Entrance Exams Part 3

Alrik opened his eyes groggily, staring at the figure who was shaking him awake. It was the half-elf Cern, one of his teammates in the previous team match. Alrik looked around for a moment, confused and disoriented. Then he remembered where he was: a lounge inside the Holy Colosseum of Prehcaster, the place he had gone to take a nap while he waited for their turn in the Royal Exams. He sat up, rubbing his head.

"What's going on?" Alrik asked. "Why are you waking me up so early? I thought we had to wait until noon."

Alrik would have preferred to sleep a bit more since his head was still hurting quite a bit from using 'Thought Acceleration' and 'Eyes of Ammit' so much. Cern shook his head at him.

"You've slept through the entire night, it's now midday," Cern said. "The spectators are gathering in the Colosseum again. Since we're the number one ranked team, we'll be first ones to participate in the second part of the Royal Exams."

Alrik, who was still in a little bit of a daze from just waking up, blinked a couple of times in confusion. He had slept for more than fifteen hours, yet his head still hurt this bad? Then again, Alrik had never used 'Thought Acceleration' and 'Eyes of Ammit' that much before, and both at the same time no less. Alrik's home town was a peaceful place, so he never actually got to use the skills he got through training. Maybe his pitiful constitution was to blame for his long recovery period.

"Damn."

Alrik cursed as he rubbed his temples. He would most likely pass out or have a stroke if he used Thought Acceleration in his state.

"I still have a massive headache, I wish I could sleep for atleast one more hour."

Cern's expression looked regretful.

"We're supposed to go on next in thirty minutes, so that won't be possible."

Alrik frowned.

"Why can't they just put the games on hold? Let's just say I suddenly fell Ill or something."

"The tournament is being broadcasted live throughout the kingdom,"

Cern explained, looking at Alrik as if he was stupid. This was common knowledge, after all.

"There will be an audience of thousands of people down there, and if we don't start our match immediately, people will get bored and profits from the festival will fall. They'll just disqualify us rather than wait for us."

Alrik knew that Cern was right. He sighed.

"Of course. I'll just have to use my elixir then."

Cern looked at Alrik with curiosity. He pulled a small wooden box out of his bag and placed it on the table. Cern raised an eyebrow.

"Is that… a potion?" Cern asked.

Alrik scoffed. "It's much more than a potion, this is an elixir. It's very potent and has helped me train back when I still lived with my mother and father."

"Elixir? I've never heard of it," Cern remarked. "Where did you get it?"

Alrik shrugged. "My father gave it to me."

"And how does it work exactly?" Cern asked.

"It makes you feel stronger and more alert," Alrik explained. "I don't know how to make them. I've been saving it for special occasions since this is my last one."

Alrik looked at the bottle with an emotionless expression.

"So, how is it any different from a potion?" Cern asked.

Alrik swirled the bottle, watching the golden liquid inside swish around.

"It's atleast three times more potent than a regular potion, and it uses much higher quality ingredients. Its like comparing surgery to a bandaid."

Alrik then took a sip of the potion. A few seconds later, he felt a warm tingling sensation in his chest and stomach. His headache started to fade away, and his mind began to clear up. The rest of the team had gathered around him by now, looking at the bottle as the golden liquid inside had been fully drained. Once he had completely downed it, Alrik let out a satified sigh. After a few seconds of silence, Alrik realized they were all staring at him as if expecting something. Cern was the first to speak.

"That's it?" Cern asked. "Doesn't it do anything else?

Alrik shook his head. "Just makes me feel better."

He looked at the other team members. None of them seemed impressed. Alrik smirked.

"What? You expect me to start glowing or suddenly grow taller?"

They were all silent, semi-embarrassed, except for Amaya, who nodded.

"If it's you, I don't think its impossible."

Alrik looked at her strangely but ignored her comment. With his newfound strength, Alrik stood up and stretched his arms. He was feeling much better now, and his head didn't hurt anymore.

"All right, let's go," Alrik said. "I'm ready."

"Wait!" Cern looked panicked. "Don't you have some sort of plan to help us win the next game?"

Alrik snorted. "I can't see the future, so we'll just wing it. Just follow my lead like last time."

