Slightly less than a hundred of the applicants decided to be tested on their support type abilities rather than the combat option. That left roughly two hundred applicants, who were then split into two groups and taken to different testing areas. Unfortunately the group I was placed into was the group with the nobles.

We were led to an underground training area made of polished stone and about the size of a football field. Mana shields were used to make something like the lanes of a bowling alley, there were five lanes, one for each staff member with our group to observe. One of the staff spoke up to give us instructions.

"You will stand at [this] end of the lane and your target will be placed at the other end. The mana shields should be enough to stop any attack you kids can throw out but the staff here can also erect emergency barriers as well, so no worries. If your first attack fails to destroy the target, the target will be replaced with a new one and you can try again, if your second attack fails to destroy the target you fail. Those who want to go first lign up."

All of the commoners in our group were to scared to go before the nobles, and it seemed that the nobles were to scared to go before prince Bernard. So despite there being five lanes, Bernard went up alone. The staff didn't show any signs of urging other applicants forward either.

The floor at the far end of the lane opened up and the first target rose up. It was a bundle of straw shaped like a person. Bernard quick sent it to straw man afterlife with a fireball.

The burnt remains of the first target were sucked back into the hole in the floor, and the second target appeared. The second target was a scarecrow, old clothes had been sewn together and stuffed. I could sense I small bit of magic from the clothing, if I had to guess I would say it had probably been made fire resistant. Bernard wasn't entirely stupid because this time he went for a different attack, he held out his hand and with a brief chant in a language I didn't recognize a small sphere of light appeared above his hand. He tossed it at the scarecrow and it passed through the clothing, once inside the entire thing began to glow before it all ripped apart at the seams, sending cloth and bits of straw everywhere.

The third target was a wooden statue which was split into pieces by a bolt of lightning, the forth was a similar statue that had been enchanted but was similarly done in. Fifth and sixth were clay dummies (the sixth being an enchanted version) that were shattered by force explosions, seventh and eighth were statues made of stone (eighth being enchanted) that Bernard used water blades to slice appart. Ninth was a metal statue that Bernard was able to melt down with fire, and the tenth and final was an enchanted metal statue. This one was resistant to fire so Bernard had to use a combo attack, heating up the metal as much as he could and then attacking the slightly weakened hot metal with earth spikes to rip it apart.

Bernard passed of course, and so the nobles stepped up to the plate. They to all managed to pass by copying what Bernard had done. The the commoners went, only about ten of the commoners were able to pass, and even then they still showed weaker attacks than what the nobles had used. I waited to be the very last, so now everyone's attention on me, is what I wanted to say but most simply looked bored and ready to leave. Only the staff and Bernard were watching me with any interest.

Stepping up to the lane alone I waited for the first target to appear. Even if it was just simple straw, I could still show off a bit. I held out my hand a summoned a small wisp of flame, no bigger than my thumb. The observers lost even more interest. What they didn't know was that at the center of the wisp I had heated it up to super hot conditions, and was keeping it contained so that it could not be seen or felt.

I threw the wisp of flame that seemed about to go out at the straw bundle. It slowly made its way down the lane, flickering all the way. But as soon as it touched the target the core was released, heat came rushing down the lane and washed over those standing there returning their attention to me. The straw had been instantly consumed by flame and now only smoldering ashes were left. I hadn't got any dropped jaws yet, but all were watching with renewed interest.

The second target, the scarecrow appeared. One of the commoners applicants had not realized from all that had gone before him that the scarecrow was enchanted and tried using a fireball on it, it not catching fire proved my suspicions that it was fire resistant. I decided to rip it appart with the improvised telekinesis I used for my flight magic. I wrapped my mana around different parts of the dummy and pulled in different directions, causing it to rip apart. Judging from the surprised looks would say most here couldn't tell what I had done.

The third target, the wooden statue. For this one I decided to try out something new.

"[State of decay]"

The wood rapidly turned black and flaked away, crevices formed as black mold ate away at the wood. Soon the entire statue became so rotten that it could not support itself and collapsed under its own weight.

""Ohh, ahhh...""

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

That got everyone a surprised, even Bernard had an expression of uncertainty.

The fourth target, the enchanted wooden statue, I had determined was resistant to both fire and blunt force damage I had determined. For this one I converted the top layer of the stone floor in the room into fine sand, which I then sucked up into a vortex around the target. I used it like a sandblaster to chip away at the wood, every particle chipped away was added to the vortex, I kept spinning it faster and faster untill the entire statue had been reduced to fine particles. I decided to show some consideration for the academy and returned the sand to the floor and fused it back with the stone. More surprised sounds. You haven't seen nothing's yet kiddos. I was saving the best for last.

