“All right everyone, listen up!” Gavin looked up over the crowd of potential members for the Dueling Club. He had chosen to take responsibility over the new prospects this year but just speaking up, it already felt like the wrong move. As he looked over the crowd, hardly any of these people looked to be combat capable. A small white haired boy caught his eye, “oh great a first year even, they let just about everyone fight nowadays.” His thoughts roaming as he paced back and forth in front of the crowd of at least 50 or 60 students.

Koro stood there amongst the group of his peers waiting to try out for the club. The gymnasium they stood in was another massive construction with a rounded ceiling as he noticed the force shielding glimmering along it. The floor was a smooth, seamless construction that had colors and designs running along it and despite the slippery look he could feel his feet having an easy time gripping the surface. Extremely tall windows sat about twenty feet up and ran along the length of the side walls, with one side featuring two tiers of viewing booths behind the span of windows and the other letting in natural light from outside.

Wriggling his face as he attempted to not scratch the itch in his nose. He listened as the sinewy looking fourth year addressed them.

“I can guarantee that most of you will not make a team today. There are simply too many of you and a lot of you are new faces. Additionally the Tier 1 team holds a unique tryout for returning members, so don't think you have a chance to be in Varsity out the gate.” He took a breath before continuing.

“However all of you have the opportunity to make it to training, which is where the bulk of the club itself exists. We do promote internally from the training team as well. So just because you didn't make a team today doesn't mean you can't move up.”

“Team structure is as follows. Each team contains five main members and a sixth in reserve. With a “B” team that coincides with them, we call these the ‘scrim’ teams. There are three teams total which are from lowest to highest rank; Tier 3, Tier 2, and finally Tier 1. As an additional note the league for Tier 3 is the new blood league and shields are required during duels. However Tier 2 and 1 do not, as duelists must meet the pre req of having at least one defensive cast. Keep that in mind if you're hoping to move up.”

Koro blanched, realizing he didn't even have a basic shield cast. Wishing he could just slam his head against a wall, he stood there fidgeting worse as the club officer spoke.

“We will run through some exercises as we get started so that each of you can display the basic skills necessary to be here. Alright spread out along the side wall there” as he pointed to the far side wall.

The crowd dispersed as they all ran to stand in spots marked by lights that suddenly appeared on the gym floor. They were arranged in lanes with some people standing in wait as there was only room for around 30 people to take a lane. Koro had been standing towards the back and so he now waited behind a wire-y black haired girl, who had just beaten him to the spot.

“Ok, so I'm gonna ask you all to perform some basic casts. Complete the cast using the targets against the wall for any offensive abilities.” Targets of light came into existence on the wall in front of the students.

“Uh…..sir” a lanky muscular boy suddenly raised his hands.

“Yes, what is it?” Gavin seemed slightly annoyed as he answered.

“I'm a body modder, so I can't cast. What do you want me to do?”

“For Cosmia’s sake, who the hell didn’t check this kid. Delaine, can you test him.” A beautiful blonde girl; who’s hair changed to a pink at the tips, jumped up from a bench where the other officers and captains sat. Her gracefulness felt eerie to watch, something in Koro telling him she was more dangerous than she looked.

“Sure thing Gav-y” speaking in a flirtatious charming voice and blowing a kiss towards her fellow club member.

Blushing slightly as his eyes widened. “Uhhmm, you're with her, Delaine will evaluate you individually.” He turned back to the group trying to plaster a more serious look on his face.

“Come on hun, I'll take good care of you over here.” The boy’s face grew bright red as he followed the girl to a spot off to the side.

Koro tried to listen and watch the first group as they went through the exercises but he found himself looking over at the girl who was training the body mod student. It would look like he was just ogling a pretty girl and that was definitely the case for a number of the other students but he was more transfixed with the exaggerated grace her body moved with.

The first group finished up after just a few minutes; a large cacophony of various explosions, bangs and thuds ringing out across the gym. After completing the test, they stepped away allowing the others to take the available spaces.

He broke his attention from the mysterious beauty and stepped up to the opening. The girl in front of him whispered “Good luck” as they passed each other.

“Oh thank you and good job” he sheepishly replied.

“Make sure you pay attention to what I say, newbies, I won't repeat myself!” Gavin suddenly yelled out across the gym.

“Alright, we are gonna start with a basic bolt. You don't need to wait for me to say go, once I announce the cast go ahead and just cast. Now, bolts everyone lets see em’.”

An array of various abilities went off as Koro hurried and fired a bolt of his own at the target in front of him.

“Next is a scatter shot.”

