Chapter 64: Pillar of Judgement

Seven figures appeared beside the chairs and sat down. The middle-aged man also took a seat among the chairs overlooking the stage.

The lights illuminating the stage dimmed a little and focused specifically on the center. Three vampires walked to the middle.  They wore distinct bright and contrasting red dresses with black accents. 

Among the three, the middle one was a woman who looked to be in her mid-twenties. On her both sides two men around the same age followed her. There was an aura of majesty around her as she walked towards the center.

Stopping just before the center of the stage where the light was focused, she extended her hands, and the rune card in her hands activated.

"It's nice to meet you all." 

She looked around the hall and scanned the students. 

" As you may know, this event is dedicated to you and today you will learn all the things that are necessary to start joining prestigious departments that will aid you in your development.

Dean Jesper and all the other professors are already present, so we will start the events as scheduled." The woman said with a smile.

"For starters, I will explain all the essential rules and what is expected of you. Then we will commence the two primary events to evaluate your blood core and blood concentration. 

Now those of you who come from undeveloped places and don't know what I'm talking about, I will elaborate on this. Basically, the blood core test will determine the amount of blood-qi on your body as well as the rank of your blood core. This test is very straightforward.

You have to use a specialized blood rune stone, made for. Measuring this. This will allow us to see where you stand on the hierarchy and based on your ranks, preferential treatment will be given.

That doesn't mean, those who rank lower won't get any benefits. They will get all the important resources and can join any of the four departments of their choice. But the advantages for those, who are at the top, is that they can choose a dedicated mentor to teach them. 

Also, the one who will rank 1st could become the direct disciple of… one of the four deans." 

As the words left her mouth, a commotion ensued in the hall. Everyone started whispering and talking about the implication of getting a higher rank. If they could get the first rank, their life would change for the better, as they would get teachings directly from the deans of the four branches.

But soon the voice of the woman silenced everyone.

"But there is a minimum requirement for getting the 1st rank. If nobody could cross that threshold then the deans won't be taking any disciples this year. This should motivate you to give your best performance in the upcoming events.

Coming to the second test, which measures your blood concentration, that is the original vampire genes present in your blood. The result of this test holds half of the points for the final rankings, so you need to be lucky as well. 

The original genes in your blood determine how far you can go in the path of blood condensing. So it will also play a significant role in your selection."

Every student looked excited and ready to give the test, to determine how they fared against others and also to prove their worth.

After explaining all the rules of the event, the woman flipped the card in her hands and the entire hall started to shake. All the students looked around nervously as their seats started to move. 

The entire interior of the hall was changing, so was the arrangement of the seats and the sage. Half of the seats broke off in the middle and rotated to the other side and created a gap. The ends of the rows met and a semi-circular arrangement was formed.

The stage moved forward slowly and the elevation decreased as it approached the center of the hall. After some time, with a thud, the stage stopped in the place at the center of the hall and its height was lower than that of the seats surrounding it. 

Several ladders connected to narrow paths within the seats. The three vampires stood there silently the whole time looking around the hall with a curious gaze.

Keith was sitting at the second row, but now after the rearrangement of the seats, his seat was at the front, connected to the first row's end. From the start, he had been observing the seven figures sitting on the high stage. Their part of the stage didn't move and stayed where it was.

They looked down on the hall from above and their figures seemed like mirages floating in the dark. Keith tried to sense their level but to no avail. He didn't get any blood-qi fluctuation from that area. Like it was cut off from the real world. He couldn't even sense the ambient blood-qi surrounding them.

'Terrifying.' This was the first thought that came to his mind.

When he was at the Ennes castle, he could determine everyone's blood core level, as well as his grandpa's. From his observations, his grandpa was an early stage count and his blood-qi level was way higher than his. 

The blood-qi was so calm inside his grandpa, that sometimes it felt unreal. But he could at least sense his power, unlike these old monsters who completely hid their aura without even sparing their surrounding space.

It felt like an empty space in the sea of life energy. As he shifted his attention to the three vampires in the middle of the main stage, he sensed two of them were middle stage count level vampires as their aura was higher than his grandpa. As for the woman in the middle, Keith could in fact observe her blood-qi, but he couldn't determine her level.

Her aura was way more powerful than the two vampires behind her. It was significantly greater than his grandpa in all aspects. Moreover, it was immensely galvanizing, erratic, and active. It was the complete opposite of his grandpa's calm aura.

Squinting his eyes, he used all his senses to focus on the woman in the center. At that moment, the woman shot a glance towards him with a curious expression. She looked at him for a while and smiled and turned her head towards Annica.

"Do you know who she is?" Keith asked with a hushed voice.

She nodded with a tinge of fear in her eyes. As the woman kept staring at her, a sweat slid down her forehead. But the woman turned her head in a different direction, giving Annica a moment to breathe.

"She… She is the student council president of the academy, Valencia Winters. She is the princess of Efrain, daughter of King Armond." Annica said with a hoarse voice.

"Why are you acting up? She doesn't look that terrifying. Look, she's smiling at those students on the front seat." Keith said with a forced smile as he could still sense the tremendous aura surrounding her.

"That is not her true nature. It is just a mask she's wearing as the higher-ups are present here. Usually, she apprehends students for a slight mistake in their behavior. Most of the time, her face is stone cold and she rarely smiles." She said slowly.

"Now that you mention it, that look on her face does seem terrifying." Keith imagined her face with a stone-cold expression and then a forced smile. His hair stood on end as this thought came to his mind.

"Why is she looking so cheerful then?" Keith asked.

"Beats me. My guess is someone at the higher up has ordered her to keep a lively face, or she is expecting something to happen in the events, so she's looking forward to it.

Hearing her assumptions, Keith thought about the possible scenarios that could happen during the tests. What was she waiting for that made her mood elated and bring out smiles? 

As the stage stabilized on its position, the student council president stepped forwards and a large pillar was erected from the center.

Countless runes were carved on the pillar as it faintly glowed, reflecting the red light around the stage. It was five meters tall and one meter in diameter. As it stopped, a gap formed from its stood and extended outwards. 

Valencia moved backwards and the gap explained almost to the end of the stage, only leaving a couple of meters to spare, where the three vampires were standing.

"This pillar you see here is the ancient pillar of judgement, created by the original who resided on this palace in the inception of the Reinez continent. He made it in order to cast judgement on those who sinned their own blood and also provide great benefits to those who chose the right path.

How this pillar makes judgement isn't specifically known, but it has the power to read your blood to its origins. It will show you, how much of the original genes you acquired, and your level of blood core." 

As her voice ended, seven layers of passage opened from the gaps. The outermost layer was dark red and the next layer was slightly lighter. Runes wriggled in the layers, the light emanating from them pulsed with each change in rune arrangement.