As names were called one after the other the walked forward. First, they would have to unequip any magical artefact they had on them. Then they would be given a magic device in the form of a bracelet. This device has two functions, first, it blocks the flow of mana making it difficult to use any kind of magic. Second, in case the user succeeds in using magic, it will change colour. After that, they would walk to a weapon rack that held many different wooden weapons, pick one and get ready for the test. Then hit the measuring device received a score and know if they failed or passed.

I kept watching with interest as many passed and many more didn’t. However, I couldn’t help but open my eyes wide at the top scores until now. The first was a girl with fiery red hair and yellow eyes. Her body was curvy and her chest heavy. I will admit I am a bit jealous of her looks. She managed to get a score of three-hundred and forty-six which is more than for times the strength of a simple farmer. To think she has such strength despite not being muscular at all.

The other one was a guy with black hair and very dark brown almost black eyes. His body look toned almost as if it had been carved out by a great artist. His score was just bellowed the girl’s with a score of three-hundred and eleven. Despite it being a great score he looked extremely dissatisfied. After those two not many more surpassed the two-hundred-fifty mark and the rest who passed barely managed to.

Finally, it was my turn. Looking around I was in the last five to be tested but I didn’t care. As I was sure I didn’t have any magical equipment on me I walked towards the weapon rack. However, I was stopped by the teacher. She asked me to remove my coat since it was releasing a weak magical wave. I had no idea about that so I complied and took it off. Then I equipped the bracelet and as I did so I felt an odd pressure on my core. It felt like having something pressing against your chest making it hard to breathe.

I ignored that bothersome sensation and went forward to pick my wooden weapon. Since this is a test of raw strength I chose a great-sword that was as big as me, perhaps even bigger. Even though it was so huge it was too light for my liking, Naru or pyrka would be around ten times as heavy. After preparing myself I walked towards the measuring device while dragging the sword on the floor. Then I heard murmurs.

“Look at her, she picked such a big and heavy weapon she isn’t able to even pick it up properly”

“I bet she thought the weight would help her out”

“Pathetic she should have just given up on this test like those mages did”

As I kept hearing dumb remarks I couldn’t help but sight. I wasn’t properly carrying the sword because I didn’t feel like it. Well, it doesn’t matter, I will shut them up in due time. After getting in front of the device I grabbed the sword with both hands and prepared myself. Soon after the teacher gave me the signal and I moved. I decided to do a diagonal upwards swing with everything I had. In an instant, the blade of the wooden sword impacted the measuring device as the wind pressure caused by the swing made my hair flutter in the wind. Suddenly I felt the wooden sword cracking as it snapped in two while pushing the device a meter into the air.

The wooden blade that had broken shot out at high speed towards the wall of the coliseum. While the impact caused by the measuring device landing made a small tremor. I was quite a bit disappointed since the sword breaking meant my measurement wouldn’t be accurate. With I sigh I looked at the measurement device as the runes moved to form numbers. After a while, my score was displayed on the device but I didn’t really care since it wouldn’t be accurate. I turned around and began walking towards the teacher with the broken wooden sword in hand. Her expression was frozen as one of surprise just like the rest of students.

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“Eight-hundred-ninety-two”

That number scaped her lips so softly I bet only I could hear it. However, the rest of the students could see the number as well. Not a second later they began to talk in whispers while looking in my direction. Not only them, a few of the teachers and students of the other groups looked over here wondering what had happened. I didn’t care about any of that so I handed the broken sword to the teacher.

After that, the teacher came back to herself and noted down my score. Then she called the next participant and things went back to normal. Well, not really, the gazes of the others were annoying and their hushed gossip was even more so since I could clearly hear them. The gossip mostly consisted of them wondering where I came from, how old I was and if I was really human.

Looking at the two that had previously held the highest scores their expressions were those of competitivity. The girl had an expression of wanting to fight me not out of hostility but out of pure interest. I can tell she is a battle junky just from that expression. As for the guy, his dissatisfied scowl had grown even more prominent. Well, it’s not like I care about either of them or what they may think about me.

After the test with the measuring device had been concluded for all the groups present the ground began to rumble. Then platforms began rising all over with many different obstacles. I am guessing this will be the obstacle course. From what I could see there were rope jungles, climbing walls, railings a few meters above ground among others. This obstacle course looked very interesting.

“As you may be able to tell this will be your obstacle course. The bracelets you are wearing can also measure the time it takes you to finish the course. You will all do the course at the same time, however, it is prohibited to interfere with any of the other participants. If you do you will be disqualified instantly. Now get in position the test will start soon after”

We did as told and got on our positions. Soon after we were given the good to go and started running. First was the rope jungle which I went through without any trouble, for me moving through it was far easier than moving through the mase forest. However, I noticed that my animalistic moves began leaking as I kept going. Because I had lived for so long inside the forest hunting wild beasts I had grown animalistic as well. Now that I was in a similar environment those instincts were leaking.

I was the first one to come out of the jungle and was received by a climbing wall. Once again I went up without much trouble, however, just like before my movements became wild and beast-like as I kept going. I could restrain those instincts if I wanted however my progress speed would be drastically slowed down. Because of that, I decided against it and let my body move by instinct.

When I reached the top of the wall there was a railing that we had to climb down. Which once again proved to be a piece of cake. Next was a straight path with obstacles one had to jump over or go below. At this point, I had released any and all restraints on my instincts as such I lowered my centre of gravity and would sometimes use my hands for propulsion as well. The final obstacle was a bunch of totem looking things with multiple parts that spun while moving up and down as well as horizontally. Since they were made of wood, despite their high spinning speed the blow wouldn’t be lethal but the pain would be enough to slow down participants. I, however, was having too much fun dodging them while using their spin to as a method of propulsion. Soon enough I reached the end of the course.

Looking back I saw that most of the participants were still in the climbing wall. The girl with fiery hair was a bit further in the railings and the black-haired guy had just reached the top of the wall. Now that I had finished I had to take a few deep breaths to calm myself down as my hunting instincts were running a bit wild. When I finally calmed down I saw the teacher with her jaw hitting the floor. A tinge of fear in her eyes.

I gave her a small smile before sitting on the floor to rest. I wasn’t tired I just wanted to watch the spectacle in a comfortable position. After I sat down the teacher regained her composure and noted down my results. A few minutes later the red-hair girl finished and after a few more the black-hair guy did as well. Then the rest came one by one, most of them gasping for air. I couldn’t help but giggle a bit at their physical condition. However, with this, I understood that I was the odd one here.

After everyone finished we rested for a while as some staff brought refreshments for us which consisted of juice and sweets as well as a sandwich. I guess the sweets are for use to regain our energy, juice to rehydrate and sandwich to calm our hunger. Truly, this academy thinks of everything. As I drank my juice while eating the red-hair girl walked towards me with a wide smile.

“Hello, my name is Tiffany Tenenbaum”

“Erm, hi, I am Amelia Bellevie”

Shook the hand she was holding in front of her. Her smile wise wide and her eyes held a dangerous glint in them, I can tell she really wants to clash swords with me. Her entire body is exuding an aura that screams excitement.

“Let’s be friends!”

“Ah, sure”

What have I gotten myself into?