The rest of the week passed by quickly as they continued to do physical tests at the arena every morning. With classroom lessons every afternoon, where they would discuss things related to the tests.
Wednesday they came out to the arena where a physical endurance and agility course had been set up. It was a test on keeping their Aura’s active and using them for strengthening techniques.
Koro had never learned anything about aura strengthening so naturally it was a bit awkward at first but Jorum gave him and Beln some pointers during the test that ended up helping them out. All three of them ended up scoring really well that day despite earlier complications. They may have dragged Beln through part of the course to ‘help’ him keep up though.
It turns out Jorum had a Cell Enki and specifically an affinity called Body Modding. It lets him manipulate his own body structure, hence the insane body and stamina. He also mentioned that he couldn't cast the same way everybody else did and so his test the day before was actually different from the target shooting.
According to him it also made being a healer difficult unlike most other Cell users. Not impossible but pushing his energy out was super inefficient and could have weird effects. He also yammered on about something called “The Giants Guild” whatever the hell that was.
Thursday was adaptability and situational awareness tests. They were thrown back into simulations on the tiles. They were set up with the same numbers and he found himself in that same strange force cage from before. Showcasing a new casting technique called pulsing and tested Enki sensory skills.
Pulsing lets you push out a small amount of energy in a wave to use your senses to map the physical space around you. Essentially bathing everything in your own energy.
Instead of a pretty view the rooms stayed pitch black this time. As for the test, a countdown would show and when it hit 0 he was required to pulse and then shoot the target he felt. The familiar energy bar was there again. He noticed after the first couple of targets that his bolts were already more efficient than two days ago. Pulsing felt natural to him too, it was definitely something he was gonna make a normal part of his abilities and he pretty much aced this test only missing one target.
Of course once he finished, the light from outside blinded him and like before his teacher passed him a bottle. Also tossing a strip of black cloth.
“What's this for Teach?”
Kenning laughed at him walking away “you’ll see or not i guess.”
They were to run laps around the field again but first they had to tie the black cloth over their eyes. He had them run a single 500m run while having to dodge barricades and each other while blindfolded. Additionally, he promised a Mute Cred to the student who passed the finish line first.
That was the moment Koro realized his teacher was in fact a sadistic bastard. It went horribly for most of the class. The sound of crashing barriers and cries of pain going out all around him as he pulsed trying to avoid those who had tripped,fallen or slammed into the barricades.
He actually managed to come in third just behind Nikolai with Eliza in first by a fair margin. Wasn't sure how she did it but it was obvious she was extremely familiar with her senses and pulsing.
Jorum came in somewhere around the middle of the pack because he was able to just bulldoze his way through half of it but pulsing was next to impossible for him and so he just did his best. A few other students may have been suspiciously tossed around during the run. Laren had come in shortly after Koro, eyeing those who came before him with disdain.
During lessons they went into sensory theory and more about how Enki senses worked. Auras essentially worked as transmitter/receiver antennas broadcasting and receiving the energy that emitted a like frequency. Koro wondered just how much he could push his senses because of his link directly to the Ether. There was no way he wouldn't train the hell out of this casting.
Friday was the most interesting for Koro. Kenning called it the showcase, where every student would get to introduce their skills and abilities in front of the class. He said this was a proper introduction and a way to let your class understand your strengths better. Some talk about the importance of cooperation and teamwork. The tiles were also up today but they wouldn't be going into simulations. Their teacher stated it was the easiest way to have ready material for each of them and acted as a good stage for presenting. The moment people realized the teacher was suggesting this be a performance, Koro watched a lot of faces go pale. His included. The thought was somewhat sickening. Showing off really wasn't his style. Sighing reluctantly he tried his best to listen.
Show off as many unique castings that you can manage and any other visual skills that you can perform. That was the requirement for this and it was graded.
“Nothing fancy Koro, just use a bunch of your techniques and besides you're not even first. Plenty of time to plan” trying to figure out how was gonna keep from falling on his face.
