Fiora hesitated.

Of course, she knew that entering the advanced class among the other scions of the Great Families was of utmost importance.

In fact, given her tainted reputation, it was probably her only chance of getting into one of the major Schools.

But she had also just witnessed the two twin brothers put on a tremendous display of skill.

Perhaps if she could manage to hit at least the same number of targets as Akoni, the first of the two brothers, she might be able to secure an invitation to take the Elder Kahua School test.

But the reality was that Fiora wasn't very confident in her skills at the moment.

What she had just seen was an extremely high level of skill for someone who had supposedly been initiated this year, just like her.

While it was true that Fiora had great talent for someone coming from the Southern Archipelago and a minor island outside the Deep, like Solara, she didn't have the same resources or grooming that they had.

She looked at the discs at the 40-foot line and licked her lips, preparing her first attack.

She carefully evaluated the distance between herself and the small targets before shooting the first orb of Sun Water.

She held her breath as the orb arched slightly and almost missed. Thankfully, the edge of the globe luckily hit the plate, making it spin through the air and fall to the ground, partially consumed by her Sun Water.

She sighed in relief and then aimed at another disc.

Fiora found herself wishing she had dedicated more time to studying one of the three main skills she had received when she got her class, Sunburst Hydromancer.

She had gotten two skills that couldn't help her much in the current test, namely [Zenith], which she had used with much success during Professor Iakopo’s test on the boat, and [Solar Constitution], which increased her physical attributes, her defenses, and also gave a natural corrosive aspect to her skin if someone tried to attack her directly.

The one skill she was mostly relying on right now was [Sunwater Manipulation].

It helped her control the water she conjured, spend less Mana while doing so, and, most importantly, gave her fine control over the trajectory of her spells.

However, to be completely honest, [Solar Glyph Mastery] would have come in really handy at the moment.

[Solar Glyph Mastery] was an unorthodox skill that didn't level up merely with practice.

Fiora would be given a full Glyph with a special effect every five levels of the Skill. But to fully acquire the Glyph, she needed to bring up the Skill, currently, to Level Five.

Sadly, right now, it was only at Level Three because Fiora had trouble understanding the intricate Mana pathways of the first Glyph.

[Solar Glyph Mastery] essentially created one new Glyph every five levels for the user to understand and absorb.

Once the Glyph was fully absorbed into the Akashic record, she would be able to use it.

The first Solar Glyph that Fiora had the opportunity to learn was a Speed Glyph, something that would have been tremendously useful right now, given the jerky movements of the targets.

In fact, if she had mastered even the first Glyph, she might have been able to imbue her Sun Water with such increased speed that she wouldn't have been worrying about the discs changing direction midway through her projectile reaching them.

But sadly, Fiora had barely scratched the surface of the first Solar Glyph, currently sitting at Level Two, and without that foundational knowledge, she couldn't access its power.

So now, all she could do was rely on her raw talent and control.

“Focus,” Fiora muttered to herself, summoning another globe of Sun Water.

She threw the globe, praying that it would hit the target, and surprisingly, it did.

Fiora sighed audibly in relief and calmed down.

Even without the Glyph, her aim was unbelievably precise.

Unbeknownst to Fiora, what had really contributed to her aiming skills was the life-and-death practice she had had back on Solara while fighting real monsters – something the scions here lacked.

And while it was true that they had practiced so much that they were probably better than her at this, the fact that she could somehow go head-to-head with them meant that nothing could replace real, possibly near-death experience she had gone through on Solara.

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When it came to the 60-foot line, however, things started to get pretty dicey.

Twenty feet further didn’t seem that much further, but she almost felt dizzy seeing how far the discs were.

Fiora launched the first globe of Sun Water and missed the target by two feet since the disc had moved while the attack had been reaching it.

I can’t predict where they’ll go—not reliably.

How am I going to do this?

She blew air through her mouth, puffing her cheeks and feeling several students, not just those in her little group, watching her.

Did the Professor even say how many of these we have to hit?

Professor Luana hadn’t mentioned what the exact requisites for getting admitted into the advanced class were, which made the test even more unnerving.

She did some mental math, realizing that Akoni must have hit three out of ten targets, roughly.

I have an idea how to do that.

Fiora raised both hands in front of her and started pulling at her Mana reserves like crazy.

I can’t use [Solar Glyph Mastery], but maybe I can do something similar with [Zenith].

She had thought at first that [Zenith] wouldn’t be useful, especially given how much Mana it consumed, but given the current circumstances it was her only choice, really.

The main difficulty when it came to hitting the targets at sixty feet was that they would move too far off before the projectile actually reached them.

Therefore, there was only one way to make this easier.

Increasing the speed.

But since Fiora hadn’t mastered the first Solar Glyph yet, this was the only way.

“We don’t have all day!” One of the students from another group shouted sarcastically at Fiora.

Even Professor Luana gave the blonde a long glance before raising an eyebrow and keeping to herself.

