Strongest Mage with the Lust system

Chapter 854: Recruitment - Inferior

”Arrrggghhh!”

”Damn it! At least tell us before you ring that damned bell!”

Many pained cries arose along with many complaining voices. Max also felt like shouting because his head also throbbed painfully when the sound reached him but he managed to hold back.

Worried about Rima, he looked at her and saw her face was drained of all colors but her eyes were shining in excitement which made Max raise his brows.

’She... the sound of the attack hasn’t messed up her mind, has it?’ He couldn’t help but think even though he knew this wasn’t the case.

Feeling his gaze, Rima glanced at him and asked, ”I can block the sound. Want me to help you with the next wave?”

Just as Max took a moment to think whether he should have her help him, the bell lady’s cold voice echoed through the sky, ”Anyone who helps another will be immediately eliminated.”

Rima’s expression stiffened at the announcement and she looked at her, wondering if she had heard her.

She then pursed her lips and gave Max a helpless glance. In response, Max smiled, ”It’s alright. I can endure for ten minutes. Besides I don’t think they are testing just our mental endurance, it might be more complicated, so be careful.”

Immediately after saying this, he realized there was no need for him to worry about her because with Rima able to block the sound, whatever trickery was behind this test would be of no consequence to her.

”You be careful too, alright.” Rima nodded without trying to tease him.

Max only had the time to nod in response before another ring rang out.

Tong~

This time he and everyone else were ready for the mental impact but unexpectedly to everyone, except Max, this time they didn’t feel any pain but a sense of primal fear filled their being, making them break out in cold sweat and shudder violently.

Ba-Dum! Ba-Dum!

The fear made Max’s chest tighten while his heart began beating like drums, each beat intensifying his fear, suffocating him.

In just a few moments, he was drained of all strength and what was worse was that he could see no hope of survival in front of such fear. For a moment, he even thought that death wasn’t a bad thing. At least, once he was dead, he wouldn’t feel this fear.

However, right as this thought crossed his mind, Lily, Anna, Emily, Esme, Rima and others’ faces flashed in his mind and he immediately forced himself to come to his senses.

Though it was difficult, even as he felt the fear was about to devour him, he kept his thoughts clear and after what felt like a long time, the fear abruptly vanished, leaving him gasping for breath.

Ha! Ha! Ha!

While taking deep breaths, he looked around and noticed just like him, almost everyone who was still standing was also covered in sweat, their faces pale with fright as if they had faced death itself. As for those who were lying on the ground, frothing from their mouths, he didn’t even look at them.

”Are you alright, Max?” Right then, he heard Rima’s concerned voice and looked over, immediately, his eyelids twitched because unlike everyone else, Rima looked calm and at ease, clearly she blocked the sound, so it didn’t induce that fear in her.

”I’m alright.” He finally said after suppressing the burgeoning envy in his heart.

”What happened?” She asked, sweeping her gaze across everyone around them.

”The second bell was the test of our will. It made us face overwhelming fear.” Max answered, his voice low and filled with disappointment with himself.

Ever since he broke through the Four Star realm and was able to fight across the realm as easily as drinking water, he had begun thinking that he was extraordinary.

While he faced several setbacks afterwards which made him feel powerless, he subconsciously thought it was all because his enemies had an unfair advantage as they were hundreds if not thousands of years older than him and thus more powerful. If they were as young as him, he could’ve dominated them with ease.

But after facing that primal fear, he knew he was still lacking even compared to other Four Star mages because whatever that fear was, he could tell it didn’t exceed his realm.

Heck, even if he didn’t take that into account, he noticed a few people, still in the Four Star realm, who seemed to have fared better than him.

What did it mean? It meant even if his overall strength was stronger than them, in the aspect of will, he was still inferior.

Noticing his glum expression, Rima felt a pain in her heart but she didn’t try to cheer him up because she knew Max needed this.

She had already noticed that despite going through everything, Max still had a somewhat laidback, uncaring and strangely confident attitude bordering on being overconfident which even he didn’t seem to be aware of.

In her opinion, this attitude needed to change otherwise it might cause something bad to happen in future. And this test of will seemed like the catalyst needed to this change.

After all, if a man had a firm will, he could control himself even in the worst of the situations, stay calm and come out victorious and more importantly... alive.

So, despite feeling pain seeing him down like this, she stayed silent.

...

The middle-aged man and the young lady furrowed their brows when they saw more than half of the participants hadn’t been able to endure the second toll and fell unconscious.

[Sigh! What a disappointment! While the number of participants was good, their quality is lacking too much.] The man transmitted to the young lady, feeling dejected. He then added, [Meredith, how about we conclude this test here?]

Meredith, the young lady, was silent for a moment before she gritted her teeth and nodded, about to put away the bell.

[No need. Go ahead with the final bell.]

Right then, a voice sounded in their ears which made her stop.

The middle-aged man looked up at the clouds and seemed to see the old man from before standing there with another figure. After hesitating for a moment, he transmitted, [But Grand Elder, that will eliminate even more participants, leaving us with very few disciples.]

[You are right, Elder. So, do this...]

After hearing the old man’s suggestion, the middle-aged man, one of the Elders of the Beast Emperor’s Inner Hall, shook his head silently, clearly not liking it, but Meredith went ahead with the suggestion.

After waiting for a short while for the elders to send out the eliminated participants and let the standing ones recover slightly, she swept her gaze across everyone and spoke, her cold tone carrying clear disappointment.

”In every recruitment, disciples have to face three bell chimes before they can proceed to the second half of the test. But seeing you lot’s display, very few of you will be able to pass the third toll. Unfortunately, we are in need of manpower, so we don’t want to eliminate more of your before the final assessment.”

While her words stung many of the disciples, they also felt relieved because they weren’t sure they could endure the third chime. So, they were happy with her decision to—

Just as everyone was starting to celebrate in their minds, Meredith continued,

”However, it doesn’t mean we’ll let even the trash join us. So, as long as you stand still for half a minute after the third chime, you’ll be allowed to continue, otherwise you are eliminated. Now, prepare yourself.”

Tong~

Immediately, everyone stiffened.