The Test

17th of Junal. Day of the detecting.

The bell rang for the fourth time of the day, signaling Class C's turn of detecting.

The students, neatly dressed in their uniforms, made their way to the testing place. A training ground, commonly used by the higher-grade students to not only exercise, but also spar.

Women had worn powder on their faces and applied fragrance. The men had styled their hair and washed their faces. All for the test.

The test served the bigger purpose of finding and defining the affinity grade two students that had just been accepted into the academy just seventeen days ago.

The test didn't only define affinity but was also used to determine one's talent based on the characteristics of their mana mind. Thus, the testing place wasn't only crowded by the students taking the test, but was also filled to the brim by seniors and instructors.

The place was like a market, where seniors and instructors watched and preyed upon the talents of their choice. Fighting usually broke out as the various factions of the learning hall would occasionally pick the same talent.

It was a place that, in the end, decided the learning hall, the path, and even the future of students. 

Mages, knights, paladins, and even assassins—the possibilities were countless, yet constrained by this single event.

The students were gathered, forming a tight and compact square formation, facing the detection orb that stood on a marbled post, suspended on the stone stage usually used for dueling.

Its color was scarlet purple, glittering, and lines could be seen running in it, as if the content were liquid. It sat still, yet felt moving.

"Welcome! Class C of 72nd Cohort!" Vinc shouted, his voice echoing through the air, to the students. His back to the detection orb. Beside him was the fellow instructor of Class C, Javarius.

Hubert stood in the middle of the formation. Grateful of the alphabetical based roll numbers.

Sweat ran down his forehead, not only from the heat produced by the crowd, but also from nervousness. His fist clenched tight, reassuring himself to the best of his abilities.

"Be brave, Hubert…," he whispered. The day had finally come, countless hours of studying had led him here, yet he was unsure.

After all, his mana mind was unchanged.

Though as his head and eyes darted around, he could see the others were pretty much alike him. Nervous and anxious, some barely even reached enlightenment and advanced to grade two.

The class that had started with a number close to half a hundred, now remained only half of it. The rest, expelled.

"Be not nervous, the future is bright! Be not afraid, your strength brought you here! Be not scared, your talent is great! Be not worried, fate is fair!" Javarius said, like a speech, though his voice was shrill.

"Ehm! It is with great pride, we, the instructors of Class C, declare that the detection test of students will start…" Vinc read from a scroll, his voice paused.

The tension was clear. Everybody had waited enough.

"Now!" Vinc said.

The crowd erupted into cheers, some shouted, some clapped. One thing for sure, everyone was excited, except the students of Class C themselves.

The day was already halfway through. The sun was bright and scorching, giving not a single mercy to the nervous students. The air wasn't enough for all of them that were gathered on the ground.

"Roll number two! Bjorn Sigfurd," Javarius called.

The person soon stepped forward. He was of northern descent, his hair was bright yellow and his eyes tinted brown with a hint of blue. Each hall leader came forward, totaling four, and surrounded the orb.

The crowd's voice came to a halt.

One of the hall masters, Marcus, then said to him as he neared the detection orb. Something unintelligible, a whisper that couldn't be heard by the students that waited, including Hubert.

The boy then nodded and placed his open palm gently on the orb and closed his eyes, then he froze. The hall masters leaned forward, peering into the detection orb. Something was being shown, but wasn't visible to anyone beside the hall master.

The minute hand of the giant clock moved by one.

The boy then nodded at the four hall masters, seemingly unfreezing.

"It has been decided, Bjorn Sigfurd is blessed with the affinity of… Ice!" one of the four hall masters, mentioned aloud.

The crowd once again erupted, chatterings continued and cheers were thrown.

Ice was one of the rarer and advanced elements, based on water. Clearly, the instructors were eager in scouting the students as a few were already approaching him as soon as he left the stage.

"Roll number three! Cassian…" the test continued.

