The Almighty Cultivator

Chapter 6

Murmurs ran through the crowd as the candidates waited for Chris to answer. Most of them did not believe he would actually accept the fight.

“He is going to back out,” someone said. “Look at him standing there without saying anything.”

“Anybody would be frightened. Diego could kill a coreless cultivator without using half his strength.”

“I would not even consider fighting him. There is a difference between courage and having a death wish.”

The coordinator listened to them with a pleased smile. Chris’s silence appeared to confirm what everyone already believed. He had demanded a chance to prove himself, but now that the opportunity stood before him, fear had finally returned him to his senses.

Chris was not thinking about running.

His eyes remained fixed on Diego, but he was no longer seeing him in the same way as everyone else. Streams of spiritual energy moved through Diego’s body, gathering around his core before spreading into his arms and legs.

Whenever Diego shifted his fingers, the energy inside his shoulder gathered first. Whenever his weight moved towards one foot, the spiritual current in that leg tightened before the rest of his body followed.

Chris raised his head.

“I accept your challenge.”

Silence spread across the registration grounds.

The laughter disappeared so suddenly that Chris could hear the wind moving through the academy banners above them. The candidates stared at him, trying to decide whether he was courageous, foolish, or simply eager to die.

Diego was the first person to recover.

“You accepted the fight?” he asked. “There is no possible way you actually agreed to face me.”

The coordinator raised one eyebrow. Even he appeared uncertain that he had heard correctly.

“Did you accept the fight, or are you still wasting our time?”

“You heard me clearly,” Chris replied. “I will enter Cultis Academy, and I will take whatever test stands between me and that goal.”

Entering the academy was no longer merely the dream of an orphan who wanted a respectable future. It had become the first step towards understanding everything that had been taken from him.

Capricorn Academy could teach him how to control the black core and explain the strange sight that allowed him to see spiritual energy. If he learned to cultivate properly, he could become powerful enough to stop living at the mercy of people like Diego.

He could also search for the people who murdered the woman who had taken him in when he had nowhere else to go. Somewhere beyond the village was the truth about his missing memories, the family he could no longer remember, and the reason he had arrived there alone and almost dead.

He would never find those answers while remaining weak.

The coordinator’s surprise became a deep frown.

“Chris, do you understand what you are accepting? Diego is one of the finest young cultivators I have examined in years. From where I am standing, you cannot produce the smallest trace of core energy.”

Chris did not look away from Diego.

“Fighting someone with a powerful core when you appear to possess none is not bravery,” the coordinator continued. “It is suicide. Do you have so little regard for your life, or are you too foolish to understand the difference?”

He looked deliberately at Chris’s worn clothes before adding, “You are already poor and without a family. Has life not punished you enough?”

A few candidates laughed, but Chris’s expression remained unchanged.

“You should concern yourself with conducting the selection,” he replied. “I have already told you that I will enter this academy. If defeating Diego is the price you placed before me, then I will pay it.”

The cordinator confidence flattered. He had expected Chris to plead for another test or withdraw after realizing what he faced.

Instead, Chris stood before them without lowering his head.

“He is as good as dead,” one candidate muttered.

“Diego will finish him before he releases a single trace of energy,” another replied.

Rachel stared at Chris as though she could not understand where his confidence had come from. She had watched him lose his perfect core, and she knew how weak he had been when they abandoned him. Nothing about the person standing before her made sense.

Diego’s initial surprise gradually disappeared. A satisfied smile returned to his face as he nodded to himself.

He had already killed Chris once inside the mountain, and he now had an opportunity to do it before an audience. This time, nobody would accuse him of murder because Chris had accepted the fight willingly.

“Everyone heard him,” Diego announced. “He chose this fight himself. Whatever happens from this moment has nothing to do with me.”

The coordinator’s hidden smile returned.

“Since both candidates have agreed, the combat assessment will begin immediately.”

He collected the registration ledger and led them through the academy gates. The crowd followed eagerly, their earlier business forgotten now that they had been promised a public fight.

The combat hall stood beyond the entrance courtyard. Rows of stone seats surrounded a raised platform, while training weapons hung from racks along the walls. Faded marks and cracks covered the floor where previous candidates had tested their strength.

As soon as Diego entered, the students and candidates filled the hall with his name.

Nobody cheered for Chris.

Some laughed when he walked behind the coordinator, while others looked at him with the uncomfortable curiosity reserved for someone approaching his own execution.

Chris ignored every voice and kept moving towards the platform.

Diego climbed onto it first and spread his arms towards the cheering crowd. He remained there until Chris reached the bottom of the steps, then looked down at him with undisguised contempt.

“This is your final opportunity to run, Chris,” Diego said. “If you still want this challenge, step onto the platform and face me.”