Recruit Assessment 

The ark flew for ten days before finally arriving at the headquarter of the Eastern Faction. A large modern building appeared before Bruce. He compared the building with the Imperial Academy and concluded that the Imperial Academy was slightly better than the building.

Bonta and Bruce walked into the building before getting blocked by a security gate. Bruce scanned his token, and the gate opened the path for him. When Bruce came inside, he found various beings from different races hanging in the lounge.

"Bruce, you need to do the recruitment assessment before you're allowed to take missions" Bonta tapped on Bruce's shoulder.

"What do I get when I complete the mission?" Bruce asked.

"You get faction points which can be exchanged for cultivation resources and treasures"

"But couldn't I just kill enemies and absorb their death energy?"

"Oho, how naïve young one" Bonta stopped Bruce in his track.

"Have you ever seen the cultivation resources from the faction?"

"Nope" Bruce guessed that the resources would be energy crystals which he didn't really need since he can absorb high-quality amounts of energy from his enemies.

Bonta pulled out a cube from his storage ring. Bruce immediately felt great energy stemming from the cube that greatly exceeded anything he had ever seen before.

"Allow me to broaden your horizon with this" Bonta casually threw the cube into Bruce's hand.

"Don't absorb it just yet and just inspect it"

Bruce closely looked at the cube and touched its edges. Unlike energy crystals which would easily crumble in his hand, this cube was extremely sturdy.

"Let me tell you why the four factions have existed for billions of years throughout the history of the Abyss"

"It is because of the thing in your hand, the profound energy cube"

"Unlike energy stones or crystals, the profound energy cube only holds extremely pure energy similar to a nectar for us cultivators"

"Even Worldly Supreme experts use the profound energy cubes to cultivate! It is a rare treasure that only the top of the food chain can have"

"In the Nether Realm, even those at the bottom of the food chain would have a chance to obtain the profound energy cube"

"To answer your question as to why you should do missions, you can obtain your enemy's death energy and exchange points for profound energy cubes"

"Your cultivation speed would increase by at least three folds if done this way!" Bonta exclaimed.

Bruce was shocked upon learning about the profound energy cubes. Coming to the Nether Realm was indeed the right choice for him after all.

"Okay, let's accept a mission!" Bruce enthusiastically declared.

"Hold your horses again Bruce. You can only take missions after you are granted a good rank in the recruitment assessment" Bonta shook his head.

"What is the recruitment assessment?"

"It's simple. You fight other recruits in the Eastern Faction"

"Only those who ranked in the top 20 will be given a rank and get to complete missions assigned by the faction"

"If you fail to get top 20, then you may retry the recruitment assessment up to five times before you are kicked out of the faction"

"Wouldn't the Eastern Faction lack manpower if they only accept 20 people for every recruitment assessment?" Bruce felt that the faction was making a foolish decision.

"Other factions are doing the same thing as well. It's a proven method that has been tried and tested over countless years"

Bonta said proudly, after all, he did manage to get top 20 in the exam and officially became a member of the Eastern Faction.

Bonta led Bruce to the examination room and bid farewell.

"I hope that you won't disappoint me Bruce" Bonta muttered.

Bruce entered a large room with several thousand people sitting on a chair. Some were even sleeping on the floor. Bruce found a corner to sit in and quietly cultivated. Unlike the chaotic energy that exists outside, the energy in the Eastern Faction headquarter was much more pleasant and easier to cultivate.

More and more people arrived at the room every single day. Surprisingly, Bruce didn't find anyone to be in the Divine Emperor realm. Everyone in the room was at the Divine King stage or Soul Manifestation.

He didn't know that Divine Emperors are immediately welcomed as a member of any of the four factions.

After one week, the room was finally filled with 10,000 candidates. An elf man came into the room and started the assessment.

"Congratulations everyone for being chosen as a potential member of the Eastern Faction"

"I will briefly explain the rules of the assessment"

"You will be placed into 20 different arenas with 500 candidates in each arena"

"Whoever is left standing in each arena will become an official member of the Eastern Faction"

"We will then move on to 1v1s to determine the final ranking of the 20 new members"

"The higher your ranking, the more points you automatically obtain each month

"Hold on to your questions after the assessment is finished" The examiner was basically saying don't ask him any question.

"You have 10 minutes to pick your weapons"

The elf man waved his hand and another room appeared in front of the recruits. Inside the room were countless weapons at the Divine King level. Bruce found a pair of gauntlets and was ready to take on the assessment.

After ten minutes, the recruits got teleported to random battle arenas. Bruce looked at his opponents only to find himself surrounded by people at the Divine King stage. Luck was not on his side because some of the recruits were at Soul Manifestation stage.

"Start!" The examiner yelled.

Everyone began to fight one another. Some even killed other recruits in cold blood. Bruce saw what happened and began to do the same as well. He wasn't here to make friends as his only goal was to get stronger no matter what it took.

Bruce cruelly smashed his fist across anyone that he saw. Some recruits died immediately while some fainted. However, there were simply too many people to fight and Bruce wanted to save his stamina for the upcoming matches.

"Dragon Ascend"

Bruce took his dragon stance and began to sweep the entire arena. No one was able to block his attack much less survive it. Bruce easily destroyed most of the candidates until only 3 people were left.

The people who were left were at Peak Stage Divine King. They looked at each other to come up with a plan. It was obvious, defeat Bruce and fight among themselves later. The two nodded at each other and charged straight into Bruce.

BANG

Bruce slammed his palms down on their heads causing the entire arena to tremble. Just like that, the last two candidates were defeated.

Bruce wiped the sweat off his forehead and began to restore his energy and stamina. In the audience corner, Bonta smiled brightly when he saw Bruce successfully becoming a member of the Eastern Faction.

'I knew that you wouldn't disappoint me, Bruce'

After all the preliminary matches were over, the surviving recruits got teleported back into the room.

"Congratulations to all of you, you guys are now officially members of the Eastern Faction" The examiner slightly showed some emotion in his voice.

"Your 1v1 matches will be happening now!"

Bruce couldn't take a breather before he got teleported immediately to a small arena. Before him was another recruit that passed the assessment. A muscular demon with High Stage Divine King cultivation.

"The first battle begins now!" The examiner announced.

'Are you shitting me, my battle is the first battle?' Bruce cursed his rotten luck again. He didn't even have enough time to restore his stamina before he had to fight once again.

The demon didn't wait for Bruce to move and immediately attacked him with his daggers.

'Fuck, this guy is strong!' Bruce barely dodged his attacks, but he could feel that his opponent was extremely powerful. Now he understood that there are other prodigies just like him around the universe.

The demon jumped in the air and slammed his dagger down to the arena causing an explosion underneath Bruce's foot.

Bruce jumped before the explosion could hit him only to meet the demons staring at him like a prey in the air.

"Tortoise Stance" Bruce immediately hardened his body to absorb the impact.

The demon looked surprised when he saw Bruce surviving his attack.

Bruce spit out the blood lingering in his mouth and charged his fists with all elemental energy.

"Dragon Ascend!"

Bruce smashed his fist against the dagger of the demon.

"That kid has all elemental affinities, how rare" A cloaked man appeared in the audience room.

"Leader looks like we have a good recruit this round" One of the people next to him said.

"Who recruited this kid?" The leader, who is commonly referred to as X, asked.

"Member #28832 recruited him last week"

"Double his reward for the recruitment" X stated.

"As you wish" The man bowed and disappeared.

"I wonder how you will fare against the one chosen by his majesty" X mused as he looked at the battle that just concluded between Bruce and the demon.