When he stepped forward,Steve didn't notice it as the second rank who stood there seemed a little surprised as he saw Steve entering the field of participation.The second rank pilots gaze didn't linger and he moved his eyes away and showed a look of nonchalance towards the crowd.After all those who decided to participate had arrived Mr Simon gave the last warning and waited for a few seconds.
Some people in the challenge zone hesitated but still let the platform.It wasn't that they were afraid,however they knew some people who had higher cultivation than them who also participated and they were the ones to win for sure so there was no need to stress oneself.
After 4 potential candidates had left,Steve found out only 4 people were left in the challenge zone with a casual count and counting him as part naturally summed the contestants up to a number of 5.It seemed all of them were of level 5 in their Cultivation level as all level 4 participants had all already left the zone.Steve smiled when Daniel nudged him in the side to pay attention and be prepared as he wasn't going to allow him win this game.Of course Daniel participated and as a game addict would naturally not forgo the opportunity of engaging in something that was related to a mech pilots who had an irresistible connection to mechs thus he still participated without much inhibitions.
After no more left the zone as those who remained maintained full confidence in themselves.Mr Simon seemed to realize this and directly commenced the challenge with a countdown session.The crowd also joined this countdown as this was going to be an although not brutal but still exhilarating experience.
Ten!!,nine!!,eight!!, seven!!,six!!,five!!,four!!,three!!,Two!!,One!!
The countdown was followed by an immediate silence as the audience stood there dumbfounded at what was going on.This was because the audience could see that the people standing in the zone had all become static as though they were petrified and then the unknown happened.Captain Derrick who always seemed to be dumb moved on to the zone and commented sarcastically
"Hey boys chill,I'm not going to eat you so stop acting as though you were petrified by Medusa's Petrification gaze."
The boys soon got out of their attentive stance and looked confused at what was said by the seemingly inhumane Captain Derrick which was something they were going to regret for the rest of their lives.Captain Dereick smirked at their awful attentiveness towards danger and couldn't help but have bad thoughts.The Captain who was always maintaining an expression of nonchalance suddenly put on a serious face which prompted Steve to put a defensive stance.However this was all to knot as they had already gotten out of their defensive stance and re-entering helped in only mounting up a little resistance against the pressure.
A seemingly invisible but still terrifying aura erupted from the man before it lowered a bit to the standards of what was a first ranks aura.Steve felt as if every single and bone of his were being crushed and bombarded with mountains.As if every part of his body was being crushed to the ground for him to remain there and never get up again.The pressure made him fall on the ground head first with his face directly squeezing as if it wanted to burrow into the ground.Every single second felt as a decade as he hadn't even experienced this pain when he was forcefully trying to breakthrough.
Then Steve saw Mr Simon direct a fierce glare towards and Captain Derrick who immediately toned down the aura to a much more bearable level.
"Sorry chicks,my aura got a bit out of hand there so I couldn't manifest a first rank aura at ones but had to tone it down from second rank to the first rank".Mr Dereick uttered as if it was a simple phrase that had been reversed and practiced for countless years.
Were it to be any other first rank who commented,they would have been forgiven but knowing who it was,the participants didn't bat an eye towards Captain Derrick which seem to have infuriated Mr Simon as it was pure disgrace to his name.Imagine,Mr Simon, the owner of SGC,has a body guard that can't even project his aura carefully,being considered as the captain of all his guards was an outright disrespect to his name.
Though angry,he didn't voice his anger and waited for the event to end.He needed to reprimand and show this guard of his who was boss.Steve didn't care about any of this and continued to endure the pressure which had now reached a bearable pressure.It now makes sense for this aura to be a genuine first rank aura and as only the difference two ranks and above could result in such a terrifying outcome.
He immediately stabilized himself and pulled himself up to a one shoulder kneeling and one leg standing posture.He checked the others and found at that they were all still lying on the ground,exhausted and terrified.He sure knew he had won as he had recently taken those lily which helped and he still he had a bit of energy which made him rise up.And of course he knew he had a strong will that made him recover from this as the challenge was mainly directed at the spirit as it was an intangible attack.
This Catain Derrick sure knew how to create a scene from how the bodies of the contestors laid down around him