“Nera your first” a girl with a jet black bob hopped up gracefully. The way she walked was so fluid, as if she wasn't actually walking. She approached tile 1. “Duh, they're assigned alphabetically. That should have been obvious” he thought, wanting to palm his face.
It was quickly obvious that Nera was a Planter. She began a graceful dance as vines flowed out of the ground moving with the dance. As the vines grew around her a bud bloomed out in front of her, growing to the size of her head before blooming out shielding her from view. The other vines lashed out into tentacle-like arms and suddenly it wasn't her they were watching but this deadly dancing plant whipping its vine arms out in all directions. The smaller flowers bloomed on all the arms and shot a strange powder out over the construction of plants. The vines laid down and the show stopped as the powder obscured the view of her. This was definitely well rehearsed. Kennings began clapping excitedly.
“I knew an A’kona wouldn't disappoint. What a show, what a show” continuing to clap as she walked back to her spot on the grass where the rest of the class was sitting and just to show off she formed a chair from vines catching her as she sat. Koro was sure he had heard that name before, like on a poster or something.
The overconfident redhead from the other day got up without being asked. “Yes, Ashby your next” Kenning gestured at the boy with a somewhat annoyed face. The fire-haired boy ran up to his tile in a hurry. Posturing at the center he smiled at everyone.
“There is only one power that matters and that's….FIRREEEE” He yelled as the air around him began to waver. Swinging his arms around in a martial movement the air suddenly lit up and he now had fire floating around his arms. From there his movements looked more dorky as he flailed around throwing little fireballs around which disintegrated as they reached the edge of his tile. Koro realizing the telltale flickers from the energy shield. He finished off by throwing a spray of flames in a sweeping motion in front.
He took a huge bow and threw his fist up in the air, yelling “YEAH” breathing heavily and sweating hard. He ran back to his spot with a big stupid grin on his face. The smell of burnt hair wafting through the class.
“Ugh god Ash why does it smell like that” Kaden yelled at him.
“That's just the smell of awesomeness” he beamed. Kids nearby pinching their nose or covering their face.
Nikolai was an interesting one to watch as electricity crackled between his hands and he made it dance around the metal coils that stuck out around his tile. He even made it dance around his skin which caused his chestnut hair to stand on edge making him look like some mad scientist. He grounded it to finish and it created this deadening feeling in the air as everything nearby felt electrified. The electricity reminded Koro of how his own abilities acted, maybe he could do something with that.
Another fire user came up after him, pretty sure he heard her name was Loreli. A bright strawberry blonde girl with a lot of freckles showed off some kind of explosion ability. An Igniter that's interesting, she's gonna be a nasty fighter later on.
Handis was next in line and he walked up with that overly official aire about him. He quickly formed two metal gauntlets over his hands from the metal plates below him. It was strangely mesmerizing the way metal would liquify with his ability and the reshape and harden to form quickly. He formed a long metal blade in his left hand and a large kite shield on his right seeming to be a part of the gauntlet. The construction was crude but definitely effective, the blade could absolutely cut as he swung it around. Making whooshing sounds as he cut air. The gauntlets and weapons melted away as he formed circular plates that he spun around himself and then shot at the ground one at a time. Each sticking into the metal plates on his tile. A smug look on his face as he walked back. That whole “That's right I'm better than all of you look.”
His attendant Jacklyn came up afterwards showing a refined earth ability. Where she reshaped the ground around her into various complicated shapes. Koro felt like she was intentionally holding back though. As if she was trying to seem unimportant.
A tanned dark blonde girl stepped up showcasing an air ability. She was able to compress the air into spheres that she would shoot off and finished with a big sweeping motion that pushed a large rush of air out across the class. “Thank you Sophie” their teacher called as she stepped from the tile and bowed to him.
Q’yara stepped up with Beln yelling in his ear sitting next to him. “Go Q’yara you got this.”
