Chapter 68

After having a good sleep at a local Inn, Aaron reached the Mage Association promptly in the Morning.

When he went up to the reception he found that he was already allocated to a mage who would be testing him.

He was led to the testing ground where he found someone was already waiting for him.

"Right on time. Aaron Rosil right? " asked the man wearing a Red robe. Yes a Red robe which could be seen from a mile away. He looked around 50 years old but had a youthful smile on his face.

"Good Morning. Yes, I am Aaron. "

"Call me Jeremiah. I will be the one testing you today to grade your strength as a mage."

"As you might know, Mages can be divided into two main categories. Combat and supportive classes. Some Excel in one class and some could Excel in both."

"When we say supportive, it holds more of a symbolic meaning. They are strong in their own right, its just that combat isn't their main forte."

"We will hold the test for the two classes separately. I will roughly follow the guidelines laid down by the association. If you are unsatisfied with your evaluation at the end, you can reapply once. You will have to pay for it though."

"You will be graded according to the seven ranks of Violet, Indigo, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange and Red. Violet being the lowest grade and Red being the highest."

"Are you clear with the rules."

Aaron was given a lot of information in a short amount of time. The evaluation system of mages was much more advanced on this side. It was much better than the one they had on the other side. It also made sense having different ranking system for combat and non combat mages.

Aaron nodded towards Jeremiah signalling he understood.

"Good. Since you are True Space mage who are generally more inclined towards the support class, we will start with that. "

"The guidelines Arranged for them are to test the amount of weight you can lift with your telekinesis, the distance you can cover in one gate, the amount of time needed to open a gate and the number of partitions you have in your mind. You will allocated points for each of those separately. Your average points will determine your rank. "

"Now, you maybe thinking you might have developed a new ability which separates you from others. You can display that as well. The score for that ability would be determined by the best of my ability. That's the best we can do. To accurately measure the strength of a mage is impossible after all. "

"Even if you are ranked a little low, it doesn't mean you are weak. You might be really good at one spell which could make your worth higher than someone who is ranked higher than you. Ranks just give a general understanding of the overall strength. Not an accurate measure. "

Aaron understood it all well. He might Excel in one spell taking his rating high but might score badly in some other spell making his rating average. It was more like a school exam. A student may perform really well in one subject while he might fail in another. His average would be poor but it didn't necessarily mean he was stupid. It just meant his brilliance was towards a particular subject.

Aaron was ready to have the test and see how he ranks in comparison to the mages here. He wouldn't be hiding his skills this time and perform his best. Seeing how the Mage Association is hungry for talents, it might be a good thing for him if he gets good enough ranks.

"Alright. We will begin with the telekinesis spell. It's the very basic of space magic. Their are various stones palced in front of you marked with different weights. I want you lift the highest weight you possibly can. You need to lift it at the minimum of 2 ft high and maintain it for 10 seconds."

"You can begin when you are ready. "

Aaron took a deep breath. He knew he could lift beyond 100kgs. But he still started with a 100kg stone to get a feel of the weight.

He continued to increase the weight of the stones he lifted.

110kg, 120kg.... He continued till he reached the 220kg stone. Aaron hadn't explored his limit with the weights for some time now. Last time he had tested it was around 2 years ago when he was still at the academy. He could manage about 100kg then. Now he had more than doubled the amount he could lift. He himself was amazed at his rate of improvement.

Once the telekinesis spell was done, next up were the space gates. This was one the spells Aaron was most familiar with. He didn't even remember the number of times he was forced to use this particular spell.

In a straight line Aaron could see flags placed at specific distance. He needed to open a gate at the furthest distance he could in one attempt and retrieve the flag back.

Now this was easy for Aaron. He concentrated, opened a gate big enough to pass, but just put his hand in it and pulled a flag. The highest distance he could achieve was 2.2 Km. Seeing how easily Aaron did it, even Jeremiah had a astonished expression. He had seen mages open a gate at a greater distance, but this was a boy at 17 years of age.

The ease he opened a gate was something to be appreciated. He didn't even look like he tried hard.

Next was noting the timing of the fastest gate he could make without considering the distance. This was in a way to gauge the power of his mental calculations. His mental strength. A human of course wasn't able to perfectly measure this. They had an artifact created by a time mage which could accurately measure the time.

"You need to open a gate as soon as I say ready. I will point to a direction and it is within that direction you need to open a gate. This is to prevent you from having already calculated a gate to open. Tell me when you are ready. "

This was definitely a good way. If a mage was asked to open a gate. He might have already calculated for a gate he wanted to open at a specific location. But randomly choosing a direction countered that.

"Ready." Aaron said when he was ready.

"Now." Jeremiah pointed in a direction with his one hand. With his other hand he started the time measuring artifact as soon as his finished pointing the direction.

"How is this possible!! " Jeremiah exclaimed soon after.