Finally, the training ended for the last day of the first week.
'We're done today, kids.'
Maximus finished the training session with a few words and then applauded and they were all in the public training ground. It was packed as midterm competitions and exams approached.
'From tomorrow onwards, we'll meet here at five in the morning before the other students come and then continue from eight in our private room. Don't forget to be on time.'
The heavenly magician completed his numbered words, put his hands behind his back and disappeared directly. Ever since learning the spells of teleportation and using them on a daily basis, even his students would call him a shadow if he continues like this.
Mira was thinking about what to do but could not find ideas and asked the rest:
'What do we do now? Do any of you have a plan for the rest of the day?'
Orion replied with an empty expression of a person who had thought about nothing for hours, who seemed to be in a coma and woke up suddenly:
'Not really. I didn't think of anything but just finishing the training.'
His dream was very simple; a rest after training is all he thought about for today. Unlike him, Dante who always walks around the academy and explores its various facilities.
'When I walked around that day, I found an aptitude assessment room in one of the buildings. Why not go there and assess our capabilities now and after completing the month of training?'
'Great! Lead the way, Dante.'
The others followed him, and many students looked at them strangely and wonderfully.
'Have you ever seen them at the academy? Top freshmen? No, no, no, their uniform is not like that of the academy, they are certainly not students here. I saw the boys enter the special section of the dormitory. Are they VIPs?'
The students were whispering among themselves but the team did not pay attention to them, as the teacher said, 'Don't be moved by their words, the teacher asked that we never interact with the students.' Dante spoke after turning his head to the rest of those behind him and nodding their heads when they understood...
After walking for a few minutes, they had reached that room. Entry was limited; students were only allowed to enter if they are in the top 100 list who were given a card with the number representing their rank. There are special cards for teachers, special guests and VIPs and only they are allowed to bring others with them.
The place was uncrowded unlike other places, with fewer than one hundred and twenty people able to enter. Upon entering, they found in front of them three students, two boys and a girl around sixteen. Dante glimpsed their card numbers, which were 78, 62 and 39 respectively. The boy with the lowest rank among them began to take the test and the others began to notice the details of the test.
The test went through four stages: strength, agility, magical energy, and finally combat ability for combat specialization.
The boy advanced towards a huge machine installed in a metal wall, which resembled a device similar to a gate, but in place of a gate was a piece of fortified magical steel two meters wide, three meters high, and a thickness that seemed to be more than fifty centimeters. On its side there was a device installed that gave a rough reading of the force of the blow, the boy adjusted his position and punched the steel wall with all his strength. It was a really powerful punch. Three seconds later, the device showed a reading: 685. It was a good result for his ranking.
He continued towards the speed test where he stood in the middle of a fifteen-meter corridor and prepared, the sound of a bell suddenly ringing and the boy drove towards one wall, pressed a button on it and drove at full speed to the other wall to press the second button. In less than 4 seconds, the two buttons were pressed and a sound marked the test’s end. He went towards the screen on the wall and read the result: 458. His speed was great and the team was impressed but no one showed any expression on his face. They should not show signs of weakness in front of others.
The boy regained his breath and then continued to the third device. It was a transparent magic crystal and its color changed every two hundred points, next to it a similar device to give an accurate reading of the result. The boy began to pump out his magical energy and in seconds, it changed color three times. The result was then shown on the device: 741. The comrades tried to anticipate his specialty and he was a magic swordsman as they thought. The boy returned to the first device, took his sword out of its sheath, formed a halo on it, and rushed towards the metal wall with all his might. The device beeped twice, unlike the first time when it made no sound. The result was issued: 2090. The boy cheered and his two friends rejoiced at him.
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'Finally you surpassed two thousand points, and your magical energy has increased since the last time. Your training worked.'
'Thank you guys; thanks to your help I achieved these results. Try it now.'
The girl advanced first, went through the same stages, and achieved the following results: 610, 584, and 808 and in the last test, she used two daggers and performed a double stab reinforced with the aura and her score was 2370.
