Chapter 2: Shocking Entrance Exercise
The next moring, Kensei woke up early and did his routine morning training. Shortly after, he took a quick bath and made sure he had everything on him. Soon, a guard came to escort him to Bose’s North Gate. Upon reaching the North Gate, Kensei noticed a that the caravan was relatively large, at least 200 people can be seen waiting around. The guard let him know which carriage he will be in and returned to the South Gate.
Kensei went to report to the caravan leader, a man in his mid-forties, and settled down in his carriage. The carriage was only average, but comfortable enough for a long journey. It was large enough for 4 people to sleep with some extra space, providing some degree of comfort for sleeping. As Kensei observed the insides of the carriage, he noticed that there was only one other person, a young girl who looks to be the age of fifteen.
She had clear green eyes which were neither large nor small, and her skin was pearl white, as if she has never been in the sun before. Kensei was surprised for a bit before he simply sat down and begin to meditate. The girl, who was reading a book, looked up and took a short look at Kensei before returning to her book. Both of them did not say anything as they waited for the caravan to set off.
One hour later, the leader announced that the caravan shall move on to Ultima Academy, which would take 2 weeks. Having just left the city, the road was peaceful. Despite this, it is known that some monsters and beasts roam about in the lands surrounding the great academy city, which in turn provided an ideal location for training the future generations of adventurers and soldiers.
After three days out from the city, the caravan guards began to maintain a strict routine of scouting for enemies, to ensure that no monsters and beasts threaten the safety of the caravan. The caravan leader, whose name was Volk as Kensei heard during the previous night, was a veteran soldier. After he retired, he decided to work as a bodyguard, and ended up becoming a caravan leader due to his experience and knowledge. Throughout the trip he maintained his own vigil, and has thus far yet to sense any threat.
For the past few days, Kensei has been either meditating or training his sword. Though he had modified how the Divine Speed Style looks like, he also trained in another style, handed down from his mother’s clan. Kamikaze Oni-ryuu, a powerful style that emphasizes on being fast and accurate, was a style that his mother told him that could help him in further understanding inner energy infusion. Training in this style has given him additional insights in using inner energy for his body, allowing him to have a physical advantage.
A week out from Bose, the caravan had actually encountered a few monsters. As there were few, they posed little threat to the guards, thus there was no danger. As they continued on, the howl of a wolf could be heard, making the guards feel more alert. Volk shouted for the guards to ready their weapons, as he felt that howl he head was familiar. Soon enough the caravan stopped suddenly.
Those who were in the carriages were curious and looked out. Most of them wished they hadn’t, as they saw a large group of black wolves. The wolves are large, on par to that of an average human adult. Their leader the alpha was even larger, with scars over his body as proof of his strength. He barked out three times and even more wolves came out from the sides and the rear of the caravan.
“Damn it! It’s Black Dire Wolves! Looks like 500 of them!” Volk cursed in frustration. He had encountered these wolves before while still serving and knew that the wolves while still amongst the weakest of beasts and monsters, are still terrifying when they come in large enough numbers. He drew his great sword and shouted to the guard to prepare for battle.
Some of the passengers came out and drew their own weapons, while others took out their stave or staffs to prepare magic. The green eyed girl took out a stave and prepared to chant her magic, while Kensei prepared a katana, as he decided to use the Kamikaze Oni-ryuu to minimize any chances of people knowing his true identity. The rest of the passengers hid in the carriages as they could not fight and have no way of supporting these brave men and women.
The alpha gave out a large howl and all the wolves started charging at the caravan crazily. Spells were chanted and flew towards the wolves killing several of them, while some arrows also hit their mark. Soon the wolves reach melee range and the melee fighters were engaged. As the battle dragged on, a few of the guards and passengers began to suffer injuries, and 3 of the guards have been killed. Volk took noticed but could not do anything as 7 wolves engaged him, forcing him to be on the defensive. The alpha wolf suddenly let out a loud howl and the wolves by his side also charged in. Volk’s face paled, as these wolves are the next strongest ones after the alpha, and knew that he end would come.
Suddenly a small figure appeared out of nowhere and kill 4 wolves that were engaging Volk. Stunned, Volk took a look at who it was, and it was Kensei who he picked up at Bose. Kensei moved very quickly, and slashed at the wolves before they could even make their attacks. He had actually killed his way from the right flank, cutting through the wolves there and flanking the wolves in front of Volk. Due to this, the right flank of the caravan was out of danger, and all the fighters were able to focus more on the rear and left flank.
The beta wolves closed in on Kensei, who faced them with his katana out.Seeing this, Volk quickly killed off the wolves attacking him and ran to the youth’s aid. As he ran, he saw Kensei dodging the beta wolves’ attacks and killing them while doing so, making him surprised. Kensei was dealing them in an efficient manner, as he accurately slashed the weak points of the wolves. Soon enough, the beta wolves were no more, every single one of them have been killed by Kensei’s katana.
The alpha, seeing this was angered and howled loudly, which prompted the remaining wolves to stop attacking and back off. Everyone was surprised at this sudden movement, and looked at the alpha. The alpha wolf walked and stopped a few meters away from Kensei and growled a challenge. Kensei understood what the alpha wolf meant and sheathed his katana, shifting into a drawing stance. The alpha wolf shifted into position and prepared to charge towards Kensei, killing intent shining in it’s eyes.
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The atmosphere became even more tense as both of them stared at each other, waiting for the right moment to attack. By coincidence, a leaf fell in between them and caused them to charge at each other at the same time. In that instant, they passed each other with blade and claw out. A claw mark appeared on Kensei’s right arm, prrof that he could not fully evade this attack. Blood suddenly spurted out from the alpha’s neck and the alpha fell down, nothing more than a corpse now. The remaining wolves immediately began to run away, seeing that their leaders have died.
