Chapter 15: Zenith Magic Test (1/6)

"Yuki-sama, huh… How familiar."

Ryu couldn't help but turn his head to look at the beauty because of the commotion that was happening. She walked elegantly while finding a seat in the middle of the rows. Ryu's eyes widened as a sense of familiarity aroused within him. His eyes were shook awake as a sudden flashback reminded him of the past.

"There's no way, right…?" Ryu silently whispered. Aoi heard it and had a pitying smile beside him while looking at Ryu. She then turned her head to look at Ryu and whispered to him, "Yuki, huh… She might be her Ryu, your best friend."

Ryu was silent. He didn't answer the question and just stared at the girl with a similar name to his best friend. His mind was churning as he thought, 'It might be her, but… her demeanor and attitude are completely different to the Yuki I know. And even if she's Yuki… will she even remember me?'

Suddenly a slap came from his back, causing him to turn his head and look at Nila. Nila just smiled mischievously as she said, "Hinyaa! You instantly found out! Well, time for you to snap out of a daze after seeing a beautiful girl! Master Lilia is already on the front!"

"Silence!" A menacing female voice echoed throughout the entire room as she said that. Yes, it was Lilia. Even Ryu couldn't help but look as he never thought that Lilia's demeanor would dramatically change when she's in her 'Professor Mode.'

The entire class went silent as they focused their attention on Lilia. That should be impossible, but Lilia could just use the silence spell on them, and they wouldn't be able to talk for the entire day.

"Welcome to the Grandis Magic Academy, where magic reigns supreme!" Lilia said in a loud voice while walking around. She walked to the giant whiteboard and started writing something that said, 'Zenith Magic Test.'

"Today, we will see if you have the magical capability to stand at the top! We will test your magical skills, mana control, the creativity of your magic spells, and battle prowess. Furthermore, this will make sure where your class will be. Is that understood?" Lilia said while using a stick to point at what she wrote.

The entire class immediately agreed as they kept listening to Lilia.

"Classes here consist of 6 ranks, Zenith, Arche, Dyad, Tertius, Tettares, and Infirma. Your rank depends on your score on this test. Do your best, and whoever has the ability will reach the top!" Lilia shouted loudly.

The atmosphere of the class was solemn. Seeing this, Lilia couldn't help but laugh a little to diffuse the serious atmosphere. After that, she said, "Alright, be ready and get in line. We shall proceed to the training grounds. Follow me."

The class formed a line and followed Lilia as she led them towards the training grounds. It was pretty impossible to see this kind of uniformity in a class, but this academy is full of elites.

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As they passed through the tunnel that they entered, light from the sun shone brightly. They even had to squint their eyes lightly to get used to the light from the sun. The training grounds was situated on a huge barren land.

The students couldn't help but be amazed at the amount of mana that was surrounding the air. Lilia smiled at their reaction as she walked to join the other professors who were sitting on chairs situated on a raised platform.

Then suddenly, one of the professors stood up. He looked like he was in his fifties, but he certainly wasn't weak at all. He clapped his hands with a wide swing, causing a loud bang and a massive shockwave to blow wildly at the students.

The students, aside from Ryu, Emma, Anna, and Nila, were taken aback by the strength of the winds. Then suddenly, the ground split open as raised stages were formed. Ryu couldn't help but smile as he thought, 'Such a high degree of control against high-scale Earth Magic. It's impressive.'

"Well then, let the Zenith Magic Test begin!" Lilia's voice resounded throughout the land.

"First Test, Casting Speed and Magical Accuracy! Each of you should stand on the raised platforms. There are target dummies there." Lilia commanded.

"Most people can use a single magical element, be it really bad or excellent. There are some cases where people can use two, even three, and so on. If you can use multiple elements, choose to use the most comfortable one for you."

"Though, even if you fail this test, there are still multiple tests ahead. The Zenith test consists of six tests. Casting Speed, Magical Accuracy, Mana Control, Physical Prowess, Magical Prowess, and Battle Prowess. After all, what's the use of you being able to use magic if you can't even use it properly?"

After hearing all that from Lilia, the students walked up to the raised platform made by the old professor. There were enough target dummies for all of them, and they were lined up side-by-side, and so did the students.

"All of you shall shoot the target, showing your casting speed and magical accuracy. You shall shoot one by one, from right to left. The test begins!"

The student at the furthermost on the right started to cast his spell. Ryu was also paying attention carefully to observe how strong these people were, and he was shocked.

"Fire! Oh, mellow fire! Burn thy enemies and turn them to ashes! Fireball!" The student chanted his spell with a few movements and threw out a small ball of flame, which barely reached the target dummy. And what's more, it barely even burned the target dummy.

"Jesus Christ… what the fuck is this long-ass chanting shit…." Ryu was completely shocked with disappointment. People chanted even in his past life, but it wasn't that long, nor was it that trivial. For fucks sake, you don't have to move like a crazy person. Even if they were influenced by the garbage chanting on shows, they should know that CHANTING THAT LONG IS SHIT.

Ryu couldn't help but sigh as he watched the others perform. His face became so stiff that most of them had the bare minimum requirement to be a proper 'magician.' Ryu sighed as he looked at the others behind him. 'They look tough. Will they be talented, though?'

More and more students shot the targets, and some were quite average, but most of them were abysmal. Then finally, it was the girls' turn. First up was Nila. Ryu already knew they were outstanding, and he was proud of them before they even showed their performance.

