The contestants were excited by the announcement and eagerly awaited more instructions. They figured that the glowing circles in the ground had something to do with the first test and that they would have to stand on them, but since they knew that if they disobeyed instructions they would be disqualified, they didn't dare to act out and try their ideas.

"The first test will be of the mind" the manager announced, "It will challenge your willpower and your mental prowess by pitting you against one of the most troublesome enemies of every magus, or rather, of every intelligent and emotion-possessing being..."

"The Inner Demon!"

The crowd immediately began to murmur and discuss the challenge. The richer and more well-dressed participants had confident smiles on their faces due to their knowledge of the subject that allowed them to prepare to face the challenge, they also carried disdainful expressions as they watched the poorer common folk discuss their lack of knowledge of the subject.

"What exactly is the inner demon?"

To everyone's surprise, a voice sounded out from the crowd and asked the question that many of them wished to inquire about but were ashamed to ask. When they looked at who exactly asked that, they found out that it was Ventus that asked such a question. The poorer folk admired his boldness and the richer sneered at his lack of knowledge, though they didn't dare say that out loud as the figure that was most likely his master that even the manager seemed to have some reservations to was close by and they didn't want to risk provoking such an existence.

"He REALLY doesn't have the knowledge of junior magus level nor the other skills besides combat strength huh?" the manager thought to himself

"The inner demon is a condensation and mental manifestation of all your fears and traumas that haunt your mind," he explained, "it has all of your strengths and knows all of your skills, it can take the shape of things that strike fear on you and will use every ounce of knowledge it has of your weaknesses against you in order to cause chaos and cripple your mind,"

"It is essentially a dark, despicable version of yourself." he concluded.

"And why do we have to face such a thing at the apprentice level? isn't it dangerous to face it now when we are this weak?" Ventus inquired further.

"It is precisely due to this that you must face it now!" the old magus replied, "The weaker you are the weaker it is, and as such, the sooner you fight it, the easier it is to defeat it."

"I understand." Ventus nodded.

As that was explained, everyone had a mostly equal ground of knowledge and thus could prepare to face the challenge more adequately. The common folk looked at Ventus for a bit in gratitude and then began to steel themselves for the oncoming mental battle. After a few minutes, the manager spoke again.

"You will now choose a circle and stand on it," he instructed, " Those circles are called Mental World Formations that will allow you to easily project your consciousness into your mind space and once you're there, face your inner demon."

"The rules to pass this test are simple," he explained, "Whoever can defeat their inner demon in the time limit of sixty minutes can continue on to the next trial, the ones who can't or lose against their inner demon are disqualified."

"And don't worry," he assured, "the mind space formation will protect your mind and suppress your inner demon should you lose the fight so that it does not consume you and cripple your mind turning you into a raging idiot."

The crowd nodded as the instructions were finished and orderly chose their circles. In a few moments, every contestant was in place and awaited further instructions.

The manager drew a rune in the air and sent it forwards, the rune then multiplied as it flew and became a hundred copies of the original one. The runes flew and fused with the circles releasing a fluctuation followed by the circles beginning to shine.

"The trial starts now," The magus smiled, "Good luck!"

The participants began to float in the circles and slowly their eyes closed and fell into the unconscious world of the mind.

...

Ventus felt his head get light as the mental world formation's light took effect and enveloped him, his eyelids got heavier by the second and he couldn't suppress the sweet embrace of the unconsciousness.

Everything grew blurry and for a period that seemed like years, he could only feel the nothingness and the darkness that surrounded him as his consciousness was magically separated from his mind and converted into a foreign being that would soon get to meet the true landscape that was his mental world.

For an immense amount of time, he felt his body floating. But eventually, he felt himself gently land on a hard surface which he immediately tried to link his mana threads to and easily managed to connect, however, he couldn't feel a pulse at all. He could connect to that surface and had the ability to manipulate it, but he couldn't feel a pulse on it, that was a dead land he could not tap into to its "life" to seek for a possible aid or hints.

His body felt somewhat light, and as such, he felt somewhat dizzy and his vision was blurred when he opened his eyes as he got up. He took a deep breath and blinked hard before he could finally stabilize his conciousness and perception of reality. When he could finally recognize his surroundings he saw that the world around him was an ashen one, everything on it seemed as if it had just recently been the victim of an immense blaze.

There were no buildings and the scenario only housed a cracked, flat, dry, gray-earth and some gray and withered trees. Above that land, high in the sky, floated a red fiery counter that decreased by the second and currently informed Ventus that he had fifty-seven minutes remaining to face and pass the first test of the trial.

"Well well well"

A voice much like his own but somewhat hoarse sounded out. Ventus reacted fast and immediately congealed a rock javelin and fired at the general direction of the voice.

"Ugh!"

The voice groaned in pain before puking sounds were heard.

"Not even going to give me enough respect to wait for me to speak?" the voice complained.

"No" Ventus replied coldly.

He gazed at the direction of the voice and saw that the javelin he had thrown found its way into the stomach of a figure precisely like his own, but with dark scarlet eyes, gray skin, white hair and dark-colored clothing. It was puking a dark blood and wearing a cold smile on its face whilst glaring at him.

Ventus congealed four more javelins and fired them. He could not give it any chance to speak as he knew that it would only try to destabilize him and use his loss to beat him.

"Oh no no no" The voice spoke.

The figure moved and shattered the javelin that impaled it, the wound on his stomach closed instantly and his ripped clothes were restored. It dashed forth and conjured four ash-colored rock shields that collided with the javelins and exploded firing rock shards everywhere.

Ventus dodged the shards and dashed towards his dark counterpart. On the way, his mana threads constantly connected to the ground and gathered material to construct two ash-colored gauntlets around his clenched fists. They clashed hard as Ventus threw a fist aimed at it but the figure instantly conjured a small buckler shied on its arm before raising it and successfully defending himself.

"You're not going to instakill me!" The figure snarled.