Stephanie's eyes widened as she watched in horror as Carn's hands remained stuck to the sphere. She had not anticipated this outcome and couldn't help but feel a twinge of concern. The mages rushed to his side, frantically trying to assess the situation.

Carn's face contorted in pain as he struggled to remove his hands from the sphere, but they were seemingly glued in place. His breathing became shallow and labored as he tried to push through the pain.

Stephanie's heart pounded in her chest as she watched in horror. Guilt flooded over her for wanting Carn to fail. The mages scrambled to find a solution, chanting spells and incantations to free Carn's hands from the sphere's grip.

All the while, the other students and Mrs. Ironheart watched in stunned silence, frozen with fear and uncertainty.

While they worked the rest of the students and Mrs. Ironheart stopped what they were doing and watched the mage's vain attempts to free Carn’s hands from the sphere.

As time ticked by, the sphere's color shifted from a pristine white to a deep, dark black. Then, one by one, each element materialized inside the orb, spinning in a circle with their own unique flair. Flames, lightning, ice, water, wind, earth, poison, and more appeared before their eyes.

Carn's screams echoed throughout the room, and despite Mrs. Ironheart's constant healing, the pain didn't subside. But that wasn't the only thing that caught everyone's attention. As the elements spun inside the sphere, they began to resemble something greater.

It looked like the universe. Each element looked like a galaxy spinning in the void of space.

Suddenly, the door burst open, and Professor Sundaram stormed in. He rushed over to Carn, but before he could reach him, two white eyes emerged in the center of the black sphere, staring directly at Carn.

The eyes stared at Carn as an ancient voice boomed in everyone's minds, causing them to recoil in terror.

“You are not strong enough for this knowledge child. Suffer pain as consequence.”

The voice that felt like needles in every person’s mind disappeared and after what felt like an eternity, the mages alongside Professor Sundaram finally managed to break the bond between Carn and the sphere.

Carn collapsed onto the ground, gasping for air and clutching his head in agony. After a while, Mrs. Ironheart’s healing finally seemed to work as Carn looked much better.

“Thanks for the help, let's finish this test so we can go home,” Carn said, trying to diffuse the tension in the room.

Professor Sundaram looked at Carn and recognized that he didn’t want this type of attention, “Mrs. Ironheart, protocol 7.”

Mrs. Ironheart nodded her head and walked over to Stephanie, and covered both her own and Stephanie's eyes with her hands. The mages quickly did the same and Professor Sundaram covered Carn’s eyes before shouting, “Everyone please look this way.”

Every student looked at Professor Sundaram as he snapped his fingers. A blinding light appeared and when it disappeared all the students started walking to where they were before Carn touched the sphere.

“This is a trade secret, don't tell anyone ok?” Professor Sundaram said before pushing Carn along and snapping his fingers once more removing the students from their stupor.

They all started chatting as if nothing happened and some even resumed the mana control test.

“Why’d you cover my eyes?” Stephanie asked Mrs. Ironheart.

“I believe the words your father used to describe what would happen to us if he found out your memory had been in any way tampered with were: 'I will rip your bodies limb from limb and tear the skin off of your flesh before selling your meat as steak to the local zoo.' So we would like to avoid that if at all possible,” she responded with a shiver.

Despite the terrifying experience with the sphere, the assessment continued with the Mana Control test. Stephanie's mastery of mana was unparalleled among the other students as she created shields of mana with lightning-fast precision, expertly deflecting every projectile aimed her way. Carn, on the other hand, was visibly shaken. The haunting voice from the sphere echoed in his mind, leaving him with more questions than answers. Why had it called him a child? Was it a message from his parents or something far more sinister? The unease and confusion lingered within him like a dark cloud, threatening to overshadow everything else.

Carn's heart sank as he received his score for the Mana Control test. He had let the voice in his head consume him, leading him to make a careless mistake that cost him dearly. He could feel Stephanie's gaze upon him, relishing in his failure.

But Carn was determined to redeem himself. He channeled his frustration and fear into his next assessment, determined to come out on top. Meanwhile, Stephanie basked in the glow of her success, enjoying the moment of superiority over her self-proclaimed rival.

However, as the fourth assessment began, Stephanie noticed a change in Carn. His once-confident demeanor had been replaced with a look of unease and fear. Stephanie couldn't help but wonder what the voice was and what Carn was as well.

The fourth assessment was the moment they had all been waiting for. The restrictive bracelet was removed and power flowed back into the students' bodies, rejuvenating them. Carn felt his confidence return as he flexed his muscles, eager to show off his combat skills. Mrs. Ironheart stood in front of five massive glass rooms, each the size of half a football field. As she spoke, her voice echoed through the silent room, “This is the combat aptitude assessment. You will each enter one of these rooms and face summoned monsters that are real and dangerous, so be prepared. The summoned monsters will start at a lower tier than you, but their strength will increase as you progress. We will restore your condition after each wave, so don't hold back. This is an important test, so follow your bracelets and let's begin.”

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Carn looked at his bracelet and it displayed a shining 100. Rather than being disappointed he took the time to center himself and prepare for the oncoming assessment removing the thoughts about the last assessment from his mind. As he waited he watched Kwanele walk into one of the rooms. Before he began a tower shield that was at least 7 feet tall and a long spear appeared in his hands.

