The higher, the better?

"If I did not happen to meet Lady Seers, I may have considered going all out."

"But now that I have a deal with her, I don't need to draw much attention as I am no longer worried about obtaining support in the Academy."

"I keep my performance above good but not too outstanding."

Artus was watching as multiple participants finished the stage; their average score was around fifty points, so he was planning on scoring around eighty; it is an excellent score but not too groundbreaking.

 As he was lost in thought, a little girl approached the magic crystal. She was around his age, probably around seven years, and she wore a tiny, delicate dress with a brown shoulder bag; the bag had a unique symbol: a golden weighing scale.

The little girl put her hand on the crystal and closed her eyes. She appeared to be somewhat anxious; although she had passed the previous stage, her score was barely acceptable. She was able to stay in the chamber of illusions for only six minutes; if she wanted to be accepted into the Academy, she needed to perform excellently in the following two stages so that her overall score would be high enough to enroll in the Academy.

After a while, the magic crystal started pulsating with a white color; the number one hundred and forty-three was reflected above it. She opened one of her eyes slowly, as she was still short, she raised her head, she was afraid to see the result, once she saw her score, she started jumping happily, she ran back to the resting area, maid and a butler was waiting for her, she hugged the maid happily.

Her performance shocked everyone; they were wondering who this girl was, and even the officers overseeing the test started talking about her.

Artus looked at her; he used NuroFusion to analyze her performance; she, indeed, never used any magic tools; it was pure talent. He made a mental note about her. Maybe they would meet each other later.

********************

As more people took the test, Artus continued to analyze their performance. A good percentage of the people who did well in the previous stage also performed well in this stage; they were most likely people from wealthy or noble backgrounds and had prepared well for the magic division trials.

Some people who performed well in the second stage had a horrible score; they did not even reach thirty. As the previous stage challenged mental endurance, some people who had tough lives withstanding hardships on a daily basis were able to pass it without much effort; they had trained in mental endurance. As for this stage, it was about talent and, to some extent, strategy. Those people obviously had neither of them, so their performance was terrible.

Artus approached the magic crystal, put his hands on it, and closed his eyes; in his inner world, he was standing in complete darkness, then stars started to appear in the night sky; at first, they were tens of stars, then hundreds, thousands and so on.

He used NuroFusion's ability to visualize stars in the sky; the whole sky was like a sea of glitter. They continued increasing in number; there was no sign of stopping; they filled the sky rapidly; he felt that he could fill the whole sky to the point where it ultimately became white; he decided to stop as there was no need to visualize more stars.

He then started counting them using NuroFusion so he would never lose count or count the same star twice; he essentially could continue counting forever.

He counted very slowly, after some time, he opened his eyes. His performance lasted more than double the time of the average; he looked up and saw the number eighty-seven reflected above the magic crystal.

He wanted to give the impression that he was a talented, hard-working individual, so he deliberately spent a long time on this stage. If he achieved the same result quickly as the little girl, he would give the impression that he was just gifted from birth. Still, by slowing down, people would think that he is, even though talented, also a hard-working individual who spent a lot of time and effort training; not only that, he also may improve his performance with further training; he is a person with potential that is worth investing in.

Finally, the third stage of the trial had ended, and all the participants went to the resting area to take a breath. This time, they did not announce any results as there was no pass-and-fail at this point; the important thing was the overall performance, as previously stated.

********************

"Welcome to the magic division trail's fourth and final stage."

"In the first stage, we tested your knowledge; mages should be well-informed about various subjects. You all proved that you had at least the minimum knowledge and passed the first stage, but knowledge could be gained through learning and reading".

"In the second stage, we tested your mental endurance in the chamber of illusions against regrets, fears, and worries. Mages need to have a strong mentality and good control over their emotions. That also is one of the prerequisites to become a mage; mentality can also be strengthened".

"The third stage tested your ability to sense Aether; it is the world energy; if you can't sense it, how could you use it?"

"Finally, now is the fourth and the last stage."

"In this stage, we will directly measure your ability to harness the power of Aether."

"It is the most important determinant of a mage's potential; every energy practitioner in the world uses Aether; it is not only limited to mages and warriors."

"A mage's overall power and growth is directly proportional to his ability to gather and mobilize Aether."

"Even if you have the knowledge of an elder scholar, the mentality of someone who lived his whole life on the edge, and the perception of Aether particles as countless as sand grains in a desert, if you could not utilize Aether, then what the use of all of that? You will never become a mage!".

"If someone had all theoretical knowledge about the bow, all its parts and how they are made, he also had a well-trained body and physical strength, but he doesn't know how to handle a bow, will he be able to hit the bull's eye on a target? It's the same thing with Aether".

"That's why this stage is the most important one and will have the largest impact on your overall score."

As Galdor spoke, the guards brought a blue box and opened it, showing its content to everyone. There lay a pair of silver bracelets; they had elegant designs, were adorned with red gems and inscribed with magic symbols.

"These are the Silverheart Bracelets, a priceless magic artifact and the only pair in the whole kingdom."

"We usually don't even show this priceless treasure and keep it in the deepest part of the treasury of the Academy, but due to some circumstances, we decided to use it in this year's magic division trail."

"Mages train by drawing Aether particles towards their bodies and collecting them in their inner worlds; we will mimic that process in this stage."

"In this stage, after wearing the bracelets, you will be required to draw the Aether particles towards you; the bracelets will automatically absorb them when they get close enough."

"Each time the bracelets absorb a particle, the red gems will flicker a red light."

Galdor looked around at the other officers, then said again.

"I will give another piece of information about this stage. We did not want to disclose it; we wanted to keep it a secret, but later, we decided to inform you about it prior to the start of this stage to make things fairer for you so that you can achieve the best results".

"Two parameters will be obtained and calculated based on your result in this stage; the first one is obviously the number of particles that you are able to gather with the bracelets; the higher the number, the better."

"The second one is a utilization percentage, which will be calculated based on the ratio of the number of particles that you were able to absorb using the bracelets over the number of particles that you were able to visualize in the previous stage. It is also crucial in determining your score in this stage and, in turn, your overall performance score."

"Good luck, everyone!".

"Even though they disclosed the second evaluation indicator, they left a lot of important information out."

"They did not specify the weight of this second measurement in the final score of the stage."

"And more importantly, they did not mention how it will be used to evaluate the participant. What is considered good? To reach a high percentage or keep a low percentage?"

"The first thought that comes to mind is simply the higher, the better. But if you thought about it deeply, there is more to it than just that."

"On the one hand, getting a high percentage means that you are very efficient at utilizing Aether, but it also means that you reached your limit."

"On the other hand, getting a low percentage means that you are ineffective in using Aether, but it also means that you have room to grow, you have potential, and you will get better with training."

"In the end, what should I choose? How should I play this card?"

Artus crossed his hands while contemplating this dilemma.