They were woken in the early morning, and told to assemble around the three teachers after a short breakfast.
“Welcome to the trials of Agora!” The first started.
“Over the next week we will decide if you are fit to join the Academy!” The second continued. “There is only one task for you to manage in that week!” The third finished.
“The test is simple really, we will split you in three teams of seven and you will give your mounts to us in return you will get a map which will show you the way to Agora! Your mounts will be waiting for you there. You can take your belongings with you, as long as you are able to carry them yourselves. Everything still on your mount will be returned after you arrive!
Should you still be out there after a week's time, you have failed! There is no path to the Academy from here! The trial will test everything needed to join the academy, so afterwards you are either accepted or rejected instantly!
After you arrive at the clearing, you are to wait for one of us to show up!
One of us will follow each group, and provide safety should a lifethreataning situation arise, furthermore we will insure the groups can't see each other! You are the first to arrive, because you were judged to be the most promising applicants, good luck!”
After the speech they were quickly separated in three even groups. Every group consisted of an elf, dwarf, lizard, commoner and three nobles. Mary really had to groan looking at her group. While she was happy to be in a group with Valamin and Dehla, they would really suffer because the idiot was with them as well. The other noble was quite decent enough, and the dwarf was grumpy. They got one of the twins as well, Astriga was unfit for the life in the Academy, she despised all excitement and was more into theory, though quite pleasant to be around.
She had really hoped they would be allowed to choose their teams, but that was no option. They all had to fetch their belongings and leave everything they wouldn't need behind. Mary was glad she packed light, so she was ready as fast as the commoners, while the other nobles needed some time. The son of Baron Owlnev was smart enough to ask them what he should take and leave behind, so he was ready quite fast as well.
Only the First son of Count Beavergor was making problems already. He refused to had out his stallion, ‘Noone got to separate him from his horse, as it was below his station to move around on foot’ Mary actually considered zapping him again, just to speed things up.
Ultimately she decided against it, and just went and distracted him while Alwin, the other noble gave everything they wouldn't need to another instructor.
It was a sight to behold, after the teacher was off, Mary just went back to the rest of the group, cutting him off in his sentence. After shooting an angry look at her, he turned around to argue with another teacher, the first telling him to calm down first, before leaving to accept other things.
She could see the moment he realized most of his stuff had disappeared, and only a small part of it remained at him feet. He just made things too easy for her.
After some yelling, they gathered in a circle to discuss their next steps. The idiot started.
“Obviously I will lead us, as I am the most qualified, and have the highest title!” Nobody liked that idea. Mary spoke up first, finding devilish amusement always contradicting him.
“I think I should lead us, unlike someone else, I have been trained as a ranger and know my way around in a forest!”
“So you were trained to move in the dirt, fitting for someone your station!” He stated mockingly. She grinned at him.
“If you have a problem you can always come and dual me. Of course we also can just vote who should be the leader.”
All other groups had already left the clearing, and they were the only one left. Interestingly they vanished instantly after leaving the clearing, both in the same direction.
“Who of you wants to have the lowlife daughter of a Baron, instead of me, the first son of a Count as your leader!” He stood proudly, without any doubts he would get all the support he needed. After everyone present nodded towards Mary, he lost the rest of his composure.
“THAT'S NO WAY TO TREAT A COUNT’S SON, IF I SAY SOMETHING PEOPLE LIKE YOU HAVE TO COMPLY TO YOUR BETTERS!” He screamed. Mary was on him in an instant.
“You, Cleavergor, you are useless, so why would anyone want to be led by you. You must have some magical talent, you wouldn't be here if not, but all your other skills are nonexistent, and you are unfit to lead even a single person! You were outvoted as well, so comply or stay behind I don't care!”
With that she went over to the teacher, followed by the rest of the group, leaving behind a stumped noble.
“I am the leader!” She declared. She got the map, a standard issue map, showing the notable point one could orient oneself and the distances between them. They only additional thing marked was the academy.
She remembered one of the points of orientation was already behind them, they passed it early yesterday. She went over to her stuff, picked it up and waited for the rest to get ready.
