Chapter 4

The practical part of the pairs on practical magic (no matter how ridiculous it may sound, the pairs on practical magic also had a theoretical part) in a special group was held on special training grounds. The students stood in a semicircle around the teacher Tatyana Vladimirovna. For Ivan, this was the first pair of practical magic practice (Ivan was amused by this phrase). "I wonder how pairs of practices go here, the teacher will watch how we release the magic over and over again? Indeed, at the initial level of elemental magic, only the elements of ice, fire and lightning possessed attacking techniques, as well as 3 stages of light (Dazzle) and earth (Quicksand) can be used as attack magic, so sparring is not an option. " Tatyana Vladimirovna looked around the 12 people standing in front of her and said:

- Today we will start with a small demonstration. You learned to release magic earlier than your peers and probably some of you want to try your hand at hunting monsters in the summer. Today I will show you how much you overestimate your strength. Ivan Syrin, please come.

- Good luck, dude - Pavel patted Ivan on the shoulder and Ivan, with some bewilderment, went to the center of the training ground to the teacher.

- Ivan, summon your draft monster. Anyone who can damage Ivan's draft animal will receive 10 points. Also, for each person who unsuccessfully tries to attack the monster, Ivan will receive 10 points as compensation. Ivan, after summoning, ask your monster not to attack.

- Good - said Ivan, concentrated and a transparent-silvery passage formed in front of him, from which a gigantic brown bear came out with a majestic gait.

Ivan's classmates stepped back a few steps, for the majority it was the first magical beast they saw alive. Only Olga and Pavel remained in place.

- If you are frightened even by a monster not attacking you, what will you do with wild monsters who want to kill you? Who is first? - said Tatyana Vladimirovna, after a while Vasya came out to the center of the site - a tall, fair-haired guy with an element of ice. Vasya approached the bear at a distance of 5 meters and on the third attempt was able to release the magic of the first stage of the initial level of the ice element: Ice spread: freezing. Ice covered the floor of the area in front of the magician, but even on the paws of the bear there was not a single trace, not a piece of ice.

Vasya tried two more times to freeze the bear's legs, but the bear did not seem to notice it at all. Vasya, cursing, went to his place. After him, a pretty girl Katya, from the fourth time she was able to release fire magic, but the released clot of fire did not even set the bear's fur on fire. After her, another ice mage, Kirill, came out, but Kosolapy did not even react to his attempts to freeze the bear's leg. Of the magicians, whose elements have offensive magic at the first stage of the entry-level, only Olga remained. Ivan decided to seize the moment:

- Hey, Olya, why don't you go out, are you afraid? You have a super cool lightning element.

- I just know that this is useless, your draft animal is a brown bear, and adult brown bears are the highest servants, I don't know to whom you sold your soul to summon such a monster at the first stage of the entry level, but I don't intend to give you free points - in order to inflict any harm on the highest servant, at least the magic of the 3rd stage of the initial level is needed - Olga said with some malice in her voice. "I wonder what this girl would say if she knew that I really sold my soul." Tatyana Vladimirovna looked at Olga and said:

- No more willing? Then Syrin Ivan gets 30 points, and Olga Tomonova gets 30 points for the correct identification of the monster and a sensible assessment of her strength - Olga quickly showed her tongue to Ivan - And now, - continued the teacher - magicians of ice, fire and lightning - find yourself a couple among the magicians of water, wind and earth and try to hit your partner with magic, the rest train to release magic just like that. Ivan, sit still, you need to learn to keep the draft animal in our world as long as possible.

Ivan sat down on a bench, sent the clubfoot to lie near this bench and began to look at the training of his classmates:

Olga chose Pavel as a couple. Their sparring looked like this: Olga and Pavel began to release magic at the same time, and the release rate for both was approximately the same, and if Olga finished first, lightning hit Pavel and he went to be treated by the teacher who owned the element of healing, and if Pavel finished first, then he delayed the release of magic until the moment the magic flew at him, and then "drove off" to the side, while, due to Paul's spiritual seed, the ground under his feet became viscous and wet. After Olga's sparring with Pavel, Olga found herself surrounded by a wide strip of mud.

