The Sovereign Chronicles novel Chapter 1

"Why should I step down? The Vanguard Vault's selection is open to all Initiates of The Azure Sky Sanctum, and that includes me, Kaelen Stormridge!" Kaelen stood on the high platform, confronting the beautiful but coldly arrogant female Elder. Yet his persistence was met only with her icy glare and the scattered, mocking laughter from the crowd below.

"Don't embarrass yourself. Step down." The Elder barked her order for the third time.

"I, Kaelen Stormridge, accept the first round of the trial! Elder Cyra, if you please?" Kaelen paid no mind to the stares of the crowd, his posture unyielding and proud.

"Insolent fool!" Elder Cyra scoffed. With a wave of her hand, a majestic aura of martial pressure enveloped Kaelen, slamming into him like a hundred-pound boulder falling from the sky.

Kaelen grunted, stubbornly bracing against the crushing force, standing motionless in the center of the platform. He glanced at the hourglass nearby. As long as he could last for a few minutes, he would pass the first round and qualify for the upcoming challenger tournament, competing for one of the thirty spots to enter The Vanguard Vault.

Expressionless, Elder Cyra intensified her power. The gravitational pressure multiplied in layers, swelling to three hundred pounds in mere moments.

Kaelen clenched his jaw, resisting fiercely. He still didn't budge an inch.

At this moment, the sneers from the crowd gradually turned to surprise. He actually withstood it?

Elder Cyra stared coldly at Kaelen, the pressure she released growing stronger and stronger, as if massive stones were continuously smashing into him.

Three hundred pounds? Four hundred? Five hundred? Six hundred...

Kaelen stood firmly, stubbornly enduring the weight, his eyes locked directly on the Elder before him. But when an eight-hundred-pound crushing pressure engulfed his entire body, he began to tremble. His eyes turned bloodshot, and crimson blood seeped from the corner of his mouth.

"What is destiny? This is your destiny." Elder Cyra's eyes filled with contempt as she prepared to end this farce.

However...

"You don't get to dictate my destiny." A blast of radiant crimson Aether erupted from within Kaelen, kicking up the dust around his feet. His legs shook, his body quivered, and with the surge of energy, arcs of lightning suddenly sparked across his entire frame.

"External Aether manifestation?!" The crowd erupted in an uproar. Countless young men and women covered their mouths in shock.

"External Aether manifestation, tempering the spirit to forge the martial path... he actually broke through The Spirit Forging Realm?!"

"Lightning? His Aether can actually manifest as lightning?"

"Good god, the kid's talent is terrifying!"

In the distance, the Adepts were visibly moved, their eyes wide with astonishment. It was unbelievable! Yet looking at Kaelen, who was stubbornly holding on, they shook their heads in pity. Why bother? You know full well you can't pass this trial, and you shouldn't have come here to humiliate yourself. This is destiny—your destiny.

The young men and women below the stage secretly shook their heads. Today's trial was open to all Initiates, competing for a spot in The Vanguard Vault. That was the sacred ground of The Azure Sky Sanctum, housing a vast collection of Martial Arts. Normally, it was only open to Adepts, but once every six months, it opened to the standard Initiates. For them, it was a rare opportunity, with over a thousand people fighting to get in.

With such a precious chance, everyone wanted to fight for it. How could they possibly give it to the son of a sinner?

Even if you are exceptional! Even if you are better than the vast majority of them!

What does it matter? You are a Thrall, here to suffer, not to train.

Elder Cyra looked at Kaelen. There was a flicker of pity in her eyes, but mostly ice. "I will ask you one last time. Do you yield?"

"Never! If I can last the turning of the hourglass, I pass the test! And if I pass, I advance to the second phase." Kaelen stubbornly withstood the crushing pressure she released, piercing arcs of lightning darting wildly across his body. He glanced at the hourglass in the center of the arena. Almost there, the time was almost up.

However...

Elder Cyra's extended right hand suddenly clenched into a fist. A visible shockwave of Aether erupted from her body, and a torrential pressure slammed into Kaelen like a collapsing mountain.

"Pfft!" Blood sprayed from Kaelen's teeth. He crashed heavily onto the ground, his face flushed red, the vitality inside him churning violently.

"Failed!"

Elder Cyra looked down from her high vantage point, pronouncing Kaelen's fate.

"You..." Kaelen lay on the ground, gasping for air.

According to the rules of the trial, the Elder acting as the examiner only needed to release about twenty percent of their aura to suppress the challenger. That was enough to test a candidate's potential and willpower. The challenger only needed to hold on for a few minutes and perform well to pass. But in that last instant, she had absolutely unleashed seventy or eighty percent of her power.

A powerhouse of The Terra Warrior Tier, bullying a mere Spirit Warrior?

The path of Martial Arts was divided into The Spirit Warrior Tier, The Mystic Warrior Tier, The Terra Warrior Tier, The Sainted Warrior Tier, The Celestial Warrior Tier, The Radiant Sovereign Tier, The Immortal Sovereign Tier, and so on. Before advancing to The Spirit Warrior Tier, one had to undergo a long period in The Spirit Forging Realm. Only by completing that forging process could one officially condense a spiritual body and step into The Spirit Warrior Tier.

There was a world of difference between each realm, an insurmountable chasm. For these youths under the age of fifteen, lasting a few minutes under twenty percent of a Terra Warrior's pressure was already their absolute limit. Yet the female Elder had forcibly ambushed him, making it clear she wouldn't give Kaelen any chance.

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