Cerbereal Hollow

The test continued, more and more students going and getting their skills scored. Some were more disappointing than others, only being able to destroy two or three of the dummies in the given time while others like Riley and Joseph were incredibly impressive, destroying most of the dummies in the area.

"Joshua Blaze." Ms. Lumine called for the next person who just happened to be Joshua. Some of the other students began to whisper, recognizing the name Blaze, while others remained silent, still in fear of the possible goblin nest punishment.

Joshua just sighed at the attention he was getting, used to it but still not entirely comfortable with it. He reached the front of the line and prepared himself to activate his magic. Ms. Lumine gave the signal to start whenever and he did just that.

"Flamethrower!" Activating his magic, Joshua let loose a stream of flame like that of a dragon. He moved his arm and the stream followed his aim, mowing down the rest of the dummies in the area.

Some of the students had to take a couple of steps back from the heat of the flames, some even covering their eyes to shield them. Ms. Lumine, the closest besides Joshua, didn't even blink as she watched the boy perform.

"Time." Ms. Lumine gave the signal for him to stop and he stopped supplying his spell with mana. He gave himself a satisfied nod, moving back to his spot in the line, not bothering to give Ms. Lumine a second glance, it wouldn't have helped anyway.

More students were called, but after Joshua's display they seemed incredibly weak. Finally it was time for the last person to go and Ms. Lumine called their name.

"Logan Shade." Logan walked from the back of the line and moved to the front where he held out his hand and shaped it like a finger gun. "When you're ready." Without needing further instruction Logan activated his spell.

"Dark Bolt." Unlike anyone else he didn't yell the name of his spell, instead speaking its name like a regular conversation. At his fingertip a black sphere took shape which he then promptly launched at the first dummy. Before the first attack reached the dummy he had already aimed and prepared his next shot. "Dark Bolt."

As the second bolt was released the first had met its mark. The bolt didn't destroy the dummy, instead it began causing the material around where it impacted to decay and rot causing a hole to the other side of the dummy to be made.

Some of the closer students were amazed at the skill that Logan was using to destroy the dummies in such quick succession. It wasn't quite as flashy as some of the other big displays, but it was a huge display when it came to skill.

Thirty seconds passed and Logan had managed to hit and rot thirty dummies. It wasn't the greatest number of dummies destroyed but it was still an impressive display of skill. He returned to the back of the line, some of the students gawking at him in awe.

"That is it for the aptitude test, I hope you all did your best otherwise you will greatly regret it." Ms. Lumine led the group back to the building they had woken up in where they would wait for the results.

Other groups had already arrived and were talking with one another. They seemed to be discussing the results of the test they just took, having already completed it. Ms. Lumine turned to her group once more and spoke to them.

"You are allowed to mingle with the other groups now until the results of the tests are announced. For now relax and get to know everyone you can." With nothing more to say Ms. Lumine walked away from the group and towards the other headmasters that had already arrived here.

With the all clear to talk amongst themselves the students broke away from the line and looked around to find their friends and talk about their results. Some of the kids went off on their own, not particularly caring about mingling with other students.

Riley was one of the students that went around and talking to anyone that garnered his interest, challenging them to a duel before moving onto the next person that caught his interest. He eventually came face to face with Joseph and got right up in his business.

"Hey, you were that guy who ended up making a tornado weren't you?" Riley rested his hands on Joseph's shoulders and smiled. "That was so cool, that must have been a really powerful spell! We should fight when we get the chance."

"Uh, yeah, thanks. But it wasn't actually as strong as I wanted it to be." Joseph rubbed the back of his head, unused to receiving compliments from people. "You probably shouldn't be near me, I could seriously injure you if my magic goes out of control."

"You mean you can go stronger than that?!" Riley had sparkles in his eyes as he listened to Joseph speak. Even though Joseph was clearly trying to get Riley away the boy just wouldn't move. In fact, he even got closer than he was previously.

"Back up, can't you see you're making him uncomfortable." Another voice spoke up making Riley and Joseph look over at who was speaking to them. When they looked over they saw that it was Joshua, the other person that made an impressive showing in the test.

"Right, sorry." Riley let go of Joseph's shoulders and took a step back letting him heave a sigh of relief. "I'm Riley by the way, Riley Bolt." Riley held out his hand for a handshake which Joseph took with a smile on his face.

"I'm Joseph, Joseph Zephyr. I would love to fight you some time, but I actually have a problem holding in all my magic sometime." Joseph and Riley turned to Joshua, waiting for him to introduce himself.

"I'm Joshua Blaze." Joshua shook both of their hands in turn and introduced himself. Neither of them seemed shocked by his reveal of his name which he was slightly relieved about.

"Well, I want to fight you too. If we get a chance, we should all fight, it will be so cool!" Riley pumped his fist into the air, excited at the prospect of fighting two strong people at once.

"Sure, just make sure that we're allowed to fight when we do." Joshua smiled as he responded, happy that he wasn't being treated differently because of his name.

The three talked amongst themselves while other groups finished their tests and arrived in the room. After nearly ten minutes all of the groups had returned, filling the room with students. When everyone had filed into the room General Ramos stepped forward quieting all of the students.

"Congratulations to all of you, you have all been selected for an academy. Whether that academy is the one you desired is entirely based on your efforts." Behind General Ramos a screen lit up and showed the results of the students separated in different colors.

All of the students looked for their names, hoping that they were placed in an academy they wanted. Each color represented an academy, Mystic Vale having a golden color and the least amount of names present, while Blackout Academy, the worst mage academy, had the color black with a good portion of names.

Some of the students seeing this cried out in fear, shame and displeasure. Blackout Academy was known to be lax with basically no funding to help the students' progress with their spell casting. While it was entirely possible to become a good mage from there, it entirely depended on ones own wealth and talent.

Riley, Joseph and Joshua looked for their names, seeing that they were placed in the same academy they were all hyped. They were all selected to go to Cerbereal Hollow, an average school that produced good mages, but never have they produced anyone spectacular.

Logan also looked for his name, seeing that he was also placed in Cerbereal Hollow he nodded his head. His mission wouldn't be stopped because he showed off or didn't show off enough.

"Now that everyone knows their academy, I wish you all good luck." In a similar fashion to when the students were brought to this location, General Ramos and the Headmasters all pulled out gas masks and put them on.

This time the students didn't panic, having known what was happening. They all took a deep breath in and let themselves pass out, excited to where they would be when they awoke.