“You coming?” She asked Beavergor for the last time. It seemed he didn't want to give up on a chance to join the academy just yet. He even picked up his stuff by himself after everyone made it evident they wouldn't carry anything for him.
If the map was accurate, they wouldn't even need the whole week to reach the academy. She estimated it was about a hundred and ten kilometers away from their current position, so they should manage to reach it in three to four days. Unlike the other two groups, she set out in an eighty degree angle to their previous angle of travel. That way they should walk in the direction of the academy, and not take the detour they were expected to make.
Of course the idiot had to tell her how stupid she was, to leave the clearing in the wrong direction. She told him to shut up because there could be monsters around that he could attract with his complaining. There wasn't anything dangerous, but there was no need to inform him of that.
The only problem with route she choose was there would be no significant point of orientation for nearly a day. According to her calculations, she should be able to see the academy through Starshadow on the evening of the second day, if they were slow in the early morning of the third.
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Obviously the problem didn't stop her, as she always had eyes in the sky, so she knew they moved in the right direction. They managed to travel thirty three kilometers that day, that meant if they kept up the pace, they would arrive at the early morning of the fourth day. After organizing a watch for the night and eating dinner, they retired for the night, they had several days of walking in front of them after all.
Mary woke the other early in the next morning, she had purposefully chosen the last watch, so she could wake them early. She intended to finish the test in three days after all. While quite grumpy, all of them shut up after she told them they could manage the trial in three days if they slightly increased their pace.
It seemed the world was against it though, because Starshadow soon spotted a group of roving kobolds moving in their direction. Without anyone noticing, she guided them around the monsters, the fight would have been really ugly and most likely resulted in their deaths. They stood very little chance against a group of fifteen of the beasts after all, especially with the noise the others made while moving, destroying any chance to catch the monsters off guard.
Soon after she changed their direction, there was a big monster spotted them, after they moved in its territory. The bear ran in their direction, making nearly no sounds at all, an impressive feat for an animal that size.
“Prepare for an assault, bear incoming from ten o'clock!” She shouted an warning.
“Everyone behind a tree, we don't want to tank its charge after all! Dehla can you keep its attention until I kill it? Can the rest of you offer any assistance against a bear, if not, stay out of the way! Valamin, try to distract it with your wizardry!” Only seconds after she finished her plan, and they all retreated behind a tree, the bear charged the spot they had been in before. Instantly it started slowing down and started turning. Dehla, not nearly as intimidated by the huge mammal as she should be let out a cry and charged the beast.
It had to weigh at least five hundred kilos and its shoulders nearly reached her height. Mary charged up a strong bolt of lighting and shot it at the beast. Simultaneously, she started to cast a spell that should form a bubble of air around his head. The bubble wouldn't let any air in or out, and greatly help in killing the animal. It roared in anger as Marys bolt hit it, and started turning towards the person that caused its pain. Because of the it got a stab from Dehlas halberd and started bleeding.
Mary saw Valamin starting to cast his spell as well as the two other nobles. The dwarf and other human wisely hid behind a tree to not in the way.
The idiot’s spell was ready first, and a fireball flew at the bear, but sadly something like that, no matter how skilled it was cast, wouldn't seriously damaged the beast, it would only serve to enrage it further. While the Lizardgirl still held out, Mary knew she would get problems soon, it was way more exhausting to fight an animal compared to a humanoid enemy.
After the fireball hit, the bear got rid of the rest of its confusion caused by her lightning, and attacked Dehla with renewed vigor, as she had managed to get in another stab, this time at something more painful.
Owlnevs spell was ready next, and a sphere of metal shot out of one of his pockets. It started to circle around the bear, always attacking it in its blind spots, not doing damage but distracting it, and buying them some time. By the time the roots at the bears feet started to pull it underground, Mary finished the airspell and shot another lightning bolt at the bear, it recoiled in pain again. As it roared again, one of the metal spheres used the opportunity and shot in its mouth, breaking into its skull and killing it instantly.
“Good work everyone, though you will have to work on what spells you use!” She looked at Beavergor.
