Chapter 17: Academy Entrance Examination. Part Two
The entrance exam had begun, and the crowd eagerly followed the headmaster, excited to see what the first stage of the entrance exam would entail.
The crowd followed the headmaster towards an open field with giant metallic black towers full of arcane symbols and runes standing in a circular formation.
These giant metallic black towers seemed like giant more advanced versions of the small boxes that were used in their coming of age ceremony.
"Alright I know I said there are three tests, but the first two are actually within the same test. The affinity testers will do what you all have been through before, but now you are tasked with getting as close as you can to the center of energies they will generate." - Headmaster Noah
With a snap of his fingers, instructors and the headmaster all began chanting rhythmically in unison.
The towers began to glow and slowly separate into thousands of pieces all moving in certain patterns and directions.
All the examinees closed their eyes and began to focus on their affinities and energies surging around them.
If they left their eyes open the complex spell formations and soaring energies would have felt overwhelming to their senses.
Once more Coal felt a surge of energy flow through his body, but this time there was no cold, all heat.
The vision of a giant flaming rock that he saw during the coming of age ceremony returned.
It continued to grow larger and larger and he could now see that it was actually moving towards him.
It seemed as if days passed where the flaming rock continued to get closer and closer and suddenly his point of view changed and the flaming rock smashed into another giant rock, but instead of stopping it seemingly absorbed the other rock getting bigger and growing its flames as it continued flying forward. Looking around he actually saw a giant brown shining light.
Squinting his eyes he willed to get closer and get a better view of what it was and he actually got a closer viewpoint. The giant brown shining light actually turned out to be Muddy! The earth spirit turtle was a giant brown light.
Things started to click for Coal and he realized that this was not just an illusion, but that everything he was seeing was actually just a representation or reflection of his own energy core area.
The giant flaming rock was his fire and earth affinities energy swirling around, and the giant brown shining light was just Muddy!
As Coal continued to focus on his energies and surroundings, he looked out into the distance and could vaguely see representations of other affinities.
Some appeared as small glowing dots, while others were more visible and distinct.
It was a mesmerizing sight and Coal couldn't help but wonder what kind of elemental energies the other examinees possessed.
As his energy continued to flow and surge, Coal felt the dense energies in the air created by the towers and other examinees.
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Sensing the energies around him, Coal focused his energy core and sent out a small portion of it to absorb the other energies.
He could feel his core pulsing with power, and as he absorbed more and more of the energies around him, he felt himself becoming stronger.
The other examinees seemed to fade into the background as Coal's focus intensified, and he could feel his affinities becoming more refined and pure.
Coal's core was pulsing and he knew that he had reached a crucial point in his affinity training.
A pressure was building and he realized that he had reached his current limit.
With great effort, Coal stopped absorbing more energy and began to focus on making it his own.
It was then that Muddy materialized and started absorbing some of the dense energy for itself!
The professors could see many other examinees, besides Coal doing the same thing, taking in energy for themselves and growing on the spot.
Many other contracted spirits were just like Muddy absorbing lots of energy and growing in power and size.
Sadly some examinees were not as fortunate, barely able to enter the same internal spirit state, and were eliminated from the exam.
Coal felt a draw toward a certain area and slowly began walking toward it. As he got closer to it in his inner spiritual vision, he could see a humongous mountain covered in lava.
The mountain was an intense red color and appeared to be spewing lava from its top. Coal couldn't take his eyes off the scene before him, it was both terrifying and awe-inspiring.
Outside each of the examinees' spiritual visions, many examinees could be seen walking towards certain areas extremely dense in certain affinities.
Professors watched as several students rushed toward the area with the water affinity, while others ran toward the area with the wind affinity.
The area Coal walked to was filled with Earth and Fire aligned energy. It was a mixture of the two energies combined together that formed the giant volcano.
These different areas with mixed or pure dense energies drew in those who were aligned with those energies.
If your affinity was strong enough you would feel a draw towards the area, and if you were talented enough you would be able to find the area and absorb its energy to supplement yourself.
After what felt like hours of intense focus, the end of the exam was finally in sight.
A few more minutes passed as Coal continued to refine his elemental affinities and absorb the dense energies around him.
Meanwhile, the professors were busy taking records of each examinee's progress, carefully noting who would move on to the next stage of the exam.
The intensity of the exam slowly dissipated as the professors and headmasters chanted and all the spell matrices in the air ceased glowing.
Coal felt a wave of relief wash over him as the pieces of the large monoliths reconverged back into their towers.
The air was still thick with elemental energies as Coal took a deep breath and gathered himself, already anticipating the results of the exam.
As he looked around, he noticed that some of his fellow examinees seemed to be struggling to maintain their control over their energies.
As Coal scanned the area, he couldn't help but to notice that a lot of the other examinees had disappeared.
He assumed they had been eliminated from the exam, failed to control the elemental energies, or worse, had succumbed to the raw power of the dense, refined affinities.
Relieved to see familiar faces, Coal headed over to Gwen and Gary, both of whom had made significant progress, evident from the trails of energy that seemed to follow them.
After the intensity of the exam died down, the headmaster approached the remaining examinees and congratulated them on making it through the first and second examinations.
Indeed, out of the thousands who had started, only a few hundred remained.
With the first two examinations completed, there was a clear sense of relief among the examinees. The professors took their time in evaluating the exams, carefully studying the progress of each examinee.
As the evaluations were completed, the headmaster approached the students and announced that the third test would be much easier.
The examinees were informed that data from the first two tests had been recorded and that they would be able to apply to schools in the academy that were focused on their affinities and current capabilities.
As the headmaster finished speaking, the professors stepped forward and gestured toward the towering black structures surrounding them.
Each tower represented a different school, affiliated with a specific elemental affinity or set of affinities.
Examinees eagerly awaited to hear more about the schools, their strengths, and the types of tests they would need to take to apply.
The professors' voices echoed across the open area as they began to describe each school in detail, and the examinees listened intently, already mentally mapping out their paths toward mastering their elemental affinities.