Cern opened his mouth to say something, but couldn't deny him since it worked so perfectly in their fight against Abhiman. Sherwin, next to Cern, laughed loudly and grinned at Alrik.

"I am liking you more and more."

***

Alrik and the others entered the arena. As they stepped out into the light, an announcer's voice boomed over the magical speakers, and the audience cheered. Standing in front of them on a large magical platform, was the headmaster of the Royal Academy. Alrik saw the stands full of spectators and hundreds of banners hanging above the seats, all bearing the colors of different houses and organizations. The headmaster then spoke once more, gesturing to Alrik, Cern, Brianna, Amaya, and Sherwin.

"To start off the second part of the Royal Exam, the number one ranked team! They showed brilliant teamwork, masterful coordination, and once-in-a-lifetime talent! What do they have in store for us this time around, I wonder? If you can't wait to see, like I, then worry not! You don't have to wait any longer! The game chosen this year for the second part of the Royal Exam will be . . . Dungeon Survival, a new game made by yours truly! Try to get to the center of the maze while fighting against monsters, traps, and an ever-moving maze!"

The crowd went wild, it wasn't often that the royal exams changed the way they did things. It was the first time in 100 years that anything had changed.

Brianna frowned. "Damnit, I hate mazes."

Sherwin responded without missing a beat.

"Of course you don't, you can't remember anything with that thick skull of your-"

Sherwin was interrupted halfway through his sentence by Brianna socking him in the chin.

"Ow! It was just a joke, stop hitting me, damn it!"

The crowd roared with laughter. To Brianna and Sherwin's dismay, The image of them two bantering was for everyone to see on a magical display. Just like with Abhiman, they were being watched without their knowledge. Sherwin's cheeks turned a rosy pink.

"Okay, call me crazy, but I almost kind of sympathize with Abhiman now . . ."

"Let's get this over with," Brianna muttered, sticking her hands in her pockets.

"Right," Sherwin agreed with Brianna for once in his life.

The two of them shifted their gaze to Alrik. Amaya and Cern soon followed suit, but Alrik ignored them. He was looking at the headmaster. After a moment, he spoke.

"What is the key to this game?"

As soon as Alrik asked the question, a sudden heavy feeling enveloped the area around them as his eyes glowed a sickly green. The mana in the air had become still, as if the world itself was holding its breath. The spectators wouldn't notice anything different, but his teammates definitely felt the air around Alrik change. The headmaster raised his eyebrow, but didn't seem surprised. Like a whisper, the headmasters voice resounded in Alrik's mind.

"Impressive! but you're going to have to try harder than that."

Alrik had activated Eye's of Ammit, yet he felt . . . nothing. He couldn't even get a gut feeling out of using the ability, meaning the headmaster had a suppression skill that was higher than level five.

Then, the headmaster turned towards the crowd, who were ignorant of what exactly just had happened.

"Now, without further adieu, let's begin!"

Alrik was slightly disappointed since his skill had completely failed, but he had expected as much from the headmaster himself. Even though Alrik lacked common knowledge, he still guessed that the headmaster was a force to be reckoned with.

However, Alrik wasn't disappointed for long, as right after the headmaster finished his words, a massive amount of mana filled the arena, more than Alrik had ever felt from a singular instance. He held his stomach. Mana, when in large quantities, can cause one to become sick. Even though his teammates were fine, if not a little queasy, Alrik collapsed to the floor.

'Shit, I'm going to be sick . . . damn my measly 1 constitution . . .'

"Alrik? Are you ok?"

Cern looked at Alirk slightly concerned, but Alrik waved him off.

"Yeah yeah I'm fine, just a little sick."

All four of his teammates stared at him. Each of them looked amazed, but for the wrong reason. Alrik frowned at them. Sherwin opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off by Alrik.

"Shut up. I don't wanna hear it."

Sherwin's lip curled into a grin at his frustrated response, causing Alrik's expression to darken even further.

"Doesn't mana sickness only affect babies?"

Alrik glared at Sherwin.

"Another word and I'll kill you."

Sherwin put his hands in the air.

"Oh, forgive me! Just make sure you don't throw up while you do it."

