Chương 94: Chapter 92 - Gladius...

Well that test was weird, I wonder if they'll make me pay for all the damages? Those things looked expensive.

"Did you pass? You took far longer than usual." Rowen frowned.

"Yes I passed, of course I passed. I amazed the teachers! You should have seen them." Nythera boasted with a smirk.

"If you say so…" Rowen did nothing to hide his disbelief. A boom sounded through the arena, calling all eyes to the center where the annoyed examiner paced.

"Attention all! We are done with testing phase 2 and will now move onto the third-" he stopped as a staff member came up onto the platform, whispering something into his ear.

"What a nuisance, one Ms. Aurendor come onto the platform, now!" he shouted, looking around. Silence reigned. Welp, fuck. I don't think I have enough embers to cover all that damage. Instant failure? Forced labor to repay my debts? All eyes locked onto her as soon as she began to push through the crowd, nobles and peasants alike.

"Ok Miss Aurendor, please explain yourself. The written test, you did not answer a single question and left numerous… drawings." The old man scowled "Do we look like we have abundant free time to waste on your musings?"

"No, but I can't actually read any of those questions." her face burned red in embarrassment. His eyebrows scrunched in confusion "Foreigners, blast it. If it weren't for your test two results I would have already failed you. Attendants snap to it, get me a communicator artifact." A chair raised out of the stone platform and he took a seat while she stood waiting. A minute later the young attendant scrambled back to the stage, nearly tripping on his own feet.

The moment he slipped on the ring "now out with it, we don't accept riffraff this academy. Explain yourself, now." He didn't bother getting up from the chair.

"I am from the Far North, I use a communication artifact" she tapped her armband "to speak. I am afraid I cannot read a single thing on that test." her face lit up even hotter as she mumbled out the last words. I hate this man, I hate this man, I hate this man"Normally you would be failed on the spot for this, but on account of your abnormal test two results we will allow you to enroll, however you will be taking remedial language classes. You are lucky Mr. Greywing decided to intervene on your behalf. Now go."

He shooed her off the stage.

"Even more foreigners? This academy is going to be overrun, to think Julian insisted..." he mumbled to himself as she skedaddled off the stage. He stood back up "Test phase two is now concluded. We will now proceed to test phase three. Those not in battle or battle magic classes may skip this test, though if you wish to enroll in combat courses later you will be required to take it." As he spoke, intricate flux, a brown earthy color wove, raising pillar after pillar of reinforced rock until nearly a dozen stood.

"Do not use the cannon, it's too much for your strata and if you show them two active skills they will be suspicious. It's not normal. Just use the arm cannon thing." Rowen whispered.

"Line up in rows, each examinee gets one clean hit on the target. Use your best skill and do not hold back." He strode off the platform as it sunk into the ground, behind it, the ten stone pillars stood waiting. In the arena seats behind them, a two dozen examiners stood with notes and devices, watching the pillars.

"If you hit an examiner, you will be instantly expelled" He muttered as he strode to the back of the students.

"But Rowen, will the arm cannon be enough? It's not very strong." she whispered back.

"Line up, Come on! Stop chatting!" they were forced into lines quickly. Rowen and Nythera, as with most of the peasantry, were stuck in the rear of a line. Students attacked the target with all they had, some managing to chip the rock, but most skills simply bounced off them without a scratch. Fireballs, lightning, ice, very little did any real damage. Even an earth skill made with the same stone as the arena didn't manage to do more than chip off a few fragments.

The old examiner strode in, walking several yards above them, each foot landing on air. He paced there, well above the battlefield.

"Come on Gladius! This should be easy for you." one of the noble girls called from the front. Gladius raised an arm and began to concentrate his flux. Wow that's a decent amount of it, maybe the first powerful active skill yet. With a "harrumph" he unleashed the wind as a line, cutting deep into the rock pillar. Ooo's and aaa's sounded around as students paused their tests to watch. While the pillar did not collapse, the deep cuts stood in contrast to everyone else. Gladius looked on with a frown.

"Gladius, that was incredible! You nearly cut straight through it!" students clambered.

"It was subpar, clearly I did not charge the skill enough." his frown deepened, but smugness radiated from his eyes.

"This is ridiculous, this test is unfair for fire mages!" one of the students called out after his spell failed to do anything.

"Bah! Look at what Gladius did with just wind, you fail." the examiner answered from above. His instant declaration silenced all further complaints. Can I really clear this test with just cannon arm? But the Aether Cannon has so much more firepower… if I just try to match Gladius, I'd probably use the cannon arm, fine cannon arm it is. One student ahead of her chanted for nearly three minutes "Ablala Un Thret…." on and on. Swirling blue flux connected in his staff.

With a shout it rocketed forward, chipping into the stone on both sides as the water broke on rock.

"Heh, that was pretty good, I am definitely passing now." He sauntered to the back. The pillar had already largely mended. Ok Nythera, you can do this, one good arm shot and itll chip a bit and you'll pass… maybe. Hyper-flux? No that might be too much. Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Within her, Artillery-Command and Synchronized Thunder thrummed to life.

"Next, now!" one of the stand examiners beckoned to her. She took several steps forward and raised her arm. She breathed in deeply.

"Come on now, are you going to cast? Get it over with." a student from behind shouted.

"Fire" she whispered frantically. Her arm pushed up from recoil as the flux shell unleashed. A half second later the stands of the arena exploded in a shower of stone, rock fragments flew back into the crowds behind her. She could hear Rowen's palm meeting his face.

"Aim you idiot! Ignore the people behind us." Rowen hissed. In the stands above, the examiners fled from the detonation site with worried looks.