For the clay non-enchanted dummy I formed a waterball the size of a beach ball over its head, from it I extended tendrils of water to reach out and rip it appart. For the enchanted version I shattered it with a blast of force energy.

For the stone statues I had a hard time deciding what would be a good attack to destroy it. I finally decided on using a beam of light (laser) to destroy the first one and an earthquake inside the second one. 

The initial excitement everyone had shown was beginning to wear off. Sure I had surprised them with my above average strength, but I had yet to show them anything outside the realm of possibility. Well I was saving the best for last, they would be shocked and awed.

The second to last statue I carved into pieces with water blades, something very difficult to do to solid metal, so that got back a bit of attention.

The last target arrived, made of metal and with the strongest enchantments of any of the targets. The enchantments on this one were mostly focused on heat resistance, which was a testament to how skillful Bernard actually was, he had been able to heat up the metal enough to allow his earth spikes to dig into the solid metal. Most of the others were unable to get it hot at all. 

I started by layering heat resistant shields around myself, the staff seemed to notice what I was doing but made no comment. I next wrapped several heat resistant shields around the others. Eager to see what I did for the last attack, I had everyones attention.

I began my attack. I raised my right hand above my head, I then started with a small wisp much like my first attack, but rapidly expanded it nearly three feet in diameter. I then began feeding it air, the flame shifted from red to yellow, through the shades of blue until it became a blinding white. Despite the heat shields I had put up around everyone, the intense heat could still be felt. I began to mold the shape, shifting it from a sphere into the form of a bird. A blazing white Phenix. Perfect.

I accelerated the flame bird at the target at speeds nearing that of sound, creating a screaming noise. The bird impacted and spread white flame throughout, the mana shields used to separate the lanes shattered and a wall of flame approached us. I rapidly erected several more barriers throughout the room to stop it.

The flame continued to burn throughout the far end of the room for nearly a minute after I stopped supplying mana to it. When it cleared no trace of the statue could be found other than a slight silvery puddle melted into the floor. The stone that made up that half of the room had all melted, the walls starting to sag and the ceiling having stalactites of stone hanging from the ceiling. I MAY have over done it just a bit.

I turned to the others. Dumbfounded faces on all of them. The staff was the first to slightly recover.

"Holy."

"Fucking."

"Shit."

"Sooooo... Do I pass?" (Me)

"Ya... I guess so..."

I rapidly cooled down the room and filtered fresh air into the room.

"I can fix that end of the room if you need me to." (Me)

"Nah... We should probably study it later..."

Yep they were still zoned out staring at the melted half of the room.

"Should we go outside now?" (Me)

"Ya..."

The group shuffled out of the room and back into the field outside. Both of the other groups were waiting for us there. The headmaster was on the stage and began speaking to us.

"We ask all those who failed this portion of the test to now leave. The staff will now meet and release the ranking list of those who passed the exams. Welcome to Othrode Academy!"

While people who passed from the other groups were cheering at getting into the academy, the applicants now students were quiet. The headmaster seemed confused at the strange lack of reaction from our group.

Those who failed left and the staff left us in the field by ourselves. All the nobles had passed the test so that was 23 people, plus the eleven from our group (including myself) was 34 passers, the other combat group had 42 passers, and the support group had 31 passers, which was a total of 107 new students.

The staff and headmaster was gone for twenty minutes before they returned with a board listing the rankings of the new students. Number one... Ambrjrn Aldrich. Number two... Bernard Malfair.

"Hey."

A voice I really didn't like came from nearby. It was the prince.

"I was supposed to be number one at this exam."

His twitching left eye told me that he was about to explode.

"But I suppose that if that is the level that I was competing against... My father will understand why I got second place."

He turned on his heel and walked off.

WAT.

I thought he was going to explode. But that bit about his father... Was him being so angery because he was afraid? Of his father? Not that that was an excuse for his behavior.

The new students were running around congratulating each other. Surprisingly fourth place had gone to a talented commoner, who was now surrounded by group of other students congratulating him on his accomplishment. It didn't take long for the others to figure out who made first place and a horde of students began to make their way towards me.

"""Congratulations!"""

"""How were you able to make first place!?"""

"""Could be my friend?"""

"""That last attack you did was incredible!"""

I have never been a people person so this crowd was making me nervous. I was considering developing a invisibility spell when the crowd had to suddenly part because of a mage with flaming wings had just dropped down in the middle of them. It was Allen Firewood... Ahem... I mean Flamewood. Honestly how did whoever came up with their clan name not think of that?

"Wow, you have really grown. And that last attack you threw really surprised me!"

Wait... When did he see my last attack?