Ashern City - Reinhart Institute of War, 1st of Brightforge, year 315 UC

Alan gestured toward the silver square embedded in the floor. There were silver strips that created two square boxes, one inside the other, with a large silver circle in the center.

It was not noticeable from the center of the gym, but now that they were in the top left corner it was easy to make out. Bryan found himself looking over his shoulder to see if he could spot any other designs like this one but his vision did not stretch that far out.

The outer square was fifteen paces to the center from any side. A decent amount of spacing for anyone adequate in close combat, but not nearly enough for ranged combatants that were unskilled.

"This is new, I haven't seen one of these before. Looks like some kind of arena, but there's a core underneath so… this is some kind of device."

Zoltan transmitted to Bryan as the little black mouse peeked his head out from Bryan's pocket.

"Yeah."

Bryan said softly as he gazed at the silver strips on the ground in front of him.

“Not just one, there are multiple cores powering this thing. Those strips seem to be connected to it somehow. Hmm, this must have cost a fortune. They did not hold back when they created this academy.”

Zoltan transmitted.

The device was complex, not the average magitech that you would find at a store. In all his years, Zoltan had never stumbled upon anything like this before.

The structure and formation were advanced, and the ether he could sense coming from those cores were powerful. What kind of device required so much power?

"Everyone, take a good look at this setup. It's going to be your new best friend for the next few months."

Alan told them with an amused grin on his face. His green eyes flicked toward Christopher.

"You’re up first, Vane. Get in the circle."

Christopher glanced at the others, hesitating for a split second before stepping forward. He stopped at the edge of the circle, his brow furrowed as he examined the faint silver lines.

"Just stand there."

Alan instructed, pointing to the center.

"Let me make one thing clear. You screw around, and you’re going to regret it. Got it?"

Alan smirked at the unease spreading across the group.

"These machines are part of a hologram training system. They’re here to push you past your limits. Today’s easy mode, hit the marked targets on the dummies before they hit you. And just because they’re holograms doesn’t mean they won’t hurt. Trust me, they’ll remind you every time you mess up."

“He said hologram? That… that’s impossible. I only came up with a concept for such a device, but the technology and resources needed to pull it off are still far out of sight. I…”

Zoltan stopped transmitting his thoughts to Bryan as he went silent.

“You came up with this?”

Bryan asked in a low whisper.

Zoltan did not reply, and when Bryan looked down Zoltan was no longer in his pocket. The little mouse vanished.

His eyes scanned the area but couldn’t find Zoltan anywhere, and eventually he found himself looking at Christopher’s back.

Christopher exhaled sharply, rolling his shoulders as he readied himself.

"Let's just get this over with already."

Alan tapped his academic card. A single holographic dummy materialized four feet in front of Christopher. Its translucent, featureless body shimmered faintly, and a glowing red circle marked its chest.

"Start."

Alan commanded.

Christopher stomped the ground with his left foot, a ripple of Ether surging through his body. A basketball-sized ball of earth burst from the ground, and with a quick kick, he sent it flying. The earthen projectile struck the red circle dead center, sending the dummy flying back as a chime rang out. The dummy faded into shimmering particles.

As soon as the first one was gone two new dummies materialized. One stood six feet tall with a broad build, the red marker glowing on its right calf. The other appeared behind him, just two feet tall, with a red marker on its face.

Christopher turned, stomping the ground again to summon another ball of earth. He aimed quickly, sending the ball hurtling at the smaller dummy behind him. The projectile connected with the red marker, and the dummy dissolved into particles with another chime.

As he turned to face the larger dummy, it swung a massive holographic arm at him. Christopher narrowly dodged, the swing grazing his side and sending a sharp jolt of pain through his ribs. He gritted his teeth, planted his foot, and swung a kick at the dummy’s calf. His boot struck the red marker squarely, and the dummy collapsed before disappearing into nothingness.

"Not bad, but the clock is ticking Vane. Best pick up the pace."

Alan said.

