At the same time, when Elen and Elena were settling their affairs in the Kingdom of the Waves, the fighting phase of the Black Plain Army’s selection had already begun!

Another week had passed in the Dry City since the release of the names of those competitors who could continue competing. During this period, of more than 7,000 candidates, just under 6,000 had remained in this phase of fights.

Of these competitors, they had been divided into several groups. Thus, each individual would have to fight each of the competitors of that respective group.

Obviously, the groups had been distributed, taking into account each participant’s stage of cultivation.

After all, the selection was recruiting soldiers with different vacancy numbers for each stage of cultivation. So, it wouldn’t make sense to mix things up, putting people with significant differences in cultivation in the same group.

As for the partiality of this method, well, it indeed wasn’t entirely fair. Those participants closer to the end of each stage, that is, with levels between ‘x9’ and ‘x8’, would be the most favored, of course.

But it had always been like that, and the participants already knew very well about it. The rumor about the minimum strength to compete for the vacancies offered by the army had already spread for months!

Even the city’s new residents already knew that the ideal would be to be at the end of a given stage of cultivation to have better chances. So, even though some individuals still tried their luck at lower levels, they couldn’t complain about this ‘injustice.’

After that, those who had lost more than 50% of their fights would be eliminated from the competition.

As for the others, they would be able to reach the final part of this selection, where they would have to face the soldiers of the local army!

Anyway, in the days that had passed since the beginning of the fights, thousands of battles had already occurred in the Arena of the City.

In this part of the selection, given that only battles were taken into consideration, the selection organization had taken this phase of the competition to the local arena. In this place, not only was there a structure better prepared for a more significant number of constant fights, but the public also could participate in this event.

As in any town, like the Dry City, citizens looked for ways to be entertained in their free time. And in a place where so many used battle-focused techniques, watching many fights was like combining the useful with the pleasant.

They could be satisfied by following high-level fights, as there were competitors in the 5th stage of cultivation, having fun and learning something from it!

With such a possibility, many could also better understand the strength required to compete for a position in the army, thereby improving their preparation and determination to pursue this path!

And given the fact that the regular fights weren’t happening in this arena, fights valid by the fight ranking, the Arena of the City was charging a fee of 1 crystal per person for this selection.

That served to pay for the damage done by the competitors’ fights so that this event would not harm the city’s coffers.

And each person who paid that amount would have the right to watch the fight for a whole day. However, if they left the arena, they would have to pay for the entrance again…

But many citizens were satisfied with this. The government had released this news even before the days of fighting began so that people could prepare.

Many left to go to the arena at specific times when they weren’t working or cultivating.

And given the fact that fights were going on from 6 am until midnight, all the townspeople were getting their chance to see those fights.

Given the large number of matches that had to occur, this long schedule had been made available so that almost 5,000 competitors would not have to keep fighting for weeks…

After all, Minos couldn’t just do like the Spiritual Tournament that just made many battle royales…

The Black Plain Army needed many new soldiers and not just the more challenging ones, as the sects of the Flaming Empire sought.

Anyway, of the nearly 6,000 competitors, about 1,000 of them would not fight, as they were those young people from the 1st and 2nd stage of cultivation. These young people could not fight for obvious reasons. The previous phase of the selection had already classified those most suitable for the army.

There were 1,150 total vacancies for these cultivators from these two stages of cultivation. And just under a thousand of those vacancies had been filled. Not all competitors below level 19 had passed the oral test, so some places had become available.

And no wonder the number of places for these competitors below level 19 was so low. At first, these should be the majority groups in the selection. Still, given the inexpensive competition and number of competitors, they had just over 47% of the vacancies…

Anyway, of these younger competitors, most were at levels 18 and 19, the future Recruits, while the future Students, were all at level 9.

And that was expected. Even if they were low-talented and only had the Blue-grade techniques, cultivating was not time-consuming during the 1st stage. And the same was true for the 2nd stage of cultivation.

The difference in spiritual energy between these two stages was tiny, resulting in this concentration of competitors at the end of each stage.

Anyway, the other participants, the little less than 5,000 who were already participating in the fights in the local arena, were fighting for the 1,250 spots left.

Each of them had to fight three times a week, for three weeks, until finally, the last part of the selection was made for those who were left.

Many very tough battles had already taken place. And they were the focus of conversations through the streets of the Dry City.

People on the streets mainly talked about the fights of competitors already in the 5th stage of cultivation. After all, this was a level of strength that many people around here wanted to reach!

There were not yet many cultivators at this level in the town, with fewer than 600 in total in the entire city at this point. So, given that there were no Spiritual Kings around here either, the citizens wanted more to reach the 5th stage of cultivation.

Most of the city’s inhabitants were between the 3rd and 4th stages of cultivation. Therefore their goals would not be that high…

Anyway, for this mass of people from the 3rd and 4th stages of cultivation, the most exciting struggles were those of the 5th stage cultivators. They could see and even feel the power of those cultivators who are stronger than themselves, learning about more efficient and different ways to fight.

Of course, they liked to watch the matches of the people of other stages, competitors as strong as they were. However, these fights were more a form of entertainment than a learning possibility for these stronger city’s inhabitants.

There were also friends, acquaintances, and relatives fighting, so obviously, people were watching and talking about these less exciting fights.

But there were also those young cultivators who watched each fight with emotion, paying attention to every detail. After all, despite being few, those below level 20 were also present in the stands of the local arena.

Mainly those young people who had already passed through the selection and were waiting to be officiated in the army.

Such a thing would happen all at once when all the competitors approved in the selection were decided. That way, the army’s few administrative officials would not have to rush to resolve so many issues at once.

The selection of new soldiers itself was laborious enough!

Anyway, the young Alina, who had been participating in this selection, had managed to reach this part of the competition. That young woman had already fought three times since the beginning of the fights and had already won three times!

She was at level 29, and several people in her group were also at this level. However, some had not prepared themselves in time for the selection and were below such a level!

And Alina had done her first fights right against people below level 29, having the upper hand on those occasions!