Ch 12: Entrance Exam Part 1

Selk's POV.

There were around a hundred and twenty students present in the colosseum, all will be taking part in the entrance examination. We were divided into twenty two groups, with five to six students in each one.

I was in group twelve that had six members composed of three boys and three girls. The two boys and two girls seemed to be combat types since the two boys had swords on their hips, while one of the girls was also armed with a sword and the other a spear. The last girl seems to be a mage like me since she carried a staff that had a red gem at the end of it, emphasizing that she had the fire attribute.

The host then addressed the audience and told them of what the entrance exam's mechanics are, and how the students will be scored this year. The groups that have been pared today were strictly chosen hypothetically as a balance team based under the skill charts that we submitted while we were applying for our admission to the university.

We will then be judged as a team in two types of tests. The first will be team power. Each team will be given a magical target that we will have to damage or destroy as a group. We will be judged both in our individual powers via a power radar and team synchronicity. Each team will have three minutes to inflict as much damage to the target as possible.

The second is team battle. Each team will fight a golem made by the university. We will have to survive a five minute match with said golem. The goal is not to beat the golem, but rather to make sure that we all come out of the fight with as little injuries as possible.

It was then revealed that we will all be pared with our team mates indefinitely for an entire year, composing of two semesters. The findings from this entrance exam will determine which group will be placed at the top of the class. It would appear that this is a new type of teaching style the university is trying to implement since the war is now over and they are trying to promote unity with one another. That would also explain why there are demons mixed in with this year's student line up.

Yes, there are actually demons using either illusion or shape shifting magic to disguise themselves as humans. This is definitely the school's doing, since all fourteen demons that I saw when I switched my regular eyes with Great Elven eyes to scope the student's stats, were all each assigned to one team..

So this is the extent of the human and demon humanitarian outreach program each kingdom has agreed upon. Not sure if it's the same with us, but it would appear that the demons would send some of their children to our schools as human students to avoid prejudice. If I wasn't using Great Elf appraisal skills I wouldn't even have noticed since they were using high grade magic for their disguise .

Our team is also one of the fourteen teams that has a demon in it. She's the mage girl with the staff. I think her name was Abriela. She's wearing the same Black uniform with gold and white trims that the rest of the girls are in.

She's a small girl with a pale complexion that was highlighted even more by her black uniform. Her blue hair flows elegantly down her back while her small goat horns, that are invisible to the rest of the people here, suit the shape of her face quite nicely. In a sense, she is quite cute.

We were then asked to step away from the stage area as six mages made their way to the examination grounds. The six then removed the large fifty feet in diameter ring, and then erected high stone walls. They then turned these walls into four large rooms that will serve as our testing room. One team will go into one room, in which they will then complete their test.

Before the exam started however, we were asked to introduce ourselves to our team mates. The first one to talk was the boy with dark brown hair seemingly Asiatic facial features.

"Hey there. My name is Bismart Hahara. I came from the Hahara clan that has held the Erle position in the Ortimac kingdom for five generations. I'm a swords man of the Hahara Shinken style that focuses on both close and long range combat. I'm proficient with wind magic attacks. Nice to meet you all."

Bismart looks like a competent fighter that seems to be armed with a Katana. Based on the appraisal skill I'm using, his a B rank swordsman with mid tier wind magic. He's also from the same kingdom as Sarah too so I wondered a little if they've met each other before.

The introductions of my group after that was as followed. The other boy with blonde hair in a mohawk cut, Dark skin, and carried a one handed long sword is Alfred Richter. He's the fourth son of Count Albert Richter of the Garadour kingdom, north west of the Raibaran continent. He's a B rank swordsman as well, but has mid tier light magic attribute.

Next is Valeria Maxwell. A read headed beauty that held a rapier on her hip. Despite her appearance, her magic compatibility is with high tier lightning magic. Unfortunately she's only a rank C swordsman. Her family is one of the biggest merchant group in the kingdom of Markinlocks, south west of the Raibara continent.

Next is Sakanari Usara, another Ortimac kingdom resident, her flawless skin with a hint of yellowish complexion and long raven hair points to her place of origin. She said she came from a farming village known as Brigada where her family is the leader of. Her stats are quite good, with rank A spearman and mid tier earth magic.

Finally, there's Abriela the demon girl. She claimed to be from a family that has no royal position in one of the village bordering the fast Nameless Forest. She is powerful based on my appraisal, with rank A hand to hand combat skills, rank A swordsmanship, and high tier fire magic compatibility. Even amongst demons that is above the average.

We then waited for our turn in the bleacher assigned to us. We watched the first batch take their exams via screen projections above the examination rooms. these images were possible thanks to dwarven technology. There were some pretty impressive groups that managed to damage the large target heavily. Most notable of them were team three, team seven, and team eight.

Finally, it was our turn. My group and I entered the examination room just like the previous teams did, and were presented with the target we must shoot our magical attacks on to. The teacher assigned to this room gave another brief explanation of the three minute time limit and to have us try and work together to destroy the target.

Bismart: "Hey Selk, I forgot to ask earlier, but you're a flesh mage right? What kind of long range magic attacks can you do?"

Asked Bismart as he and all my other teammates prepare their magical attacks.

Selk: "This kind."

