The exam room was in a different part of the novice section. It was rather large, mixing elements of an awakened training room, an auditorium, and a small arena. Knee-length walls separated four sections of the floor, marking the trial zones.

“Take the top row,” Palag pointed at a set of seats. “Dal, you go down to zone one.”

Dallion swallowed. He could feel a tightness in his chest.

It’s just a silly trial! He kept repeating to himself. He hadn’t felt so tense when he had fought in the arena of Nerosal.

“While he faces the challenge, I want all of you to carefully observe everything going on,” the fury continued. “Everything he does right, everything he does wrong. Remember, you’ll be going through this as well if you want to progress to rank three. The point is not only to learn through your mistakes, but from the mistakes of others as well.”

His prep talk could use some work, the armadil shield said. Then again, he’s a fury. They always had a thing for others’ failure.

Upon arriving at the edge of the zone, Dallion hesitated. Should he just step over it? Splitting into two instances, he did. Nothing happened.

“Dallion.” The fury cast a spell, causing a large aether cube, the size of a small chest, to materialize in the air. “Your goal is simple.” The cube gently levitated down, landing in the middle of Dallion’s trial zone. “Complete the trial. In order to start, all you need to do is have some of your magic interact with the cube.”

“That’s all?” Dallion asked.

“That is all.”

“Do I have a time limit to complete the trial?”

A thin smile emerged on Palag’s face.

“You can take as long as you like. Yet the magic of the trial will constantly evaporate. If you take too long, the amount of magic won’t be enough to boost your trait by a level.”

Cunning. There was a time limit, but it wasn’t imposed by the instructor. The explanation was a trick to make novices feel that it was all in their hands, and while it very much was, there certainly were methods to ensure that the magic didn’t “evaporate.”

Dallion took a deep breath and slowly stepped up to the cube. The size was outright impressive. He could see thousands of mana threads inside, tangled in a series of complicated knots. For a moment, he glanced back at his classmates. All of them were there, even Cheska and Raven.

When did you show up? Dallion wondered.

There was no need for them to be here, although Dallion could see the benefit. This would be their first time seeing such a trial, although when it came to the black-haired, one could never be certain.

The moment Dallion’s hand came in contact with the crystal, the cube swallowed him in. It felt like being sucked into a new space… and it very much was just that.

VORTEX CAGE – LEVEL 1

A purple rectangle appeared.

You are in a VORTEX CAGE.

Solve the riddle to ABSORB the vortex.

You have 20 minutes before the VORTEX becomes too weak to absorb.

The rectangles were a nice touch, making it feel like a standard trial. However, Dallion could see what it really was: a prison realm, just like the one the general had given him. That’s why it worked exclusively on magic creatures. No doubt the standard version didn’t decay, keeping its captive inside for an infinite amount of time. Or even if it did, the rate of decay was so slow that it would hold prisoners years before it needed replacement.

“Dallion,” Palag’s voice snapped him back to reality. “Time is wasting.”

This was another disconcerting aspect of the cube: it allowed the captive to look out as well as others to look in. Bursting into instances, Dallion summoned his harpsisword, then went about exploring the vortex cage.

The area was rather small, no larger than a standard twenty-by-twenty-foot room. There were no creatures or monsters. Most would consider that good. Not Dallion, though. With his skills, a direct fight would have been far more to his advantage.

Looking at the floor, there were a few spell patterns—nothing that Dallion could decipher—and a large number of magic threads that went along the entire surface of the cube like iron bars.

A puzzle, Dallion thought. They set me up with a puzzle.

Back on Earth, he enjoyed watching people solve escape rooms the same as any other person, although he couldn’t say he was particularly good at it.

The obvious choice was to use his spark to cut through the magic threads. Charging up his harpsisword, Dallion did a three-sixty line attack. The attack worked so well that it shattered the vortex completely, earning him no reward whatsoever. Thankfully, all that had been done in an instance allowing Dallion to pretend it never happened.

“One word of advice,” the fury instructor said. “Do not use items that would destroy the trial cube itself. That is not considered an acceptable solution and will gain you nothing other than a few stern words by my mage.”

Thanks for sharing, windbag! Dallion grumbled mentally. He unsummoned his harpsisword. If he couldn’t use weapons, he had to focus on the things he could, namely magic symbols.

His first thought was to draw the matter symbol and just to see what would happen. Out of habit, he drew it in a way to make gold. The floor changed appropriately, transforming into the precious metal.

There was an initial boost of dopamine and euphoria, though that quickly faded as Dallion found that he was lacking the most important question: what exactly was he supposed to do?

“Am I supposed to escape?” he asked.

“That’s part of the trial,” Palag replied. “Figure out what you’re supposed to do and then do it as efficiently as possible.”

As useless as a trial echo, Dallion grumbled mentally, only to get a chorus of disapproval from his realm.