Alrik gave Sherwin the finger with his eyes closed as his nausea intensified. Everyone stifled their laughter, except for Ayama, who asked Alrik a question.

"Why are you so sick? I know that spell was a little mana intensive, but this is . . ."

Alrik didn't answer until the spell in the center of the arena had finished and the trembling had ceased. Shakily, Alrik returned to his feet and brushed himself off.

"I just have a horrible constitution score."

Despite it being the truth, Ayama looked skeptical. After all, only children had a constitution score that would warrant such a reaction. Alrik was insinuating that his constitution score was equivalent or worse than a 5 year old. Alrik turned away from her and focused on the center of the arena, where a huge construction had appeared. The headmaster was now gone from Alrik's view, and in his stead, a mass of twisting and contorting walls of black stone. It looked almost like pasta, each hallway turning at random intervals, creating a system of tunnels that looked like it had been built by a mad man. Just looking at it gave Alrik a headache. Sherwin whistled.

"That doesn't look too much fun, but our best bud Alrik has a plan . . . right? . . . Alrik?"

Alrik, who's eyes hadn't separated from the maze, didn't reply as he was deep in thought. Taking his silence as known, Sherwin despaired.

"Well, we had a good run I guess."

Brianna sighed, not bothering to smack some sense into him after the incident earlier. Cern and Amaya, however, still looked at Alrik with some hope, as he had neither denied nor confirmed anything. After a few minutes, the headmaster's voice boomed throughout the colosseum.

"Come now, don't make me wait all day. Enter the dungeon and try to find me at it's center."

After his words were spoken, the maze shifted and twisted in on itself, forming a huge opening directly facing the five of them. Inside its walls was nothing but darkness. None of them seemed happy at this, besides Alrik, who finally ended his own silence.

"Brianna and Sherwin, you guys get in the front. Amaya, get in the middle and make sure your close enough to support those two, but also far enough way to be out of danger. Cern, stay with me in the back."

Swiftly taking the lead, no one argued, except for Sherwin.

"Do I really have to be in the front? I'm not good with darkness . . ."

Brianna tugged him forwards and reprimanded him.

"Stop being a wuss, let's go."

Sherwin reluctantly followed, and everyone fell into the 2-1-2 formation Alrik had suggested. Like this, they arrived before the gates of hades. Right before everyone stepped in, Alrik whispered something that no one but him could hear.

"Dark Bullet."

Instantly, twenty dark sphere's the size of a pea appeared around them, each looking like it's own little black hole. They were so small that they blended in with the darkness, making it so that not even the spectators in the stands could see them. The only person Alrik thought would be able to detect them was the headmaster and some of the professors.

In the darkness, Alrik spoke for the last time.

"Alright, I'm going to give you all instructions in that way from now on. Try to be as silent and stealthy as possible from now on."

Following those words, a deathly silence overtook them. To the spectators, who were looking at them through a magical display device, they were all silent. However, they couldn't be more wrong. Alrik was constantly sending them his thoughts through 'Mind Link', acting as the head of the group from the back.

This all continued until Alrik felt the connection to one of his orbs be severed. Instantly, Alrik reacted.

'Brianna, Sherwin, there's something to your right. Get ready for battle.'

Although it was primarily directed to Brianna and Sherwin, he also sent this thought to Cern and Amaya so they could be aware of the situation. After a moment, the sound of metal grinding on metal could be heard as Sherwin unsheathed his sword, immediately followed by hurried footsteps getting closer. In this darkness, there was no time to light any torch to meet there enemy. So, Alrik used something he had also used on Abhiman.

'Mind Manipulation'

Alrik, with Mind Manipulation, implanted a sense of urgency into Brianna, which caused her to step forwards in Sherwin's defense. Following this, the meaty sound of flesh being struck and the crunching of bone could be heard in the darkness. Alrik took out a torch as fast as he could and lit it, quickly illuminating the darkness. In front of them, about ten feet away from Brianna, was a tall, lanky beast with huge claws, pale white skin, and red eyes. Its left hand was bent at a weird angle, and it was opening its mouth.

Alrik, knowing it was about to scream, panicked slightly. If it screamed, their position would probably become known to other monsters.