He looked over as he saw another student ready a whole array of bolts in front of them. “That makes sense,” he thought to himself. Focusing on building several of the basic casts into a group and fired it off to which of course the small collection of them went off in different directions. “That's awkwardly exhausting.” As he prepared for the next call.

Earik sat at the judging table keeping an eye on the few lanes he was assigned to watch. “Hey, Barrett, what's this kid in lane 12 using? Ummmm….Koro” as he flipped through a clipboard of trainees. “It looks like some weird electricity skill but it seems off.”

“HAHAHAHA it's not electricity.” Barrett burst with laughter at the mention.

“Well what is it then its plasma-y. Its kinda tripping me out”

“He’s an E’ona, that's raw ether man” Barrett still chuckling to himself as he watched the other officers go pale. “Hey, keep watching your lanes, the test isn't over.” Chastising the other officers who were looking at him incredulously.

“Alright I need a stun cast, show me what you got.” Gavin announced.

Koro was starting to worry as the terms became more and more unfamiliar. He tried to watch others but could only see that people were summoning things for people to stumble on or low gusts. “Oh, it's skills that deter or stop people, I'm an idiot.” He tried to think of something but casting away from his body wasn't something he was familiar with. He started to try and gather energy to create an arc shape that he could throw low for tripping but ran out of time as the instructor called for the end of that cast.

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“Next up is a melee cast, lets see em' people.”

“I know what to do for this one” as he recalled the hand blade he made last week during the showcase. Focusing his aura he coasted his right hand in ether and pushed it to shape around his outstretched fingers. The edge appeared just an inch from the tips of his fingers and down along the side of his hand. Disappointed he tried to push it further out but couldn't manage more than another inch or two before the call. “Damn.”

“Ramping it up kiddos, next is a wave cast. I wanna see big waves or pulses but mind your lanes please.”

He stopped trying to get tripped up by what it was called and just made his best guess. “The guy mentioned pulses and called it a wave cast, so it's probably just a wide general cast of energy. I can do that.” He thought about how he gathered energy for his bolts and started pulling the bolt apart. It started to form into a net like construction with smaller bolts holding it together. Holding his palm out he prepared to fire. As it released he felt air pull in towards his palm, then it went off. The cast suddenly exploded outward as the bolts spread a net of ether out as it swallowed the lanes next to him interrupting his neighbors casts.

“Hey man what the shit i thought i said be mindful of………?!” Gavin suddenly yelled across but it was drowned out by a loud screech as one of the other examinees let out a sound pulse. Most everyone dropped and clutched their ears. The student in the lane left of the screecher was even less lucky as he passed out crumpling to the floor in a heap.

The girl who had let loose the soundwave suddenly stopped and paled. “I'm sorry” as she tried to hide her face.

“Dammit, hey can one of you guys take this kid to the infirmary?” looking back at the desk of officers.

“ I swear to Cosmia, there's always one. You're fine girl, just be more careful. Everyone up, let's get back to it.”

The girl's remaining neighbor tried to scoot away as far as possible. As one of the officers ran over and scooped up the boy who was unconscious.

Koro tried to blend back in as the test continued, realizing he just got lucky with his blunder getting swept under the rug due to the sound girl’s mistake. Taking a deep breath he prepared for the next skill.

“Ok, now that that’s dealt with let's move on. Next is strengthening.” Gavin tried to get everyone back on track as the targets on the wall moved up to be just a few feet from the students.

“I wanna see how hard you can hit these dummies. So use whatever methods you have available.”

His strengthening was still limited but with Jorum’s pointers in mind, he focused on his aura and tried to push it into his body. Letting it seep into as much of his being as possible while gearing it into the parts that he needed to reinforce. Feeling it fight his control he kept forcing more in as his fists started to glow, cocking his fist back for right hook. His muscles filled to burst as he readied the punch.

Crack! The noise resounded around the room as they all unleashed their strengthened blows. He watched his target dematerialize before reforming at the back wall again.

“Good most of you won't be useless then.” The instructor announced with mock sincerity.

“Last but not least the defensive test. Dodge, shield, whatever I don't care just don't get shot by the dummies.” Gavin began laughing maniacally as the targets pulled out a strange pistol-like device from thin air.

“Ah crap!” Koro yelled as he leaped out of the way of a red ball of light that was shot across his lane. Trying to think about how to shield himself he saw the construct begin charging another shot. “Calm down man, think.”

