"Gather for the First Test!"
The moment the reverberating voice faded, everyone looked toward the dark barrier because a large gap appeared in it.
Thereupon, two demons wearing black attire with white outlines appeared.
Their faces were emotionless with a cold aura surrounding them.
The next moment, one of them with dark bronze skin spoke while looking at the crowd, "Participants come forward and formed two queues fifty meters away from this barrier, men on right and women on left!"
The young demons standing along with their seniors didn't dare to neglect his command and quickly headed there and started forming queues according to their gender.
"Go brat, make me proud." Harvey patted Archie's shoulder with a solemn expression.
Archie bowed toward him before he left.
Finley wanted to beat Lucas, but he knew this wasn't the time and coldly uttered, "Remembered what I told you, now go!"
Lucas felt like he just escaped a heavy beating and quickly nodded and left after Archie while throwing a vicious glare at him for making him humiliated just now.
Harvey teased at this moment, "Lick the Lit, huh? So, tell me, what is it exactly?" He would never miss a chance to take a punch at Finley.
Finley's expression was dark as charcoal, and he furiously shouted, "Fuck off!"
Soon, two queues formed under everyone's watchful eyes.
The men's queue was much larger than the women's.
In total there were over two thousand demons and over nine hundred demonesses.
Ace felt every young demon around him was a prodigy since they all were River Core realm experts, and this wasn't a usual sight one could see in the eight provinces.
Forming a river core was an extremely dangerous process, and the higher level of your river cores the more difficult it was to form and the longer the process.
That's why it was the threshold that truly separates those with the extraordinary river from the ordinary river.
Right now, everyone here has a Peerless Foundation
The dark-bronze skin demon spoke impassively again, "As everyone knows already, this is the start of this year's entrance test of the Royal Demon Institute.
"The rules are simple,
"First and most important, no killing is allowed, if caught you'll be dealt with according to the institute law.
"Second, no treasures above grade-4 are allowed, and you'll be eliminated the moment you use any.
"Third, and last, the Royal Demon Institute has absolute power in this test, and no complaints will be accepted!
"Is that clear?"
Everyone already knew these three rules, and no one spoke in rejection. The Royal Demon Institute have a very high status, and offending them was akin to offending the imperials in a sense.
Besides, they were very fair and didn't conduct any underhanded methods, and they had a reputation to back this claim.
At this moment, the second demon with violet skin spoke, "Since no one has any problems let's begin the first test which is the easiest. The Qualification Test will determine if you qualify for the Royal Demon Institute.
"As everyone can see this black barrier behind me is a special formation which will only allow entrance to someone with age below 100 years and cultivate of Diamond Extraordinary River Core or higher.
"One by one, a man and a woman will move toward this barrier and try to pass it. If no one has any questions, let's proceed."
The moment his voice trailed off, the first demons in both lines started to move toward the barrier.
This test was very simple, and they just have to pass this qualification barrier.
Ace looked at the demons passing the barrier one by one without any hitch and wondered, 'My age is only 25. Both masks can fool a grade-6 formation detection so, it won't be a problem. But I don't know if that formation is grade-6 or grade-7. Well, as long as it couldn't tell my actual age, I won't be rejected since my cultivation is concealed by the system.'
He was in the middle of his queue while in front of him was a skinny demon with a somewhat gloomy aura, and behind was a lion hair demon.
No one seemed to be interested in talking with anyone, but they were all secretly paying attention to anyone who passed that barrier with sharp eyes.
Everyone knew this was just the first test and didn't matter much, the real competition will begin on the other side.
Soon, it was Ace's turn, and to his relief the barrier let him pass like other demons without drawing any attention.
However, when he appeared on the side he was shocked as he saw a gray translucent barrier a hundred meters away. At the end of this barrier, he could see the huge demonic gates which were open wide, but the mist was covering the interior.
Like everyone, he didn't dare to approach the barrier and stood on the side to wait for this test to be over.
Till now, no demon failed, and it was only natural since, every demon here belonged to a prominent demon tribe, and if they dared to play any tricks and found out, they didn't have any good ending from the institute as well as their families.
The entire process took half an hour, and everyone passed the qualification barrier.
When the last demon entered the barrier suddenly faded revealing the other side again.
The Royal Demon Institute or in fact any other demon institute didn't stop any spectators as long as they didn't interfere in the process.
It was also an opportunity to show off their talent and spread their fame around the nation.
Harvey looked at the translucent barrier and mumbled with a grim expression, "This is where the true competition will start."
Finley coldly mocked, "I clearly remembered, it took you two years to just pass the second test."
Harvey wasn't flustered at all and merely sneered, "And you were right beside me, do you forget?"
Finley merely grunted but didn't retort since it was true. He and Harvey were from the same generation as Archie and Lucas, and unlike them, these two were always competing with each other and at each other throat like rivals.
In comparison, Archie's life was very peaceful because of his astonishing talent, if he really didn't 'play' a fool, his true rival was Daniel from the main family who entered the institute a decade ago, and now he should be a second-grade student.
But Harvey knew if Archie really tried to compete with Daniel then it won't be Lucas but Daniel who targeted him, and would be a disaster for him.
Now, that Daniel was already far ahead, the main family won't feel any threat, at least he hoped that was the case.
Nevertheless, he won't let his son's talent be suppressed anymore even if he has to clash with the current family head of the main family.
"Oh, I thought I knew these gentlemen from before." At this moment, a jolly voice rang from behind.
Both Harvey and Finley found this voice familiar and looked in this direction and saw a group of eight demons coming toward them. Their aura was not least a bit below theirs which meant they were all demon dukes like them!
Two of them from the Fiery Grand Demon Tribe.
Two from the Poison Wood Grand Demon Tribe.
Four from the Nightmare Grand Demon Tribe.
All of them were either decedents of Grand Demon Dukes or relatives like Harvey and Finley.
The Poison Wood Grand Demon Tribe had the shortest history among four grand duke-level tribes while the Nightmare Grand Demon Tribe was at the same level as the life grand demon tribe.
The Fiery Grand Demon Tribe would place in third since it was established long after the foundation of the demon empire.
Nevertheless, each tribe had its own special strength and traits.
The life demons and nightmare demons have a friendly relationship and even business partners of sorts, while the other two weren't close to these two but still maintain friendly relations.
The demon who called out to Harvey and Finley was also a Nightmare Demon with a skinny, yet 2.6 tall build, he wore a tight black attire while his skin was ash pale with white eyes. He put on an amiable smile, completely different from the identity of the most ruthless grand demon tribe.
Harvey greeted since he knew this nightmare demon, "Ash Duke, I never thought someone from your family was participating in this year's test."
Ash Duke chuckled, they were all old friends and rivals and were graduates from the same institute.
He replied, "Runic Duke, you also didn't tell me your son was going to participate this year, so we're even in a sense."
At this moment, a gorgeous emerald skin demoness with black antelope horns coldly chuckled and made a jeering remark, "Your son is quite a character, unlike you."
Harvey looked at the demoness coldly and without holding back tutted, "Your mouth is still as poisonous as even Black Duke. But my son is still not interesting as your little cousin, Paul."
Black Duke's expression went rigid when Paul's name was mentioned, he was like a sour spot for the Poison Wood Grand Demon Tribe, and no one dared to mention him in front of Poison Wood Grand Demon Tribe unless they didn't have Harvey's status.
"Alright, the second round is about to start, stop quibbling." The Fiery Demon impassively reminded!