Four dummies appeared around Christopher in a square formation. Their red markers glowed on various parts of their bodies—two on their chests, one on an arm, and one on a leg.

Christopher exhaled sharply. Stomping the ground once more, he summoned two balls of earth, but his movements were slower this time. He kicked one toward a dummy’s chest, hitting the marker, but his second kick went wide, missing the arm marker on another dummy. Before he could summon another projectile, one of the dummies darted forward and delivered a sharp jab to his shoulder. Pain flared through his body as he stumbled back.

Stolen story; please report.

Christopher gritted his teeth and lunged forward, swinging his fist at the nearest dummy. His knuckles slammed into the glowing marker on its arm, and it dissolved with a chime. He spun on his heel, delivering a roundhouse kick to another dummy’s chest, shattering the marker there. One more remained.

Christopher ducked under a swing from it and drove his elbow into the marker on its leg.

He blinked once and eight more holographic figures stood all around him. He'd already broken a sweat and used too much Ether for a mere simulation. Going further was out of the question, but he wasn't planning on quitting now.

Right as he was about to make his move, he heard Alan.

"Time!" Alan called out.

All eight figures vanished from sight and Christopher walked out of the box breathing heavily.

Did he take down seven of them? In a minute?

No, that couldn't be right.

He was capable of more than that. He was hoping to get… well now that he was thinking about it, he was not sure how many would appear. Still, if they kept coming like they were, he wanted to take down at least ten of them.

"That was more than just easy mode."

Christopher glared at Alan as he spoke. He winced a bit as he clutched his side.

Alan smirked.

"Sorry to break it to you, but that was the lowest setting there was. Seven though, it's a start. Definitely figured you'd be able to take out more if I'm being honest, but guess we all have to start from somewhere."

Christopher clicked his tongue. The man was taunting him, he could tell but it still got under his skin.

He walked away with his fist clenched but didn't reply. Sabrina offered him a sympathetic glance, while Alexander seemed impressed despite himself.

Alan turned to the rest of the group.

"Alright. Vanes here set the bar. A pretty low one if you ask me, but who here can tell me how he can improve?"

Alexander looked left and right, but no one was raising their hand. In his eyes, Christopher did the best he could have done with what little information he knew.

It was their first time doing this after all.

"No takers? Alright then, Blackwood tell me what you saw."

Bryan sighed as all eyes fell on him.

"First off, Christopher stomped the ground multiple times in order to activate his ability. It's a waste of time, and if those dummies were people they'd have taken advantage of that fact. He should be able to use his ability without doing that action or else he'd put himself and his teammates in harm's way."

"Secondly, his Ether control is lacking as shown by how he used too much to dispatch his first set of opponents. That rock throw he did could have been done with the same rock, but instead, he used multiple which in turn drained him."

Bryan was going to open his mouth to say more but sighed to himself instead. There was a lot that Christopher could improve on, but he should not be the one to correct it.

"That's all I noticed."

Alan eyed Bryan for a moment before he tapped his academic card once.

"Very well then, if that is all you can step into the center. Show us what the rank one can do."

Bryan stepped into the circle, his expression neutral. Without hesitation, he pulled a small knife from his belt.

Bryan drew the blade across his palm, letting blood well up in his cupped hand. The cut wasn't deep, but it was enough. As the first dummy materialized, Bryan's blood rose from his palm, forming into thin, crescent-shaped blades that hung in the air around him.

His act took the other students by surprise.

Alan was not there for the entrance exam, but he heard the rumors blood magic.

The first of its kind appeared.

He was always one to study up on different forms of magic attributes and what they could do, but he never dreamed that a day like this would come. It was a unique attribute and he wanted to see for himself what it was capable of.

Would it have the same applications as water?

Judging by the way the crescent-shaped blades formed it just might.

The first dummy materialized in front of Bryan with a glowing red marker in the center of its chest. Same position as Christophers, with the same market placement.

The crescent-shaped blade shot forward and pierced right through the hologram as a chime rang out.

A moment later two more appeared, a tall and a short one. They were placed in the front and rear of him, with their markers on the leg and face.

