As Ventus finished his fight the fiery clock above chimed with a pleasant sound that announced the end of the challenge as well as his victory. The clock flashed with a blinding white light that made him feel dizzy, soon after that, he felt his body become light and his consciousness blurry. Finally, the ashen world slowly disappeared from his view as he fell to the sweet embrace of unconsciousness.
After an untold amount of time, Ventus opened his eyes once more found himself back in the white circle-filled trial room with everyone looking at him with shocked expressions. He grew confused as well as slightly panicky and immediately darted his eyes around to look for his master. After a few seconds, he found his master standing beside the manager with an immense grin plastered on his face, quite different from the expression of the fat old manager that had, like all the other contestants, a shock-filled expression. He also perceived he was the last to finish his test, as such, he was kind of worried.
"Can someone explain why are you all looking at me?" he said out loud annoyed by the stares.
When his voice rung out everyone woke from their shock and realized they were behaving like kids. The commoners and the manager cough dryly and turned their faces away whilst the rich contestants snorted and avoided looking at him. At this time the manager clapped his hands and every circle underneath disappeared.
"And thus, the first test in the apprentice rank trials has ended," he announced.
"Much to my surprise, even with the prior knowledge that you would be facing your inner demon that is the compilation of your fears and pains, many of you have failed," he continued.
"In fact, there were only ten of you who managed to clear the test, and some of you managed to do so exceedingly well!" He exclaimed happily.
At this time many looked at Ventus, especially Richard and the old manager. This only made him more unsettled as he wondered if his victory was disgraceful, a frown grew on his face in response to his nervousness. Richard noticed this and chuckled as he saw once more just how much of a kid his apprentice was.
"Now," the manager spoke once more, "The results and evaluations of those who managed to clear the test will be displayed by order of clearance."
"But first," He clapped his hands, "those who failed will be expelled from the tower."
"Try again next time and reflect on your failure, maybe then you'll succeed." He said kindly to the losers.
As he clapped his hands light shone on the disqualified candidates and instants later they were teleported out of the tower landing right outside the closed gates. The old magus then drew a rune in the air and fired at the ceiling of the white room, in the blink of an eye the room shrunk so that it wasn't as spacious as before.
Everything transformed in the room as now they were in a reduced version of the red auditorium. The difference was that now there were only ten seats and the old manager as well as Richard was standing in the stage overlooking the candidates.
This time Richard took action and drew several runes in the air at lightning speed, his hands moving so fast their image blurred. The runes flew to the ceiling of the room and moments later a holographic screen was formed displaying the test's results in it.
--> Apprentice Magus Rank Trial
-> First Trial Results:
1)Igni Strong | Age: 17| Clearing Time: 30 minutes | Method: Warrior's Fist
2)Suzanne Lionesse | Age: 16| Clearing Time: 34 minutes | Method: Warrior's Fist
3)Marcus Nightfall | Age: 18| Clearing Time: 37 minutes | Method: Warrior's Fist
4)Lucio Pendragon | Age: 16| Clearing Time: 40 minutes | Method: Warrior's Fist
5)Jonh Finnegan | Age: 15| Clearing Time: 42 minutes | Method: Saint's Heart
6)Tidus Acqua | Age: 17| Clearing Time: 46 minutes | Method: Warrior's Fist
7)Anthony Tempesta | Age: 15| Clearing Time: 47 minutes | Method: Warrior's Fist
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8)Mara Fiore | Age: 18| Clearing Time: 49 minutes | Method: Warrior's Fist
9)Luna Ziegler | Age: 14| Clearing Time: 51 minutes | Method: Saint's Heart
10)Ventus Astriss | Age: 14| Clearing Time: 55 minutes | Method: Conqueror's Will
"There you go." Richard spoke.
The ten teens looked at the results and immediately cheered, some silently commemorated their success while others were more explicit and talked loudly in celebration. Some of them sighed as they had barely managed to clear the test whilst others were serene as if they knew full well they'd win in the end, like their position was nothing but expected to them.
"Mister, can you please explain what does the method section mean?"
