Keith rubbed his eyes before slowly responding, “Yeah, I’m ready.” He then proceeded to get out of bed and dress himself. Today would be the day that he would prove himself. Even though the heavenly prince test hadn’t worked out at all, his confidence wasn’t totally crushed. He would turn ten in five days, meaning he would be able to strengthen his mana core and energy veins by then. Only then could he slowly train and fulfil his desires. This test will be completed without fail! He wouldn’t let himself become a simple teacher’s assistant, he wanted to learn grand magic!
Keith quickly stood up and followed Vaeryl downstairs. This time he left his wooden sword in his room –he wouldn’t need it for what was coming. When they descended the stairs, they could already hear a lot of sounds coming from outside the building. It seemed that all students would be tested. Keith also heard from Vaeryl that the students who would be rejected wouldn’t even be able to become a teacher’s assistant. Their only choice was to return home or try and join another academy.
This was a source for nervousness among all the new students. Even though Aethruni was the most well-known academy in Erelath and even had the backing of the royal family, it didn’t have the most students. The reason was that the entrance test was really tough. Keith heard that you had to have at least average to high affinity for a particular element to be allowed to study here. The amount of mental control would be a less deciding factor because that can always still be trained. But if a young child would have an extraordinary mental power, then it was almost guaranteed that they would also have good mental power when they grew up.
Keith and Vaeryl joined the tide of new students that was moving towards the academy building. It seemed the test would be held within one of the biggest rooms. Only this way could all the new students be tested. The occasional adult could also be seen. Family was allowed to witness the entrance test, as long as a student didn’t bring more than two people.
When Keith and Vaeryl were almost at the entrance of the academy, Niyla joined them, humming a strange tune. In front of the big doors of the academy, a teacher was guiding the students to the right location. He seemed to be in his thirties and had a scar on his cheek, but for some reason, the scar didn’t make him look scary at all, probably because of the smile he constantly had on his face. “Hey! No pushing!” The teacher kept saying, trying to maintain order among everyone. When the group of three walked past him they were also directed to the location the tests would be held.
When they finally reached the room they were pointed to, Keith couldn’t believe his eyes. There were a lot of adults already present and they had all taken up a position at the sides of the room. It was a big room that could probably fit a thousand people if everyone would squeeze together. Right now, there was around a quarter occupied and people still kept walking in. The students kept gathering in front of the adults, but no one walked towards the center. This was because the center was clearly reserved for the test.
Vaeryl nudged Keith and pointed towards the middle of the room. There was a structure made from glass right in the middle. It was possible to completely see through it from all sides. No one dared to come close for some reason, maybe because of the occasional bursts of elemental energy with all kinds of colors that could be seen within. It looked completely isolated from the room it was located in, with only a glass door that showed that it could actually be entered. “That’s where the elemental affinity test will be held!” Vaeryl said. “If one of those elemental energies starts to gather around you, then that means you have an affinity towards that element! Other elements will be automatically pushed away for some reason.”
People kept entering the room, from old students to family. Most of them pointed at the glass structure and whispered to each other. As more people entered, the conversations also grew louder and louder. Finally, when around 250 new students were gathered around the structure, an old man walked towards the middle. “Alright everyone,” he boomed loudly. “The first part of the entry test will now officially begin! I will be the head judge for today! My name is Julian Winzo and I’m a grand spell caster!”
Multiple people who heard what Julian said couldn’t suppress letting out a gasp. A grand spell caster was still someone with an exalted status. There were only twenty within a relatively strong country, making the academy even more special. Everyone present had to admit, the staff of Aethruni knew how to make a show. Instead of efficiently managing the 250 new students by splitting them up and having two groups being tested at the same time, they chose to test each student one by one. This way they could show each student’s talent clearly. Not only that, they also used a grand spell caster as a judge! Even mana masters were well respected people within the whole country, let alone a grand spell caster!
“We will begin with the first part of the entrance test: the affinity test! The mental power test will be held after every student is tested. This is because students that don’t have at least an average to high affinity in one particular element may leave without having to enter the second test! They won’t be allowed anyway,” Julian explained indifferently.
He then walked up to the structure and stood before the door, saying: “I will now explain how I will judge all the new students together with the other judges. As I said before, we will be judging everyone’s elemental affinity. This room is specifically designed to contain pure elemental energies. Even though none of the new students have formed their mana cores, their bodies will still have affinities towards certain elements! That’s because they use their body to gather the mana, their mana core will just contain the energy after it’s converted.” Julian then opened the door and walked into the room.