She was the one other fire user in the class. Breathing in and then out a number of small flames began to pop up around her she then guided them in a sort of dance around her as they bobbed in waves or circled around her. She moved them into a fast circle around her then shot them into the ground in a perfect circle around her which caused air to woosh up at her. She winced a little but kept a firm expression as the flames on the ground shot up one last time before dying down. When she sat back down she moved to sit with his little group, who had just gotten used to grouping together over the rest of the week. She started whispering with them as Beln congratulated her and Jorum patted her on the back.
He took small mental notes of a lot of the others.
Entaro was an air user that would use it to push himself around and it looked like he was learning to fly as he'd throw himself up and then hover for a short time.
Merriam stood in the middle of small pools of water that she threw up in the air and as it rained down she turned the rain to ice as it began pelting the ground. As the ice broke or stuck it began turning to mist which she then settled back into the pools.
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Kaden would pull earth up from the ground and form it into small walls or platforms that he used to lift himself; he even jumped a couple of times with pillars popping up under his feet before lowering a pillar that was 10 feet tall that he had been standing on.
Meredia, a blonde girl with a long braid running down her back stepped up picking up various things around her tile which she managed to magnetize and make stick together which seemed impossible. Koro reached out with his senses and noticed the weird pairs had matching wavelengths. So she's changing the intrinsic electrical properties at a micro scale. That's way more impressive than everyone here realizes he thought to himself.
His anxiety rose, realizing his turn was definitely coming up soon.
“Kinanjaba Minanumbai, your up girl” a dark haired, dark skinned girl stood up and walked over to a sand filled tile. She held out her hand as the sand started to crystallize upward creating a staff that she grasped and broke off from the ground. She spun the staff around before driving it down it to the ground which seemed to melt into the sand as several crystal spikes popped up around her. Like a deadly crystal flower blooming. She paused for a sec then breathed out swinging her arms in a circular motion and bringing them down. The crystal spikes turned back to sand as she walked away from the tile.
A girl with dark short hair and symmetrical geometric markings on her arms. Displayed an ability that let her pull water from the air. “Good job Kori” a girl called out as she got up to take her turn as well.
The girl's name was Baltimore, she was easy to recognize because she kept a bird on her shoulder at all times. She gave the class a short explanation about what she called her familiar and apparently she could control it. Having it do a number of complicated movements. She was also able to produce some small sound casts but they definitely weren't her forte.
The freckled orange haired kid who went by O’hannigan got up next, and he knew that meant he was up next. The student showed off a plant Enki with a grass affinity. Koro thought it sounded kind of silly but then the boy began to build armor from the grass. Weaving it into gauntlets and a large claymore that he held with ease. It looked deceptively dangerous as he attempted to start spinning more grass around him like a protective ring when he became exhausted and had to drop the grass sword and the gauntlets unweaved. That must take a ton of focus to control all of that so precisely but building it as armor seemed like a really good way to go. It was to be expected that plenty of the class would be having a hard time maintaining ability use especially on anything that was packing a punch or requiring a lot of focus.
“Koro, show us what you got.”
“Ah crap that's me” sparing a brain cell for the realization.
Beln drummed on his back “Get up there man.”
“Yeah, yeah i'm going” the other two giving him thumbs up and big smiles.
He had been thinking about just doing his training routine that he’d built up over the last two years but his mind seemed to go blank. He tried reviewing what he’d seen while he watched his classmates. Standing in the center of the blank tile he took a deep breath.
Zeke’s voice came to mind “Focus on what's happening now in this moment and just breathe little brother”. His mind quieted as he took that deep breath. His mind flashed to the electricity he saw Nikolai use earlier and held out his hand in front of him. A crackling started and that pale yellow energy started arcing between his hands. He let it build as it began turning into a plasma ball of pure energy. He stuck his right hand into it and started imagining the way some of the others used shaping skills. His left hand followed in and the plasma flowed over both his arms.
