Rai could feel someone staring at him, so he turned in the direction he felt it from to see who it was. When he turned, he could see a red haired girl running at him with tears in her eyes. He recognised her immediately.

Sin practically flew at him. He grabbed her out of the air and hugged her tightly. Rai's tears were flowing, he’d finally reunited with his only friend.

Some of the students around them looked over at the commotion. Some ignored it. Many of the ones who looked over grew looks of envy on their faces, completely misreading the situation.

Sindyl spoke into Rai’s shoulder, muffled, “I missed you so much.”

Rai’s arms were wrapped around her, he could feel her body shaking, “Me too.” He spoke with a crack in his voice. He spoke again with joy permeating his voice, and a light chuckle, “You smell like roses.”

They hugged for what felt like a full minute before letting each other go. Sin pulled a napkin out of her spatial rune and wiped the tears from their faces.

While she did so, Rai beamed at her with the same goofy grin he had when they became friends. She did the same.

Sin looked at him for a moment more before speaking, “When did you get here?”

“I got here yesterday. Got to meet Kallad too. Or, well, Kallad met with me if I was to be pedantic about it.”

Sin raised an eyebrow at him, “You met with my dad?”

Rai rubbed the back of his head with a somewhat annoyed look as he recalled the interaction, “Yeah, he showed up when I was about to sleep and started rambling and asking weird questions. I mostly just ignored him and went to bed.”

Sin covered her mouth and giggled, “It was his first time seeing you in a while, so he probably couldn’t keep his mouth shut or be patient to wait for you to be rested.” She wondered about where Rai stayed the night, but didn’t worry about asking until the exams were over.

Rai switched the conversation’s gears, “One of the things he said was that you wouldn’t be arriving until today. How comes?”

Sin took note of the farm boy’s informal speech. She was glad he was still comfortable enough with her to not speak formally all the time, like all of the people in the Castle would do.

She sighed in response to his question, “I wanted to come yesterday and explore the city a bit, since I’ve only ever been to our family home whenever we come here. But I was perfecting a technique that I wanted to use in the practical exam. My goal is to get the top three positions in each of the exam categories.” She spoke with a puffed out chest, and somehow breathed out steam as she declared her goal.

Rai let out a low whistle, “Now that’s an awesome goal. I’m just hoping to pass, I don’t wanna let mum and Jin down.”

Sin scoffed, “Just pass? We both know that you’ll ace the practical exam at least.” She was about to laugh when a voice boomed from a stage that was situated just ahead of the crowd of students.

A suited, cleanly-shaven, man on the stage spoke into a device that propelled his voice ahead to everyone on the Academy grounds. “Everybody! Please settle down, the headmaster has a few words to say before the entrance exams begin.”

The suited man left the stage, and an older looking bald man with a sharp beard took the stage. He wore what looked like a ceremonial gown.

His speech began in a soft tone, “To the prospects before me. The young men and women who wish to further themselves beyond their own limits. Zenith is a vast landscape; one where endless possibilities can make anyone flourish. It is up to you. How far you can go will depend on how far you can push yourself. We care not for your family names or status, but for your ability and your merit. Prove to us that you have the drive to grow, and we will do our utmost to help you blossom. May you all be blessed with good fortune.”

His speech was met with a round of applause and a number of cheers from the nobles up front. The suited man returned to the stage to speak once more, “Please, everyone line up to receive a badge which you will imbue your name and signature into. You will use this badge in each of your exams, and it will be used to identify which work is yours. You may use the badge only once in each exam. The deadline for the completion of your exams is 6:00 PM today. You will know whether you have passed or failed each exam through your badges, and by 7:00 PM there will be a board for each exam showcasing those with the highest grades. The three gateways we have set up will lead you to each exam area. If you need any assistance or guidance then feel free to speak to any of the faculty located around the grounds. Good luck.” The man left the stage once more.

Rai and Sin got their badges relatively quickly as they were already close to the stands where they were handing them out.

The first exam they did was the writing exam, which consisted of questions about the world and the clans. There was little in the way of creative writing, or anything that tested the quality of one’s writing. It felt far more like a general knowledge test than a writing exam. Rai knew of all of the clans, and had very little difficulty with this test thanks to the knowledge imparted to him by his aunt. Sin was surprised at how easy the test was and felt confident that she got every single question correct.

After completing the writing exam, they decided that they would do the magical aptitude exam next. When they walked into the gateway, they both ended up in separate rooms. In fact, the rooms they were in had no one else in them. All there was in the room was a giant orb, resting on the ground in front of them. Rai looked around at the plain room, which felt like it was part of a pocket dimension, just like spatial storage.

A voice came from one of the walls, “Please place your hand on the orb and channel all of your mana into the orb. This will not consume all of your mana, and will only be used to test the efficiency of your mana channels and depth of your mana pool. Please imbue the orb with as much mana as you can, as fast as you can.”

Rai figured he would use the maximum amount of mana that he was allowed to, since he might have to actually use that amount at some point in the future. It was better to set that as his ceiling in the Academy.

He released a fifth of his mana. Rai felt the cool energy flow within him, as if someone opened a faucet. His mana was light and smooth flowing, and his mana channels were completely relaxed as he got used to this much of his mana in his body. Rai wouldn't use more than a tenth of his mana in most of his training, so using double what he was used to wasn't easy. He managed to control it without much pain though.

Rai placed his hand on the orb and followed the instructions. He concentrated, and imbued the orb with all of the mana he’d released, as fast as he could. The sensation of mana flowing out of his body was strange, considering he'd never done anything of the sort before. It wasn't exactly a bad sensation, but it left him feeling like a void was growing within him.

The orb glowed brightly initially. The brightness grew even brighter. Then the brightness disappeared. The orb cracked. The crack split. The orb shattered.

Rai looked blankly at the shattered pieces of the orb on the ground... Is that... supposed to happen?

In front of him was now a man, manifested from nothingness. It was the headmaster.

He stared at the shattered orb, then spoke with a voice that only gave away his curious nature, “How very peculiar. That’s not exactly supposed to happen, but these orbs are the weakest ones.” He looked at Rai, who still had a dumbfounded look on his face, “You’ll need a more powerful orb if we’re to test your true strength.”

He clicked his fingers, and the shattered orb disappeared, with a similar orb in its place. This orb was the same size and overall shape, but had a slightly different hue, as well as some intricate designs that looked like they were etched into it. Rai's mana was also refilled somehow.

The headmaster nodded, “That should do. Please follow the instructions again, and please don’t break this one. It’s a lot more expensive.” He disappeared.

Rai didn’t even get to speak, the whole thing happened so fast.

He followed the instructions again, and did the same thing.

This time, the orb didn’t break, but glowed even brighter than the previous one. Though he didn't intend it, lightning tendrils began flowing off Rai's body. Lightning was how his mana naturally manifested itself in the world, but it was still so bright that Rai had to close his eyes and look away. Rai began to feel dizzy as he was reaching the end of his mana capacity. The moment after all of his mana was siphoned into the orb, the dizziness dissipated, and he heard the same initial voice from the same wall.

“Thank you, your mana will be restored upon leaving through the gateway.” An exit gateway opened up on the other side of the orb.

Rai wanted to think about the interaction with the headmaster, but he had another exam to complete. He also didn't want to keep Sin waiting.

He walked through the gateway.