- Hey, how can I get out of here now? - Olga asked Pavel with displeasure at the end of the sparring.

- Feet - laughing, answered Ivan, Pavel supported the laughter of his comrade. - Do you want me to help you get out? -Ivan asked unexpectedly. Olga, not finding a catch in the question, answered:

- I want to, but when you became such an add ... - Olga was interrupted by the fact that Kosolapy approached her, whom the mud did not even slow down, took the girl by the scruff of his teeth with his teeth and carried her to solid ground outside the circle of mud. - Great, instead of dirty boots, I have a slobbery jacket, but thanks for that too, Olga said displeasedly.

The most hopeless seemed to be the sparring of two pretty girls: Katya and Oksana. Katya, who was releasing magic a little slower than her rival, could not break through the shield of greenish viscous water, reinforced by a swamp spiritual seed.

Ivan sent Kosolapy back to the calling dimension only at the end of the pair: outside of the battle, maintaining the call almost did not take away energy.

Due to interesting practical lessons and Ivan's persistent attempts to subjugate the second star of space, May for the student flew by unnoticed, and June came, and therefore the time to pass the transfer exam for the first year of college. Formally, everyone who learned to release magic passed the exam, but in fact, many things that were important for an entry-level magician depended on the exam score and place in the ranking among freshmen: firstly, all students would be redistributed into groups according to the rating, and the amount of resources provided students between groups are strikingly different, secondly, depending on their place in the ranking, students received a different number of points for the exam, and thirdly, the five best students will be given to choose one magical artifact or instrument prepared by the college.

The exam tested the speed of magic release and its strength: the examiner had to release the magic three times in a row, after which the examination committee announced the score on a 100-point scale. Before the exam, Tatyana Vladimirovna told Ivan that there are different evaluation rules for the magicians of the call element: the commission evaluates the speed of the call and the strength of the summoned creature based on the results of one call.

All the freshmen stood on a large platform in front of the college and each waited in awe for their turn to take the exam. To Ivan's surprise, most of the traders were able to release magic at least twice in a row. Pavel, whose turn was in front of Ivan, received a mark of 89: his spiritual seed strengthened the released magic well. When Ivan's turn came, he approached the examiners. The chief examiner, whom Ivan did not know, said:

- The element of appeal, interesting. Get started. - Ivan concentrated, collected the summoning stars in the constellation and summoned Clubfoot. Most of the students, with the exception of Ivan's classmates, staggered back a couple of steps. After that, the examiners announced a score of 92 - despite the fact that Ivan summoned the highest servant, since Ivan spent a lot of time on the element of space, his summoning speed was not the best. Olga received a mark of 80, the best among those who awakened the "ordinary" element.

According to the exam results, it turned out that Ivan is in 1st place in the rating, Pavel is 2, Oksana is 4, and Olga is 7, despite the fact that she was not inferior in the speed of releasing magic to Pavel.

After the exam, the people who took the first 5 places in the rating were taken to an office where various magical artifacts and tools lay on the tables, of course, useful only at the initial, maximum at the intermediate level. The first step in choosing an artifact was from Ivan, who, without hesitation, took a cultivation tool of the spirit level to feed the amulet.

Arriving home and feeding the cultivation tool to the talisman, Ivan began to think about what to do in the summer, because the holidays began, which was supposed to be cultivated, of course, but Ivan also wanted to rest in the summer. Suddenly, Ivan's phone rang, where Olga's number was displayed, who, after Ivan answered, quickly rattled:

- Hi, what are you planning to do in the summer? I just found out my dacha, which is located in a safe village in the Leningrad Region, will be free until mid-July. I planned to call you, Pavel and my friend, who is a year older and is an entry-level second stage fire mage. In the forest near this village there are many lower Servants and few monsters of another level, are you in business?

- Yes, of course - Ivan answered without thinking twice.