Just a few day ago,if you would have told Lucas that he would be standing in line to take a test where he would have to fight a creature with such a high threat ranking,he would have worried that you might have lost your marbles,well he still does now.
"Because there is no way I am fighting that thing."Lucas chewed his bottom lips as he watched the beast,a young but still massive griffin standing at 2 meters tall,snapping his beak and pouncing on a young blonde haired women.
They were all standing behind a see through glass panel behind the room for the first examination.The girl's movement was fast,fluid and likely well trained,allowing her to move out of the way of an attack just before it landed,something Lucas as he is can only marvel at.
But even with such agility,he could tell that it wasn't enough against the relentless attacks of the young griffin.The girl has tried using her sigil to cast,but the beast didn't give her any chance to chant or do whatever an arcanist needed to cast a spell.
Finally during the last half minute of her test,the beast swing ferociously at the girl,hoping to end the annoying human's game at once.But what happened next made lucas doubt his own eyes.
The swing was wide and commited but as fast as it was,the girl managed to slip her head out of reach of the blow.As she was just under the beast she extend her hand towards its under belly,a pale green sigil once again made it's entrance.
"Viguin Accoayic(piercing breeze)"Lucas barely made out what she was Chanting through the thick class panel,but he very clearly made out a small and nearly transparent pillar of wind blown out of the girl's hand.
It drills into the beasts stomach where it's hide was the thinnest,blood splattered as the beast let out a loud agonizing squeak and after a moment of silence,it collapsed to the ground and slowly desolves into a large puff of purple mist.
The girl pants heavily but stood straight and proud of her accomplishments,professor Winston simply gave her a nod and motion for her to join the next room where some other candidate have already passed.Lucas knew this girl did better than the rest because even though they all passed,certainly not many managed to put the beast down with their power before their test ended.
"Are you nervous?"Lucas was in awed at the turn of battle,but Rodney's voice pulled him out of his thoughts.
"…Yes,I am afraid I will only made a fool of myself if I went in there right now,so I will have to skipped it."The young noble man smiles and shook his head at his declaration,much to Lucas's confusion.He wasn't going to win against any of the beast the professor summoned no matter how hard he tried,it would only be a embarrassing showcase.
"Did you know that the students call this section of exams 'The null zone'?People like you."Rodney pull one of his clasped hand out and gently stab a finger into Lucas's chest."Who can use your sigil much faster than elementalist,conjurier or most of the other school of mages have a massive advantage in this stage,trust me."
Lucas frowned and slowly withdrawn himself from the the noble's finger.Even if what he said were true,there was no way for him to know how to use his power at such a short notice.And the energy shield each candidate's bracelet provide might protect him from any damage,he will still end up as a chew toy for the beast.
"I understand you are worried …but also how desperately your family need your support,think about it, if you can simply just survived long enough against his beast,you will be able to get into the top 3 class and with the resources and opportunities provided in those classes,you will become a powerful arcanist in no time.…more wealth than you can imagine will be in your grasp and you only need to take the first step."
Lucas thought it over,it is true that most of those that went into the second stage has done so through simply surviving the onslaught of the beast.But the bracelet's shielding will also detected any fatal damage the candidate received,even if Lucas simply went in and try to survive,he will still be disqualified from advancing after taking too many hits.
"Here… I will give you a short lesson on how to use your sigil,I want you to succeed Lucas,for saving my spouse and being a remarkable person,but it is your choice ultimately."Rubbing his forehead as his inner debate intensify,Rodney seems genuine that he wanted to help Lucas for saving Allison and if he can teach him enough to just survive the round,Lucas can enter a class that can accelerate his growth much better than normal and he might finnally have a chance to help his family and most urgently,Alina.
"Alrite…I will give it a shot,so what can I do with my…sigil.?"What's the worst that can happen?He is going to fail and get dropped into the bottom class anyway,this might just be a great opportunity for him.
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"Next and name."As the professor finished marking down note on his clipboard,it is finnaly Lucas's turn.
He jolted at the call of the professor,for the last 20 minutes he has been practicing with what Rodney has taught him so he wasn't even paying attention to Rodney's fight until it was his turn,he only manage to glimpse the way Rodney conversed with the professor after his test was apparently done.
"Remember,your bracelet is already turned on,don't touched it or it might shut off at a critical moment."The young noble men came to whispered in his ear and gave him a firm pat on the back as encouragement before he leave for the second room.
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"Lucas Amoria"With a deep breath,Lucas marched on into the exam room after rodney turned the corner and disappear into the next room,he can feel dozens of set of eyes looking at him behind the glass panel ,judging his every move and words.
"…Lucas…yes I have heard about your situation from lord Rodney.If you wish you may still skip the exam but be warned as you will be placed at a lower priority class if you do so."Lucas knew it was the case so with some hesitation,Lucas accepted continuing his exam.
"Do you know how to handle a artifact?"The professor grab a bracelet from its pile on the desk as he asked.Lucas thoughts it over and nodded,Rodney has already warned him about not handling the bracelet since it was already turned on.
"…Very well,here is your shielding bracelet.You may stand by and wait for my instructions."Winston nodded and instructed as he gesture for lucas to stood aside to prepare for his exam.
