fully record his strength.
The machine was made from reinforced steel used to restrain notorious criminals. Hence for it to snap in half meant that the punch strength behind Ronan’s attack was easily lethal enough to kill a man should they take the brunt of it .
As Augustus and Sam cheered like madmen , the other clan leaders felt their backs drench in swear over Ronan’s raw power.
A 13 year old kid with such strength was unheard and unseen off and every single Avalonian quickly realised that Ronan Draco was the one to watchout for in the tournament.
Everyone expected Ronan to walk back like Percy did after this banger of a performance however his next words shocked the crowd silent as he said ” Good warm-up now i want my real punch “.
The refree felt like he was about to faint as every clan leader felt their eyebrows twitch at this statement as they looked towards Augustus for the final verdict.
But the old man was too busy laughing to notice that there was a sight of fear in the eyes of clan leaders as they understood that this 13 y/o tiny terror could probably kill even veteran warriors like themselves , with one punch at that.