The remaining members of the caravan heaved a sigh of relief, having managed to have escape such a dangerous situation. Everyone rested for a few hours to patch up and make sure that everything is accounted for. Volk had the slain guards’ bodies stored in a special Dimension Ring meant for bodies, which was a common practice all over the world. Once everything was settled they continued on their way to Ultima Academy.
For the rest of the way they had no further encounters, as they neared the academy city. Finally the caravan saw that Ultima Academy was in sight. Everyone could see that the academy city was incredibly large, the walls alone were 60 meters tall. The gates were golden in color, runes can be seen lining every inch to further reinforce it’s integrity and the guards were all heavy armored knights in employment of the academy itself. Pass the gate, most of the passengers gasped as it was their first time here and they could see how beautiful the architecture used for the academy was. Some of the more scholarly ones were able to discern that some building were a combination of the various countries or culture present in the world.
Soon, they reached an inn that was prepared for the youths in the caravan to stay in, as they would be going through the entrance exercise. The academy knights took note of every youth that entered and halted Kensei, as he was not on their list. One of them touched Kensei’s arm and could tell that he was within the eligible age, as many people have tried to bluff their way in for various reasons.
“Lad, since you aren’t on the list, you have to pay 10 Gold and 10 Silvers for both the inn and the entrance exercise.” The knight who checked him said. Kensei sighed at this, as this was almost all the money that he have on him. He took it a small bag and handed it to the knight, who then instructed the others to deliver the money to the respective parties involved. The knight asked Kensei for his name, to which he replied Ken Masamune. The knight wasn’t surprised as this name, as there were many Far Eastern clans that even operate here. He led Kensei in and told the innkeeper about this and went out to continue his duties. Kensei settled in his room which was actually a lot better that the one he stayed in Bose. He decided to meditate and get ready for the entrance exercise the next day, as he wanted to be in the best condition to get the scholarship. When night, he went to sleep with a peace of mind.
As the sun rose up, Kensei woke up and prepared himself for the entrance exercise. Leaving the inn with the other youths, a group of knights brought them to a huge plaza. Within this plaza, one can see all the various testing tents set up in a neat and orderly manner. There were easily more than 200 of these tents, as there were a few thousand people who seek to enter this prestigious academy. As the participants waited for the exercise to begin, an old man walked up a platform that was in front of them.
“Welcome to Ultima Academy, you young children, hopes of the future. Today is the day where you will all get the chance to join this academy to learn from some of the best in the world. Today you will see if you have the talent to join this academy and grow. With that being said, every single one of you will take every single test here, for you may have talents that even you nor you family knew. So I wish you all the best!” the old man said in a not so loud voice.
Soon the exercise began and everyone milled about that the tests. As for Kensei, he also took all the tests, and the first test was magic affinity. In front of him was a translucent orb, and the middle-aged mage in front of him told him to simply touch the orb and try to infuse it with his mental energy. Kensei replied that he could not and asked for the mage to help him, as he never had any sort of training for mages. The mage wasn’t surprised and instead guided his mental energy, which he made neutral, through Kensei’s left shoulder. The orb began to glow and something was formed inside. One could see a golden lightning raging in the orb, threatening to actually destroy it. The mages seeing this were stunned and prepared to stop their colleague when the lightning changed to a great wind. At this point, they were shocked, as they realized that this kid has a double affinity. The orb glowed various colors that indicated average affinity for the other elements and types of magic, and became translucent once more.
After the mages quickly recovered from their shock, they wrote down the results and told Kensei to move on to the next test. Kensei was puzzled as to why they did not tell him his results and took a peek at the paper handed to him. It stated that his Lightning affinity was grade S, Wind affinity was grade A and the rest were C. This actually made him surprised, as he never knew he had such potential. He closed the paper and moved on, handing the paper to the next examiner.
This test was for mental energy, the examiner told him to relax as he will need to actually probe into his mind to test out his mental energy. Kensei frowned, but the examiner assured him that no memories will be read, as that requires a grandmaster level of mental energy and training to do so. Kensei relaxed and subconsciously entered into meditation, and the examiner begin to check his mental energy talent. As he entered Kensei’s mind, he saw an incredible whirpool of mental energy, along with a vast ocean of it, shocking him out of Kensei’s mind. The amount of mental energy he saw, was probably accumulation from that whirlpool, meaning that it has been building up until now. This was a rare talent in mental energy! The examiner marked his paper and sent him to the next test without saying his results. Kensei looked at the paper and it stated grade A talent, which made him wonder.
Before he could ponder, he reached to next test, which tested the combat talent with weapons. The examiner was a knight, who told him to choose a weapon. Kensei simply took out his katana and entered into a ready stance. The knight was surprised and smiled, readying his sword. Both sides attacked at the same time, and clashed their blades into each other. Within 10 seconds, both of their blades have clashed at least 20 times and stopped short before each other’s vital areas. The knight was stunned, his eyes wide open at this young boy.
“You are a true talent! Needless to say, I would give you a S for this test! Carry on!” the knight spoke happily. Kensei bowed in gratitude and moved on. The last few tests showed his talents in other areas to be either average or just above average. By the end of the day, Everyone has been through the tests and it could be seen that some had not made it, as they were showing depressed faces. The old man from earlier had all of them return to their inn, as tomorrow will be their admission day.
Upon returning, Kensei washed up and lay on his bed. He wondered about the results he had seen, and wonder why he has talents that he did not think would be related to his clan. However, fatigue washed over him and he fell asleep. Tomorrow is another big day.