CHAPTER 6: SEAMLESS

The entrance exam for The Red Phoenix Magic Academy consisted of three phases. The first phase was not really a test. It would be where young potential magicians would touch a prismatic orb.

The orb was used to identify the type of magic that dwelled within each student. This was mainly used by the poorer applicants. Those whose family had no prior magic experience and could not teach their children how to properly feel out their own magic systems and circles.

Overall this wasn’t truly a test more like an inspection. The school accepted a lot of applicants each year without specific magical alignment.

There were entire realms of magic that did not depend on magic alignment or affinities and this school was the cornerstone of all things beyond the ordinary. Needless to say, I opted to withdraw myself from this sort of testing.

I made it clear I already knew I was an Enhancer type magician.

-

The second test required applicants to fill an empty magic crystal with their mana. Each applicant would have to touch a black magic crystal and fill it with magic.

The crystal’s colour would intensify to show the magic level of the user.

This test served three purposes. Firstly to test the magic capacity of each student. While magic capacity grew with age and practice, a natural talent to start with meant a huge boost in strength during the early years compared to other students.

Nextly to show the level of control each student had over their mana.

Lastly It also would help to show the output capacity of young magicians.

The potential students gathered under the main hall. There were hundreds of people gathered in the main hall of the academy, some in tattered clothes and some who dressed with their nobility almost printed on their foreheads.

A young man barely looking to be in his thirties stood on the stage as he spoke,

“Line up, place your palms on the black crystal. Black, red, orange and yellow are failing colours. Green and blue are average passes, violet and white are exceptional, while silver and gold are legendary”.

The man dressed casually, his robe was rather thin and short for a magician. If Alric had to guess he would assume he was a low ranked young magician sent to do the administrative work.

Before the man could finish his sentence a young lad broke from the crowd. He wasn’t particularly strong however his two body guards that were sent with him made parting the crowd an easy task.

“Back off peasants! I am Sir Hagard Shakespeare, and I will be taking this test first.”

He pranced across the stage, pushing the man on the stage aside and placing his hand on the large black crystal. Hagard’s face lost its lively look the longer he touched the crystal. The crystal flashed and flashed and then returned to its black color.

“Applicant number 1. - Fail.”

the man on the stage announced with a mellow tone.

“That’s...That’s… impossible! My father is a peak Expert magician!

It’s obvious this dumb rock isn’t working!”

Hagard was panting and sweating looking extremely exhausted. His guards supported him as he stumbled and hurled his accusations. The man with his still mellow looking stare stretched out his palm and touched the black crystal.

It began to flare even more intensely than before. When the flashing subsided a bright golden light was felt throughout the entire hall. Alric was stupefied, the magic he felt exerted in that split second was far beyond anything he had ever sensed from a magical beast.

It felt if it was directed this power could level entire cities. Before they knew it the entire hall was on the ground. Alric himself was already low on one knee as though he was ready to propose.

‘Guess he isn’t as simple as he seems..’

Alric thought while the pressure of the magic crippled him.

“I am headmaster Gerard Warstorm. I know who your father is. I was his headmaster as well.”

Gerard lifted a finger and in a blink Hagard and his guards vanished.

“Next”.

Gerard continued as though the incident was irrelevant.

The line of potential students continued more smoothly. The average colour so far was a dance between black and green.

A young girl stepped up to the podium, her rose pink hair flowing as she elegantly walked towards the black crystal. It was an understatement to call her beautiful for her young age.

Her hand stretched and as it made contact with the crystal the black crystal flashed. The crystal took longer than normal to settle on a colour. When the flashing subsided the hall was flowing in a smooth pink hue.

The hall chuckled at what looked like an anticlimactic end of a great movie.

“Applicant number 204, Pass”.

The murmuring and giggling was quickly silenced by the voice of the headmaster.

They were purportedly saying,

“Hey you are just biased because she is a noble!”

The applicants began to rile up, thinking they had caught the headmaster red handed picking favorites.

“If any of you have an issue with my decision, open your own school and run it as you see fit. If you can't, then fight me for this one.”

The crowd was silenced and the testing continued.

-

The line proceeded until it was my turn. I walked up to the black crystal. The headmaster looked at me with a complicated look, he seemed to be confused by my existence.

Regardless, I acted as though there was nothing to suspect and stretched out my hand to grasp at the black crystal.

When my palm made contact, all the magic inside my body rushed towards my palm and filled the black crystal. It flashed as it stole the magic within my body, the more it drank the weaker and more fatigued I became.

I felt all my reserves had been drained but the crystal, still thirsty, felt as though it yanked at the energy within my kludde contract. A wave of energy lashed at the crystal forcing it to stop its avaricious drinking.

The flickering subsided, the hall was now bathing in a black hue.

“Intriguing, a purple hue so dark, there must be superb circle control to produce such a fascinating result.”

The headmaster mumbled to himself as he observed the young lad partaking in the exam.

“Applicant number three hundred and forty seven, pass.”

The headmaster pulled from his dazed expression, returning to his usual mellow voice.

“Hey that was black! that’s worse than the noble from before! how could you pass him!”

The crowd of failures which had slowly built up began to riot in protest, hoping to have found another compatriot. Instead of answering, the headmaster pointed to the edges of the dark light that was shimmering in a purple hue. The crowd gulped realizing how sharp the headmaster's vision and senses were to see such a thin hue.

The youth, despite his dress as a commoner, made a bow so graceful one would misinterpret him as a noble. His humbled demeanor almost overshadowed the faint dark aura he emitted.

The headmaster felt something odd about this lad but he wasn't quite able to put his finger on what exactly it was. The headmaster watched him step down from the podium until the next student came to the crystal.

The next examinee was a tall fellow. His hair gleamed in a silver hue as he stretched out his palm and touched the crystal. When it made contact, instead of flashing as wildly as it did in the other hundred odd cases, it instantly filled the entire room in a lush golden hue.

The hall fell silent at such a spectacle.

“Applicant number three hundred and forty eight, pass.”

The principal continued as though it was equally irrelevant.

The second phase of the exam ended late into the night. A total of two hundred and seventy of the examinees had passed so far.

The headmaster announced that the next phase of testing would commence sometime before day break.

Majority of the last few to testees were still exhausted and mana deprived. The majority of the nobles knew of this and specifically chose to go first within the second round of testing to gain more time to recuperate.

The examinees carried nothing more than a pouch which contained basic carry on items. however a few of the more finely dressed ones had their personal dimensional items.

Although these items could only carry as much as a paper bag or large purse, they showed a clear division between the nobles and peasants.

-

Only about four hours had passed when I was yanked out of deep sleep.

My kludde’s mark irritating non-stop, I awoke and looked around into the darkness of the room. My eyes that were enhanced by the kludde contract could see clearly into the darkness.

The applicants laid about loosely inside the hall as they all slept. A few of the examinees were still up there alertness obviously a notch above average.

In that moment, from the shadows, a series of deep yellow eyes could be seen. The pairs opened one after the other until the entire hall was surrounded.

The growling of wild animals surrounded the students.

The first scream broke the silence of the night. A high pitched scream woke the entire hall.

The body of students turned around to see a grey wolf with its fangs buried deep into a student’s neck.