'Thought Acceleration'

Alrik's environment ground to a halt. In this space , Alrik created a Dark Bullet the size of a basketball directly inside the monster's mouth. After this, he gave instructions to Sherwin and Cern. Amaya's spells would take too long, and Brianna had already done her part.

'Sherwin, Try to decapitate it. Cern, shoot an arrow slightly to its left. It'll be there after it dodges Sherwin's attack.'

Time returned to normal, and the beast which had been milliseconds away from releasing its roar suddenly found its throat occupied. It began to reach upwards with its claws, but not before Sherwin flashed forwards and brought his blade to its throat.

The beast leaped backwards, barely dodging his blade as it cut the air mere centimeters away from its neck. However, as its feet were in the air from dodging, an arrow planted itself in the monster's temple, causing it to collapse like a puppet with its strings cut. As soon as the fight was over, Alrik generated mass amounts of Dark Bullets and sent them out in all directions, controlling a large amount of them at the same time.

Consequently, Alrik's head began to hurt, but it was worth it. Three paths were in front of them. The one on the right and left held more monsters, as his connection to his Dark Bullet in those locations had been severed. However, the middle path held nothing, as his dark bullets had gone unimpeded. Swiftly relaying this to his teammates, they all took the middle path with a little bit of a pep in their step from the monster encounter. Alrik dropped his torch and left it burning behind them. After they had traveled for a bit, its light was completely gone from them.

After a few minutes of walking in silence, Alrik could hear the distant sound of water splashing. In response, he quickly explored the area in front of them, mapping it out with his dark bullets. After not detecting any danger, they made their way closer to the sound of water. As the sound got louder and louder, they began to see a soft glow coming from the end of the tunnel they were in.

Arriving at the end of the tunnel, everyone but Alrik involuntarily gasped at the beauty that they beheld. Above them, Crystals shone like soft moon light, illuminating a waterfall which fed into a clear lake.However, due to the sudden light, Alrik quickly canceled his Dark Bullets so that the spectators wouldn't notice them.

Cern exhaled with admiration.

"To think the headmaster made this in a matter of minutes . . . is he really human?"

Amaya nodded. She hadn't taken her eyes off the scenery. Brianna seemed to be fascinated with the crystals illuminating the place, while Sherwin just seemed to be relieved to have some light at all.

The only person whose expression hadn't changed was Alrik, although none of his teammates noticed since he was at the back of the group. Although the scenery was indeed breathtaking, Alrik knew that the headmaster had a reason for making it. Either it was a safe zone where they could relax, or more likely, it's beauty was a trap to lower their guard.

Taking his gaze away from the lake and crystal ceiling, Alrik scanned the less obvious parts of the room, looking in every nook and cranny for some kind of indication of the true nature of this room. However, his eyes found nothing. Everything seemed normal.

"Alrik, What's wrong?"

Cern, who was standing next to him, realized that Alrik had a frown.

"The Royal Exams aren't meant to be a sightseeing experience. The headmaster probably has a reason for making this room other than just for it's beauty, and the fact that I can't find out what that hidden purpose is annoys me."

Cern returned his gaze back towards the open room and thought for a moment. After a moment, Cern spoke up again.

"But, don't the royal exams also serve as a way for the academy to raise money? If scenery like this is present, wouldn't that make the experience more enjoyable?"

Sherwin and Brianna nodded in agreement. Alrik shook his head.

"Maybe I'm overthinking it, but just stay on your guard and search the place for exits in groups of two. We need to get a move on."

They all nodded and spread out. Amaya and Brianna went towards the waterfall while Sherwin and Cern went towards the other side of the lake. Alrik, since their group number was odd, stayed where he was and kept analyzing the room. Finding nothing, Alrik activated Eyes of Ammit. While they primarily functioned to judge someone, they also had the ability to perceive mana in the air, making them good for sensing any kind of magical trap.

As Alrik activated this skill, the world changed into black and white. However, trails of color could be seen floating around the room, gathering around certain spots. These colors indicated the type of mana present in that area. For instance, a bright white light gathered around the ceiling, where he presumed light magic had been cast on the crystals to make them illuminative. Near the top of the waterfall and at the bottom of the lake, blue light glowed, most likely being some kind of water spell which took water from the bottom of the lake and returned it to the top of the waterfall, creating an endless loop which made for great scenery.

