I activated my wood elven magic mark and immediately used [Predator's Strength] and [Predator's Agility]. Next, I punched the ground as fast as I could. To me, everything moved in slow motion during my punch. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see that Nara had a surprised and happy expression on his face while Dreifus' eyes were following me as if I was moving at normal speed.
When my fist hit the ground a large crater, taking up nearly the entire open area was created and a huge cloud of dust was whirled up. By the time the dust had settled, I had already activated my warp magic mark and used [Far Step] to appear right next to Dreifus. His eyes had never left me. He didn't say anything, which I assumed was because he knew I still had one magic mark left. I quickly swapped my warp magic mark for my thorn conjuration magic mark. When Dreifus saw the speed at which I swapped he had a satisfied grin on his face. Shortly after thick thorn tendrils shot out of the ground, from between the volunteers, from the crater I had created and even from the other side of the wall. I just let all of them grow straight up.
"That enough demonstration?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.
Dreifus nodded and I let the thorn tendrils disappear, they turned into mana particles and disintegrated. Once I was done with that I decided to step away from the group and sit down on the ground, leaning against the closest training dummy. In the corner of my eye I could once again see figures following me, pointing at me, laughing at me but the moment I acknowledged their existence a little too much they turned into leaves dancing on the wind. The voices also hadn't stopped yet but they had become a little fainter by now. I closed my eyes and just sat there, my legs crossed and both my daggers resting on my right thigh.
My almost silence, which was possible when I tried really hard to ignore the existence of everyone else, was interrupted by someone tapping my shoulder. I opened one eye and saw Nara leaning down ever so slightly to be on eye level with me.
"What?" I asked.
"You're the one who saved my sister," Nara said as if I was supposed to know who his sister was.
"Your sist-" I stopped there, remembering the fact that the girl I saved actually looked almost exactly like this boy. "Oh, you're the brother of that girl," I said.
Nara nodded energetically.
I now opened both eyes and stared right into Nara's deep blue ones.
"So, what do you want?" I asked, with an eyebrow raised and holding back a yawn.
"I wanted to thank you, I really love my sister, so much that I always wanted to be exactly like her, that's why I dress this way even though I'm a boy! And, and, I was really sad when she disappeared, but then you saved her, my parents said that the Crow's name was Altair, and your name is Altair, so I just knew that it was you. I joined the church because I wanted to become stronger so that I can protect my sister in the future!" the boy said loudly and in an annoying tone.
"That so," I responded, getting annoyed by the fact that the boy suddenly decided to overshare.
"Yes!" he responded energetically.
The ground suddenly shook a little and as I looked past Nara I saw that the guy who went first, the one with earth magic or whatever, was currently fixing the crater I had created. Once that was done Dreifus called all of us over. I didn't bother moving. He said before that he wanted to test mana pressure now.
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"Mister Altair, do you mind telling me why you aren't coming over?" Dreifus asked, his hands crossed behind his back.
I sighed and thought about it for a few seconds but for some reason, I really, really didn't feel like moving right now.
"Yes," I responded, staring right into his old, dull eyes.
He chuckled and turned away from me as if nothing had happened. A small win in my book, less bothersome this way.
"I will first take a look at your passive mana output, for that I'd like all of you to stand at least five metres apart," Dreifus explained.
I yawned.
The others all did as I instructed as I laid back my head and stared up at the sky. Almost half of my vision must have been taken up by the fort next to us while most of the sky was blocked by the skull, strangely enough, there were large holes in the skull, the edges of the holes were a little darker, making it look like something had burned right through the skull itself.
When I looked back down I saw Dreifus walking from person to person, nodding when standing in front of some and doing nothing in front of others. He completely ignored me.
"In conclusion, I can only say that the only one here that makes a big impression is mister Altair," Dreifus said once he was done.
Oh, thank you, how nice. Go ahead and make me feel better about training for basically six years straight.
"Now that I have checked your passive output I would like you all to put out the most mana you can, don't hold back. I want to know what kind of pressure you can create. After that I will spend a little time evaluating you all so that I can try and help you a little better on an individual level," Dreifus said.
How did he get enough useful information for something like that from the stuff we have done?
'He seems to be capable of perfectly tracing mana,' Ira stated.
'And that means?" I asked.
'That fuck can basically predict what mana is going to do. He can also sense how fast you activate your magic mark, how fast mana travels through your body, how much mana you use for what etcetera, etcetera,' Ira said.
'Interesting,' I responded.
"Alright, first mister Duwal!" Dreifus said.
It was the same order in which we presented our magic marks so I knew that I could just lean back and do nothing, not like any of them would have enough mana to create significant mana pressure. I was right. The first time I actually felt the pressure was when Servil released his, Nara's also wasn't bad but also nothing to write home about. Then we came to Evergreen. I could practically hear her grin as the ground shook a little. Her mana pressure could be felt easily, it was like someone dropped a heavy blanket on me. It wasn't something that could force me to the ground and the most it would be able to do to me would be to slow me down by a nearly insignificant amount, but at least it would affect me.
"Last, mister Altair!" Dreifus said loudly.
I sighed and closed my eyes.
Alright, how did I do this last time? Right, the leash thing.
I concentrated and did the same thing I did last time, the only difference being that I let out a lot more mana this time. It took me a few seconds to actually release all my mana but once I did even Dreifus looked like he was being affected by it.
I still sat on the ground, leaning against the training dummy while everyone besides Dreifus and Evergreen was pressed against the ground. Evergreen was struggling though, she was already on one knee while I could see sweat running down Dreifus' forehead.
"Alright, that is enough," Dreifus said.
I took all my mana back in and waited for the others, who were all breathing heavily, to get back up.
"So?" I asked, raising an eyebrow to look at least a little interested.
"Well, you certainly have more mana than most others, especially in your age group. But you're slow when it comes to actually release it," Dreifus said. "So I already know what I'll be going over with you," he added.
"How fun," I whispered.
"So, if there are no more questions I think that we should end the lesson here, go and eat. Dismissed!" Dreifus said loudly.
Finally...
Despite being the only one to sit I was the first one back at the gate. I tried to push it open but it wasn't designed for that so I jumped pulled on the small grips nearly two metres above the ground. The gate opened and I stepped inside, once again getting stared at by everyone inside the entrance hall.