The class was silent as Anastasia spoke. They worried for their futures. The news that many of them would not yet be able to use their wind abilities came as a shock to them. If the recruits were not able to summon their abilities they would immediately fail the test and be placed in the lowest group and no one wanted to be placed in that group. Although Lops had told them in class that morning that there would be opportunities to move up a group, the prospect of fighting an instructor to progress seemed too steep of a feat to be worth it.
“Now if you’ll all follow me, I will demonstrate the first test and we can be underway.” Anastasia said.
She led the group over to the nearest station and waited for everyone to gather around her. Behind her stood a large solitary target with a screen displayed above it. The target was circular in shape with the majority of it being coloured red and its centre black. It was made out of a thick sheet of metal that was dented all over, clearly the target had seen plenty of use.
“This will be common knowledge to the Legacies here, but for everyone else’s benefit I will explain. Upon awakening as an elemental, every wind elemental will unlock the same first skill. The wind slice. This is the skill you will be using today.”
Immediately perking up at Anastasia’s words, Wren opened his system screen and went to the skills tab.
[Skills]
[Wind]
[Wind Slice: Level 1]
[???]
[???]
[???]
[???]
He once again focused on the wind slice skill and the information tab appeared.
[Wind Slice (Common): Level 1]
[A horizontal blade of air shoots out from the users palm and continues for a set distance. Power and distance of slice varies on skill level]
[Skill cost: 2 EP]
He had brushed over it before but this time he took notice of the fact that his system labelled the skill as common. He realised that this must have been because every wind elemental held the skill. Perhaps the skills buried beneath the question marks would be more unique.
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“If you have the ability to use the skill, you will direct it towards the target and the screen above will show its power level.” Anastasia said, drawing Wren’s attention back to the events before him and making him close the system screen.
“I will now provide a demonstration. Please step back.” Anastasia warned the class.
The recruits swiftly took a few steps back, maintaining the semi-circle around the white-haired instructor so that all could see. They waited on bated breath to see the instructor use the ability.
Anastasia raised her right hand, open palmed she pointed it at the target. Her face creased in concentration and the recruits grew silent, allowing her to concentrate even further. The green band around her forearm began to light up and emit a soft glow. The group watched as a sharp line of air appeared from her palm and sailed forward towards the target. The wind slice was difficult to see. It was not green as Wren had expected, he had figured with the green band and the green clothes that their powers would also be green. Instead it was more of a shimmer, a distortion in the air, clear and see through. The wind slice moved at great speed and if it wasn’t for the fact that the instructor stood a decent distance away from the target, the recruits would not have had the opportunity to even glimpse the skill.
The wind slice found the target. It connected with a loud bang that resounded all across the meadow. The metal rippled at the impact and even dented inwards. No one wanted to be on the receiving end of one of those wind slices if the instructor could cause that much damage to a piece of metal that thick.
The recruits all let out a round of applause for the instructors performance. They were in awe.
The screen on top of the target lit up, and began cycling through numbers. It was calculating the strength of Anastasia’s skill. Finally the screen settled and displayed the number forty five in large red digits.
Seeing this, Anastasia swivelled round to the group and gave the class a proud smile.
“And that ladies and gentlemen, is how its done.” Lops said, giving his own round of applause. “Just so you all know, I’ve never scored above a forty on that strength machine, and I am by no means weak, if I do say so myself.”
Wren looked on at Anastasia with a newfound respect. He had thought she was impressive yesterday, with her graceful moves in the wind room and her calm and collectiveness in the face of the approaching Dusk Vulture, but to beat out a wind elemental many years her senior, and a fellow instructor at that, was just incredible.
“Thank you Instructor Lops.” She said
She was trying to hide the blush creeping across her face but Wren could see it slowly rising up from her neck. It was cute.
“The score displayed on top of the target is used to measure the strength of your skill, it is what we will be testing in this activity.” She told the class. “Those of you that will be able to perform the wind slice skill will most likely not score any higher than a five. Do not be disheartened by this, it is an impressive feat to perform the skill with zero training or prior knowledge. It takes many many hours of practice to reach a score similar to your instructors and mine.”
She looked out into the group, focusing on each one of them. She locked eyes with Wren, noticing him for the first time. Through most of the demonstration he had blended in with his fellow recruits, preferring to go unnoticed. She gave him a small nod with a gentle smile in recognition, which he returned in kind.
“Now who wants to go first.” She asked the group, her gaze never wavering from Wren’s.