Chapter 1414: Test [2]

Dominic was on the floor within five minutes.

"As expected, this is the level you're at."

Damien stood above him as a single person. He'd already unsummoned all his clones.

"Haa..haa...haa..."

Dominic naturally couldn't respond. He'd been beaten into the floor by hundreds of Damiens. He was trying his best to regain his breath and process what was going on.

'I've seen what I needed to see.'

Damien didn't come here to really spar with Dominic. He came to see what Dominic's level was.

If they had a full spar, it likely would've ended the same way, but Dominic wouldn't have gone down so fast.

However, this wasn't the time for that.

Damien could see the full extent of Dominic's skills whenever he wanted. He'd be training his brother for the foreseeable future, so that wasn't a problem.

He only needed a few minutes to assess Dominic's abilities.

"First off, I can see that you hold pride in your sword skills," he started, giving a small lecture.

"I'm not a swordsman, so I won't speak too much about it, but it's pretty good from what I've seen. The heights you can reach with sword laws are pretty high, but it's not enough."

"You have a lot of control over your laws, but the output is lacking because you haven't delved deeper into the crux of their meaning. From now on, I'll be making sure your laws are up to par, so be prepared for that training."

"Putting aside strength, I like your mentality. It won't be a waste to raise you as a general. I think you can really thrive in a war environment."

Dominic didn't put on a great show against the Damien army, but his decision-making during the fight was memorable.

If he was trained properly, he would truly become a war general beyond any other, someone who could go down in history.

Dominic's strengths were his sword skills, his mentality, his decision-making, and his caution.

Meanwhile, his weaknesses were his laws and lack of practical experience.

Damien nodded.

"Alright. I've pretty much figured out what I want to do with you, so take a minute to rest. You'll be transported back to the main palace when it's over."

"Haa...haa...haa..."

Dominic still couldn't speak, but even if he could, he couldn't argue against Damien.

Everything he said was correct. Dominic also knew his weaknesses. He was a practical person who didn't like to view himself as more than he actually was.

However, the fact that Damien could understand that from so little was amazing.

'No. It's no use being amazed at this point.'

He showed six more of the Swords of Heaven during the latter half of the battle. He didn't get the chance to use Autumn or Winter, which were the true essence of the Four Seasons Sword Technique, but he didn't doubt that it wouldn't have had much of an effect on Damien.

'Our brother truly is the man born to lead our palace.'

It was a foregone conclusion. Dominic only doubted Damien because he didn't know anything. Since he'd personally seen what his brother could accomplish, what complaints could he have?

Only...

"Are you going to test the others the same way?" He asked between breaths.

"Of course. Why wouldn't I?" Damien responded.

"I see..."

Dominic nodded but didn't speak more.

'My little brother...'

He sighed to himself.

'...for your sake, I hope you don't act up.'

Darius was a fanboy. He was concerned about Void Palace so he didn't express it recently, but he'd been Damien's fan for as long as he'd known of his existence.

The problem was...

'...if the person he's been deifying approaches him like this...'

...there was no telling how he'd react.

***

Damien didn't go to Darius first.

Instead, it was Hestia who finished the recruitment exam trials first.

Hestia was his youngest sibling. She'd only recently become an adult by earth standards, so Damien naturally didn't have the same high expectations for her as everyone else.

Though, his expectations were still proportionally high for a young practitioner to reach.

Hestia's test lasted far less time than anyone else's.

Because the second Damien reviewed her recruitment exam, he noticed.

'She's not suited for combat.'

Unlike Dominic, Darius, and Yiren, Hestia was completely unsuited for combat.

Unlike others, she passed the trial of soul through mediation.

Since the "battle" to find a way for conflict to end peacefully was considered a true fight in Hestia's soul, the trial allowed it.

Damien didn't know how she managed it even after watching the scene over and over again, but somehow, she managed to placate both groups and find commonality between them. She managed to establish the foundation of what could become a trade agreement after her departure, but of course, the simulated world didn't continue far enough for it to be realized.

The trial of body assigned opponents to participants based on their strength and potential. For Hershel, it was a single goblin, however, for Hestia who'd reached such a high level at a young age, practically a whole swarm of beasts came after her.

And once again, she didn't fight.

She used her environment to her advantage and created traps that took down her enemies. She won through schemes and trickery.

Even during the trial of mind, she used a combination of both methods to persevere. She endured the torture surprisingly well, and she protected Void Palace with her life at stake, but when she was given the chance to escape...

'...her first instinct isn't to fight, it's to return to the palace and gather reinforcements to take down the enemy.'

Sure, she was unconventional, but that wasn't a bad thing at all. Everyone had a speciality, and for Hestia, that was not fighting.

'Her mind, on the other hand...'

Not just her mind, but her skill in healing and vitality techniques, were extremely valuable.

Damien didn't personally arrive before Hestia. Instead, he gave her a second test. It wasn't combative like the rest.

Her task was to find a way out of an enclosed white room in a set period of time. She wasn't given any clues on how to escape, but she was allowed full use of her mana.

Brute force didn't work, nor did laws of any kind.

Before Damien finished testing the remaining siblings, she had to discover the key to the room's mechanism.

Surprisingly, she accepted the challenge with open arms.

Rather than feeling negative, she was excited about the problem placed in front of her and happily started working on it.

'It's a good mentality.'

Damien was very proud of his youngest sister. Maybe he was being a bit biased, but she really did have the talent to become a genius from the back lines.

'Training her will be far tamer. She just needs knowledge and time and she'll grow into something wonderful. It's the benefit of being young.'

She was a blank canvas, unlike his other siblings.

She just needed to learn and grow.

As for the others...

'I have to beat them up until their old habits disappear and instill new ideas into their heads.'

They'd lived plenty of years and were stubborn because of it.

'But that's okay.'

Damien grinned.

'I'd be more than happy to fix your habits.'