He remembered the target cracker machine and how he could feel where the targets were. “That's it” as he reached out with his ether sense. At first it overwhelmed him with all the energy swirling in the room but it calmed as he focused on his immediate space. The target came into focus as he felt the shot leave its weapon and as his focus sharpened the blast seemed to slow to crawl. He could see it; the trajectory, the structure, the flow of the energy. Eyes closing for a moment he jerked his head to the right and snaked his upper body with it, the shot whizzing past him.

“Ok I need to try and defend, shields, shields how the hell do i do that.” Looking at his fellow test takers he caught glimpses of some of the third years that had formed physical barriers with their abilities. “I don't know how to manifest energy that physically though.” Trying to push down the panic as he saw the next shot charging. With the only option left in his mind he pushed energy into his hand strengthening it like he did just moments ago. That pale glow from before got brighter as he pushed more into it before throwing out his senses again. The shot went out and he followed it as its path became clear in his mind.

His glowing hand snapped up before it could reach him then. Bam. SSSZZZZZLLLL

“Aw shit ow, damnit.” His hand sizzling as he caught the energy. The heat of it burning him slightly.

He pulled his hand away trying to blow on it as he shook it out hoping for a reprieve from the heat. “Holy shit that burns” as his palm turned red.

“That's all folks, the test is officially over.” The announcement boomed over the group as sighs of relief rang out. “You're gonna head over to the back desk for your results.”

Everyone turned around to start shuffling to the desk where the Dueling Club officers waited for them with information on how they did. Noticing that the first group had mostly left the gymnasium with a few stragglers still at the desk. To Koro’s surprise a few of the students in his group actually left the gym immediately. His best guess was that they decided this wasn't for them. “To each their own I guess,” as he shrugged, getting in line for results.

“Finally! AHHHH” an examinee yelled from the front of the line. It seemed to be one of the kids who had been yelling at the sign up booth earlier in the day. “I'm going to team 2 y’all suck on that.”

“Good for him,” he thought to himself. As he watched three more third years join him all excited and jumping around hugging each other. Waiting patiently for the line to dwindle he saw a mixed bag of emotions as students saw their results. Some making it on teams, who usually shouted or whooped, to those disappointed for being stuck in the training group.

He was one of the last, preferring to not have other people hear how he did. Knowing he’d most definitely end up on the training team especially after how the defense test went.

“Name?” the officer called to him as he walked up to the table.

“Koro, Omni.” the officer began flipping through a screen.

“K’, let's see. Uh… .Training Team for you Koro better luck during second semester.” the boy tried to put on a smile as he looked up at him.

“Oh all good. Yeah I'll do my best.” Trying not to show his disappointment despite understanding.

“Awesome, that's the attitude.” Looking back down at the tablet in his hands.

“Wait Koro, hold up. I've got some special instructions on your review.” Stopping him with a hand held up. “Captain Barrett wants to see you. He needed to run off for just a sec but if you want to wait for him in the viewing deck, he’ll be back shortly.”

“Oh cool thanks…” pausing for a response.

“Alemi Jens welcome to Dueling Club Koro.” The officer held out a hand that he quickly grasped and shook.

He found a seat in the viewing area that looked over the gym through a window and waited as patiently as he could. Despite knowing that it was probably about the mentorship, he couldn't help but feel like Barrett was going to be upset with him. So the wait continued to push his anxiety.

"Koro! Hey, how's it going?" The team captain walked in with a wide smile on his face. Which caused him to suddenly release the huge breath he had been holding.

Barrett approached him, clapping a hand to his back.

"Alright so like I said before. We probably weren't gonna get you on a team today but that's ok. I could have stuck you on Tier 3 but that would have been a waste. So naturally I'm gonna prep you to be Tier 2 by next semester. We're gonna stir up some serious waves man. Hahahaha"

"Wait so I actually did good then" he asked shyly.

"Good? You kidding me, you did great. You scared a lot of the other club officers with your abilities. Oh, and when you stopped that shot with a strengthening tech. Ha, some of them damn near shit themselves. That was great." Wiping a tear from his face. "Although, seriously, never do that again. That's a good way to just hurt yourself."

"Yeah" he chuckled slightly, holding up his palm. Feeling the sting as he brushed his fingers against it.

"Any who, the mentorship. Every Tuesday afternoon, it's you and me. One on one. I'm gonna cram every cast, tech, and more into that brain of yours. Club meets every Thursday so you'll join the rest of the trainees then but I should have you ready for Tier 2 in no time."

"I won't disappoint you" a serious look on Koro's face.

"HA don't be so serious, kid. I know you're gonna be awesome." Flashing a smile and making a clicking noise.

"For today, why don't you get home? Next week will be a busy one."

"Yes sir!" as he stood up with a grin plastered to his face.