He saw various other little tidbits of magic here and there, but eventually, Alrik found something that seemed out of place. Near the top of the waterfall, there was a little red light, showing that there was some fire magic present. After observing everything he could, Alrik began to make his way towards the top of the waterfall. After passing Amaya and Brianna, who were near the bottom, Alrik came to a steep cliff.

Alrik, knowing he had a measly 1 in strength, instantly gave up any notion of climbing it by himself. Turning around, he called out to Brianna.

"Hey, Brianna, come here for a second."

At the sound of his voice, Brianna turned her head towards him and gave him a questioning look. Alrik waved her over.

"Just come here, I need your help."

Once she had gotten close to him, Alrik pointed to the top of the cliff.

"Throw me up there."

Brianna didn't seem to mind and picked Alrik up by the back of his shirt. Not surprising, he was light due to his lanky build.

"Alright? Mind telling me why though?"

Now being held up by his shirt, Alrik gave a quick explanation.

"There's something interesting I saw up there, just throw me in already."

Brianna shrugged and proceeded to toss Alrik as if he were the same weight as a football. His shirt tore under the force, but remained mostly intact. In no time at all, Alrik hit the ground on top of the waterfall and let out a groan as the was wind knocked out of him.

Returning to his feet with a frown on his face, Alrik found himself near a small pound which came from a hole in the wall. This pound then wormed its way off of the cliff, down to the lake below. At the center of the pound there was a little island, where a small red dragon was staring directly at Alrik.

'Oh shit.'

Because everyone had been relatively quiet, the sound of the waterfall had probably completely masked their presence. However, it probably couldn't ignore Alrik, who had just unceremoniously landed right in front of it. Alrik, in a panic, activated Thought Acceleration.

The dragon was rising to its feet slowly, and its jaws were opening. Inside its maw, Alrik could just barely make out a fiery orange light that shone through its razor sharp teeth. In response, Alrik tried to cast Mind Manipulation on it, but nothing happened. It was as if the beast had no mind at all, causing his spell to disappear into nothingness.

The beast's jaw, now almost open, was about to send a torrent of flames in Alrik's direction. With his agility score of 1, there was no way he could dodge. Using Mind Link, Alrik sent out a distress signal to his teammates, but they wouldn't be able to make it in time to help him.

At this moment, Alrik knew his options were limited. Unlike before when he had only used one dark bullet on Abhiman, to defeat the monster in front of him, he would have to use multiple. The power of a dragon's flame breath would surely smash through any kind of dark bullet he could summon. It would take at least ten to even lessen the damage of the flames. If he did that, everyone would instantly know for sure that he was hiding his status. Worse case scenario, he would be disqualified from the Royal Exams. However, if he died here, he may fail and not even get accepted into the academy in the first place.

Naturally, he only had one choice. Alrik, just as the dragon spewed flames from its maw, cast dark bullet 100 times in less than a second, instantly making it appear as if the dragon had suddenly been encased in a cage of darkness. Alrik slowly compressed the orbs into a smaller and smaller sphere, before eventually, the sound of bones and flesh crumpling could be heard. What had seemed like minutes of thought to Alrik was only a few seconds in regular time. Quickly deactivating the dark bullets just as quickly as he had summoned them, Alrik's eyes were graced with the view of a completely crushed dragon . . . only there was no blood. The corpse had no organs or any color. Its insides seemed to be made from stone.

'Ah, a golem. I see.'

It was impossible for mortals to create life with magic, so the next best option would be Golems, which are able to perform certain tasks, but they can't learn or improve themselves. Although it was weird that it still sounded real, Alrik just guessed that the headmaster was just showing off. Activating Eyes of Ammit to make sure the golem was dead, he surprisingly still found a small bit of mana inside the rubble. After informing his teammates that he was fine, Alrik swam across the pond and arrived on the island at the center, which was only about five meters in diameter.

Digging in the rubble, Alrik eventually retrieved a small bronze key. It was rusted and pitted but had an odd shape that caught his eye. He brought it to the light and found that it was a star with five points.

