As soon as the starting bell rung, the students were instructed to attend the assembly hall. So I slowly made my way through the sea of students to the assembly hall. The assembly hall has to be the single largest building on the entire campus since it was made to have all the students attend altogether.

It took about 10 minutes for all the students to settle down in the assembly hall. Boys were seated on the right while girls were seated on the left with a path in the middle leading up to the stage. After another few minutes an elderly man with a long grey beard, wearing a magician's robe went up the stage and stood behind the podium. This man was none other than the academy principal and grade 9 pyro arc-mage Anvar. He is a national hero due to his contributions on the battlefield during the last war between Bluestone and Redstone which happened 52 years ago. After retiring as a battle mage he was assigned as the principal of The Academy. I find it odd how he's still working after 'retirement' but I guess a mage of his caliber still has to contribute to Bluestone somehow.

Soon principal Anvar started his speech. "Good morning students, I hope everyone is ready for the exams. We'll start the exam in a few minutes but before that I'd like to tell all the first years about how the advancement exam is carried out. This will also serve as a memory refresher for those who don't remember the exact details of the previous exams. The exam will be carried out at 5 different venues for each respective class. That being Mages, Magic Swordsman, Magic Engineers, Alchemists and Beast tamers. The requirements for each class will be specific to each class respectively. Professor Hawth will shortly elaborate on the details and the venue for each class. With that I'll end my speech and I hope everyone will try their absolute best for their advancement."

Principal Anvar stepped down from the podium and Professor Hawth stepped up. He soon afterwards went into the details and the venue the exam will be held for each class.

All the classes were divided into their respective groups and they were lead by a professor to the venues. Me and the rest of the Swordsman apprentices were guided by Professor Eagath to a battle hall which will serve as our venue for the exam.

Professor Eagath is a young woman probably in her 20s with long black hair and blue eyes which are displayed brightly under her glasses. She always shows a stern face but rarely punishes students. She teaches water magic to magic swordsman apprentices.

As soon as we arrived at the battle hall I hear someone calling from behind causing me to turn around.

"Orion!"

"Oh Nubia, it's been a while"

This brightly smiling goddess of happiness that's currently standing in front of me is none other than Nubia Tideweaver. I say this cause she is smiling no matter the time or place and generally seems really happy. She is a fellow classmate and magic swordsman apprentice. She's the 3rd daughter of the Tideweaver clan's patriarch which makes her a modern day princess. The Tideweaver clan is one of the 5 major clans in Bluestone and are known for their high affinity with Water and Wind magic. She's been the only person who has been regularly talking to me for the past 2 years. I guess you can say she's currently my only friend. Well I won't go that far as our conversations are always extremely short with a rare exception here and there.

She smiles at me and says "So... are you confident about passing the exam? well you definitely have what it takes to pass".

I replied by saying "I'd say I have above a 50% chance of passing".

She looks at me with one of her eyebrows raised and says

"Calculative as always.... So I am guessing that means you are confident."

I just calmly replied with a "yes".

The smile on her face becomes even more curved saying

"Goodluck then".

"You too" was the only thing I could reply with before she darted off as her name was being called by Professor Eagath.

"Nubia Tideweaver, Grade 2 magic swordsman apprentice will now be taking the exam. I'll repeat the requirements for passing. You'll have to perform 1 Grade 3 spell and 1 grade 3 sword technique. You'll be performing them on the training dummy right across the room and I'll be the judge to see if you pass. Proceed with your spell Nubia Tideweaver".

Nubia calmly said "Yes, professor"

She turned towards the dummy and pointed both her hands towards it and started silenty chanting. A second or so later, a green sphere appeared in her hands. A split second afterwards, 3 green translucent blades shot towards the dummy hitting it directly on the chest, leaving 3 marks on it. From my observation it appears to be the grade 3 wind spell known as air cutter.

Professor Eagath looked at Nubia and said "Well done. That air cutter was performed very quickly and effectively with great accuracy, now move on to the sword techniques".

Nubia nodded and said "Yes, professor" and moved closer to the training dummy. She stopped infront of the dummy and unsheathed her blade from the white scabbard at her waist. I say blade instead of sword as it has the shape of a rapier rather than a traditional sword.

The elegant hilt and the loop guard are in a vibrant gold color while the blade itself has the color silver.

Soon after, she and her blade were covered in a silvery aura. This is a grade 3 sword technique called sword aura. This technique increases physical attributes of the caster such as strength, speed and reaction time. I am familiar with it as it is a technique I personally know how to use.

She ran towards the dummy and slashed at it atleast a dozen times in less than a few seconds displaying her enhanced physique.

Professor Eagath quickly said "Truly brilliant, you are quite proficient at using sword aura. You have passed the exam and your identification will be updated to that of a Grade 3 swordsman apprentice within the next 24 hours. You may now leave or stay to observe the other examinees".

She excitedly thanked the professor saying "Thank you very much Professor Eagath!" with an elated expression and made her way back to where the other examinees were.

When she came towards me I looked her with a smile and said "Congratulations Nubia".

She looked at me with a smile and said "Thanks, soon it'll be your turn to be congratulated when you pass". Even with her smile there was a hint of sadness but I quickly dismissed it thinking it was my imagination.

We observed the next 5 examinees silently. 3 of them passed while 2 of them failed. One of them had fired his fire spell very inaccurately while the other failed to even cast his spell. Both of them didn't get to show their sword technique as they failed the spell.

Then professor Eagath looked at her list and projected her voice through her microphone saying "Orion Haloligh, please make your way here".