At this moment a girl's voice rung out from the group. She was the youngest amongst the girl's and wore a simple emerald dress. Her skin was lightly tanned, her eyes were a deep green and her hair was wavy and copper-colored. She looked at Richard with expectancy as she asked for the information.
"Of course," He replied, "You must be the Luna, the youngest daughter of Grandmaster Sol Ziegler correct?"
"Yes, you know my father?" She inquired.
"Far more than you imagine," He chuckled, "He and I have history."
He then produced a golden letter from his spatial sack and used a bit of mana to make it land gently in the girl's lap.
"Give him this when you see him," he said, "He'll know who sent it."
"Okay." She nodded.
"Well," he continued, "As for your question...."
"There are three ways to clear this test and they have been named as they did due to the nature of the methods applied,"
"The warrior's fist implies that the candidate beat the inner demon into submission with sheer strength and knowledge of oneself,"
"The saint's heart implies that the candidate beat the inner demon with compassion and acceptance, making the inner demon submit of their own accord,"
"The conqueror's will implies that the candidate gained awareness and control of their power in their mental world and became its king, and through their kingly will beat the inner demon,"
"Among these methods, the most common to find is the warrior's fist, the saint's heart is rare and the conqueror's will is almost a legend as it is truly difficult to grasp the power of oneself in one's mental world. Most of those who do manage to achieve the conqueror's will mind state are usually destined for greatness."
As this was said everyone began looking at Ventus once more. Obviously, most of them disdained and envied him for getting such a result, but there were some that genuinely admired him for it as well. Seeing the reaction of the other candidates Richard's pride grew as he knew he made a good choice to scout Ventus as an apprentice.
Ventus was silent as he took in the information. He thought that if he cleared the challenge, it would only be the most mediocre of results, but him getting a great score was beyond his imagination. Only he knew how much he suffered just to perceive that slight hope that he could control everything there, as such, he figured that doing so would only be natural to the others that seemed much more prepared than himself.
He turned his gaze to the girl named Luna. She was one of the two that managed to clear through compassion and achieve the method of the saint's heart. Kindness was one thing he wasn't too fond of after he lost his family, he was, in fact, afraid of it, afraid that if he got attached to someone again, fate would come and kick him in the nuts once more by taking away whatever he cherishes.
"Now, why don't we change this scenario?" Richard spoke.
"Very well." replied the manager.
He drew a few runes in the air a shot them at the ceiling and the ground. The room fluctuated a bit before transforming into the white room again, this time it had five colored oval portals standing on it, each with a floating holographic sign above them that said as such.
*Scarlet Portal*
-->Doom Fireland
->Mission: Collect a Crimson Blaze Lotus and Acquire a Flame Drake's Fang.
*Green Portal*
-->Eternal Peace Forest
->Mission: Collect a Dark Sap Root and Acquire an Ironhide Bear's Plate.
*Golden Portal*
-->Golden Wind Desert
->Mission: Collect a Corona Cactus's Flower and Acquire a King Viper's Poison Sack.
*Azure Portal*
-->Heaven's Peak
-> Collect a Heavenly Summit's Jeweled Apple and Acquire a Silver Wing King Sparrow's Egg.
*Black Portal*
-->Death's Ruins
->Collect a Deadman's Sacred Bone and Acquire a Doom Wolf's Core Crystal.
"The second test will be a test of your survival skills," He explained.
"In front of you are five portals to five distinct hazard dimensions linked to them, inside the one you choose you will find yourself tasked with a mission,"
"You will have to find a specific natural treasure and acquire a specific beast treasure, do both and return to the portal under the time limit and you pass, if not, you will be disqualified immediately."
"Also, inside each dimension, there will be a hidden treasure. Should you find said treasure, it will be yours to keep even if you are disqualified."
When the mention of treasure was made, the group's eyes shone with a greedy light on them as they began to plan and imagine what they could do to snatch the treasure and what kind of treasure it would be.
"But I should warn you, any one of these dimensions are extremely dangerous and you could lose your life should you take the task!"
"So if anyone wishes to give up, now's the time!" the manager warned.