Splitting into a hundred instances, he drew all the symbols he knew on one of the walls. Most of them had little effect, but there were two that had rather unexpected effects. One was the light symbol. Dallion expected the entire wall to light up. Instead, only the magic threads did so. What was more, different parts of the threads glowed in different intensities.

The other symbol that worked was the temperature one, more specifically the cold aspect of the symbol.

Any point asking for assistance, Nil? Dallion tried to pull one of the threads, but the layer of purple crystal prevented him from reaching it.

Use what you’re learned and follow your intuition, dear boy, the echo replied.

You’re worse than Palag. Dallion kept on creating instances.

One of the positives about being able to combat split was that it effectively increased time a hundredfold. The countdown didn’t stop, but Dallion got to explore hundreds of options. The trial had become more an exercise in brute force than anything else. Hundreds of Dallions walked up and down, drawing symbols in different spots. Eventually, logic patterns started to emerge. Drawing a light symbol on a gold floor made it light up. However, drawing a matter symbol on a wall with glowing threads made them shine through.

Intrigued, Dallion followed up by drawing an ice symbol on the material. The wall of gold froze solid to the point that leaning against it was enough to make a hole in the spot.

“No,” Dallion whispered. “You have to be kidding me.” He looked at the fury. The annoying smile on the instructor’s face suggested that Dallion’s fears were well founded.

Dallion looked back at the wall. Gently, he reached through the hole and pulled out one of the magic threads. The piece of magic extended, though it didn’t snap.

That was the riddle: to link the threads according to their intensity. Or, at least, it seemed so. With no other clues to go by, Dallion did just that.

As the minutes decreased, he moved from one part of the room to the other, pulling out threads and linking them together like electric cables. The whole space became a giant maze of cat’s cradles. Soon Dallion had to use his athletic and acrobatic skills just to navigate the place.

When the final connection was made. The change occurred. There was no rectangle, no warning. All the threads suddenly combined, pulling all the magic into a single ball in the center of the room. Walls, floor, and ceiling shattered as even solid matter broke up into chunks, transforming into pure magic once more.

That was it—the solution to the riddle, and the final challenge. Without wasting a second, Dallion dashed towards the glowing sphere and grabbed hold of it.

MAGIC ABSORBED

Your MAGIC trait is now 10

“Well done, Dal.” Slow clapping came from the upper rows. “You have successfully completed this cohort’s first experience trial. And not only that, but it seems you’ve graduated to level three.”

Dallion didn’t know what to say. He felt glad, but also slightly concerned. The trial had ended up being nothing like he had expected. Looking at the faces of his classmates, many of them were still laughing. Cheska wasn’t. She was probably one of those who had grasped the significance of just what had happened. As for Raven, there was no sign of him anymore.

“As you’ve all seen, the trials come in many forms. Maybe you’re good at defeating monsters. Maybe you’re fast at drawing symbols. In order to become an apprentice, you need to be proficient at everything. Remember, reliability is the key to success. Those who aren’t reliable amount to nothing more than low-level apprentices at best. If you don’t want to end up like that, be diligent and insightful.”

The laughter stopped.

“Take five minutes to decide who’ll take on the next trial.” The fury made his way to the room’s entrance. “Dallion, a word if I may.”

Since arriving at the Academy, Dallion had no idea whether that was a good thing or not. Either way, he was in no position to refuse. Calmly, he made his way up the steps, glancing at Phoil as he did so. The large boy was making it obvious that he wanted to be the next to go, as his posse was assuring him he’d do way better than Dallion. Cheska, on the other hand, had joined their instructor at the entrance.

“This marks our final lesson,” Palag said. “You’re welcome to come watch novice trials, of course, but other than that, I doubt we’ll see each other again.”

“Okay?” Dallion wasn’t sure what this meant, nor why it was so formal.

“From now on, you’ll be taught by my mage directly. Try to make a good impression in class. He’s not as liberal as I am.”

“I thought mages don’t deal with novices,” Dallion said.

“Usually they don’t, but with several prodigies, Academy mages tend to make exceptions. Oh, and just to let you know, you’re not a prodigy, just someone with experience and talent. Keep that in mind.”

Quite the flatterer, the armadil shield said in Dallion’s realm. I bet he’s quite the romantic on the inside.

“Cheska will show you the ropes,” Palag went on. “As a prodigy, she’s been given a few privileges, not to mention she’s already got a basic understanding of what’s going on.”

“You’ve been to rank three classes, haven’t you?” Dallion asked with a smirk.

“Just some of them.” The girl replied with false modesty. “Rank three is a lot different. We got to learn spells. There are so many of them that we must pick fields. Well, you need to pick fields.”

“Why just me?”

“Do you think you can keep up? I picked all of them, of course, but I don’t think you’ll be able to follow the more complicated ones.” A poisonous smile formed on her face. “You can always try, though.”

“I think I will.” Dallion smiled back. It was official. With his advancement to rank three, a new rivalry had just begun.