The air became thick around him and he could feel it warping as electricity continued to crackle around him. He let the plasma begin to form down his hands into straight edges forming blades that came a few inches off his hands. He swung them in arcs causing light trails. Then with sharp whipping motions he launched the blades off into the ground where the plasma stuck momentarily before it dissipated with the rest of the plasma on his arms.
He remembered the bows of respect he would show his brother whenever they would practice together. Pushing his hands together he bowed to his class and walked off. Trying to keep his calm composure. The anxiety of how stupid that bow must have looked. Why did he do that and the knife hands where did that come from. “Oh god i've really done it now.”
He noticed his little group looking at him with excited looks, especially Beln. A look of pure happiness in his expression. His butt didn't even touch the floor and Beln launched into it in a low whisper.
“That was so freakin awesome man, you need to show me that hand blade trick and the lightning. How freakin awesome is that,ah!” It was safe to say he liked it. At least he impressed somebody. Anxiety melting into pride as he sat down.
He watched the rest of the performances with a smile on his face. The next student was the only one as small as Beln. Timic had rounded features that still seemed to come to sharp points making him look really cheery and always seeming in good spirits. He was memorable primarily for the fact that instead of showing some bright display of power. He started singing and not just some shoddy amateur stuff but full on operatic soprano stuff. They all listened mesmerized as his voice started to warp and jump around the crowd. He even layered his voice like he was using a loop machine by controlling the movement of the sound waves. As a final show of ability his voice disappeared as they watched the air wrapped around him before shooting down and rushing across the grass in an aggressive blast that blew hair and clothing around.
Jorum was up next and although Koro knew he probably wouldn't be casting, he was excited to see what the hulking boy could do.
It was...weird to say the least. The kid was already built like a statue but when he used his ability, he easily grew to over six feet and his arms and legs became twice their normal size. He asked the teacher for a wall of something tough. To which Kenning promptly started tapping away at his tablet. A wall of stone popping up in Jorum’s tile. There were audible cracking sounds as he armed his fist back for a strike at the wall. When Koro saw the fingers on his readied fist. It looked like each had become blocky and sharp with a stone like appearance. WWOOSSSHHHH
His arm snapped forward like a spring uncoiling. BAMMMMMM!!!!!!!
The wall shattered as his fist came through the other side. He finished the show off with a mighty flex then began shrinking down to his normal size as he walked back to the group.
“You're absolutely terrifying to see in action Jorum” Koro high fived him as he sat down.
“HA HA I try. Giants Guild all about intimidation” cracking a huge smile that seemed to consume his eyes. With a horrifying belly laugh that was most definitely not a twelve year olds.
Another cell user named Hollin went up after Jorum. It was strange to watch as his brand of cell abilities let him manipulate features of his body. Koro actually heard someone vomit as the kid's skin turned blue and his arms became noodles that stretched to the ground. Then he changed his face to something resembling a wolf in which he opened the maw to rows of teeth. Koro remembered seeing something about people with this kind of ability. Beastmen, Morphers, maybe Shifters he couldn't quite remember. Maybe each of those was something different.
“Kol Renard?!” Kenning called another up. Air Enki wasn't usually known for fine control especially for Manifested but the blonde kid standing in front of the class was showing amazing Shaper skills. Solidifying walls of air, which was a bit strange to see as the air particles became visible when bunched so close together. He also did some shaper parlor tricks to show off his control making figurines made off air walk around on his hand. Beln was absolutely enthralled the whole time.
Koro remembered the next student Don from being grouped with him the other day. He walked up to his tile holding his hand to his mouth. Shuddering every so often from a cough. He centered himself and opened his mouth and apparently to a few peoples horror. Smoke began spewing from him. All of the coughing suddenly made sense. Don looked more peaceful now as he wielded the smoke cloud which he could warp, playing with the density and shape. He composed a bunch of it into a spear that he could physically grasp. Ash seemed to fall from it as the smoke was so compressed it took on a sand like quality. He was definitely more dangerous than his lazy appearance seemed to suggest.
