“Attention!” they heard a robotic voice.

“Speak of the devil,” Jack muttered under his breath.

“The test will start in five minutes. Prepare yourself.”

The sign that displayed the gate number beeped and a small timer appeared at the bottom, which immediately started counting down.

4:56…

4:55…

4:54….

Soja gulped nervously but Tanner completely ignored the clock. The tall boy stumbled towards the wire fence and clung to it, his head resting on its cool metal surface. Most of the malicious aura around him was gone, but he was still reeling from the after-effects of the casting.

“Careful now,” said Jack with a laugh. “They used to have it electrified.”

Tanner let go of the fence like it shocked him and stumbled back. His feet slipped on some stray rocks and he fell back on his butt. Groaning, he gave up and just laid on the grass with his long coat splayed out underneath him.

“Oy!” said Soja. He went over and started nudging Tanner with his foot. “This is no time for you to be sleeping around.”

Jack looked up at the clock again.

4:20....

“Leave him be. He is no good to us like that,” said Jack, waving Soja off. “I wanted to talk about the next test but a little rest is best.”

Tanner just groaned. The foul aura around him was almost unnoticeable. He should be able to neutralize it within a few more minutes. Soja looked up at Jack, leaning up against the fence. “Summit the hill, right? First fifty there passes. Sounds simple enough.”

“It’s not going to be that easy,” muttered Jack.

He looked at the signboard hanging above the gate. Bio-beast experiment area. This was the place where they created monsters. Despite the place being shut down for a long time, the hill radiated danger like an ominous beast ready to swallow anyone who enters its domain.

The hill was large enough to be called a small mountain. Dense jungle-covered its base, filled with spirit beasts and who knows what other dangers. The whole test will last 2 hours and the closest ones to the summit will be admitted to the school. Jack looked at the hill and then the forest, thinking. There was something that he was missing. The test couldn’t be this straightforward.

“The hell?” exclaimed Soja, his voice incredulous. “I didn’t know the carnival was in town.”

He was looking over Jack’s shoulder towards the open field they had just walked up from.

Curious, Jack turned around to see a boy with flaming red hair racing towards them in the dark. There were flames coming out of his feet which propelled him forward with every step he took. He left a flaming set of footprints in the grassland as he made for the gate that was just to the right of them. Releasing a giant fireball from his feet to bleed off his momentum, he came to a full stop near his gate. The ground underneath him crackled and burned.

“Well, well boys. We have a peacock on our hands,” said Jack grinning.

Usually, people would go through great lengths to keep their powers hidden. There was no need to tip your hand unnecessarily. So, displaying one’s skills so openly either spoke of extreme confidence or misplaced arrogance. The red-haired boy being a newly awakened gift user meant he was the latter.

Soja looked annoyed. Tanner who was still lying down opened one eye and looked at the red-haired boy.

“Idiot,” he muttered before promptly going back to sleep.

“Wonder how he got this far?” Soja asked.

Jack, on the other hand, was looking at him with interest. “That’s a nice gift. I could use that one.”

“Don’t even think about it,” spoke Tanner, his eyes still closed. “The brazen fool will die young and drag us down along with him. I know the type.”

Jack had a gloved hand on his chin looking at the boy like he was a specimen he would love to dissect. Flame-boy was likely a caster, but the most unusual thing about him was that he used his legs to control his fire. That was fairly unique for Eaton to be interested in him. Most Psyphers controlled their powers through their hands, whether they be casters, warriors or refiners. There were a few cases where there was a deviation from this but that was exceedingly rare.

He could be a caster, but seeing that his mode of control was his legs, he couldn't be a pure caster. His fire indicated a bit of Refiner in him too. He looked like he had limited control and his range didn't look that large. It was looking more and more the kid’s talent made him a Refiner type than a Caster.

It was hard typecasting someone into a particular slot in the three categories, but it helped understand how their powers work. Hiding, bluffing and lying about your powers were the norm, and so was trying to figure out about the powers of everyone else around you. It was a constant game that the Psyphers played, and the consequences of getting the answers wrong were often fatal.

Jack was still staring intently at Flame-boy when the kid looked over towards him. Noticing his gaze, the red-haired boy looked at Jack and grinned provokingly. He had his chin raised in a challenge.

Jack chuckled. “At least, he doesn’t lack in confidence. What do you think, Soj? Soj?”

Jack looked back to see Soja hiding behind him. “What are you doing?”

Soja with a yelp tried to squeeze his plump body behind Jack. “Shit! She is here. Why does she keep looking at me like that?”

Jack looked to his left and he saw a group of kids walking towards the gate on his left. It looked like it wasn’t his only team that had the bright idea to team up. In the middle of the crowd was the girl that was sharpening her knife earlier. She had the bottom half of her face hidden behind a dark face mask which made her hazel eyes even more striking. She still had a dark look on her face as she glared daggers at Soja.

Jack looked surprised. “Looks like you got a fan, Soj. What did you do to the poor girl?”

“What? Nothing!” he hissed. “This is the first time I’m seeing her!”