Once Alrik returned to the cliff's edge, he looked over and saw the others waiting for him. Alrik had no real way down, so he just yelled at them before jumping off.

"Catch me!"

Brianna, being the strongest out of everyone, quickly moved underneath him and caught him. Alrik quickly hopped to his feet and showed the key to everyone. In an instant, Sherwin and Cern's eyes lit up.

"There's a locked door over where we were exploring! This has to be for it."

Sherwin grabbed the key and began to run over towards their section. The door was made from a black stone like material, similar to what they had seen when the maze was first constructed by the headmaster. They all gathered around the door while Sherwin stuck the key into the keyhole. Instantly, the door opened revealing a long hallway beyond.

Everyone filed past Sherwin, quickly returning to their 2-1-2 formation. As they walked further in, the darker it became as the light from the previous room faded. After a moment, Alrik created more dark bullets, sending them outwards as scouts. However, Alrik blinked in confusion. After reaching a certain point, his connection with all of them was severed at the same time.

'All of them at the same time? What the hell happened?'

Alrik frowned, sending warning thoughts to his friends. All of them proceeded with the utmost caution, and Alrik put a dark orb ten meters in front of them just in case anything happens. About four tense minutes later, Alrik's dark orb was destroyed. As soon as he felt his connection dissipate, Alrik lit a torch and raised it high above his head. What he saw was horrifying. A huge mass of tentacles stretched across the floor, reaching for every last member of the team. Each tentacle seemed to be made out of some sort of grey metal that gave off a strange aura.

The team backed away as fast as possible, but it was too late; their torches were extinguished. Their vision was reduced to the pitch blackness surrounding them. Alrik activated Thought Acceleration and Eyes of Ammit at the same time. Instantly, he located the beast in the darkness. It had already twenty tentacles, ten of which were rushing towards them.

'Damnit, I can't destroy all of those tentacles without running out of mana first.'

Unable to just brute force his way through this encounter, Alrik swiftly brainstormed up a plan. Mind Manipulation wouldn't work on the monster, since it was probably just a golem that the headmaster created. Instead, he formed four orbs on his friends stomach, and pulled them towards him as he deactivated Thought Acceleration. All of his friends instantly flew towards him, narrowly escaping the jaws of death. However, the tentacles simply redirected themselves, stretching and contorting themselves to reach Alrik and his friends.

Not letting the beast get any closer, Alrik activated Thought Acceleration again, even as his head protested violently. He quickly gave instructions for Brianna to use Gravity Well in front of them, Amaya to use Deep Sea Pressure, Cern to light a torch, and Sherwin to bisect and tentacle which made it past Brianna and Amaya's spells. However, just as he was giving his commands, he felt a sharp pain in his head and a robotic voice.

'Warning. Mana reserves low. Warning. Mana reserves low.'

'shit . . .'

Alrik cursed in his own mind. It was just too much. Not even his own Mana Mastery could make up for his one point of mana. Knowing he only had a few more spells to cast before he ran out of mana, Alrik's thoughts intensified. Pushing through that sharp pain in his head, Alrik sent the rest of his thoughts out and deactivated both of his abilities. Mere milliseconds later, torch light sprang into existence, once again illuminating the horrible creature in front of them.

"Pressure." "Gravity Well!"

Instantly, the ground cracked as the tentacles slammed into the ground. The combined force of Gravity well and Deep Sea Pressure was enough to keep all ten on the ground. Sherwin then made quick work of those ten, severing them all in the blink of an eye. Once they had been disconnected with the creature's main body, they crumbled into rubble. The creature which owned the tentacles let out a screech of rage and finally showed it's face.

It was a giant squid-like creature with ten remaining arms. Its skin was a deep red color with a large circular mouth filled with teeth. It was also surprisingly muscular, likely due to the amount of magic it needed to maintain its size and power. With another roar, a wave of water suddenly spawned into existence, rushing towards them and quickly filling the hallway to the top. Now submerged, Sherwin was unable to dodge as two tentacles slammed him into a wall, causing him to open his mouth and spew his precious air out as bubbles.

With very little mana left, Alrik activated Thought Acceleration and cast two Dark Bullets at the tentacles holding Sherwin. Then, he sent instructions to Amaya.