Above the doorway to Kwanele’s arena there was a display that read:

- Kwanele Jelani -

Age: 18

Tier: Low-silver

Current enemy tier: Iron

As Kwanele stood in the glass box, he couldn't help but feel his heart pounding in his chest as he waited for the monsters to appear. And appear they did. Five of them, with dark purple skin, six legs, and razor-sharp teeth, circled him with malicious intent. Each of their six eyes scanned the dragonkin, like prey for the slaughter. Kwanele readied his shield, but before he could make a move, the monsters disappeared and reappeared right on top of him. He swung his shield with precision, batting three away, and impaled the other two with his spear and dragon tail.

Feeling emboldened by his initial success, Kwanele took to the skies with his black wings outstretched and released a boiling black liquid from his mouth that looked like tar. He sprayed it at the remaining three monsters, watching with satisfaction as they disintegrated into nothingness. But the real challenge was yet to come.

As the difficulty ramped up, Kwanele summoned walls of rock and struck with deadly precision to clear the silver-tier wave. The gold-tier enemies proved even more challenging, and Kwanele barely managed to scrape by using every trick and skill at his disposal. However, when the summoner deemed him unable to handle the next tier, he was forced to end his assessment, feeling proud of his success.

Carn congratulated Kwanale and the two sat together and watched the other students. They were both surprised at the combat aptitude of the students here. One of the students who hadn’t shown much of note in the other tests performed outstandingly; he was high-silver tier and won by putting all the enemies in the room to sleep before cleaving them with a longsword.

- Michael Hypneal -

Age: 17

Tier: High-silver

Current enemy tier: Platinum

He beat iron through gold tiers with ease while platinum was a slight struggle with only a couple of the monsters falling asleep at the start of the wave. He showed outstanding sword skills on top of his unique magic and cleared platinum.

But Michael's true test came with the next wave, where he was warned of a difficulty spike. The creatures that appeared were nothing short of terrifying, with hundreds of mouths and shadowy tentacles that seemed to sway ominously. Despite his best efforts, Michael's magic failed him and he turned to the summoner, frantically gesturing for the test to be stopped. The creatures were unsummoned, and Michael emerged from the room wiping the sweat from his brow.

“I am going to invite that man over. Is that fine with you?” Kwanele asked Carn who readily agreed to the idea. His entire goal of coming to a school was to make friends after all so this was a great opportunity.

Kwanele brought Michael over to where they were sitting and they introduced themselves to each other, “Hi Michael, I’m Carn, your fight was very impressive. How did you put those monsters to sleep? Is it some kind of class or something else entirely?”

Michael was a well-built guy standing around 5 foot 5 inches tall and looked short next to the 6-and-a-half foot Carn and 7-foot-tall Kwanele. He looked like a stereotypical pretty boy with pointy ears and fair skin indicating his race and piercing blue eyes gave him a striking, almost ethereal appearance.

Michael stumbled over his words, clearly not used to the attention. "Ah um, the sleeping thing...my Latent Talent, my family is quite famous for it." He quickly switched the subject, "Oh, I saw your fight Kwanele, your adeptness with the spear and shield was inspiring, and your earth magic was something else as well. We must duel sometime!" Michael blushed, "If that is alright with you, that is."

Kwanele chuckled, "Of course, I'd be willing to duel you. Just can't put me to sleep right away, I don't think I could stand a chance if you did that."

The three spoke with each other and watched the other students assessing their abilities. No one else of note really appeared for a while with most challengers completing only the waves below and at their tier and nothing further.

The three all put their eyes on one room as a familiar name stepped inside.

- Stephanie Cho -

Age: 17

Tier: Mid-silver

Current enemy tier: Iron

Stephanie was a blur of motion, two daggers glinting in her hands. Before the demon hounds could even materialize, she vanished into thin air. Confused, the summoned creatures looked around the arena, unable to find their target. Seconds later, they all fell to the ground, decapitated. Stephanie reappeared and received a quick healing from the instructor before vanishing once more.

This strategy proved successful until the platinum tier, where giant golems made of rock proved too tough to take down with one blow. Even worse, they seemed to see through her invisibility, dodging her attacks with ease. Frustrated, Stephanie dropped her invisibility and multiplied herself into ten identical copies, each possessing her incredible strength and speed. Together, the ten Stephanies struck down one giant after another until they lay in a pile of rubble. However, the instructor warned her of an impending difficulty spike, and Stephanie declined the challenge of fighting the next wave of summoned creatures.

As the bracelet beeped, Carn readied himself to step into the room, warning his new friends not to expect too much from him. All eyes were on him as he entered, with most of the other students having already finished their tests. Stephanie eagerly waited for his information to be displayed on the screen above the door to see how strong he really was.

In an instant. the room fell silent as the words appeared above the doorway:

- Carn Roswal -

Age: 19

Tier: High-wood

Current enemy tier: ???

The rest of the students looked at Carn in shock. Being 19 years old and only achieving High-wood tier was strange for anyone much less someone of his physical prowess. This was so odd that the summoner didn’t even know what to do. While the summoner spoke with Mrs. Ironheart about what to do a bow, quiver with arrows, and a long dagger appeared on his body.

Stephanie couldn't believe what she was seeing. Ascending tiers should bring about fundamental changes in the physical makeup of a person, yet Carn had achieved what he did without ever undergoing an ascension ritual. It defied all logic and common sense.