Upon exiting the second gateway, Rai saw Sin. She was stood on her own with her arms crossed while she looked around. Her eyes landed upon him, and she walked over to him with an air of frustration.

She spoke with a tone that sounded like she was his mother teasingly telling him off.

“What took you so long? Mine was done in a minute!”

“Uhh... They had some problems with my orb, so they had to replace it.”

“Well, it can’t be helped then.” She pointed over to the practical exam gateway, which easily had the most people gathered around it compared to the other gateways.

“Let’s do the practical now.” She said.

Rai and Sin made their way through the small crowd and walked into the gateway.

On the other side of the gateway, there was a large room with three more large gateways. There were examinees looking at the gateways, while some were deliberating amongst themselves.

A moment after entering, a message seemed to play from somewhere in the room.

“The first gateway will take you to a physical strength test. The second gateway will take you to a magical strength test. The third gateway will take you to a sparring room where you will face off with an instructor. You can only choose one gateway.”

“It feels like a trick. If you go into one of the first two, you can only be tested on one of those two things. But if you go into the third one, then you can get tested on both at the same time.” Rai said.

“I suppose it’s a way to filter the potential students. Only those who go through the third gateway will have a chance to reach the top, even if you can pass by going through the other two.”

Rai took Sin’s hand, which made her blush a little, and walked toward the third portal, through the groups of students who were deliberating.

They went through it together.

And came out not together. Damn. Again?

On the other side was a room like the magical aptitude test. Except this time, it was much larger and had no orb within. Rai noticed the absence of other people. Sin got separated from him again.

“Please wait for an instructor to be available. If you ask for them, refreshments will be made available.”

Huh? How does that work?

“Can I have some strawberry juice please?”

A puff of pink smoke manifested besides Rai, revealing a glass of strawberry juice suspended in the space it was formed in. It gently floated towards Rai, patiently waiting for him to take it out of the air.

Rai took the glass and had a sip. He wondered how it tasted so good when it was clearly made with magic.

“How is this juice so good?” He asked the emptiness, hoping for a response.

After a moment, the same message simply repeated.

“Please wait for an instructor to be available. If you ask for them, refreshments will be made available.”

Rai internally groaned. He sat on the ground and enjoyed his strawberry juice.

After a while, no instructor came. So he lay down on the ground and allowed his thoughts to wander. Rai knew that the entrance exams were supposed to be important, but since there was no instructor there to test him, he thought that maybe they were all busy with other students who came before him.

It was probably going to be a long wait.

Rai’d basically fallen asleep on the ground when a voice above him seemed to wake him from his daze.

“I see you have no instructor willing to test you just yet.” It came from a voice he'd heard before.

After rubbing his eyes, Rai looked and saw the headmaster’s figure. He stood up immediately.

“Hello sir. No, I’ve been waiting for what’s felt like ages now.”

“Rai, was it?” The headmaster said while rolling up his sleeves.

“Yes sir.” He cocked his head, “Sir, are you going to test me?”

“That’s right, I am. You see, after I saw your magical aptitude test, I told the other instructors that I wanted to test you myself. My apologies for the long wait, I had a few other things that had to be resolved quickly. You can call me Rodrick.”

Jin always told him to call people by what they told him to, so Rai obliged.

“Yes Rodrick, sir. How exactly will this test work Mr. Rodrick?”

“Just Rodrick please. It will be just as the message in previous room told you. We’ll spar. I would implore you to give it your all, especially if you want to be judged fairly. If you have a weapon of your own, use it. If not, we can provide one you might be comfortable with.” Even though he spoke these words, the headmaster felt like a boy with his level of mana control wouldn’t be without his own weapon.

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He would soon be proven right.

A pool of lightning formed in the air. As it dissipated, it revealed a beautifully crafted pure black sword within. One with no gems, just two diamond shaped holes on either end of the hilt.

The headmaster recognised it.

“Ghost. One of the few named swords. It was presumed missing alongside its previous owner. I wonder how it came to land in your hands.” He sensed Rai’s apprehension at even bringing the sword out, “Don’t worry. I’ll say you found it at the bottom of a river or something. I don’t need to know.”

Rai nodded, and got into his defensive stance.

“Will you not use magic?” Rodrick asked.

“That depends on if I need to or not.”

“You're a very peculiar boy, aren't you?”

It was faster than Rai expected. Rodrick was now in front of him. A myriad of claws spawned out of portals that seemed to be suspended flat in the air. They reached out towards Rai, aiming to slice his neck.

Rai reacted in time, moving his blade swiftly enough to slice through three of the claws. He pivoted for a counter-attack when the headmaster was suddenly back where he originally stood.

“You won’t get full marks if you don’t go all out, you know that right?” Rodrick said.

“If I went all out, the fight would be over in an instant. You’d have nothing to test.” He clearly hadn’t adopted Jin’s modest nature.

“If you truly believe that, then show me!”

Rodrick was about to get into a defensive stance to prepare for Rai’s attack when he saw lightning strike horizontally from where Rai once stood. He felt something sharp against his neck.