"Roll number five! Cobman…" the test continued.

"Roll number seven! Dareon…" the test continued.

"It has been decided, Dareon Kendrick is blessed with the affinity of… Fire!" one of the hall masters mentioned aloud Dareon's result.

"Roll number nineteen! Henter…" the test continued.

Hubert was one of the last six people that stood there. Finally, it was his turn.

"Roll number twenty! Hubert Gubert!" Javarius said.

He was called forward, and he did so. Each of his steps felt heavy, his heart beat inconsistently like about to explode, and his eyes darted left and right. Hubert knew, every eye was on him, from the instructors that stood in the front row to the crowds and even servants such as Ron that stood tiptoeing in the back.

All eyes were peering into him as he approached. The four hall master, as previously mentioned, seductive Veronica, muscular Marcus, cute June, and easygoing Xillian.

The four hall masters greeted him with a smile.

"Welcome, Hubert Gubert, we have been waiting for you," Veronica, the first hall master, in charge of weapons mastery, said. Her voice was seductive, much alike to her appearance.

"Hubert, place your hand here. Gently, please, it's expensive," Xillian, the fourth hall master, in charge of magic and mana, said half jokingly.

"Ye-yes, hall master," Hubert responded, almost stuttering. Obeying the command, he softly placed his open palm on the orb.

"Close your eyes, kid, focus," Marcus said, his voice commanding and pressuring.

"Ye-yes," he replied before closing his eyelids.

It was all black. He felt the coldness on his palm, accompanied by a slight sucking feeling.

Then, he found himself in his mana mind.

The four basic elements: fire, represented by the sun. Water, represented by the small stream. Air, represented by the gentle breeze. Earth, represented by the ground on which he stood.

The place remained the same since his enlightenment and unchanged.

Sigh

"Ha… It's useless, no matter how much I imagine it, this place hasn't changed a bit," he muttered to himself. His eyes slowly directed at the endless darkness.

One part of him was greatly disturbed by it, another feared the failures of his test. He deemed the black part as something empty and useless, after all. A thing that had been there since the start and dragged him down.

"Why didn't the void change a bit?! Goddess, is my talent only this great? Why couldn't I get ice or lightning or something?" he asked.

Weesh!

"Wh-at?" he asked himself.

A gale came from the void, seemingly responding to him.

It was so strong that it first threw his hair backward, followed by his face muscles. 

"Aaaaaaaa!" he blabbered, his feet planted on the ground, the only thing that kept him standing.

The gale, like a snowball, became stronger the more it went.

Thud

His resistance was futile when even his whole body was thrown onto the ground.

Hubert's vision became blank again. He was pulled into the real world. Literally pulled.

"Quick! We can't hold this much longer!" Xilian ordered.

Xilian's hurried and stressed voice reached Hubert's ears even when his vision was still blurry.

"Aghh!" cries could be heard.

"One, two, three, pull!" Vinc counted.

Vinc and Javarius both had their grip sternly on his back collar, and with all their might, they threw him backward, separating him from the orb and onto the ground. The four hallmasters all had their palms directed toward the orb, restricting it.

"What?" he asked in confusion, only then did he realize the floating of leaves suspended in the air. Many of the instructors and bystanders with their hair messy and sweat trickling down their faces.

Crack

The sound of something breaking followed. Only then was it clear, the crack that had formed on the orb, many and a lot of it, conjoining together.

Shatter

The orb shattered, falling downward from its marbled post to the stone stage. Its pieces were countless, like finely grounded sand.

"What happened?" Hubert asked, slowly supporting himself up the ground.

"You…!" June, the third hallmaster, in charge of research, said, slightly raging.

"Stop! As much as the disaster he caused, it wasn't his fault," Marcus, the second hall master, in charge of body art fighting, said, stopping June from her anger.

The crowd watched on while helping those thrown on the ground, it was the first time such a result from the test had been produced.

"Am I in… trouble?"