46 Soul Recovery School Trials (1)

In Royal Dream Higher Academy, one of the most anticipated occasions is the annual trials. Every year, thousands of young people between the ages of fifteen to eighteen years applied to the academy hoping to join one of the four schools of the academy. However, the registration was only the first step. Before one could actually be part of Royal Dream Higher Academy, they had to pass a series of trials which were different from school to school.

The trials lasted for about two weeks, and within those two weeks, the entire atmosphere of the academy was filled with all kinds of emotions. For the students of the academy, their emotions were that of excitement and energetic anticipation while that of most of the applicants were anxiety and sheer terror. After all, from what the applicants had heard, trials at Royal Dream Higher Academy were nothing to be trifled with.

The trials began a day after the registration. Each school had its own way of organizing the trials. However, as a way for all the teachers and even the students to observe the full capabilities of each applicant, each school did their trials on different days so as not to clash with the other. Thus, the School of Weapon Studies followed by the School of Beast Studies were always the first schools to do their trials. It was because the trials of these two schools lasted for less than two days.

Next on the list was the Soul Recovery School. Three days after the registration, Ovandarrak returned to the academy for his trials. Of course, Savyrran followed him. However, the two had to part ways once they reached the academy since Ovandarrak had to go to the premises of the Soul Recovery School for the trials. Applicants who had not registered to the Soul Recovery School could not go there while the trials were ongoing, thus, Savyrran had to keep herself occupied with other things.

Luckily for her, applicants could watch the ongoing trials on large screens in the vast auditorium of the academy. Savyrran soon learned to her utmost surprise that many applicants were actually here to watch the trials. In the past few days, she and Ovandarrak never came here to watch the trials of the other two schools. Thus, she had imagined that other applicants were not interested in watching the trials. Clearly she was wrong since the auditorium was filled to its full capacity.

A few minutes after Savyrran sat down, the large screen flicked to life, showing thousands of applicants who were silently waiting. Once the show started, the murmuring in the auditorium vanished and the entire room was so silent that if one listened closely, they could here the thumping heartbeat of everyone in the room.

Savyrran smiled to herself. It was happening; everything Ovandarrak had worked for just so he could get into Soul Recovery School was about to be tested. She had heard the trials of the Soul Recovery School were more mental than physical. To Savyrran, Ovandarrak was the most mentally resilient person she knew. She had even once overheard Doctor Avor telling her parents about that. Thus, she knew that whatever the trials were, Ovandarrak would overcome every last one of them.

….…..

Soul Recovery School.

Back at the Soul Recovery School, Ovandarrak was waiting in a large room with thousands of other applicants. They had been told to wait here in the Grand Hall for further instructions. The entire room was dead silent, as though the place was not full of a multitude of teenagers. One look around and Ovandarrak could see how anxious some of the applicants looked.

After fifteen minutes of waiting and nothing happening, the tension in the room only grew stronger. The silence began fading as several applicants began whispering among themselves, asking what was taking so long for the trials to begin.

Through it all, Ovandarrak merely stood still, listening and observing everything around him. Surely, this could not be a part of the trials, right? Was all this waiting a way of testing their patience? If that were the case, then didn't the Soul Recovery School have low standards when it came to tests? In Ovandarrak's opinion, there was nothing mentally jarring about this.

But of course, Ovandarrak did not know that all this waiting was making some people even more anxious than they already were.

Thankfully, they did not have to wait anymore. A young man in his early twenties walked to the stage in the room. Once everyone saw him, the entire room fell silent again.

The young man had dreadlocks and though they were not nearly as long as Ovandarrak's, the man's hair was as white as snow while Ovandarrak's was darker than night.

"My name is Captain Jarjaha Kon-Montu and I am the captain of the Soul Recovery School." The white-haired man said. His voice was not loud, yet, his voice reached every ear in the room as though he was standing right next to them.

Captain Jarjaha was using his essence to amplify his voice and then directly imparting it into their heads. The fact that he was doing it to thousands of people at the same time told Ovandarrak that this captain was not mere at all. Once Ovandarrak joined the Soul Recovery School, it would be wise to have the captain as an ally so he could learn from him.

"Welcome to the forty-fifth annual trials of the Soul Recovery School. Within the next hour, I will explain everything you need to know and only after that will the trials begin."

Over the next hour, Captain Jarjaha began to explain everything to the applicants. According to him, the trials were divided into seven levels and would last for four days. Each level was named after the seven soul essence since the whole point of the trials was to determine how long a person could withstand all seven essence. However, since the last time anyone had attempted the seventh level was seventeen years ago, the trials usually ended on the sixth level and only lasted for three days.

On the first day of the trials, applicants would go trough three levels; the red level; orange level and yellow level. In each level, they would have to overcome a myriad of traps within one hour while the oppressive essence of that level targeted them. So for example, in the red level, the oppressive essence of the red essence would be released on the applicants as they dodged traps in that level. After each level, applicants would take a break before going to the next.

On the second day, applicants would go through the green and blue levels, also following a similar procedure. Except that the traps in this level would be even more dangerous than the first day and both levels would last for two hours each with an hour break between them. The third day was the indigo level, which would last for four hours.

But of course, no matter how mentally resilient someone was, facing the oppression of a far more powerful essence could prove to be dangerous. Thus, for a person to pass the trials, they did not have to overcome all the levels. All they needed to do was pass two levels higher than their own soul essence within the given time. For example, for a red user to pass the trials, they would have to overcome the orange and yellow levels in the given time while an orange user could pass by successfully going through the yellow and green levels. Blue users on the other hand had their own way of passing the trials, however, since there was no blue user among them that year, explaining it to them was unnecessary.

Once a person passed automatically, they did not have to continue with the trials. However, if they still wanted to continue, they would not be disqualified even if they failed. Moreover, while going through the trials, if an applicant felt that pressure from the oppressive essence was unbearable, they could just say the word 'abort' and they would be cleared out of the trials. The only problem was that anyone who aborted would be automatically disqualified.

"I will advise you to think carefully about whether you truly want to go through the trials or not. Every trap you see in there is real which means that the least mistake you make could damage your soul or even lead to your death."

Captain Jarjaha paused for effect, and just as he had hoped for, the effect was swift. The applicants began murmuring among themselves once they learned that they could actually die during the trials. They knew trials in the academy were dangerous, they just had not thought that it could lead to real death.

"The trials begin in five minutes. But before that happens, anyone who feels they want to give up can leave through that door right now. The academy would not be held liable for anything that happens to you once it begins."

Upon hearing the words of the captain, several hundreds of the applicants left the vast hall. They had not signed up for this. Was it worth losing their lives just because they wanted to become soul recovery doctors? Absolutely not. Maybe they could find another calling in life; a calling that did not involve dying.

But of course, Ovandarrak stood his ground not for a second changing his mind about becoming a soul recovery doctor. Besides, who said he was going to die? For him to pass, he would have to clear the indigo level within four hours. In fact, if he had his way, he would like to go through the violet level to see for himself exactly how powerful the violet essence was.

"Excellent. Now that we've gotten that out of the way, let's begin." The captain said with a smile after the other applicants left the room.