While walking and lost in his thoughts, trying to figure out what the exams could be, Ken bumped into someone.
"Oh I'm sorry" he apologized. Looking up to see a young boy with yellow hair, wearing expensive clothing. Accompanying him were two security guards who held a stone-cold look.
"That's okay. I'm guessing you're here for the entrance exam? My name is Josh Retin '' Josh replied as he turned around and faced Ken.
"Yeah, I am actually. Hey, can you tell me where I need to go to start the exam?"
"Here is the waiting yard, about every half an hour, multiple examiners will come and select 100 people to start the exam. Those that pass will move on, and those that don't will be automatically kicked out."
"I've seen a lot of people crying, is the exam that hard?"
"Yes it is, but I'm sure we will pass. Say, what type of magic school do you come from, you must have gone to a wealthy and proper school to be able to make it here."
"Oh no no, I never went to any sort of magic school, I was home-schooled–”
Rudely interrupting, Josh mocked Ken by saying, "Oh, so you're just another lowly commoner that has somehow weaseled his way in here ay?" his whole demeanor had changed.
Ken looked at Josh for a few seconds before letting out a sigh "He's not worth it" he thought to himself before walking off not wanting to entertain Josh’s arrogance.
"Hey! I'm talking to you!" Josh called out, but Ken just continued walking, ignoring him.
"Stop him!" In a flash one of Josh's guards appeared in front of Ken, blocking him from going any further.
"A commoner shouldn't ignore their superiors."
Ken looked up at the security guard towering over him before turning around and facing the blond boy who held a smirk on his face.
"This is a prestigious Academy, what makes you and all the other poor folks think you can attend such an academy? Quite now and go attend a no-name academy where you belong."
“I guess this is all part of the experience.”
“I suggest you call off your mutt before things get sticky.”
Josh broke out into laughter at Ken's threat "You commoners are funny. Bruise him up a bit you two."
The guard behind Ken threw a heavy wide hook, but his fist couldn't reach the young mage, Ken had already made contact with the guard's forehead, using the tip of his index finger, which brought the guard's movements to a halt.
“When you’re this close to your opponent, it's much more efficient to throw a jab, rather than a hook. Now, Sleep."
With that command, the guard immediately slumped to the ground unconscious. The second security guard conjured earth in the mold of a bat, before charging at the young wizard.
"How bothersome."
Once in reach, the guard swung his bat at Ken. But with simple footwork he avoided the attack, with the opening, he once again placed his finger on the guard's head, “Sleep.” And just like before, he fell to the ground unconscious.
"You filth, I'll deal with you myself!" Josh hissed.
Josh's entire body charged up with lightning magic. "I'll show you the difference in our magic!"
"...Please shut up" Ken mumbled to himself.
Before Josh could make his next move, Ken pointed his hand at him.
"Cage."
Stolen novel; please report.
A yellow magic circle appeared under Josh, and from it, magic bars sprung out, enclosing the rich boy in a cage made from magic. Josh fired a bolt of lightning in an attempt to destroy the cage, but it didn't even scratch it.
"The hell is this!"
"This must be embarrassing. A rich man like you, being caged by a commoner like me" Ken snickered.
"Let me out, you bastard!"
Ken ignored Josh, once again continuing with his walk. Hopefully, an Examiner will come for him soon. He took a seat near a water fountain looking up at the sky as he waited.
Some time passed, and Ken was still gazing at the sky thinking about nothing in particular. Then appearing out of thin air, a man stood in front of him.
"Ken Granfold?"
"That's me. Who are you?"
"I couldn't even sense him coming," he thought to himself.
"My name is Ian. I’ll be one of your three examiners for today.”
Ian placed his hand on Ken's shoulder, and in an instant, they appeared in a huge hall with 99 other candidates standing in front of a huge crystal orb. There was a mana screen floating above the orb, on the screen were four zeros.
Ian walked up to the crystal orb and took a quick glance at everyone before giving off a sigh like he didn't want to be here at all. He then took another glance at everyone and began to speak.
"Welcome to the first stage of the exam. To start off, none of the exams are long excruciating tests, they are all simple short tests that'll have you display what you're capable of.”
Hearing this brought relief to a lot of the candidates.
“If for any reason, you aren't able to give satisfactory results, then you will fail" his voice made it sound as if he was sleep-deprived.
"Your first test is very simple. This crystal orb is a Measuring Orb. One at a time you guys will come and place your hand on this orb and release your mana, and if your magic level is under 10,000, then you automatically fail, and will be denied into the Academy.”
“Step up, whenever you're ready."
"This should be a breeze," One of the candidates said as he walked out of the crowd, with a snarky look.
"I'll hang back a little and see what the others are made of," Ken thought to himself.
The candidate made his way up to the crystal orb and placed his right hand on it. Upon releasing his mana, the orb lit up bright blue and the four zeros on the mana screen started spinning rapidly. The orb stopped shining and soon the numbers started to slow down before stopping.
His snarky look quickly turned into a puzzled one, as his mana level was way under the passing mark.
-0458-
"That's impossible!? I released so much mana into that orb, it has to be rigged–”
Before the puzzled young man could continue his complaining, Ian clicked his finger and the student vanished, returning to the front yard of the Academy.
"Did I forget to mention that this is an expert orb? So if you thought you could pass just because you can reach 10,000 on an adept orb, then you thought wrong. The equivalent of 10,000 on an expert orb is 50,000 on an adept orb" As Ian explained how the orb worked, a lot of people started to have doubtful looks.
"Adept? Expert? What is he talking about?" Ken asked, confused.
"Novice, Apprentice, Adept, Expert, Master," Said another candidate, who had green spiky hair, standing next to Ken.
"Those are the five levels currently used to rank spells and a mage's capability. But it's currently being reformed to better suit the current era of magic since it's kinda outdated.”
"Ohhh… now I remember them. They're arbitrary terms used to help keep track of a spell's level. I never really bothered remembering them since there are so many different variations of them.”
“Yes, it can get quite annoying, the school I came from used a lettering system. Now the Magic Council plans on changing this academy's tiering system to numbers.”
“I see… Well, my name is Ken Granfold" Ken said, taking the opportunity to make a new friend.
With a smile, the green-haired boy replied, "My name is Tai Leek."
"You seem like a nice guy, I hope you're not another rich asshole."
With a chuckle, Tai replied "I see you've run into one of them as well. No, I was raised on a farm and attended one of those No named Schools they talk about."
"That's a relief."
"I think I'll step up and take my turn now," said Tai as he walked up to the orb.
Tai placed his right hand on the Orb, releasing his mana into it, making it light up a bright blue. The four zeros started to spin rapidly making the orb shine much brighter than it did the first time, everyone was amazed.
“Shit, I'm overdoing it!”
He stopped releasing his mana and the orb slowly started to dim back to its colorless state. the numbers slowed down, before coming to a stop.
-20,000-
Everyone looked at Tai's score, their mouths slacked open. He had doubled the required amount, something most didn't think was possible.
“Didn't mean to go that high.”
“Great job!” Ken called out.
“Congrats young man. You did exceedingly well. Now please stand over there, until everyone else has had their turn” Ian instructed.
“Okay, I guess it's my turn,” Ken spoke with a grin.