The moment he walked in a huge change appeared within the structure. A huge vortex of red elemental energy appeared and swirled around Julian. None of the other elements could be seen within, emphasizing the huge amount of seemingly fire energy even more. Julian’s voice could then be heard through the whole room. “As long as you have an affinity towards a certain element, it will automatically gather around your body and will repel the other elemental forces in the process. The higher the affinity, the more energy that gathers and the more the other elements will disappear from view.” He then laughed and pointed around him, saying: “As you can all see, I’m a pure fire mage, which has resulted in all the fire essence gathering around me. But don’t worry, the other elemental energies are still present, they just can’t be seen by you all.”
He then exited the structure and closed the door. The structure’s interior re-stabilized itself, showing the occasional bursts of different elemental energies again. At the same time that Julian exited the structure, three other teachers stepped forward. They all stood on one side of the structure, seemingly waiting for someone to step forward.
“Alright, enough explaining! Who will step up first?!” Julian glanced at all the new students. Seeing no one step forward after a few seconds, Julian was almost about to point at a random student when someone walked up.
“So it’s him.” Keith heard Vaeryl mumble something, but he didn’t pay it a lot of attention.
The boy that had walked forward had short black hair and a look of arrogance on his face. Even though he was around ten years old, his bearing was completely in sync with his arrogance. When he walked halfway to the middle of the room, he suddenly turned towards Keith. “Watch closely Niyla, this is how talented I am!” Turns out he wasn’t looking at Keith, but at Niyla.
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Niyla just clicked her tongue and looked away, while Vaeryl maintained an indifferent look on his normally smiling face.
Julian didn’t like how that boy was stealing the show without his permission, so he glared at him. “Hurry up boy, you’re not the only one preparing to fail today!”
“Hmph,” the boy snorted in response and then continued walking. When he finally reached the structure, he opened the door and walked in without hesitating. The moment he entered, changes started to appear within the structure. Three different colors of elemental energy started to gather around the boy, completely suppressing the other types of energy. Seeing multiple colors around him, the boy started to laugh grandly.
After a few seconds, only those three colors could be seen surrounding the boy; shallow gusts of thin white energy, a little liquid blue energy that swirled around him, and some small solid yellow blocks of energy. All the energy that swirled around him was barely visible. When the boy noticed that no one around him had shocked faces, he stopped laughing and observed his own body again. Noticing that most of the energy around him was barely visible, his face grew extremely ugly.
“Low affinity for water, earth and wind! Conclusion: REJECTED!” Julian yelled. He then looked at the people standing behind each wall of the structure.
“No objections!” The other judges said at the same time. At that moment, the sound of elegant laughter rang through the room. It turned out to be Vaeryl who was laughing with an extremely happy expression. He turned towards his sister and said, “I never understood what karma was, but I think I do now.” Niyla just smiled at her brother while remaining silent.
After that commotion, a few more students walked up, most of them receiving a grade of low affinity for one or two elements. They could only blame their fate and either exit the building, or walk to the sides and observe the other students being tested. Occasionally, someone with an average to high affinity for one or two elements popped up. What had only happened a few times was someone receiving a high-grade affinity. Someone even got an exceptional affinity for the fire element, making Julian look extremely pleased. But the most remarkable thing that had happened was how a little girl managed to get a high-grade affinity for two elements and average affinity for another. Most people couldn’t believe their eyes, but it turned out the little girl was royalty from another country, making it a little more acceptable. In general, people who had parents with high-grade affinities also had a higher chance of being born with better affinity towards elemental mana. This made it so that royalty was extremely picky with whom they married.
After a while, Vaeryl finally walked up. “Alright, Keith, Niyla, I’m going!” He smiled confidently and walked towards the structure. When he walked past Julian, the grand spell caster, he nodded and Julian even nodded back with a solemn face.
“The Second Prince is going up, he’s going!” People could immediately be heard and the silence that had persisted for a while was completely broken.
When Vaeryl entered the structure, everyone was shocked for a second time. A huge amount of golden light had gathered around his body, making him look like a golden statue. The energy was almost the same color as his hair, making it look extremely enchanting. Occasional hues of brown energy could also be seen, floating as solid blocks around the golden energy. Vaeryl simply smiled without showing the emotions everyone else had shown when they were being tested.
Julian gaped at the sight for a second, before loudly announcing: “Exceptional light affinity! Average to high earth affinity! PASSED – deity-grade!”
