Chapter 18: Academy Entrance Examination. Part Three
With the descriptions of the schools fresh in their minds, the examinees began to mingle and discuss their potential choices. Coal found himself gravitating towards the School of Fire, where he hoped to hone his affinity and learn more about fire magic.
After much deliberation and discussion, Gwen, Gary, and Coal unanimously decided to pursue their non-Earth affinity as their primary focus in the academy.
They felt that this would allow them to specialize and excel in their chosen field while still having the versatility of Earth magic as a secondary or minor school.
They gave each other hugs and then put their hands on top of each other.
“One” - Coal
“Two” - Gary
“Three” - Gwen
“Go Team Dthic!” - All three shouted before heading over to their respective primary choices.
A woman with golden hair stood at the fire tower and began to introduce herself.
“Hello examinees, I am Grace Zewt and if you are to pass the trial today I will be your professor for the next few years. All of you here have the right talents and sufficient cultivation to attend our academy, but now we shall see if your primary school shall be fire.”
She began to call people’s names one by one, and they began to enter the black tower to face their final test in this examination.
Eventually, Coal’s name was called and he walked up and directly walked into the tower.
A heat wave immediately assaults him as he is greeted by a black room lit by molten lava in a hole in the center of the room.
No real instruction is given Coal begins walking around the room, exploring, and trying to understand what he was supposed to do.
A minute passes and the ground begins rumbling, he is confused and scared thinking the tower might be collapsing for some reason, but it doesn’t and when all the shaking ends golems made of fire and molten lava ascended out of the hole.
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The heat coming off of them is great, but although Coal can feel the increase in heat he doesn’t actually take any damage from it.
There are three golems in total and each seems to be made of different things and for different purposes. The one closest to him is much bigger and seems to have incorporated solid earth inside it, basically acting as a tank.
The golem in the back seems to be made purely of fire as it floats off the ground and summons fireballs around it.
The one in between looks like a middle-ground with more lava and earth elements in it, but it not having enough to be as big or tanky as the closest one.
“A voice enters his mind, welcome examinee! We represent a few of the many paths you may choose. You could focus on defensive capabilities relying on your earth and fire affinities to focus primarily on defense that could also act as offense!” - tower voice
Some visions of earthen walls that could turn into lava to both block the enemy and damage them and other techniques of similar abilities and ideas are shown.
“You could focus your path on more offensive means, obliterating all you consider your enemy and everything within your path.” - tower voice
Visions of meteors destroying the ground, brighter coloured flames melting through defenses, using flames to propel objects, and more feats of destructive power flow into his head.
“No one path is correct and the last golem represents a mix of spells. The extremes could be what you want, but a narrow view could be what causes the downfall of you or those you know and love. Don’t only think of fire as destruction because it can be a force of healing and creation like every other elemental affinity.” - tower voice
The last of the visions showcase rare paths of fire in which some used it to purify bodies of waste to increase talents or purge sicknesses, the creation of new elements through a combination of melting, and other feats Coal had never been able to conceive before.
Coal processes all the visions and does not really come to a definitive decision on what he should focus on.
“Do you have any more advice on the path I should take? I believe being an all rounder and taking multiple paths would let me help in a lot of scenarios, but if focusing just on defense would save the most lives would not that be my ideal path?” - Coal
“Your path is your own and whatever you choose will be fine. There is a saying that a jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one. This saying holds many truths, but it is on your own self to see if it applies to your situation and future.” - tower voice
“Your examination shall be one of combat like all those who wish to join the fire affinity school. Golems will emerge and attack you with increasing numbers and difficulty until you are defeated. Last, as long as you can and do whatever you can to hold on. We wish you luck!” - tower voice
Each of the golems flashed brightly and disappeared. Coal sent a mental connection to Muddy and quickly Muddy materialized next to Coal.
Coal was caught off guard by how big Muddy was since the last time he was the size of a small coffee table and had now grown to the size of two park benches next to each other.
Muddy gave some happy squeaks as it jumped at Coal, happy to be materialized and bigger.
“Please unsummon your contracted spirit to continue the exam.” - Tower Voice
“Why? Muddy is part of my strength.” - Coal
“We are not testing your spirits in this exam, but your capabilities only. If you refuse you will automatically fail.” - Tower Voice
Coal pats Muddy on the head a few times.
“Sorry Muddy, I'll summon you later and we can play.” - Coal
Muddy dissipates and returns to Coal’s core located right above his belly button.
“Wave One commencing! The enemy is a single tier one fire sprite!.” - Tower Voice
Coal unbuckled his circle shield from his back and attached it to his left arm and then unsheathed his sword and readied his stance.