Finally, the strongest boy among them completed his test and achieved an even more impressive result compared to the others. By achieving a vast difference: 759, 617, and 896 and used a spear to achieve 2859 points.
The three of them were overjoyed and left to celebrate their improvement, leaving only the test supervisor. It is our team's turn now; everyone agreed to take the test from youngest to oldest. Everyone followed the same steps of the test but did not have weapons, so they agreed not to use the mana in the first test and to use it in the fourth. They achieved the following results:
-Eric: 450, 497, 800, and the last 1800.
-Mira: 370, 430, 912, and the last 1880.
-Orion: 600, 544, 869, and the latter 2267.
-Yoon Hwa: 682, 526, 728, and the latter 2298.
-Tai Min: 605, 573, 789, and the latter 2114.
-Alyana: 499, 500, 803, and the last 2057.
-Dante: 717, 648, 927, and the latter 3005.
Dante was superior to the rest for having good talent and combat experience before when working as a spy and mercenary for a few years. Mira and Eric fell behind because they had no experience and were still young. Each of them was happy with his result, their abilities were comparable to the ranks between sixty and seventy and this after a week of training.
'We would be able to have a good chance of winning if we continue like this.'
Tai Min got excited after seeing the team's results, 'There's a good chance if we continue like this.'
'The goal we had is now clearer.'
Yoon Hwa completed Tai-min's words and then left the room after thanking the supervisor and headed towards the academy buffet to celebrate.
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After they left, the clerk recorded their results and physical descriptions and then sent them as a magic message to the manager, who asked him to do so if they came, the clerk in charge knew nothing other than that they had gold cards for the special guests and that they are seven.
'Amazing results, it's going to be an exciting competition. Who expected they would go to the test today.'
After reading these results, the manager clasped his fingers in a dome-shape and had a strange smile...
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The group entered the academy's restaurant, which was divided into two sections: the larger section for students and the smaller one for professors, workers and guests. It was more comfortable because it was less crowded and one could enjoy his food without disturbance from others. The number of attendees was counted on the fingers because, unlike the student section, it stays open all day.
'There are a lot of dishes, what will you choose?'
Fifteen different types of food were displayed side by side and each took a plate and took as much food as he wanted except Orion who took two plates. Dante chose a table away from other guests in order to avoid unwanted attention and everyone sat around that table.
No one has been able to distinguish whether it was because of hunger or because of the delicious food served here. They ate at a tremendous speed.
Mira could not stop herself from eating greedily, like a piranha, and was almost done eating her plate.
'Is the food tastier or are we the ones who feel it?'
'Don't bother, just have fun and don't tire your head.'
Mira thought she was the fastest and said out loud, "I'm done!" as soon as she finished her plate, as if she had won a race. None of the others reacted to her, which upset her.
'Aren't you going to say something to me because I finished first?'
No one answered her question until Eric poked her and turned her attention towards Orion, where she was surprised by what she saw.
'What the hell is this? How did you eat all this so fast?'
Orion had long since finished his first dish and was close to finishing the second. His eating speed was not normal at all; it infuriated Mira, who failed to get the first place in anything so far.
'Are you a hippo or what? I doubt you don't even chew food.'
He did not answer her until he had swallowed the last morsel, turned towards her and stared at her with weird glances. He was not even listening to her words when she spoke earlier; the girl almost went crazy from that.
'Are you even a human? How can you not respond to someone when they talk to you?'
'Training is my first priority, food is second, and sleep is third. Responding to people is not one of them for your information.'
Some verbal skirmishes continued between members, which were fun to watch. It started to get a little late and the departure time was approaching. Dante wanted to set a challenge between the members to increase their determination and enthusiasm to move forward.
'Let's make our goal double our points in the aptitude test by the end of the month.'
'We can do it, there's plenty of time. Just thinking about it fills me with enthusiasm.'
It was nine o'clock at night and they returned to the dormitory and had a quiet night...