'You're the only one with Aqua Affinity skill! Take Sherwin's sword and finish this, I'll create an opening for you.'

Then after deactivating Thought Acceleration, his two Dark Bullets screamed through the water, instantly puncturing huge holes in the sides of the two tentacles, freeing Sherwin. As Amaya flew towards him, her body sped along by currents created from Aqua Affinity, the remaining tentacles from the squid came at her like an army of angry sea worms. However, with the absolute last of his mana, Alrik redirected the Dark Bullets he had already created, sending them hurtling through water. The currents they created just barely held the tentacles back long enough for Amaya to retrieve Sherwin's sword, much to his dismay.

Once Amaya had Sherwin's sword, she moved like lightning in the water, swiftly bisecting the remaining tentacles. Although her movements were unrefined, Amaya moved so quick in the water that it didn't matter. After a short battle, the squid was defeated by Amaya. It's body crumbled into nothing as it was killed, causing the magically generated water to disappear just as Alrik's vision was growing dark. Everyone, besides Amaya who could breathe underwater, coughed violently as they desperately sucked in air. Alrik simply laid on his back as everyone praised Amaya.

"Holy shit Amaya, that was awesome! I didn't know you could move like that."

Sherwin was impressed as he received his blade back from Amaya.

"Yeah, that was something. I always thought of you as a supportive person but now I'm kinda terrified."

Cern rubbed the back of his head as everyone laughed at his comment. Alrik climbed to his feet and patted Amaya on the shoulder as he walked by.

"That was badass, good job."

Together, completely soaking wet, they all continued down the hall towards another huge door. As soon as they got close the door opened, automatically revealing the headmaster sitting at the center of a ginormous chamber.

"You made it! Not bad, not bad at all."

The headmaster's eyes scanned over each student in turn before landing upon Alrik.

"Well, you certainly gave up on hiding yourself."

Alrik shrugged.

"You already knew, so instead of losing, I might as well go all out."

The headmaster chuckled and stood up, walking around the table in the middle of the room until he stood right next to Alrik. He reached out and grabbed Alrik by the chin, forcing him to look him directly in the eye. The headmaster seemed to have no idea about what was called 'personal space'.

"I suppose it's time we talk about your future here at the academy. You have some serious potential, my boy. If you continue to use your talents properly, there will be no stopping you. As much as I wish to see you're real status, I'll respect your privacy for now."

Then, the headmaster turned to the other four. He walked by each of them, giving points and tips about what he saw.

"The same goes for each of you. All of you have amazing talent, but you need to refine it. Amaya, you're magic is amazing, but you don't nearly use it enough. I don't know if this is Alrik's fault as a commander or your own hesitation, but fix it. Cern, your marksmanship is superb, but you're neglecting your magical studies. The Atmospheric Archer class is meant to be a balance between magic and marksmanship, don't nail yourself down to one aspect of it. Brianna, you performed wonderfully as a tank, but your frame is a bit lacking. To protect those behind you, a large frame and imposing figure is helpful. I recommend you get yourself a shield to make up for that aspect. Lastly, Sherwin. Your swordsmanship is superb, but opposite to Cern, you're focusing too much on the magic side of your class. All you use are flash step and flash draw, making your moves predictable and choreographed. You need to learn the basics of swordsmanship before you incorporate your flash moves."

After lecturing them all, he walked back towards the center of the room. Then, turning around, he smiled at them.

"That being said, I give you . . . 91 points out of 100. You did very well, but as students of the Royal Academy, you must strive for perfection."

Everyone was silent. Cern was the first to speak, stuttering a little as he did so.

"Wait . . . stu- stu- students of the royal academy? You mean we're in?!"

The headmaster nodded with a smile.

"Of course! How else would you think you'd be able to enter my vault?"

Cern looked confused.

"Vault?"

The headmaster laughed.

"Yes, my vault. That dungeon stuff was just an excuse for you guys to have a real challenge. I just flooded my vault with golems and sent them out randomly. Oh, and don't worry, the people in the arena aren't watching anymore. As soon as you reached the door, I told everyone you passed."

Everyone was too stunned to speak.