Akoni and Keone looked at each other behind her, not understanding what Fiora was waiting for.

Instead, the other girl just smirked.

Then, as sweat beaded on Fiora’s brow, she pushed her Mana reserves to the limit.

“[Zenith]!” Fiora called out, feeling a massive recoil as the first empowered globe of Sun Water shot from the space between her palms at thrice the speed the past ones had.

A disc on the sixty-foot line was instantly obliterated.

The Sun Water had moved so fast that it shaped itself into a spear and destroyed the disc without a problem.

Fiora repeated the maneuver twice more, wheezing from exhaustion by the end.

But still, she had managed to hit two more targets.

It was genuinely a great call to use [Zenith] to empower her projectiles’ speed because it was impossible for the targets to dodge.

Knowing she was at her limit by now, she just flicked a few orbs randomly, missing all the remaining targets, and then stepped back.

She ended up hitting roughly two out of three targets at the forty-foot line and one out of three at the sixty-foot line.

“Crafty,” Professor Luana commented, giving Fiora a half-evaluating, half-approving stare.

“Thanks,” Fiora huffed, trying to wipe the sweat from her forehead with her sleeve.

She smiled to herself as she turned to talk to the twins.

Her current display of skills assured her that there would be no way for them to refuse her.

The girl with Elder Kawena’s School’s symbol on her robe smiled at Fiora and winked at her as she walked up to the shooting post.

“That was some impressive Sun Water manipulation, wasn't it?” Fiora said, trying to keep her voice casual.

The brothers turned to look at her with a grimace.

“Yeah…” Akoni muttered.

“You two did well—”

“You’re not getting an invitation,” Keone, the one with the Ice Water Affinity said. “You can’t join our School.”

“Wait, what—” Fiora almost swallowed her tongue.

“Keone,” Akoni sighed and facepalmed, pulling his brother behind him. “Miss, I’m sorry for my brother’s manners. He doesn’t mean to be rude. It’s just…”

“I have talent, and I just want to be around other people who have talent,” Fiora said. “What’s the problem?”

“Everyone heard about Captain Tulo’s report, Miss,” Akoni said. “You are not a noble, and you offended the Kraken Slayer’s daughter.”

Fiora bristled but forced a smile.

“Yes, that's right. I did. I made a mistake, and Talia, the Kraken Slayer’s daughter, forgave me.”

“We don’t know what your current relationship with her is,” Akoni said sincerely. “But our School’s Champion is her sister. We really wouldn’t want to presume anything with that being the case. They could kick us out just by merely suggesting your name. Honor is taken very seriously at the Academy.”

“B—but Talia and I are friends!” Fiora almost shouted.

“Miss,” Akoni cleared his voice, remaining very diplomatic. “If that’s the case, please, just tell your friend to tell that to everyone else. It’s… you’re still going to get flak from students, but at least you’ll also be able to join a School. Trust me, you won’t find many people willing to take you in with the current rumors still spreading.”

“I have to beg Talia for a recommendation, or no one will let me in?” Fiora balled her fists.

“I am just telling you what others are not saying out loud,” Akoni shrugged. “Isn’t it true that you were barred from being Initiated by the Water Riders? I heard you mocked the daughter of the Kraken Slayer for failing the test, even though she ended up Initiating herself later.”

Fiora felt her face grow hot. “That's not... I mean, it wasn't like that. There was a misunderstanding, and she had punched me and—”

“Talk to your friend,” Akoni said plainly. “If you want to enter a School, that is. Otherwise, plenty of other Water Riders only got a master much later on, including your friend’s mother. She was without a School until she graduated. Only then did she get to join Elder Krakatoa’s School.”

Fiora trembled in fury.

She barely even heard what the guy – who had been nothing but kind so far – was saying.

She had waited so long to come here, to become what she was always meant to become: a strong, respected Water Rider.

What kind of idiocy was this, then?

She had to beg Talia for a spot?

Was that really what it took?

For a second, she almost regretted not accepting the girl’s offer, but she knew that it was probably too late, considering how she had reacted.

But then, as the girl from Elder Kawena’s School finished her test and did even better than Keone, Fiora felt her hand on her shoulder.

“You want to join a School? I can put in a good with Elder Kawena. She won’t care about any of this nonsense.”

The two guys stepped back, giving a wide berth to the girl.

“Really?” Fiora looked at the taller girl, finally taking in her traits.

The girl stood a full head above Fiora.

She had an athletic frame and two rather muscular arms.

She had short-cropped hair and sharp, angular facial features.

“Name’s Kaia,” the girl said, patting her shoulder. “And trust me, Elder Kawena's School is where the real action is, even if the old crone has been away for a while now. She’s due to come back next year, you know?”

“I'd love to hear more,” Fiora replied, feeling a spark of hope ignite in her chest.

“I’ll tell you everything,” Kaia grinned. “But I’ll need a favor in return.”