Space twists in ways I can’t name, and suddenly I find myself in a lightly wooded forest, under a starlit sky.

I freeze on instinct, knowing there could be anything nearby to hear me if I make a sound.

Why is it night time all of a sudden? I send to Armsmaster.

“What? It’s not, you’re just… ohhhhh, I see what’s going on. I think it’s a mindscape array. You aren’t actually wherever you think you are, just sitting in the middle of a stone room. The array tells your mind that it’s somewhere else, and let’s it work from there. There are limitations, but for the most part it will feel real. Shame I can’t see what’s going on for you though,” she replies.

You can’t? I thought you saw everything I do?

“I see everything your eyes see, not whatever your mind is told they see. Small difference, but important.”

Huh. There’s a way to affect the mind with magic?

“There’s no Affinity for it, which has baffled everyone for a good while, but yes, there are rituals and such that can manipulate the mind.”

Right then, a pane of light appears before me, floating in midair. I absently note that it doesn’t illuminate my surroundings at all, nor do my eyes need to adjust at all to it. Written on the pane is a few short sentences.

Valerie Endmarch.

You will be presented with a series of scenarios. How you respond to and deal with these scenarios will be examined and evaluated to determine your suitability for Cardinal Academy.

Scenario One: You have been hired to eradicate a small goblin tribe that has made trade difficult in the nearby area. The evidence has led you to believe there are no more than eight monsters, and you have tracked them to this point. They lie approximately 400 metres before you.

How did they set this up so quickly? There couldn’t have been more than 15 minutes between registration and the Headmaster’s announcement, and they inserted my name into the test so soon? I don’t know enough about all this to say for sure, but that doesn’t sound like enough time to handle everything.

Nevermind, that’s not important right now. What is, is knowing my enemy.

Goblins are by far one of the most common monsters, both in siphons and out in the wild, so I do actually know a few things about them. They are small, bipedal, surprisingly nimble, and are largely nocturnal. Assuming this simulation adheres to any realism, then the most likely way they’ve been disrupting trade is by ambushing caravans at night, taking out the guards as quick as possible, before wreaking as much havoc as they can. They are cunning, and have an aptitude for traps and guerilla tactics, but are in general weak in frontline combat. They have an obsession with treasure of all kinds, favouring gold Leaves in particular.

Once again, assuming this whole thing is realistic, then there likely won’t be any traders coming through until the goblins have been dealt with, so they should all be in camp. Good.

I’m about to get started, when I glance down and see I’m dressed in comfortable, but firm, leather armour. A quick test shows it hinders my movement a little, but not too much. The extra protection will be worth it. There’s a few pouches here and there, and each seems to be two or three times larger on the inside than they should be. Searching them all, I find two Leaves and 8 Trunks, what looks like travel rations I don’t intend on eating, and other bits of sundry one would expect from someone in my simulated profession. No weapon, though. There’s a loop on my belt where it looks like a sword sheath could be fastened, but no sword or sheath.

Hoping the people who designed this made it intuitive enough to know I wouldn’t need a weapon, I take a moment to check I can still pull things from the Armoury, even in this mindscape. Pulling on the thread attached to my sword, there’s a brief moment where nothing happens. My heart jumps into my throat. If I’m supposed to do this without a weapon then-

My sword appears in my hand, though this time instead of blackness filling the space between stars, it looks more like it flickers into place, like a TV with bad reception.

I let out a soft breath. It’s behaving oddly, but it works.

I dismiss my sword and start walking forward slowly, taking care to keep silent.

Okay, so apparently the first section of my test requires me to kill some goblins. It’s nighttime though, so I don’t suppose you know any way to help with seeing in the dark? I ask Armsmaster as I walk.

“Goblins? That should be doable for you, provided there aren’t any more than ten. They get tough in large groups. As for seeing in the dark, that is one of the more traditional uses for Stellar magic, as it happens. It’s fairly simple, just focus some magic into your eyes, while willing it to sharpen your vision. It should also help with acuity as well.”