The previous times people had passed, mostly mortal-grade evaluations had been given. Except for the girl earlier who had also received a deity-grade evaluation. This only meant that they would be privileged students, receiving more resources and personal lessons from stronger people. This way the most talented students could be developed faster.
When Vaeryl walked back towards Keith and Niyla, the little princess couldn’t help but jump up and down with excitement. “Brother, you’re too awesome! But I’m awesome too, watch me!” She then skipped towards the structure, smiling at Julian along the way.
When she entered the structure, blue light immediately started to gather around her. It started to become like a liquid and slowly swirled around her. This kept going for a while, until everything around Niyla was covered by the liquid blue energy, completely painting the surroundings blue.
“Exceptional water affinity! PASSED – deity-grade!” It seemed that exceptional affinity for one element would be enough to receive a deity-grade.
Niyla happily ran back towards her brother and Keith, looking smug all the way. “Hehe,” she smiled, “I won’t lose to big brother!”
Vaeryl just smiled and patted her head. Afterwards he pushed Keith towards the structure. “What are you nervous for, affinity can’t be changed. You either have it or you don’t, just go!” Another student was just about to participate, but when he saw Keith stumble towards the structure, he moved back to his initial position.
Keith recovered his posture and then walked towards the structure with determination. ‘I can do it!’ he encouraged himself. He walked with nothing but the structure in his eyes, even ignoring Julian, who didn’t seem to mind.
When he finally neared the door, he opened it and entered. Keith felt a little giddy when he entered and he could see all the colors disappear. He walked towards the center of the glass structure, but still no colors appeared. He only made colors disappear instead of making them appear! After a while, a tiny bit of red colored energy appeared here and there, but no one really payed attention to it.
The audience couldn’t believe his bad luck; he must have the lowest affinity for every element! He had such a special affinity that he doesn’t even attract elemental energy but rejects it!
Julian gaped at the sight for a second, but then he frowned. He knew about every element and there were only three flaws within this test. This might even be the case at the moment.
Keith looked around him and he could hear the crowd starting to snicker. He balled his fist and bit on his lip. ‘Not again! Absolutely not again! This can’t be it, this can’t be it!’ He stood there looking defeated at the ground. But suddenly Julian’s voice shocked him out of his stupor.
“Elemental affinity still undecided! Walk out of the structure and come over here!”
‘There’s still a chance?!’ Keith immediately walked out of the structure and stood in front of Julian.
“Alright, as you all know, there are eight elements, but this test only works for five of them! As you all could see, every element was repelled, meaning that he probably has some affinity towards one of the other three!” He then beckoned the judge, who stood at the left side of the structure, to come over. “Alright, second judge, please test him for ice affinity!”
The judge simply nodded and walked in front of Keith. He then said: “Sorry, this might sting a bit!” Before Keith could even process what the judge had said, he already felt an ice-cold hand on his shoulder. When he looked at the hand, he could see a solid energy that looked like a mix of blue and white spreading on his shoulder. With the cold palm on his body, he started to notice that the area around the hand was slowly starting to turn colder and colder. When the judge saw that Keith was grimacing with pain, he quickly retracted his hand, saying: “No ice affinity!” He then moved back to his initial position at the left side of the structure.
Keith almost started to tear up again, he only had two more chances; two last elements that would determine his future. He was so muddle headed that he even forgot which elements were left. He had first been shocked with all the disappearing colors. Then when he had been given hope it was all frozen over and discarded by that judge. He eventually managed to regain his clear head, his determination winning from the other emotions he was feeling.
Without being called over, the judge at the back side of the structure already walked over. He didn’t voice any formalities as he directly grabbed Keith’s shoulder.
At that moment, bursts and flashes of blue and white energy could be seen. They immediately entered Keith’s body from where the judge’s hand was located. At first, all the energy was absorbed, but after a short moment, the energy started to appear all around Keith. Most of his limbs starting emitting flashing colors of blue and white. His whole body was starting to emit lightning! It didn’t feel bad like the previous experience at all. His whole body was being nourished, especially his shoulder that still felt a bit cold was completely being recovered. Keith looked at his hands and then at his body. He was starting to see more lightning everywhere he looked. He finally smiled a true heartfelt smile for the first time after a long time. Keith couldn’t contain his excitement any longer. It almost felt like the lightning was becoming a part of him and he was becoming a part of the lightning! He finally threw his head in the air and roared!