Nila then smiled while she pointed at the target. An eerie green fire appeared on the tip of her finger as she grinned mischievously. Ryu simply had an awkward smile as he noticed that she stared at him. He couldn't help but put his palm on his face.

The people behind Ryu couldn't help but stare at the green fire. Their senses were tingling as they hadn't thought of seeing someone with similar power. Nila then laughed, seeing Ryu's reaction.

Then, a vast force erupted from her fingertip, sending the ball of flame flying towards the target dummy with great speed. As she sent her green fire flying, she shouted loudly, which even caused Lilia to be embarrassed. "Des~truc~tion~!!!"

The dummy blew up.

(A/N: Average AIDunegon response, no cap.)

Then next, Emma. As you may have expected, she wasted no time as she instantly cast a wind spell that decimated the dummy.

Anna was next and what happened WAS SHOCKING. (A/N: You should know this reference, right ;))

Anna specialized in using plant magic which barely had any offensive spells, but she decided to use one spell that Ryu taught her. She gave Ryu a nod which instantly made him know Anna's intentions. Ryu just smiled and gave her a thumbs up.

Then, Anna focused her mana right above the dummy, sending a few ripples of mana to be scattered all over. Right beside Lilia, one of the female professors then proceeded to talk. She had medium-length jet black hair, which caused her to look tomboyish, but her clothes say otherwise.

She wore a very scientist-like white coat, a skirt that barely reached her knees, and some knee-length socks. She fixated her oval-shaped glasses with her gloved hand and said to Lilia, "Your disciple is using Plant Magic which has zero strong offensive spells. Isn't that a bad decision for her?"

"Hahaha, as blunt as ever Chiyo. Well, it is if it was six years ago. One of my other disciples discovered that there are offensive spells that use Plant Magic. You'll see how strong this spell is." Lilia said boastfully, which caused the woman named Chiyo to giggle while she looked at Anna.

"We'll see."

Emma focused her mana on that spot, causing a lotus to appear suddenly. The other students were already snorting at her for using plant magic to attack, but they would never expect what would happen next.

The lotus then became head-sized, and the lotus threw itself like a disc towards the dummy. The lotus was filled with this threatening energy which caused Chiyo to flinch slightly.

As the lotus touched the dummy, it suddenly imploded and caused various vines to appear, completely binding the dummy. But it wasn't finished yet. The lotus suddenly widened while the vines kept crushing the dummy. Then after a few seconds, the dummy was devoured entirely by the vines and the lotus, leaving only a few specs of dust.

"That was… impressive," Chiyo whispered, clearly intrigued by the spell.

Lilia grinned as she turned to look at Chiyo while saying, "Completely shocked? It was amazing, right?"

"I admit, I was greatly impressed," Chiyo answered.

'Amazing…! Nila, Emma, and Anna are amazing at magic! I wonder how good Ryu is. I hope I don't disappoint him too much.' Aoi thought in her mind. She was nervous that she wouldn't reach the proper standard as she isn't that good at magic.

She pointed her hand towards the dummy, closed her eyes, and imaged a ball of flame. A small ball of flame appeared on her hand, but it wasn't that strong, probably on the level of the people earlier on the right side.

But then, suddenly, her mind shifted, and the image in her head became an eagle…. A burning… eagle? The ball of flame in her hand suddenly became stronger as it took the form of a small phoenix, causing all of the people around her to be in shock.

"Is that Summoning Magic?!" Lilia exclaimed as she couldn't help but rise from her seat. After seeing that, she laughed as she sat back down. "As expected of Ryu's sibling… She's practically on another level.

Then, Lilia was plunged into thoughts. 'There are only a few amounts of people that use summoning magic as it costs a lot of mana, and they have to make a blood pact with the creature they want to invoke. When did this girl manage to make a blood pact with a phoenix of all creatures!'

Aoi was so nervous as she slowly opened her eyes. She then caught a glimpse of the creature in her hands; she was dazzled. Even Ryu was shocked, 'Performing a summoning by just imaging it, without even a blood pact… This girl, hahaha, she's wilder than I thought."

Aoi then looked at the phoenix, and the phoenix looked at her. Then a womanly voice echoed within her mind, [Little girl, why hath thou summon thee?]

She was shocked and couldn't help but freeze as she heard the voice. Aoi immediately knew it was telepathy and spoke in her mind, [I-I don't know, I was just trying to conjure a ball of flame, and you came out.]

[So, thou art saying that thou summoned me by accident?!] The womanly voice was angered.

[I-I'm sorry!] Aoi was a bit scared of the aggressiveness that came from the voice and immediately apologized.

The phoenix slightly tilted its head, and the womanly voice spoke again, [Hahaha, thou fret not, for I do not bite. I accept thy apologies. In exchange, thou shall perform a blood pact with thyself.]

[O-okay]

[Be not nervous. Tell me what doth thy want me to do?]

[Can you please destroy that target over there?]

[Simple enough.]

The phoenix then flew out of Aoi's hands and made a tiny yet condensed ball of flame appear right at its beak. The condensed ball of flame instantly flew out, and the target was completely annihilated!

A smoke of ash covered the entire platform, but with a wave of one of the professors' fans, the ashes disappeared, showing not only did the phoenix destroy Aoi's target but also the surrounding targets as well!

The man who made the platform earlier couldn't help but sigh as he spoke in his raspy voice, "As expected, a creature's power such as a phoenix is too strong!"

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