Caren was still filled with anger when she raised her head and saw Yasen, whose gaze was now fixated on her. Though he is still silent as usual as he stared her down. An intense feeling of dread rose in her chest and cold sweats began to form on her forehead.

He knows, he knows.

Yasen didn’t utter a single word to her as he broke their eye contact and walked toward the students. Caren didn’t even realize it as she let out a huge sigh of relief.

Yasen has struck Khidon as quiet and hard-to-notice since the beginning. After all, he sported an average look, wore a light green robe that blended in with the surrounding, and has not spoken once since the exam began other than announcing scores. All he did was watch in silence.

That’s why everyone was in for a shock when Yasen reached the center of the field. A strong gust of wind blew over the student. The shock came not from his entrance, nor was it by the wind that seemed to have greeted him. It was his pure, immense presence.

A moment ago, he was so unnoticeable that he could’ve faded into the background. But now, now he is a pillar of presence so powerful that it is impossible to not turn your attention to him.

Suddenly, Khidon noticed that some people in the crowd began to buckle as if they are under some sort of pressure. Some were forced to lower their head, while others went down on one knee. The phenomenon left Khidon in confusion because he doesn’t feel any pressure at all.

Turning around, he sees that Carmen is still his usual self. But when he checks Aeri, it was evident that something was wrong. Her entire body is trembling, and even though she is still holding her head up high, you can see her struggle through the beads of sweat that are now dripping down her neck.

Then, as quickly as it started, it was over. Aeri moaned in relief, and those who were under the pressure were able to control themselves once more.

“Are you okay? What was that?” Khidon quickly asked.

“I...I don’t know. The moment he stepped forward, it was as if I lost control of part of my body, it yearned to bow down, to submit. But I’m fine now.”

The student's gazes were now all fixated on Yasen, no one is now underestimating his power despite his average look/attire and his young age in comparison to the other two judges.

All ears were focused on him as Yasen begin to explain the final and the most exciting exam, the Awakening Ceremony.

“If you imagine the Source of your elemental magic as a generator. Your power limit is the size of that generator, it determines how much elemental power you can conjure. Of course, your generator will get stronger with training, allowing you to wield stronger elemental magic. However, the size of the generator will stay the same. Meaning that although two people might both be Seven Star Elementalist, the person with the lower power limit has less elemental magic to work with, giving them a disadvantage. Additionally, a very low power limit can also limit the growth of your Source. Therefore, your power limits give us an insight into your talent, including how high your potential rank is and how well you can do against people of the same rank.”

“Affinity, on the other hand, dictates how compatible your body is with your element. The higher your affinity, the easier time you will have mastering your element. Affinity is extremely important in the higher ranks as precise control of affinity is the key between overpowering your opponent, or losing control of your powerful magic and potentially harming yourself. Your affinity is also a huge deciding factor for whether you will be accepted into Wilborne.”

Yasen took a pause and proceeded to take out a smooth sphere the size of a person’s head, placing it at the center of the field.

“This is the Awakening Orb. Each of you will come up one by one and hold it in both of your hands. You will feel a pulling sensation from the Orb, relax and let it do its thing. The Orb will shock the elemental power that lays dormant within your body awake and glows in response to the awakened magic. The colour of the glow indicates which element you awakened, the opacity indicates your affinity with your element, while the brightness indicates your power limit.”

After explaining the directions, he walked back to where the judges are seated.

The students glanced at each other nervously, no one wanted to be the first one to go up. The stalemate lasted for a few minutes until Yasen’s voice rang out once more.

“If no one goes within the next ten seconds, then all of you can go home.”

After a few more seconds of standoff, one student finally managed to work up the courage.

“Fuck it, I’ll go first.”

Brayan, Khidon remembers this student from the previous exams, he did pretty well on both the physical and the knowledge exam. He seemed like a strong candidate to get into Wilborne.

Brayan walked towards the center, picked up the Awakening Orb, and waited. But nothing happened...

A dozen seconds later, still nothing.

He looked up at the judges, uncertainly and doubt flickered in his eyes. And that’s when it happened.

A swirl of blue light flushed into the orb.

“Brayan, water element!” Yasen announce.

The colour slowly permeated the Orb, turning the Orb from its previously translucent state more and more opaque, until the colour settled.

“Affinity, sixty-nine percent (69%)!”

Finally, the Orb brightened up, lighting the surrounding with a blue glow.

“Power limit, seven!”

The students looked on in wonder at the majestic scene, the crowd that was too nervous to move moments ago are now in a frenzy, desperate to be the one to awaken their power first.

“Accepted!” Xaphon announced with a booming voice.

“I second.” Caren agreed.

“Welcome to Wilborne.” Yasen smiled for the first time in front of the students.

While Brayan smiled broadly and marched to an open area for those who are accepted, the crowd surged forward, all eager to the next to get into Wilborne. A wall of fire erupted in front of them, cutting off their way.

“One at a time! Or no one gets to go!” Xaphon warned.

When the fire died down, another student walked to Orb and held it in his hands. He waited and waited, yet a minute passed and nothing happened.

“No...”

“It seems that you have no elemental power” Yasen claimed calmly.

“No...Impossible...give me more time, please! Just a little more!”

“Vren, rejected!” Yasen’s words came down like a death sentence.

“Impossible! The Orb must be malfunctioning! It must be!” Vren’s vision fell into a red haze. He started shaking the Orb violently, eventually smashing it onto the ground. Thankfully, the Orb remains perfectly intact.

“Leave, or we will escort you out,” Yasen said in a cold and emotionless tone. He has seen too many who have reacted this way. Pity those who are in denial, unable to accept their reality.

The threatening tone instantly doused Vren’s anger. He turned and slowly walked back into the crowd. His movements resembled a walking corpse, it was as if all life has been drained from him.

“If you thought for a moment that you all have elemental powers, then you are terribly mistaken. There is a reason why although the human population is the largest out of the Five Great Races, we have only a mediocre amount of elementalists. I can say with full confidence right now, that out of the over six hundred of you, only a little more than two hundred will even awaken any power; and out of those who have, only around one hundred and fifty will have a strong enough power to be considered as a candidate.” Yasen’s words were like a huge bucket of cold water dumped over the crowd, dousing all the excitement they previously had.

The students began to realize that no matter how well they did in the previous two exams, all is for naught if they don’t have or have strong enough power in the first place.

“And so one by one, they took on the trial.

Few emerged triumphant, while most left in denial.

Who shall go next, all mighty and glorious?

How will they return, defeated or victorious?”

“Now that,” Aeri made a gagging face, “was horrendous.”

“Oh come on! It was good!” Carmen turned to Khidon for approval. “Right Khidon? You liked my poem. That was a true work of art!”

“Yep, it was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever heard in my entire life.” Khidon nodded with a serious face.

“You could’ve at least pretended to be genuine.” Carmen pouted.

“Although the poem was bad, no, horrible, you did sum up the situation pretty well.” Aeri glanced at the Orb worryingly as another student failed to awaken any power and was ruthlessly rejected by the judges. “Do you think we will awaken any elemental powers?”

Hundreds of students have taken their turns at the Awakening Orb, yet only dozens had passed. The others either did not awaken any power, had too little affinity/power limit, or just did so horrendously in the previous exams that they couldn’t be accepted.

Yet despite this all, Carmen crossed his arms and voiced confidently, “I don’t just think so, I know so.”

“I’ll take your word for it.”

Then, without a pause, Aeri walked towards the Awakening Orb.