"Hey watch it down there, aim at the target, not us!" Whoops, that recoil is really something, isn't it? Nythera focused on the target before her. I cannot afford to fail here, failure means going back to Myrraval with no answers. Silence reigned around her, as if everyone waited with baited breath. She pushed out all distractions with a flex of her Wisdom. Inhale. The skill charged in an instant, her arm running hot. Exhale. FIRE.

The shell of energy blasted forward, smashing straight through the pillar and into the wall behind. As the rock toppled over, the shell detonated within the wall sending a barrage of fragments directly into the crowd. Nythera ducked, pulling the cloak in front of her. Screams came from behind as people were pelted with sharpened shrapnel. Whoops.

"Good." the old man above said with a nod. Students around her broke into a chatter "What was that?"

"How did she do so much? It shattered the entire pillar!"

"Where is she from? I don't recognize those magics." The student that had gone before her stared straight at her "How did she do that with no charge time?" he muttered with a strange look. Rowen picked a rock fragment out of his shirt, scowling.

"By the Center, what a woman." Gladius let barely audible words slip. What the Hel is a Center? Two of the examiners hopped down from the stands to examine the damage to the wall and the pillar, which was no longer self-repairing. Is that the women from test two?

"You didn't have affi-… this should not be possible" she caught herself mid-sentence as she stepped over chunks of the wall. Heh, I guess I'm too amazing, they have no idea what to do with me. Nythera stood as straight as she could, trying to hide the smirk threatening to come out.

"Sir, this should not count for the score, this is not possible. I want her examined for dangerous artifacts immediately." The noble woman said. Ah… fuck.

"Explain yourself Crysellia." the head examiner began walking down from above, as if steps of air made a path before him.

"This is more damage than most third years could cause. Need I remind you that third years are strata three while she is strata one? She had to use illegal artifacts to achieve this output. Maybe a flare tier or center-forbid, something even higher." Crysellia explained, half-glaring at Nythera.

"Interesting accusation, I did not detect any such artifacts before, but you are right that this level of power should not be possible on a mere strata one. What a pain." the head examiner sighed. Nythera took a step back, then another. I'd rather they don't.

"It is ok, I will vouch for the girl. Her artifacts are unique but nothing abnormally dangerous." Another one of her examiners, the calm man from test two walked in.

"Are you certain Julian? That kind of flux output is not normal. It was no element I recognized." The old man frowned.

"Plenty of powerful, unattuned magics exist, including my own. I can verify that she only used her skill and her artifacts added only a minor enhancement to the damage. The highest tier item she has is upper cinder tier." Julian picked up a chunk of the wall, rolling it around in his fingers. The frown deepened as his eyebrows creased "fine, but it's on your head if she does something later. Remember Julian, this girl just split a test pillar in two." the old examiner said.

Julian said nothing, merely looking back at the old man.

"Very well Julian, but she can't spar with normal students like this." Crysellia said, oblivious to the battle raging between Julian and the old man.

"Hardly a rarity at this school, you'd think with all the students we collect that can't spar we could start another class. Besides, do we really disqualify students for being too talented?" Julian half joked.

"I'll be sure the headmaster knows, she is your problem now." The old man waved him off "Continue the testing! We have not stopped. Girl you're done here." he climbed the steps into the sky. Nythera and Rowen waited in the back as the remaining students finished their tests. She tried to look away but found it hard. Why does everyone keep looking at me? That wasn't even a particularly strong skill, Aether Cannon or hyper-flux could have done far more.

Oh god this is bad, this is exactly the kind of attention I was supposed to avoid.

"Well at least you probably passed, I suppose it could be worse." Rowen's attempt to sound positive was painfully clear.

"Everyone, to the central colosseum now!" the proctor shouted. People filtered into one of the gaping tunnels built into the walls. As usual, nobles led. After a few minutes through a dark tunnel full of echoing murmurs, the flood of students expanded out into a dramatically larger colosseum with towering walls easily multiple stories high. The sun had moved to mid day since the beginning of the test, beating down on them directly.

"Wait here until the test results are done." A strange rock near the entrance said every few minutes. Groups naturally formed, nobles clustering around Gladius and with each other into a massive swarm on the right side, while peasants and others were scattered on the left side.

"What do you think Rowen? Did we pass?" Nythera asked, trying to catch any reaction from the staff running around the stands.

"Probably, but those written test scores were abysmal, I tried what I could, but I'm pretty sure we both failed that part." He sighed "At least your results seemed to elicit a reaction, but I would hesitate to call it a positive one."

"It's not my fault they built the pillar out of sand." she grumbled. Minutes turned to hours as more and more students filtered into the arena. Many students had either skilled their way into having seats or slumped against the walls, which were now full of leaning or sitting students. One of the nobles got scolded for messing with the stonework while trying to raise a chair. The ground rumbled and a raised dias was pushed into the air. Finally! This is mind-numbingly boring.

If Rowen hadn't stopped me I could be tinkering with the arm. Another hour passed. The sun dimmed further. Purple and blue flux swirled on the dias and the headmaster popped out.

"My my, everyone's still here? Well let's get on with it then." he muttered, pulling out a rock. He brought it up to his mouth "HELLO CONGRATULATIONS OR CONDOLENCES, oh that's much too loud lets see here." Sound boomed across the arena, creating a painful, deafening echo. He held the rock a bit further away.

"As I was saying, I bestow upon you the scores of your trials!" he waved his hand and a thousand fluttering papers flew out from behind. Each seemed to have a mind as its own as it whisked itself away to a chosen student. The Headmaster was already gone. Seconds later Nythera and Rowen caught their own scores. Nythera straightened the paper out before her with both hands. Finally! Oh shit… I can't read this.