Demon Wolf

“Pass.”

Eleanor announced Jakob’s result half a minute after he had entered the darkness. Wolf gazed at the door with a smirk, when a sudden cheer erupted to his right.

At first it was only one girl, but two dozen people in the crowd followed her and eventually most trial takers shouted and whistled.

They are venting their fear and rousing morale. Wolf glanced at Eleanor. Surprisingly, she’s letting them. Wasn’t she crushing their morale and instilling terror on purpose? Did her lips just twitch? She’s suppressing a smile?

Just as Wolf wondered about the icy elder’s motives, Eleanor singled out yet another disciple. “You.”

The cheers and shouts of ‘you can do it’ filled the square, and the young woman nervously smiled while pulling on the squeaky door. The crowd went silent as the portal closed. Youths’ hands shook and they bit their lips, glaring at the giant maw swallowing manlings.

“Pass,” Eleanor announced, and the tense plateau burst into cheers.

“Pass,” she declared after the next girl entered.

The third girl, high on emotion and full of confidence, strutted towards the trial door. Three others had passed before her. She ignored the ominous, rusty creak and rushed into the darkness.

Silence filled with anticipation drowned the square once more. Then, five seconds later, instead of the lofty elder announcing a pass, a scream broke the calm. Red gushed from under the door, accompanying the most brutal shriek so far.

“No! N—” the girlish wails died in disgusting crunching sounds.

A frigid ocean of terror swallowed everyone’s hearts as the abrupt change from elation to howling death throes of a manling eaten alive assailed their minds. The weak-willed shuddered, and a boy fainted from the sudden shock, irking Wolf.

Stop playing into their stereotypes. You’re making men look bad. He burned with desire to slap the pudgy-arsed coward.

“You,” Eleanor ignored the disciples’ outbursts, selecting the next challenger. However, with the group’s momentum broken, nobody cheered.

Girls mumbled ‘good luck’ as their peer advanced through the crowd and entered the trial.

“Pass,” Eleanor said scant seconds after the door closed.

The pattern changed. She no longer selected the weakest, and instead randomized who entered. Wolf sensed her scrutiny several times as she scanned the crowd. However, whenever he looked at her, Eleanor shifted her gaze away with the natural grace of the overseer observing a crowd.

“You.” Three hours after the trial began, Eleanor picked Wolf.

The cold indifference in her eyes remained, surprising Wolf. She had been monitoring him the entire time, and after selecting him, her expression remained unchanged.

It’s not just her face. He stepped forth, slowly advancing through the crowd. Her demeanor is… No, wait.

Wolf caught the slight, expectant narrowing of the lofty elder’s pupils.

She’s anxious. Ah, what if… Wolf slowed his advance further, replacing his complete confidence with timidity of local males. Eleanor’s eyebrow twitched ever so slightly.

She wants me to get this over with. The momentary hesitation disappeared from Wolf’s demeanor, and his unshakeable self-assurance returned. She’s not worried I will fail. She just wants me to finish the trial quickly. Why?

Wolf ignored the hair-raising creak and strode into the darkness with the natural confidence of a warrior who had trampled mountains of corpses.

The umbral screen swallowed him, and he sensed immaterial tendrils tugging at his senses. He awakened his consciousness, and in a moment deduced that a harmless illusion had assailed his mind; a parlor trick he could shatter with a snort.

Patronizing the Spell Formation, Wolf allowed it to twist his perception and entered a sandy arena through a challenger’s door.

The air shimmered with heat, which Wolf did not feel against his skin. The loose grit did not squeak beneath his feet, nor did it hamper his movement.

A patchwork job. Wolf had time to spare and examine the cages lining the ring, each filled with ominous forms, howling in mad bloodlust.

Finally, he focused on the roaring three-meter-tall lion pouncing towards him. The fight started with the monster mere five meters away, testing the applicant’s reflexes.

Wolf ducked under the clumsy attack. He summoned Book and disemboweled the illusory beast in one swift slash.

“Congratulations, you passed.” A lanky Earth Pavilion disciple appeared as the illusion dissolved, and Wolf noted the faint surprise in her slightly dilated pupils.

“Thank you.” He uttered the perfunctory words, examining his surroundings.

The stone chamber was vast; built in the same style as the ones which housed the previous tests. Apart from the massive entrance, it had two hallways, one leading left, the other to the right, and in the far corner several disciples fiddled with a large jade tablet.