“Well, go and say hi,” said Jack grinning. He pushed Soja towards the small group. “Talk to her. She is clearly smitten.”

“Damn you, Jack! Stop dicking around,” said Soja as he desperately pumped his feet away from the girl.

“She looks like she wants to cut my balls off.”

“Maybe,” Jack considered this. “You sure that you did nothing.”

“Yes!”

The girl was still glaring. Occasionally, her hand would dart to her side pocket where she had her knives, but quickly stopped herself.

“Tanner. Did you mark this one?”

Tanner who was still lying down turned his head and looked at the newcomers. “No, missed her.”

“Think you can do it now?”

Tanner paused for a bit. “Not with her tensed up like that. Anyway, how many are you tracking right now? Fifty? Any more and you will lose control of your Gift.”

“Fine.” Jack sighed. “You can’t win them all. Let’s just hope that they had a lower score and it will be us that is going first. I prefer not walking into an ambush.”

He took a quick look at the clock.

1:09…

This was going to be more difficult than he thought. Eaton wanted to see them fight and it didn’t look like the academy was ready to invest in them without seeing some proof in their value first. They had lucked out by being placed near some scrubs at the start of the exam, but their luck would soon run out if they ran into some of the stronger contenders for the seat.

0:48…

0:47…

He had no doubt that the academy had some surprises in store for them. There always was. Putting the cadets into unfamiliar situations was their standard operating procedure. The more rattled the students were the more skills they would display.

0:32…

0:31…

Jack racked his head for ideas. He had a gut feeling like he had missed something. Something so obvious that his subconscious was screaming at him to notice. Jack stared at Flame-boy and then Knife-girl, they were both looked calm and collected as they went about their prep for the exam. Occasionally they would sneak glances towards his team, trying hard not to be obvious in their spying. A chill crept up Jack’s spine and his eyes widened as he finally realized what was bothering him. They were too calm. There was no foreign aura surrounding them or any indication that they had been busy cleansing their systems either. The group around Knife-girl also looked like they were unaffected by any malicious aura poisoning.

Jack’s eyes narrowed as he put the pieces together. The aura attack wasn’t a random test conducted by the examiners. His team was specifically targeted. The question was by who? For a brief second the two military airships that brought the two proctors popped into his head.

0:25…

0:24…

Tanner’s wild theories played in his mind, but he quickly dismissed that notion. Eaton wouldn’t be so blatant in their favoritism. No, this was someone else.

0:21…

0:20…

“Get up, Benjy! You’ll sleep through the exam.”

Soja was nudging Tanner with his foot with ever increasing intensity. Jack sighed and walked towards the two. He decided to keep his suspicions to himself. It had taken so long for Soja to finally calm down. Announcing that they were already being targeted by the other teams would just send the plump boy back into a spiral.

0:17…

0:16…

“Hellooo!” Soja now graduated from nudging to kicking. Jack stood looking at the two of them for a hot second, considering his options. After the pause, he too started kicking.

“Get up! Get up!”

Tanner had to give up in the end when the two of them ganged up on him.

“Okay! I’m up! I’m up!” yelled Tanner.

His hands glowed blue as he grabbed at the two offending feet. Jack twisted his leg out of the way in the last second but Soja wasn’t so lucky.

“Ow! Let go!”

Tanner slowly got up still clutching Soja’s foot, forcing him to hop on one leg to keep his balance. He flexed his fingers, letting go Soja’s leg and brushed off some grass from his long coat.

“Dick!”

10…

9…

8…

“You ready?” Jack asked as he stepped in front of the gate.

Tanner walked beside him, rolling his shoulders. “I’ll be fine as soon as I start running.”

“Alright.” Jack grinned. He reached into his pocket and took out a small glass pill bottle. “Keep this safe. I don’t want to accidentally crush it.”

Small red pills rattled in the glass bottle as he handed it off to Tanner. The tall boy looked at the bottle with wariness. The bottle was labeled in big bold letters - Beast Lures.

His hands glowed blue for a second and the bottle disappeared. It simply vanished from existence. There was another flash of blue light and a pendant appeared in his hands.

Tanner placed it around his neck and had his head bent in prayer.

“Soj?”

Soja who was rubbing his leg, gave a thumbs up. “One-hundo-p.” His hands glowed blue as he went through his castings.

“Good.”

They were ready and so was he. He felt his heart pounding in his chest. This was their last test. It was time to make it count.

Jack let out a slow breath as he focused. The giant lights around the fence reflected in his grey eyes as he looked passed the gate and into the forest. All his muscles tensed and stretched like a taut bowstring about to be fired.

6…

5…

He looked at his friends standing on either side of him, both ready and raring to go.

“Let’s do this, boys.”

“Got it.”

“Leave it to me.”

3…

2…

1..

“Go!”

With an alarm, the gates swung open and the trio were racing into the forest. Jack took a final look back to see the other two groups, still waiting for their gates to open. The knife girl was still glaring at them.

“Bring it Eaton witch!” roared Tanner.

Laughing, the trio disappeared into the dark forest.