‘Isn’t this… too easy?’

Bryan asked himself as his cresent-shaped blade hit the red marker on the front target before continuging onward to the one behind him. The motion was fluid but he didn’t stop the blade as it swung around in an arc.

‘Let’s see if i’m right.’

He willed the blade to strike where the next dummy would appear at the exact spot the marker appeared for Christopher. If he was wrong, then so be it, but there was nothing wrong with testing his theory.

A chime rang out as soon as the target finished materializing.

He was right.

The next three dummies were instantly dispatched and only ten seconds had passed by. A little slow for his taste, but there also was no need to speed up.

Christopher already showcased his abilities and Bryan had a decent understanding of his combat power. The boy was lacking, with to many openings.

If they were fighting, he’d have taken him out before Christopher had a chance to stomp the ground.

That was without using his ability.

Besides, stomping the ground in order to activate your ability was just stupid. It was also reckless as it showcased the limitation on your ability.

How in the world was he ranked so high?

If he was ranked nineteen out of three hundred students, that said something.

Bryan still had to catualogue the rest of his teams abilites, but he was setting the bar low for them. Then he could roughly guess the combat abilites of the rest of the students that would come here next month.

It was pitiful that he was put in the same lot as them. These children wouldn’t be able to teach him anything, or even push him.

They’d only drag him down.

Why did he come here again? To this academy?

There were at least four others here in Ashern City he could have attended, and more than sixty across the kingdom.

Another four chimes rang out in quick succession as he let his eyes wander around for a moment. He saw something small and black on the wall next to a device sticking out of the wall.

‘Oh yeah.’

He came here because Zoltan highly suggested this place to him. It was his only recommendation.

The little mouse told him he’d find what he was looking for here.

But, what was he looking for?

Bryan was not too thrilled about anything really. Being free was nice and would allow him to do what he wanted.

But truthfully, there was not much he wanted to do.

The Inqusition kept him indoors or at the facaility for majorty of his life, so he was never outside their grip. Except for when he went on group missions to track down assigned targets.

What was life outside the Inquisition?

It was the one thing he was not sure about.

Maybe that is what he was looking for. Experiencing life.

Bryan stopped thinking as he searched but found no more targets. How many had he faced?

He ended up conjuring three more blades to help him dispatch the other dummies, but at some point he was on autopilot. His body did the work while his mind was elsewhere.

That’s how boring this training was.

Exciting at first, but too easy for him.

Looking over, he saw the stunned expressions of the other students. Christopher seemed to be the most shocked as his mouth was slightly ajar.

Even Farrah had her eyebrows raised.

Alan tapped something on his academic card and smiled.

“Get off the field Blackwood, you’ve cleared all the dummies before the time ended. Can’t say i’m not impressed, keep up the good work.”

Alan told him.

Bryan nodded as the four crescent-shaped blades flew back to him and into his palm. The wound on his hand sealed itself shut as if he never cut it open.

“Dude!”

Alexander shouted as Bryan walked over to their group.

“Dude!”

The boy repeated.

“Sixty-three! You took down sixty-three of them in what? Forty maybe fifty seconds? How did you do that?”

Alexander asked.

Bryan shrugged.

“I just hit the markers, like we’re supposed to.”

Bryan told him dryly.

“Yeah, but you didn’t move once. I mean look at you, you’re not even sweating.”

Sabrina chimed in.

“Also, blood? I’ve never seen an attribute like that before. Like, there are some rare ones, light, poison, and gravity, are all examples of some. But, I've never seen anything about blood being an attribute. At least it hasn’t been documented before.”

Sabrina leaned forward slightly as she checked Bryan over.

Now that she was looking at him again, she was right the first time. He was handsome.

She bit her lower lip.

“Ugh, ew. Why are you looking at him like some dog in heat?”

Alexander asked her from the side.

Sabrina rolled her eyes.

“Rigof, you’re up next. Come on, get to moving!”

Alan shouted.

Sabrina seemed to dance on her toes as she made her escape from Alexander and the others.