Malik, a sandy skinned boy with light hair, had strange ink markings near his eyes. His eyes were an unsettling milky white. It felt like he wasn't actually looking at anybody and walked with a strange smoothness. His aura became visible suddenly, which took a second to adjust to since auras were pretty much never visible. Koro remembered seeing a show with several Master evos whose auras would shimmer but this was something else. It had a red tint and he began moving it about before forming it into a bubble and hardening it. Malik was a Wavesight
“I'll have to see if he can teach me. Direct biofield manipulation is insanely useful when in tandem with other abilities” Koro played out the possibilities in his mind. The thought of being able to actually wield your aura like that.
The boy didn't dance around or show off any martial skills but his aura was still brilliant to watch as he made it into offensive and defensive tools. His small frame was definitely not built for combat but his movements told stories about how effective his senses were.
As Malik walked back Beln got up as their teacher called his name. Koro gave him a smile and a thumbs up with Jorum and Qyara wishing him luck. He walked up as his body shook but it was hard to tell if he was anxious or just excited. Beln gave off the impression of a small dog sometimes.
His tile was made from an array of small hexagonal shapes made from wood. He stomped the ground which was obviously just for show by the look on his face as a number of the tiles shot up in the air and floated. As he attempted to spin them around him, they moved slower than it seemed Beln wanted from the shift in his expression to one of determination. He waved his arms around and rearranged the tiles to form a guard in front. Then one of the side hexagons compressed as it formed into a staff that reached back. Grabbing the end, he pulled it back and stood it up. Then it extended more, thinning as it drew out to be ten feet tall. He began doing the same to the other panels one at a time and extending them next to the other until they stood together. From there all of the poles began to wind together.
Koro figured at this point he had to be running low but he was barely breaking a sweat. He must have been telling the truth about how big his energy pool was.
The bundle of poles became one large pole and as Beln put his hand on it the wood gripped his hand. He climbed the pole with ease as groves or branches would grow at will. He sat on the top triumphant and then the pole expanded more bringing him up nearly 25 feet where he sat with feigned smugness.
"I think that's quite enough Mr.Sprigg. Let's wrap it up" Kenning yelled at him from below. The pole dropped back down bringing him to an easy stop as it became a wide stump. Getting up he pulled a small chunk from it. Which he turned into a toothpick that he began using. "Smooth buddy," Koro thought to himself.
A petite girl with porcelain like skin and dark hair named Joni, showed off what looked like a water Enki but then pulled up various liquids from pools on her tile. Blending them and separating them at will. She whipped the flows around showing they could be dangerous when the left grooves in the tile floor.
Vidic, a strong jawed blonde kid, had a shadow ability but Koro couldn't tell how he was manipulating the shadows. Considering shadow abilities actually stemmed from more than one tree of abilities. A lot of shadow users tended to keep that info a secret making it easier to pull out special moves nobody would expect. Which wasn't unusual for people to do with any Enki but shadow was the hardest to read for sure.
There were only a few more and it was obvious the class was getting anxious to finish. Next up was a kid who had headphones on and usually wore a hood. Apparently his name was Demetrius but he didn't really interact with the rest of them very much. He could manipulate airwaves and it sounded kind of underwhelming at first. Until he started melting part of the plain tile he was on. Scary.
Nataly was one of the more mature looking girls in the class. Koro refused to stare at her features and unnaturally pretty face. Luckily for him, he didn't need to keep trying to avoid looking. When she disappeared. She also made some illusions which she could solidify to an extent. The illusions were crude but Lightweavers could produce some insane effects when they developed.
Another light user named Horus came up after, his brown skin giving off a slight shimmer. He looked really tired all the time with his really downcast eyes. He was actually a Shaper and made large dangerous looking objects from what seemed to be solid light. The effect seemed similar to the way Koro would wield ether just with more angular lines to the constructs.
Now the only one left was her, Eliza. She trudged up with that annoyed look of determination and stood at the center of the tile. Koro remembered that she had an Air Enki of some sort.
Then she started floating.