“I told you.”

The delayed sound of thunder boomed within the room.

“An instant.”

Rodrick looked down at the blade, then let out a hearty laugh.

“You grow more interesting by the moment. Remind me not to underestimate you again.” Rodrick cleared his throat, “Where did you learn such a technique?”

Rai withdrew Stormflow.

“I made it myself. Well, it’s not fair to say I made it entirely by myself, since I got a lot of help from the people around me. Otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to make it work.”

“I see, I see. Well, to let you in on a secret, the practical exam instructors are limited to using rare-tier techniques and below to test the students, since they are unlikely to know any techniques above that level. I don’t think anyone expected you to effectively use a legendary-tier technique.”

“Does this mean that I pass?”

“Yes... Though, I didn’t get to test much. This feels altogether anticlimactic.”

Rodrick thought for a moment.

“While it’s true that you have a legendary technique, I can’t place you at the top rank because I didn’t assess your overall abilities very well. That’s due to my fault as an instructor, not yours as a student. But I can justify placing you in the top three for the exam.”

“That’s perfectly fine, I’m just happy that I got to fight with the headmaster. Though, maybe I could’ve made it easier for you.” Rai said with a wink.

Rodrick couldn’t help but feel slightly peeved by the boy’s teasing.

Rai still had lingering tendrils of lightning arcing off of his body. With another streak of lightning, Ghost returned to his seals.

Rodrick looked at him thoughtfully, “Well, you’re far flashier than I expected. We’ll have to spar again one day; I can guarantee you that the result will be different.” The headmaster winked, then disappeared.

As Rodrick disappeared, a gateway opened up where he once stood.

Rai waited a moment, allowing himself to digest what just happened.

He fought against the headmaster and won! Even though the fight was clearly rigged for the headmaster to lose with the limiting of instructor techniques, Rai’d still succeeded! He allowed himself to be happy about his performance for a minute before readying himself to leave.

Rai walked through the gateway.

----------------------------------------

The female instructor looked at Rodrick with concern.

“Headmaster! Are you okay?! We couldn’t hear anything throughout the fight, but when he nearly cut your throat we could hear thunder booming. In fact, I think the sound somehow made it into all of the physical exam rooms...”

There was a group of instructors in the watchroom who were watching over the exams. The watchroom had a bunch of crystalakrum screens that showed all of the physical exam rooms. There were various buttons and levers that probably did different things, but none of them were being pressed or pulled so there was no way to know.

“Don’t worry Lillia. That boy is far more powerful than any of us could’ve expected. If they heard his thunder, then that was simply because of how strong he was. Besides, I was never in any real danger. Didn’t you see how much control he had over his blade?”

Lillia looked at him with even more concern, which quickly flittered into anger.

“A potential student at the Academy shouldn’t even be in a position where they can kill the headmaster. He should be denied entry!”

“You really didn’t see it? This was entirely on our own lack of preparation as instructors! He used all he had, just as we told all of the students to do! It was our fault for not anticipating someone with his level of mana aptitude to have such a powerful technique.” Rodrick looked around at the other instructors, “If anything, this shows us that we have a lot to learn! Wouldn’t you all agree?” It was a fair question. One that wasn’t just addressed to Lillia. Rodrick wanted to force the instructors to put themselves in the position of a learner for once.

Lillia realised she overstepped her bounds.

“I’m sorry headmaster. Yes, there is always more to learn.” There were mumbles of agreement amongst the small crowd of instructors.

Some of the instructors in the room were amazed at the lightning boy.

“When was the last time you’ve seen lightning magic headmaster?” One of them asked.

Rodrick pondered. And continued pondering. Even after that, there was more pondering. The others were now worried that, in his old age, Rodrick forgot the question.

Then he answered.

“Never.”

There was an uproar among the teachers. The headmaster was the oldest mage in the Academy. Even though he’d never been the best fighter, he was far more experienced than the rest, and had incredible insight into both magic and mana.

The headmaster allowed them to discuss among themselves for a time, before interjecting.

“The boy will be under my wing.” Rodrick said.

There was an even larger uproar this time, with questions flying at him from the whole group of instructors.

One man, whose attire made it clear that he was ingrained in noble society, spoke in an accusatory tone.

“You would choose an unknown boy from an unknown family to take under your wing?! Why would you not choose a child from a family that could benefit our Academy even further?!”

Everyone else quietened down.

“So, you wish to line your pockets? To forsake Zenith’s prime educational system? Then leave. Leave and don’t come back. There is no home for you at Aether Academy.”

They were shocked. The noble was furious, and did exactly as the headmaster said. He left and didn’t come back.

“In the end, it’s my choice. The Academy is not limited to nobles, and prides itself on valuing student abilities and merits. I’ve chosen this young man, and will hear no further objection!” Rodrick declared.

With his final sentence, the instructors might’ve grumbled or disagreed, but they respected that the discussion was now over.

They continued to observe, with instructors teleporting in and out of the room to test different students.