“The fireball was useless and only enraged it, you endangered every one of us!” She then told everyone of them what they could have done better in the fight, even telling them what she did wrong.
They took enough of the bears meat to eat in the evening leaving the rest behind. The kobolds sure heard their fight, and could be heard in the distance, searching for the noise. They hoped the monsters would be satisfied with the bear and refrain from hunting them. They moved away from the spot with haste. Mary took some additional pieces she fed Starshadow by throwing them in the air, where he would then catch them, eating them while keeping an eye out for her like always.
After an hour they were sure they left weren't followed, so Valamin could stop using his magic to erase their tracks so they couldn't be followed.
As they settled down for the night, Mary took out her pan and roasted the meat they took with them. Because they pushed themselves to get away from the bear, they made decent progress today, even though they took the small detour and short fight. Starshadow had already spotted the highest tower in Agora peeking over the horizon.
She climbed a tree afterwards, spotting the next marker in the distance right where it should be, all for the benefit of the teacher following them, as she just remembered. After returning she told them they would take four days, as moving through the forest without a path was too slow to make it in three, they made about thirty two kilometers per day, so they would arrive in the late morning of the fourth day.
They settled down for the night with anticipation for what waited for them at the academy.
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Mary woke with a start, something was wrong. She quietly went over to their watch, grabbing her sword in the process.
“Anything out of order?” She asked her.
“Nothing I can see, why are you up already, my watch just started?” Dehla replied.
“I woke up, and feeling uneasy, Nolan taught me to always hear on feelings in the wild! Wake the others, I will keep watch for now, tell them to be quiet!” Slowly, Mary’s eyes accustomed to the dark, and she looked around and saw nothing. Than something rushed past the corner of her eyes but when she looked for it, she saw nothing. Mary’s heart started beating wildly, she had to fight hard to reign it in, some monsters could hear your heartbeat.
She looked away from the place where the shadow should be keeping careful watch over it. Slowly, she started saturating the surrounding air with her mana. After the spot nearly left her line of sight, she saw the shadow move again, it ran straight in her cloud of mana, hiding once again. Careful to not let it know she knew its location, Mary looked in the direction she felt the monster hiding. Slowly, she prepared her most powerful lightning, that would deplete over half of her mana at once.
Before she let go of the spell, she woke Starshadow by a small tug at their bond. She wouldn't want to wake him by the sudden sound of her lightning.
Before the beast could move again, her spell shot forwards with the speed of lightning, arcing around the small elevation the monster hid behind.
With a loud clap and a blinding light, the bolt impacted on the beast. Mary closed her eyes in time, to not destroy her night vision. After convulsing shortly, the beast stopped moving. The others came running after hearing her spell.
“What did you see?”
“There was some kind of monster sneaking up on us. It was really skilled as well!” Together, the others carefully approached the spot, while Mary and several others kept watch for more. They returned together with a dangerous looking creature, which still had some of its fur smoking at the spot Mary hit it.
The beast looked like a fox, only more dangerous. Its fur had the typical red tone of a fox, only it was way bigger, seventy centimeters in height and a meter and ten centimeters in length. Its teeth were longer as well, the canines reaching impressive ten centimeters. Mary really wondered why there were so many beast here, that fox monster could easily kill at least one of them. Mary once again fed some of the monsters meat to Starshadow while they cut out something to roast themselves.
There were no more monsters within fifty meters. Mary kept up the cloud anyways, her manacontrol was capable of keeping all the mana in her control, so she didn't need to supply new mana. She opted to stay awake for the last two days, she didn't need the same sleep as humans anyways.
They decided to resume their hike at first light, when Starshadow could fly again. After that, nobody could sleep after that anyways.
After an early breakfast, they set out in the direction of the academy again. Mary set a fast pace for the day, but called an early break, as she saw the others were tiring fast, because they lacked sleep.
After lunch, they set out energized again. They made good progress in the afternoon, and Mary could already see the academy near them. They managed another thirty five kilometers that day, the early start getting them the extra kilometers.
Tomorrow they would only have to travel the last twelve kilometers to reach the academy. That night, Mary slept only three hours, the minimum she needed to function properly.