Probably Spell Formation commands.

“Please free the space for the next trial taker.” The disciple which greeted him interrupted Wolf’s thoughts giving him a polite smile.

“Right. Sorry.” Wolf followed the motioning hand and stepped away from the entryway. He glanced back and saw a giant wooden door with a system of thin pipes at the bottom.

These people are conmen. Every last one of them. After a second’s delay, Wolf headed towards the staircase, which the tall brunette had pointed.

“Junior apprentice brother,” the usher called after him. “Wait there. Elder Dread said she would join you in five minutes.”

Wolf turned around, but the senior sister no longer paid attention to him. He looked left and right. Am I supposed to just stand here in the middle of the passage?

While there was enough room to pass, Wolf definitely blocked the shortest path to the inner disciple exit and people would have to circle around him. With nothing better to do, he observed the next trial taker.

The door opened, and Wolf saw everything outside. The obscuring blackness was one way, allowing him to examine the fit young elf’s hesitation. She bit her lip, revealing flat teeth, then stepped forward.

This world’s elves don’t sharpen their teeth? No; that one hasn’t sharpened her teeth. Steer away from generalizations. Wolf drew likely conclusions while watching the girl turn stiff.

She stood frozen for fifteen heartbeats, her muscles paralyzed, her eyes rapidly moving as her pupils narrowed in focus. Suddenly, she jumped back with a start, nearly hitting the closed door.

“Congratulations, you passed.” The tall disciple greeted the disheveled elf, who gripped her arm and checked her bicep for blood.

She doesn’t have a bright future if that lion wounded her.

“Please free the space for the next trial taker.” Wolf could not see the disciple’s face, but her motions seemed identical, and he guessed she had the same polite expression she had given him.

The elf nodded, still slightly out of sorts. She walked over to Wolf and stood behind him, forming a line.

“No, no. You can take the stairs.” As the senior disciple spoke, the door opened, but the next girl did not seem to hear her.

***

The decrepit Earth Pavilion’s pavilion master watched the recordings of Wolf’s battles. She slowed the playback several hundred times, observing every detail.

Her murky eyes shone with excitement as a black claw passed exactly two centimeters away from Wolf’s form.

“He’s timing it. Always two centimeters before he goes in for the kill. He’s a natural born Soul Cultivator,” the pavilion master mumbled.

Suddenly, her callingjade flashed and vibrated.

The elderly woman touched the unassuming device.

“Master, his results are mixed.” Eleanor’s voice echoed in the empty room. “His soul is unprecedentedly strong. He passed the most difficult exam I could come up with. I don’t know the exact details, but his soul is several times stronger than mine. However, his cultivation is a waste. He reached the twelfth stage of Qi Gathering. Meaning we either force him to advance fewer stages once he becomes a Blood Saturating disciple and damage his foundation, or he never becomes rentable as the costs of raising him outweigh his worth—”

“No. We don’t care about that,” the elderly pavilion master mumbled into the communication device. “Conceal how many stages he has reached when making an offer. Advertise his body and soul; those two are enough to inflate his price. We will sell him once the secluded world closes. He will reach the third stage Blood Saturating at most, and before anyone realizes there’s a problem with him, he will probably perish to assassins or during a competition.”

The pavilion master paused, gathering her thoughts.

“Remember, Lori,” she said after half a minute passed. “We don’t care about his future. We are small fish caught in a fight between krakens. They need inner disciples. They need geniuses and then those geniuses kill each other in bids for power, rarely reaching Bone Scribing despite their potential. Remember, sometimes, bad talent is a blessing which will prolong your life. Sometimes being a genius only means you will die sooner in blood, rather than later in a warm, comfortable bed.”

The pavilion master stopped talking and Eleanor remained silent, uncertain whether this was yet another pause for her mentor to gather her thoughts.

“I will soon conclude examining his battles. Record your conversation with him. Maybe he reveals something important.” With that, the pavilion master tapped the white jade, ending the transmission.

Spoiler

Random Roll - Jakob’s pass d100 said 71. I wanted him to fail. “The miserable squeal and another gush of blood beneath the door submerged the crowd’s rising morale into an icy ocean. Wolf was stunned…”

Random Roll - Passes and fails.

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