Magic Test

Waking up in a dimly lit room, a bunch of teenagers sat up and groggily rubbed their eyes. They all looked around, finding some familiar faces from their own schools, and new faces from other schools. One thing they all had in common though was that they all didn't know where they were.

Logan was among the first who stood up and prepared for anything, along with some of the others that were in the car with him. He looked around, searching for an entrance or exit to this room, finding only a wall that looked like it could slide open.

Joseph, Joshua and Riley all were quick to follow the first batch, preparing themselves for anything. Joseph tried to remain calm to make sure his magic didn't go out of control, Joshua tried to put on a dignified face while slightly shaking and Riley was getting excited.

When the last student stood up the doors finally opened, revealing that the teens were in the middle of a desert with dummies set up for target practice. Standing in the doorway were a group of adults, all wearing a military uniform.

"Welcome to the magic aptitude test." The large man in the middle walked forward and spoke first, the others following behind him. "I am General Ramos, the commanding officer of this base and the person who will be overseeing this batch of tests."

Some of the teens muttered in recognition of the man, he was after all a well-known figure in the military. He had represented the military in faction meetings countless times and was known as the strongest in the military.

"Shut up!" He was also known for his short temper. His yell quieted the room down, so much so you could hear a pin drop. "The next person to talk without permission is going to be sent to a goblin's nest without protection."

No one uttered a single word, they had heard about goblins before in their classes. They were ferocious and lustful creatures that didn't care about gender, only if something had a hole. No one wanted to meet a goblin even with their magic and no one wanted to meet a group of goblins alone.

"Good, now beside me are the headmasters of the academies you will be trialing for. They will be conducting the tests that will dictate which academy you will place in. Everyone, get in lines in front of one of them and follow them to the testing grounds."

Every student moved towards one of the headmasters, creating long lines that reached the back of the room they were in. After a couple of minutes where no one spoke a word the headmasters made their way out of the room and towards different areas.

The students looked around at their surroundings, realizing they were located on a military base that had no military personnel present. They still took in the sight but didn't utter any of their awe at the sight.

After a minute of walking the students arrived at the training location, a field with rows of dummies lined up and scattered for target practice. The headmaster that was leading this group stood at the front and faced them.

"My name is Ms. Lumine, headmaster of the Harpies Cliff college. We are going to have you all attack these dummies one by one and I will evaluate how well you do. The score I give you will be compared to other students and that will decide what academy you get placed into."

Ms. Lumine explained and all the students nodded their heads. It was a simple enough criterion for a test, just get a high score and you would get better treatment. The students were also excited, they weren't allowed to use their magic in school without a teachers permission so now they could let loose.

"First up we have Liam Brown." A boy stepped out from the line and moved to the front. "Whenever you're ready destroy as many targets as you can within thirty seconds." Ms. Lumine held out a stopwatch and rested her finger on the start button.

Liam held his hand out and took a deep breath in and prepared himself to cast his magic.

"Tremor!" Liam called the name of his spell and the ground beneath a dummy began shaking violently. After a few seconds the dummy finally fell over and Liam moved onto a different dummy. "Tremor!" Once again the same thing happened, repeating until the time was up.

Ms. Lumine wrote something down on her pad and called for the next student to walk forward. After multiple students had taken their turns another name was called.

"Riley Bolt, step forward." The confident boy walked forward with a smile on his face, as if the test wasn't a worry of his. "Destroy as many dummies as you can before time runs out." Ms. Lumine repeated the same line as she had for the other students.

"Ms. Lumine, I challenge you to a duel." Riley didn't even bother getting prepared for the test, instead crossing his arms and challenging the headmaster. Ms. Lumine didn't even bat an eye at his challenge, instead looking the boy in the eye for a good few seconds before clicking the start button of the stopwatch.

"Tsk." Riley clicked his tongue and turned to the dummies. He had less time now, but that wasn't a big deal to him. "Lightning Trail!" He activated his spell, lightning flickering off his body and he took off from his spot and charged towards one of the dummies, a lightning trail following him as he ran.

Reeling his fist back he struck the dummy in its chest and it burst open, the material that made it exploding in all directions. He didn't bother staying to look at his work, moving towards the closest dummy and performing the same attack until the time was finished.

Returning to the starting area, Riley was breathing a bit heavily. His spell was taxing, taking a lot of mana to keep active and increasing his stamina consumption in exchange for his speed boost.

Ms. Lumine wrote down on her pad her score for Riley as he walked back to the line, giving a smile towards the headmaster as he passed her. She didn't respond, instead calling the next name on her list.

"Joseph Zephyr." Joseph stepped out from the line and moved to the front. He breathed in, trying to remain as calm as he could to not cause an accident. "Whenever you're ready." Joseph held up his palm, prepared to cast his magic.

"Tornado!" wanting to get the best score he could he cast the strongest spell he currently knew. The air in the middle of the field started swirling and creating a wind funnel that reached thirty meters in height and reached most of the dummies that were still standing.

The dummies were ripped from the ground and were thrown around in the tornado, knocking against one another and exploding after enough collisions. They were also torn up by the sand that was trapped in the tornado.

"Enough." Ms. Lumine called after thirty seconds. Joseph stopped supplying his mana for the spell and the tornado calmed down, returning to the ground and leaving behind a mess of dummy materials and sand.

This spell was also taxing, taking a lot of mana to keep active and with Joseph's lack of control it took more than it should have to remain active. He tried to control his breathing to not look as tired as he felt.

Joseph turned to face Ms. Lumine, hoping to gauge her reaction to his spell, but she remained stoic and silent. She wrote down his score and called the next student forward, scoring them before moving onto the next.

Walking back into line, Joseph passed Riley, the boy giving him a thumbs up at his performance. Joseph smiled in response and moved back into his space of the line, waiting for the test to finish.