Thanks.

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Doing as Armsmaster said, I pull on a small thread of Stellar mana, snaking its way up to my eyes. Knowing what I do about how eyesight actually works, I use that to help the imagery along. Instantly, my surroundings brighten. Colours are a little difficult to discern, as everything appears in muted shades of black and silver, but it's enough to see by.

The trees are relatively sparse, leaving a solid amount of distance between each of them. I step softly, doing my best not to step anywhere that would disturb the few leaves and branches on the ground. They’re yet to dry, thankfully, so there’s not as much crunching underfoot as there could be. Doubtless Sophie would pick it up with ease, though.

After about five minutes, I crest over a small hill, and find the goblins.

Either the description for the test was vague in numbers deliberately, or there’s something else going on, because I don’t see eight goblins.

I count eleven.

What’s worse, it looks like one of them is a mage.

Each of the creatures is wearing mismatched hide clothing, animal pelts and such. It’s ragged and worn, and from what I can see it doesn’t look like they ever wash it. A few carry spears of sapient make, and the rest a collection of swords and daggers, none of which seem designed for their size. The spears are too thick, and they seem to have roughly hacked off a part of the shaft, just to hold the spears comfortably. The daggers are close to shortswords in their hands, and the one that has a longsword makes it seem comparable to Armsmaster’s oversized weapon in length.

Next to that longsword wielder is the one I believe to be a mage. It’s the only one not carrying a weapon, and it’s hide clothes are a little more well made in comparison. The others treat it deferentially, and I can just barely see scorched marks on it’s clothes.

The scar on my shoulder begins to itch madly, and I can feel my heartbeat pick up.

Then one of the other goblins seems to question the mages orders, and gets zapped by a small bolt of lightning in response.

Against all logic, I sigh in relief. My talk with Armsmaster helped to work through what happened, but she did say I’ll have a hard time with Fire mages for a while. I guess this is what she meant.

Regardless, the presence of a magic-using monster is discouraging. It’s rare, but Armsmaster once mentioned that some monsters manifest with a weak Affinity, which would be the best case scenario. Worst case, it got it’s magic by taking in the waste mana released by the death of Lightning Affinity mages, which would also mean it’s likely to be stronger than it’s brethren. Either way, not a foe I can afford to take lightly.

I decide to observe them for a bit. It’s best I take the time to prepare, organise a plan of attack.

The goblins camp is… rudimentary, at best. On one side, at the opposite end from me, a little to the left, is the sleeping area. It’s a small collection of crude teepees, animal hides treated and stretched over sticks to provide very basic shelter. At a guess, they share two to a tent, with the mage sleeping separately in another tent. On the other side, is what looks to be where they’re storing their loot. Crates filled with various supplies, pieces of art, fabrics, jewellery, and anything else that could be considered valuable. No food, which is hardly surprising. Monsters need mana, not physical sustenance.

In the centre of the camp is a fire pit. I couldn’t quite see it on the approach, because it had clearly begun to die out long before my arrival. Given they can partially see in the dark, they likely have it more for heat than light, so less roaring bonfire, and more hot embers and such.

That nocturnal sight gives me an idea. The Armsmaster has taken a few hours with me to work on a less… dramatic application of magic. It was intended to be a beam of light, coming from the hand, but I was more comfortable summoning a floating orb instead. If I can create it right in their midst at the brightest I can, then I should be able to use the chaos to even the odds a little, maybe even take out the mage, though it is on the opposite end of the camp from me, and I’m not exactly sure I can manage sneaking around to that side.

I slowly approach the camp, until I’m about thirty metres out. Goblins are a bit nearsighted, so this close before I make my move should work well enough. I summon my sword, waiting the needed moment to let it flicker into place, and get a good lock on where I want to place the light. Once I have it firmly in my mind’s eye, I tuck my eyes into the crook of my elbow to protect them from the light, stretch out my hand, and release my magic.