"Tasanea Attturi(Minor conjuring):Yedusa"Lucas can hear the faint but powerful chant of the professor,as a purple glow shower his back.A few thick traces of violet smoke streak past Lucas and condensed on the polished wooden floor of the room.
The young man takes several deep breath to calm his racing heart as he focused on the challenge ahead.The smoke slowly raise and morph as it takes the shape of a large rodent.Lucas has seen this creature in action before during a fight from one of the candidates's test.
Even when he wasn't sure he was going to take this part of the exam,Lucas still tried to pay attention to all the different creatures's movement and attack pattern and luckily he has a decent memory to serve him.
Suddenly,Lucas regretted not asking kul to teach him the way to cast the same spell that allow him to perceive the world at a slower pace as before,it would have been immensely helpful right about now.
"You may begin."The creature,yedusa was a large rodent the size of large dog with razor sharp claws the size of Lucas's hand dripping with dark venom.On top of that,it is has a thick layer of leathery armor on its back and head,Lucas has seen many of the student's spells bounced off the shell without so much as a dent on it.
As the beast circled him looking for a opening,Lucas bend his knees, shifting his leg apart knee-width and put his hands up to shield his head.Lucas has gotten in his fair share of his street fight when he was younger and much more hot headed than now,so Percy has take it his job to teach him the basics of unarmed combat,he doubt it would be as effective against a giant armored murder rat as against a young man his age,but it was all he got.
With a loud squeak,the rodent charged at him just as lucas shifted his weight to another foot.Not allowing himself to lose his composure against the beast so easily,Lucas called on the power of his sigil.
"Imagine the desired result and project it onto the sigil,then control your ether to flow out of your body to power it and then chant the required words."It was a rough explanation of the lengthy one Rodney provided,but lucas knew it was about the same thing.From the professors and the noble's explanation and later his practices,he came to know that the sigil acts like a formula to bend reality for the caster.
Each layer of ancient runic word surronding the sigil represent a certain characteristics of the result of the spell.Generally,an arcanist would have to adjust and rewrite the formula according to a spell book to make sure the result were accurate and more importantly safe to cast before he or she use it.
But without enough time,the noble simply taught him to use the simplest of the null element's spell form that most if not all arcanist has learnt about and even adjusted the sigil for lucas soit will work properly.
"Revoaocro(Full body strengthing)"Lucas imagined his body becoming stronger,denser and much more durable as he forced a stream of ether onto the sigil work.
As soon as the sigil were touched by the streamed of ether,hecan feel the rush of strength filling his body as he chant the words,The sigil's grey light showering him with warmth for a second before disappearing.
He just managed to dashed back from the wide swing that were meant for his head.The splash of paralysising venom from its claw nearly finding its mark on his leg.
Utilitiesing his now overcharged strength,he did the only sensible thing for his objective,he ran as fast and as hard as he could.The rodent quickly hopped and crawl after him,but with its much shorter legs and wider body,it can not maneuver as well and fast as lucas.And so the scene of the giant rodent chasing a young man repeat itself again and again.
Lucas could hear the sneer and laugher coming from the other room,but he choose to tune it out of his mind.A second of relapse in thinking could be the end of the game,even with the his spell strengthening his body and his legs moving faster than it ever did.
He stared at the hour class next to the professor as he came past it,there was only little less than a quarter of time until the exam ended.He doubt with such a poor performance,he will be able to get into the top 3 class as the young noble man said but there was hope that he will make it higher for trying and surviving.
That was when everything decided to go wrong,in the blink of an eye,Lucas lost all his extra strength and then some.He stumbled and move barely out of the way of the murder rodent,his cotton shirt was grazed by its claw and was ripped wide open.
He can feel the venom trying to eat through the energy shielding…"wait,what …?"Finally he realized the venom was not eating through any shielding but his own flesh,but it was too late, the rodent pounced and this time slashed at Lucas right shoulder as the venom slowly takes its hold on him.
His vision quickly became dim narrow and his limbs were slowly becoming more sluggish and inresponsive.He can see the professor's wide eyes as he realized what was happening and raised his hand to probably dismiss the creature that is about to kill him.
Most importantly,he can feel his rage as the thought of how he was played into this death trap by the young noble man like a fool.He was gonna die because he trust a noblemen who was going for his throat all these time.The thought of him never being able to see his family again because of this psychopath further fills the flame in him.
"Revoaocro(body strengthing)"Biting his lower lips hard enough to draw blood,Just as the rodents claw were about to take his head off,Lucas's world once again became sluggish and slow,he can see everything clearly and even the speeding claw of the rodent were all but avoidable to him.
He sway back from the claw as it pass him and with a scream,he pushed all of his ether into the simple spell form that were likely a flawed version to set him up for failure as well.His body pulse with ether and unbound strength as he sent a series of furious jabs,hooks and uppercuts into the armored head of the beast.
He could feel the armored bend and dent under his empowered fists pulsing with grey light as the beast crumpled to the ground,the corner of his vision were slowly consumed by sickly green and darkness alike and soon his mind lose its light for the second time in a week.