On the first and second day of the last exam, all the competitors from the 5th stage had fought, while only a few from the 4th stage remained, who had not yet gone on to the arena stage.

The group that initially had more than a thousand participants now has less than 200 left to fight on this third day of fights. As for the results, well, of the little more than 900 competitors from the 4th stage of the cultivation that had already fought, only 306 of them had managed to win their matches.

Fighting the soldiers of Minos' army was not easy. Those citizens who until recently had never used weapons had many difficulties. However, some did well in the fights and occupied more than 75% of the vacancies offered to this group.

The remaining competitors in this group would have to do their best to get one of those 94 available spots!

Finally, the group of competitors from the 5th stage of cultivation, of the 70 who had started this last examination of the selection, only 43 had managed to win their fights.

But that wasn't such a big problem for the army, nor for those competitors that failed.

These 27 cultivators of the 5th stage failed the last part of the exam, but their situation wasn't too bad. After all, there weren't many citizens of this cultivation range in the Dry City.

In the following selection that would take place in 6 months, these people would have the advantage of the experience of having failed.

By the way, some of those approved in this edition had already failed before, and due to such setbacks, some of them had improved a lot in the previous months.

And as for the army, as much as this organization had failed to fill the vacancies, that wasn't a setback either. In fact, the vacancy numbers only referred to the number of soldiers of each rank that this force could receive.

That is, how many soldiers the army could pay with the crystals received from the local government to cover the military costs. But, of course, this also involved expansions of headquarters and other services needed by the soldiers.

With each increase in the contingent of soldiers, there was a need for services within headquarters to evolve. For example, with 2,400 soldiers, the army could have its cultivation tower with only 800 spaces and function ideally.

However, if that number were to increase to 4,800 soldiers, then the capacity of the headquarters' cultivation tower would also have to increase by the same proportion!

And this and other measures, as well as soldiers' salaries, required a budget. Finally, to simplify, the number of places made available by the selection referred to the army's capacity to receive new soldiers.

But there was no immediate need for these vacancies to be filled.

Obviously, it would be ideal if that happened, given the Black Plain's difficult position in the future. However, it would make no sense to rush things and let anyone into the army just because there was a sufficient budget.

Minos did want to have great military power. Yet, he also hoped that his organization would not waste the resources of the Black Plain.

Certain people would be able to do this, but others would not. And even if everyone wanted a good salary, it would be improper if someone specialized in something just for the money, without having the best compatibility!

That could result in fatal disasters!

...

Finally, the third day of tests had already arrived, and at this point, the sun was directly overhead in the Dry City sky.

In the arena of the headquarters, more than 2,000 people were seated in the bleachers of that place while the fights took place on that stage.

There was the same setup as before in this venue, with five referees sitting behind a table, where there was a tent protecting them from the sun. There, they wrote down information about the results of the fights and summarized what happened in each battle, nothing too complex, just the crucial points for this to be used in the future.

In addition, there were other tents on the sides of the fighting stage, where competitors could identify themselves and pass the soldiers' inspection. And near that place, some chairs were arranged, where the competitors could sit while they waited for their fights.

Anyway, at this moment, Minos was watching the fights as before, alongside Eda and Dillian. He had been doing this for the past two days, coming here before his first shift at work and after his afternoon practice.

Other than that, he was just getting the daily fight report through Mia.

"Young Minos was right. After those stronger competitors finished fighting and made room for the weaker ones, the overall quality improved a lot.

" Eda commented as she looked up at the stage ahead, watching a competitor from the 4th stage of cultivation struggling.

"Hmm, but we will see the effect of this more significant from the next fight. This woman who is fighting must be the last of the 4th stage group, right?

" Dillian commented.

"Yes, after that, the competitors of the 3rd stage will start fighting the Soldiers.

" Minos replied.

"So, we'll see a fight proficiency a little more equivalent to the cultivation level from the next fight. Though there probably won't be much emotion…

" Dillian spoke as he thought about what was coming next.

Cultivators of the 3rd stage would only have two combat techniques. And because of that, there was no way a fight with such limitations could be fascinating, especially considering the quality of the techniques used.

Hearing this, Eda smiled and said.

"The fights will be a little faster from now on. I believe that most do not even last a minute.

"

And that made sense. After all, in a fight, unless it were an act to demonstrate skills, how to fight, etc., there would be no point in taking it easy. Or rather, it wouldn't make sense to go easy on an opponent of equal power.

Only an idiot would fight in such a circumstance with less than 100% of himself!

In a situation like this, the fight would quickly increase in intensity, reaching its climax in a few seconds. After that, the fight time would depend on things like the amount of spiritual energy involved, quality of techniques, number of techniques, innate abilities, spiritual artifacts, such as arrays, weapons, shields, etc.

Many things could affect the duration of a fight. However, in general, fights would not last very long, not even at the highest levels.

For example, if a level 95, Spiritual Demigod, wanted to kill a level 94 cultivator, it would be enough for him to use a large portion of his power. With that, the fight could be over in less than an hour, even considering the high level of these opponents.

Obviously, this considering that the weaker individual would not have the means to escape...

The point is that all these things could make a fight longer, but the time of a battle would rarely go past the hour mark.

It would be challenging for a fight to reach the limit of one day, for example.

Cultivation could get bigger, but the strength of the techniques also increased. With this increase, the energy expenditure would rise and, consequently, an intense struggle would hardly last much.

And it wouldn't make sense for two mortal enemies, for example, to fight with only a fraction of their powers. If one genuinely wants to kill the other, then it would be much simpler to fight everything from the beginning without postponing the matter!

Finally, due to all that, Eda knew that the fights of the competitors in the 3rd stage would be very short. With cultivations not that different from ordinary humans and with just two techniques, these fights would be resolved in a matter of a few hits.

...

And quickly, the last fight of the competitors of the 4th stage was over, and it was time for the next group to start competing!

Of those competitors in the 4th stage, only another 46 had managed to pass the exam, qualifying to become soldiers in the army of Minos.

It didn't take long, and Alina was already on the stage of fights, face to face with her opponent, anxiously waiting for her match.

She had finally reached this crucial moment and was feeling prepared to complete this step of her goals.

'I'll win!' She thought to herself as she breathed evenly, feeling the airflow around her and concentrating.

She could lose, of course. But she had no point in doing anything with such a mindset. If you think you're going to lose, or do something thinking that way, then you better not try!

If it's to do something, let it be for real. It doesn't matter if you are the worst or if the odds are against you. Hold on to it and think that the only possible outcome is victory.

That was Alina's belief!