Even with my eyes well covered, I can see the bright silver-white light I summon creep in around the edges. The pained cries from the goblins is piercing and shrill, almost enough to make my ears hurt. I shut the light off, uncover my eyes, and stand to my full height.

The camp is in chaos, just as I planned. At least half of the goblins, who would have been looking right at the light when I summoned it, are rolling on the ground, covering their eyes and screeching to all that can hear about their pain, though since none are Primals, the sounds are unintelligible shrieks, and little else. The remainder are dazed and confused, though two are aware enough to realise the potential for attack.

I enhance myself, stars and night-stuff flooding my form. Bounding forward, heart pumping, I cleave the nearest alert goblin in two from shoulder to hip. I expected a spray of blood, but they’re internals seem to be entirely composed of this strange pearlescent gray sludge that rapidly begins to dissolve once exposed.

One down, ten to go. I move past the more insensate goblins, focusing on the other one that’s aware. Stepping up, I thrust my sword through its throat, then twist to sever the next. The head falls to the ground after the body, but I’ve already stepped to the nearest goblin and struck that down too.

I look around for the mage, given it’s the biggest threat at the moment. It wasn’t subjected to the full blast of light, so it could recover at any moment.

I spot it quickly, just a few metres away. I rush towards it, and am about to strike when instinct forces me to stop and backpedal. That instinct is validated when the goblin with the longsword swings far too close for my liking, striking the packed dirt in front of me. I take the chance to stab it in the chest, then use my foot to kick it off my sword.

A glance to the mage shows it’s eyes are tearing up, blinking furiously, but it must be able to see well enough to aim, because it’s hand is aiming my way.

Without thinking, I set my personal gravity to -50, cutting it in half. Then I put all my enhanced strength into jumping upwards, launching me twice my height into the air. There’s a bright flash and a low crack, as lightning tears through the air where I stood. Whilst in the air, I dismiss my sword and summon my gauntlets, and at the apex of my jump they flicker into place. I bring the gravity up to 10, to bring me down a little faster, but push it to -25 right after to soften the landing. Once I land, I return gravity to 0 and push for the mage.

My speed gets me in range to strike twice, once to the temple, then a Stellar enhanced kick to the sternum. Goblin bodies aren’t quite as durable as humans, and it’s shown when it crumples to the floor.

Turning around, I rush into the fray, lashing out with kicks to faces and necks, going for the killing blow when possible, and setting up the kill when not. I save the goblins who took the light hardest for last, knowing they won’t be contributing.

In short order, I’m left standing alone, with only slowly dissolving corpses around me. A few aren’t quite dead just yet, so I dismiss my gauntlets and pick up one of their stolen swords, using it to kill the stragglers.

I let the adrenaline die down, and calm my breathing. It surprises me how comfortable I am with killing the goblins. Knowing this isn’t real certainly helps, and seeing the bodies dissolve makes it easier to not feel too bad. All the same, though, killing the ones who couldn’t fight back felt… wrong, somehow. Something about killing a defenceless creature made me feel like I had crossed a line I didn’t know was there. I don’t think I like it.

Once the bodies are gone, all that remains are a few small piles of coins, some teeth, and what looks like a petrified eyeball.

I shrug to myself. No reason not to treat it like it’s real, so I pick up the items and place them in one of the pouches on my armour.

The moment I seal the pouch, the pane of light from before appears again.

Congratulations. Scenario One complete.

You will be given ten minutes to rest, then you will begin Scenario Two.

I realise a sigh, then lay on my back to watch the stars for a bit. Sophie and I spent a couple nights outside for a bit, and she showed me a few of the constellations she knew. I can’t find any here, though the stars don’t look quite the same as over Hortell. Either it’s random, or this is supposed to be somewhere else in the world.

After my ten minutes are up, I feel a faint tingle pass over me. Guessing it’s a precursor to the transition to the next scenario, I stand up.

Then everything goes black.