After the five candidates left them and ran for their lives, the Veilmaster clapped his hands and began to speak.
"Now that the failures are out of the way, let’s get right to business. As you can see, we’re almost out of time."
The Veilmaster gestured at the sky, then he smiled behind the mask.
"I’ve given all of you information on how points are assigned, along with some other important information like the duration of the trial. But there are some things I left out."
Snap!
The Veilmaster snapped his fingers, then exactly seven hundred and eighty six white badges appeared above them.
They were all stunned, and in the next moment, the badges fell to each candidate.
Each candidate got a single badge, and when Simon got his, he turned it over and saw the number "1" on his badge.
He felt a number of gazes land in his direction, and many of them were filled with surprise at his rank.
They could all sense that he was the weakest in terms of heart rank, and although they had questions, they decided to ignore him.
Up until they saw the number on his badge.
’One?’
’He was the first to pass the First Trial.’
These were some of the thoughts the candidates had as they stared at Simon, but as usual, Simon did not give two fucks.
"The number you see on those badges is the position you got for the first trial. As for those that came in groups, the number a member of the group gets is according to who crossed the barrier first."
"If your leader was the last person to cross the barrier, then his position would be behind the rest of the group."
Some began to mumble and complain, but the Veilmaster certainly did not give two shits about their complaints.
Clap!
He clapped once again, silencing the mumbling crowd.
"As I said before, there are seven hundred and eighty six of you, which means you guys would be grouped like we originally planned."
The Veilmaster paused, then he continued a few seconds later.
"For the second trial, the maximum number of candidates a group can have is six. Any higher than that, and the group would be voided irrespective of the points you gather."
There was silence at first the moment the Veilmaster spoke, and Simon could instantly imagine what the next set of actions would be.
"What do you mean six?!"
"Exactly! Many groups have more than six in their group. How do you expect us to disband our group!?"
"This is unfair!"
Just as he predicted, over a hundred demons complained about the new rule of the second trial."
Simon looked at the Odrasil and his group members. He could see them having solemn expressions, with some whispering amongst themselves.
The Odrasil had a calm expression, but Simon was certain it was frustrated and pissed on the inside.
Despite the shouts, murmurs, and anger of over a hundred candidates, the Veilmaster was completely indifferent.
Clap!
He clapped once again, and this time around, the clap was a lot louder than the previous ones.
Everybody instantly kept shut.
Even though they were complaining and shouting about the rule of the second trial, they knew that the Veilmaster was a demon who could kill every single one of them with a single snap of his finger.
"I may seem welcoming, but I’ll fail all of you if you make such a ruckus once again.
The demons went silent, and the Veilmaster nodded.
"Good."
"Now, aside from the number of members in a group, the condensed shadow essence in your possession is extremely important for the second trial."
Simon and several other demons were lost.
"After killing a beast, all you need to do is place the condensed shadow essence on the corpse of the beast, then the corpse would be absorbed by the condensed shadow essence."
"Before the crimson moon rises, you must make sure you have your condensed shadow essence on you. It is your condensed shadow essence that will actually tell us how many points you have."
Many candies stared at their condensed shadow essence with surprise, and even Simon was not different.
One of the candidates raised their hand, and the candidate was a female demon.
"Yes?" The Veilmaster gestured for her to speak.
"Can we change groups before the night ends? Can we also steal other people’s condensed shadow essence and make it ours?"
The Veilmaster Master’s lips curled upward behind the mask.
"You can definitely change groups before the night ends. And you can also steal other people’s condensed shadow essence and make it yours."
"If you want to steal their points, you can do so by just bringing both condensed shadow essence together. They’ll fuse and become one, and your points would do the same too."
The expressions of many demons drastically changed when they heard this, and even Simon could not help but narrow his eyes.
’That rule... is going to make this second trial a lot more dangerous and also helpful to me.’
Simon could literally see the killing intent, anger, and viciousness that was spewing our of the gazes of some demons, and he could not help but release a soft sigh.
"That’s all. Oh, and before I forget, a piece of advise for you kids. Try not to light a fire or any source of light out in the open. You can take my advice or ignore it."
Simon and some candidates frowned, then the Veilmaster gestured at the darkening sky.
"Form your teams quickly, because in the next fifteen minutes, all of you are leaving this place."
"And don’t forget, all of you aspire to be assassins, so the night should be your best friend. However, there are also some predators who thrive when there is no ray of light."
"I’m just telling you guys to not be arrogant or foolish."
All the seven hundred and eighty six (786) candidates nodded their heads and appreciated the Veilmaster with their own words.
Then, the candidates began to form teams.