Rays of sunlight pierced through the windows of the dorm room. Something stirred underneath the sheets of Tara's bed. A distinct groaning noise bounced around the room. Tara threw the sheets off of her body and sat up. Dark circles encompassed her eyes, signs of a lack of sleep were apparent across her face. "I'm screwed," Tara thought. She had stayed up for the majority of the night trying to cram in some much needed study time. She misjudged exactly how long she studied for and ended up only getting a couple hours of sleep.
Tara shook the fatigue from her body and got up to get her day started. She first stopped at her closet. Looking through it, she grabbed the uniform she prepared the day before. She headed for her bathroom next where she took a long cold shower to wake up with. Cleaned and clothed, Tara left her room and went downstairs to the cafeteria. The cafeteria was already busy when Tara arrived. Students had formed small groups to eat and converse in. Tara went through the line and picked out a nice simple meal consisting of meat, bread, fish, and a salad. She took her tray of food to the outside courtyard. The courtyard had many empty tables placed inside of a well manicured grove. Tara ate her breakfast while trying to review the material she studied the night before.
The entire time she ate, she drew blanks on all of the material that she had read. "My head is empty. My life, is also empty. I am at peace." Tara resigned herself to her fate. A sense of peace washed over her after coming to terms with the fact that she would most likely not get high marks on the written tests. The fatigue from her body disappeared. She finished the last bits of her soup and went inside to drop off her dirty dishes.
After she dropped off her dishes, a voice rang out through the dormitory, "Good morning students. It is now 8:30. Please head for the training center to take the first part of your tests for the day. Thank you." This would be the best part of Tara's day, so she quickly ran over to the testing site. The training center was a building that closely resembled a coliseum. It had 4 stone platforms where students could comfortably move around without risk of falling off. The area with the platforms was encircled by a cascading array of seats for onlookers to watch from. On the opposite side from the entrance, right above the exit, a separate booth existed for special guests and select staff to sit.
On one platform, a large spherical crystal was placed in its center. The crystal was as large as a wagon and bright white in color. A male teacher stood next to it with a clipboard in hand and issued orders, "When I call out your name, please approach the crystal next to me. Place your hand onto it's surface and inject mana into it. It doesn't matter how much you inject, it will be able to accurately measure the size and amount of mana wells you have. The color of the crystal will change depending on the amount of wells inside of you. Additionally, the crystal will shine brighter depending on the quality of those wells. Let's begin." He called out name after name in a seemingly random order. It didn't take long before Tara's name was called.
Tara walked onto the platform and did as instructed. She poured a large amount of her mana into the stone. The color changed first to green, then blue, and finally to purple. It shone brighter and brighter until no one could see anything any longer. "That will be enough!" the teacher yelled. Tara took her hand off of the crystal. The light from it diminished before returning to its original state. The other students began whispering about the spectacle they had just witnessed. Tara's inflated ego began to rear it's ugly head. "Just go ahead and give me my first place. I doubt anyone else will get anywhere close to that."
While Tara continued thinking highly of herself, the testing resumed. Celine was called onto the platform just a few names after Tara. To Tara's surprise, Celine's results were quite high. The crystal had shone a dazzling bright blue color during her test. Tara would have never guessed that Celine had already grown 2 mana wells. Celine walked off stage and Tara congratulated her on her results. The teacher called out the next participant, "Alastair Hellebores, approach the crystal and begin your test."
A familiar looking young man walked onto the stage. Tara's jaw dropped at the sight of the boy that had accosted her during her trip to the food market. The one person she had hoped she would never meet again readied himself for his test. Alastair placed his hand onto the crystal and released a large surge of mana. The crystal turned green, then blue, and finally purple. It was accompanied by a great bright shine. The students began whispering again, even more vehemently than before.
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Alastair walked off stage and made direct eye contact with Tara. Tara returned his forceful gaze and the 2 locked eyes for a short moment. Alastair broke away first and walked through the crowd of students. "Do you two know each other?" Celine asked. "Not really, we met once and I didn't even know his name." Tara replied. Celine's eye lit up. She began talking about how the two might have some destiny between them. Tara tuned Celine out and watched the rest of the magic portion of the test in silence.
Most of the students after Alastair had lackluster results. A few stood out, but only Tara and Alastair had attained a purple rating. The teacher who conducted the test began speaking again. "Now that we have finished here, let's begin with the next portion of the combat testing," he said. He raised his hand and pointed a finger at the platform next to him. "When the testing begins, we will go to that platform and test your strength." The platform he pointed to had another measurement device. The device was a strange pillar made of a clear rubbery substance.
The teacher walked off the first platform and onto the next. He stood next to the pillar and explained further, "For this test, you will take a weapon of your choosing and strike this pillar. A number will show up on the inside of the pillar after you hit it. That number is used to represent your strength in a quantified manner. Make sure you do not use any magic during this portion of the test. We are testing just your physical strength here. We will now begin." Just as before, the teacher called out names in the same order as during the magic test.
Tara's turn arrived. She unsheathed her massive battle axe from her back and stood at the ready. "You may begin when ever you feel ready," the teacher told her. Tara took a deep breath. As she inhaled, she moved her axe in a counterclockwise motion away from the pillar. At the top of her inhale, she swung the axe with a tremendous amount of force. Cracks formed in the ground around her feet. The head of her axe visibly cut the air around it on its journey to the pillar. The impact of her hit seemingly cut the pillar in 2, just falling short of the other side by a matter of inches. Tara removed her axe from the pillar and it magically returned to its original state.
Tara sheathed her axe as a number appeared on the pillar. 956. Tara had scored a 956. It was higher than the next score by about 300 points. Almost as if routine at this point, the students around her began whispering again. Tara walked off of the stage with her nose in the air. She was once again in her own little world.
Name after name was called as the testing went on. Celine had showed a much more paltry score as opposed to her magic score. She had only scored a 98. This score seemed a lot more reasonable when Tara thought about Celine's personality.
Finally, Alastair was called to the stage. He brought with him a single rapier. He unsheathed the blade and widened his stance. He prepared his blade. "You may begin whenever you are ready," the teacher spoke. Almost immediately after those words left his mouth, Alastair thrust at the pillar. Taking a large step forward, he stabbed the pillar with a heavy blow. The pillar began to ripple from the impact of the hit. Alastair removed his sword from the pillar and sheathed it.
947. The second person to score in the 900 range. Tara had mixed feelings about the result that Alastair produced. She was annoyed about the fact that he was so close in strength to her, but also happy that he scored lower. Alastair walked off of the stage. This time, he looked away from Tara, refusing to make eye contact.
As the testing went on, the students showed much more promise than during the magic testing phase. One other student even scored in the 900s like Tara and Alastair had. It was a large male student wielding an equally large hammer. The remainder of the testing went off without a hitch and the combat portion of the tests had completed.
"Alright, now that we have finished here, you will head to the classrooms where you will complete the academic portion of your tests." The teacher gave the students a short bow before leaving. The students left the training center and were met with a different teacher at the exit. This teacher guided them to the classrooms where the next phase began.
For the next four hours, the students were tested on things like history, literature, arithmetic, and science. Tara did her best, but was ultimately unable to finish small amounts of each test. At the end of the final test, Tara immediately ran back to her dorm room. She had never been more exhausted in her life. To try to relieve herself of her exhaustion, she decided to take a short nap in her bed. Without even changing clothes, she laid down, face first into her pillow. She slept for a solid 14 hours, completely dead to the outside world.