Academy Entrance Exams (Part 3)

Once again Caxon opened his eyes and saw himself in a completely different place. This room was slightly more decorated than the last one as there were small pillows on the ground that seemed to be for sitting on, there was also a small section of bamboo shoots and a calming sound of water that he could not find the source of.

This room reminded him of a meditation or yoga room since the entire layout seemed to be for the purpose of relaxation.

He then saw an old lady leaning on a walking cane standing with her eyes closed next to 4 pedestals each with an orb on top.

"Hello young man, I am happy that such a handsome boy has been able to make it this far. Now tell me, can you use any elemental magic?"

The old lady seemed very kind as she talked in a slow but intelligent manner, Caxon smiled at the old lady before he bowed and answered.

"Thank you for your kind words, however I am afraid that I do not have the comprehension to use any element I am sorry."

"Oh, don't worry, it's not as though you fail you could have just skipped this trial if you knew previously. Most young ones your age have never had the opportunity to really learn anyways, but that is the point of this trial. Not to see what you know but what you can learn. These four orbs will help to progress your elemental comprehension faster, in 12 hours I will be back and you must demonstrate your ability to knock down at least 6 of those bamboo shoots with an element of your choosing, good luck."

As the old lady said this, she waved her hand before a tear in space opened up and she stepped thought the portal in front of her.

After Caxon got over the shock of the lady's dramatic exit he walked towards the orbs that formed a line in front of him. After he was close enough and focused on these orbs his mind was once again blown.

Since he had lied to the old lady and he did know 4 different elements he could easily tell what these four orbs were. The four orbs were all different colors there was a red, brown, blue, and one that simply looked like a cloud in a bottle. The red radiated fire elemental mana that was even more pure then fires that Caxon had seen. The brown was earth element, the blue water, and the cloud one was made from the air element. Somehow all of these orbs were made from elements that were even more pure than what you would find in nature.

As he had been struggling with raising his elemental comprehension more lately this was the perfect opportunity for him. Before he could get too excited, he knew he was being watched and would have to once again figure out what it was, he should publicly show.

'Young master if I may, with these elemental cores it would be possible however still difficult for someone to complete this task even if they started from the very beginning. However, they would only succeed if they first figured out what element they had an affinity with, most people have one or two elements that they learn much faster than the others for some reason. After watching you I can easily say you are the most proficient with the earth element and least so with the air element. That being said with our natural talent you are still able to comprehend the air element at a monstrous pace, but your ability in the earth element is unbelievable.'

'Once again Amon your knowledge comes at the most helpful of times, one question though what is an elemental core?'

'My apologize I forgot there would be no way for you to know this. When a mage is powerful enough, and understands an element enough, they are able to convert a large amount of mana into a condensed version of an element that is called an element core. These element cores were formed by 4 different people with a good understanding of their prospective element however they are far from the peak of what can be made.'

'I see thank you Amon.'

Now that he had a better idea of what was going on Caxon decided that he would completely lie to the examiner and show what element he was truly best at. With that being said he took a second to walk between each orb as though he was choosing one, after some fake decision making he finally sat in front of the earth core and truly turned his full focus on it.

However instead of focusing for the full 12 hours like anyone in the trial should have after 3 hours without moving his eyes or body he switched his focus to a different element and started improving in that one. He continued switching every 3 hours until all 12 were gone.

Although he wished he could sit here and continued improving his abilities he knew that that wouldn't be allowed as the cores were slowly diminishing in purity and remaining mana. He assumed that just leaving all 4 of these cores out the entire time was a huge waste of money and he was surprised that the academy let all potential students use them for free.

"Hello once again young man, are you ready for the trial now?"

The same kind old lady appeared before Caxon while he was still sitting in front of the earth core. He stood and patted the dust from his clothes as he looked at the old lady.

"Yes, I am, please lead the way."

Caxon and the examiner took a short walk to the bamboo shoots that he had seen earlier, before the old lady stood to the side and watched his every move.

"Whenever you are ready use any element you wish to knock down 6 of these shoots in any way possible."

After hearing the instructions once more Caxon closed his eyes as he prepared to carry out the plan he had made for the test.

He then knelt down and put his hands on the ground and closed his eyes in deep focus. Using his mana he created the biggest horizontal sharp spike as he could to cut down as mana bamboo shoots as possible.

Just like he planned the blade he made was only able to cut down five bamboo shoots, so he took a second to catch his breath before he put on an act of extreme struggle to push a pillar of earth forward and knock over the last shoot.

As the 6th bamboo shoot fell Caxon also laid on the ground to catch his breath. Although he had been acting and faking his power his exhaustion was real, to make his act believable he had to fluctuate his mana output to seem like he was struggling to control the earth element. This technique was very similar to perfect mimicry and it required an unbelievable amount of mana control and focus, thank to this his need for a breather did not need to be faked.