I said as I constructed a bow on my left hand and an arrow on my right. The white bow I made is called the Evil Ivory Bow. I constructed it from the bones of the norther Evil Ivory Apes. These white furred monsters are known for using the bones of their kin to construct powerful bows and arrows. They are called evil because of how they like to torture their prey by shooting them in non vital areas of their body. The ape would giggle as it's prey succumbs from its injuries. This Bow grants one hundred percent accuracy increase to the wielder and sixty percent damage to it's target upon impact.

My teammates were stunned momentarily from what I did, but I didn't pay much attention to them. I nocked my special arrow on to the bow and waited for my team mates to make their moves first.

Once my teammates got over the shock of what I just did, they started to focus on the task we were given. Sakanari was up first as she raised her right arm up with her spear in hand with a throwing posture. She uttered a short incantation, and in an instance the right half of her body, from her feet up to her hand, was covered in stone.

Sakanari: "Earth magic, Spear of Gayana."

After she said her earth magic, named after one of Herdious's familiars, Sakanari threw her spear with great force at the large fifteen foot tall target. It flew thought the air and pierced the target just a few inches away from the bullseye. The power of the spear throw was enough to pierce it, yet it didn't do anything else, unfortunately.

Next is Bismart, who drew his Katana in a swift slashing motion and uttered his magical attack "Wind Magic, Hurricane Cutter." Four circular saw like wind blade emerged from his sword. They traveled towards the target and left deep slash marks once it collided.

Valeria followed up Bismart's attack with her own signature move, "Lightning magic, Heaven's Arrow". Valeria gathered electricity onto her sword and performed a piercing lunge with it. The beam of lightning that came out from her rapier left a singed hole as big as a fist on the target, that I can now recognize as made of solid Shadow Timber. A timber that came from the Shadow Tree. This tree is so hard it's durability has been compared to that of iron.

Alfred was next to dish out his attack on the target. However, he didn't pull out his sword. Rather, he gathered light particles into his right hand. Once he felt the energy was enough, he punched at the direction of the target and yelled out his attack, "Light Magic, Light Blast". His attack was pretty similar with Valeria's.

It was finally Abriela's turn. She's been charging the fire ball she conjured at the end of her staff, and now she's ready to unleash it. "Fire Magic, Fire Ball" shouted Abriela. The heat from her fire ball was quite intense, it made us that's near her sweat a little. The fire ball exploded upon contact with the target, and once the smoke cleared, a good size hole as big as a watermelon was gouge out of said target.

I've been waiting for awhile now to let my teammates get their licks in on this target for the judging, but now it's time for me to show them how it's done.

I pulled the bow string and aimed the arrow armed with an organic crystal tip filled with organic explosive liquid. I let lose the string and watched gracefully glide it's way towards our target. Once the crystal arrow head broke on the target's surface, an earth shattering explosion was heard all throughout the colosseum.

I think I may have put a little too much explosive fluids in that arrow head. everyone inside the room, from the teacher, to my teammates were holding their hands against their ears to shield them from the loud blast my attack caused. Once the dust settled from the explosion, everyone in the room had slack jawed expressions plastered on their faces. Over half of the fifteen foot tall target has disappeared. Dead center of the target is a hole ten feet in diameter, making the target now resemble a giant wooden donut.

The cheers of the excited crowd outside the room can now be heard by us. Looks like they liked the show I just put on. With the target destroyed, the teacher declared that the first half of our exam is over, and that we may prepare for noon when the second test will commence.

My teammates are walking a few steps behind me as we made our way out of the colosseum. They must have been intimidated by the sheer power of that one attack. I can't blame them though since none of them probably have ever set foot on a battle field before. Attacks like that are a dime a dozen back when I was still in the war. It was Abriela who first came closer and tried to talk to me.

Abriela: "E-excuse me, sir Selk, but may I ask how you were able to produce such a devastating attack? I did not hear you cast any incantations nor did you prepare such an item pre-testing. How can flesh magic do such a thing?"

The young demonic girl asked me upfront what was on her mind, and soon the rest of my teammates joined in.

Selk: "How I did it, you say? Sure, I'll tell you, but first, do you know about the Four Fanged Blast Cobra?"

Valeria: "F-four fanged what? never heard of such a creature."

Sakanari: "I-I have. My grandfather told me a story about them. He said that it has two fangs in it's mouth that has a deadly venom and another set of fangs under its jaw that shoots out explosive liquid, right?"

Sakanari answered correctly and I congratulated her for getting it right. These monsters are located in caves near Dragon's Mountain Path. Their lower fangs shoot out different liquids on each fang. The liquids are harmless on their own, but once mixed in with each other, creates a large explosion that can even wound wyverns.

I told them that I just created a crystal arrow head with two separate chambers and created the liquids each on separate chambers. Once the arrow head break, the chemicals will mix in with each other and the rest is history.

Alfred: "Is that why you had to create the arrow on the spot, right? You were worried that the arrow heads might break if you carried them around?"

Selk: "Yeah. A strong enough pressure could break the crystal, so I have to make them on the spot, but when you get the hang of it, it's very easy to make these arrows."

Bismart: "Amazing! So, even a low level magic user like a flesh mage can have a powerful attack with this kind of tactic. I'm glad I have a clever mage like you oon my team, Selk. I really lucked in with this team."

Said Bismart, proudly proclaiming himself as lucky.

Selk: "Well, I wouldn't call myself lucky yet. The second test will definitely be harder than the first one."

I told my teammates as we go out to eat and prepare for the second half of the exam.