Preparing For the Entrance Exams

"Failed; try again."

"Another failure; try again."

"Try again."

"Ugh! Sixty seven times; I have tried a total of sixty seven times and I failed every single time. Just how the hell do you expect me to do this?" Kelvin asked in frustration.

It had only been three days since George told Kelvin about his plan to enroll him in the demon hunting academy. Ever since then, Kelvin had been going through a lot of vigorous training, so that he can be able to control his demonic powers.

"Determination, practice and patience is the key to success; you can't give up just because of a few failures. The academy conducts a practical exam that is going to be both though and really difficult; it is essential that you learn how to use your powers so as to improve your fighting chance. Now come on give it another try." George said. He stood by the side with his cane in hand, closely paying attention to the glass cup that rested on the table, which had a certain amount of blood in it.

Facing the glass cup, Kelvin stretched out his hands towards it. "Okay, trial number sixty eight. Hopefully I'll get it this time… well hopefully."

Kelvin focused all his attention on the blood in the glass cup, which was quite important because any slip up and he could end up hurting George, or worse exploding him like he did to the demon hunters that invaded his home.

"Um… hey, George are you really sure that you should be here? You might get hurt." Kelvin said.

"If you are worrying about causing me any harm due to the instability of your power, then you need not bother. I am very well protected." George replied. "So stop worrying about me and just focus on trying to control the blood in that glass."

"Okay, I'll do just that." Kelvin said, stretching out his hands and concentrating fully on the cup.

He did what he had been doing the past sixty seven times he had tried, which was trying to create a link between him and the blood. For him to control blood, he needs to first connect with blood. He imagined every feel of blood he could think of. He focused on the oscillation, the rippling and the very components that make up the blood cells. He did all this while also maintaining a clear state of mind. After getting a good concentration level on the blood in front of him, he used his demonic aura to influence the blood in the cup. This gave him some sort of control over the blood; since he had been able to learn a decent control over his aura, he was actually able to achieve this. Gaining a solid grip and holding of the blood was the easy part; the hard part was to actually control the blood and getting it move freely on his command. This was the crucial part where Kelvin had a great difficulty in, and was also where he would occasionally make mistakes.

So he slowly and carefully began to raise the blood. The blood started to float and little by little it gradually began to rise. Looking at Kelvin's face one could clearly see that he was in a peak concentration mode; a trickle of sweat rolled down face, and he didn't even dare to blink.

George was paying keen attention. He had some corrections to point out but he didn't speak. This was actually the most progress Kelvin had been able to achieve in the past three days, so he decided to leave the corrections for later. Kelvin lifted the blood until it was slightly above the cup. His task was simple; he was supposed to control and lift the blood from the glass cup and put it in another empty glass cup which was also on the table. That task proved to be easier said than done. He had failed sixty seven times in a roll in the past few days, but this time he was actually quite confident that he would be able to accomplish it. Well that was until the door busted open.

"Hello everyone, yours truly has decided to grace you all with his presence and also partake in this training activity!" Carl said, walking into the room.

That was enough to break Kelvin's focus and concentration, causing him to lose control over the blood and splashing it over the table.

"You've got to be kidding me Carl. Ugh, do you have the slightest idea of how long I've been trying to learn how to do that? And the one time I actually manage to get it right, you just have to come and ruin it!" Kelvin said, not hiding how annoyed he was.

George sighed and said, "Calm down Kelvin. You would have failed eventually; you didn't have a stable control over the blood. Carl just happened to trigger it earlier."

"I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to cause any kind of trouble." Carl said.

Kelvin let out a short sigh before he saying, "It's okay, don't worry about it. What are you doing here anyway?"

"I already told you, I'm here to train; I'm going to partake in the entrance exam too, and I heard its crazy hard to pass. So I would like to hone my skills."

"If that is the case, then follow me. I have the perfect training task for you to do." George said to Carl.

George led Carl to a separate location in the room, with Kelvin following behind them. George stopped and knelt down with one knee at a particular spot on the ground and began making some strange chant while moving his hands, drawing a wired pattern on the ground.

"What's he doing?" Kelvin asked.

"He's about to use his divine power."

Slowly a golden light began to emit from the pattern George drew on the ground; and out of nowhere a human sized wooden puppet, with golden patterns and symbols around its chest and back, emerged from the light; almost like it had been teleported there. The fascinating thing was that the puppet was actually looking around and moving on its own without being controlled.

"Wow! So that's your divine power." Kelvin asked.

"Yes. It's called divine construct. It gives me the ability to create any thing and object I can think of. Don't worry; you're going to learn a whole lot about divine powers in the academy." George replied.

"Hmm… I don't know guys, are you sure this thing would be strong enough to take me down; I mean look at it, it's clearly made of wood." Carl said while knocking the puppet on the head a few times.

The puppet seemed to be annoyed by Carl's words and actions and grabbed hold of his arm, and lifted him over itself and slammed him hard on the ground.

"I guessed that answered your question. This puppet will be your training buddy for the next few days. You will be engaging in hand to hand combat and the inscription on the back and chest of the puppet will gradually increase its fighting power by a certain amount, so try to keep up." George said.

"We still have business to do Kelvin; let's leave Carl to his special training." George said.