The Test (1)

The Death of the 5 Second year students was known by almost everyone. What sent shivers down their spine is that they were all from prominent families.

Duke Arkin sent many complaints and demands to the Royal Family, asking about his son. A message was sent to each family informing them of what happened, but they never received a body.

Duke Arkin was the head of the 5 families, having the highest rank amongst them. He was Lyrius's father.

Kal's father, Viscount Jinko went crazy over the news. His family was only the branch of the Foik Family. The head being an Earl, Rafael's father.

Viscount Bourk, Gunther's father. And Viscount Dio, Esprin's dad, have sent constant messengers to the Castle. Since no one knew of the Academy's whereabouts, all they could do was complain to the Royal family asking for answers.

The kids that died were the hope for their family. Since having a mage is a prestigious thing, and now suddenly they were told that they died while hunting, it made no sense to them.

The only person that went quiet was Baron Julin, Aguirre's father. He went into depression, locking himself inside his study. Aguirre, unlike the other families which had a Mage or had one at some point, was the only hope for his family to survive. And Baron Julin was more than happy to hear that he made friends with other nobles belonging to families with higher ranks than his.

"Aguirre is our only lifeline. If we'd ever want to rise and get higher titles, he must become a mage!" Baron Julin used to say this over and over again. Trying to console himself over the money and resources he had to put together for his son. But now it all went down the drain.

*****

Link sat in his room, an odd looking ball in his hand, it was grey in color with some mysterious energy emanating from it.

<It's a good thing you understand. If their families finds out and come after you, or your family. You have to be strong enough to destroy them if need be. Don't let the events of your previous life repeat themselves.>

Zero found a way to convince Link. He took a complete turn when she used the events that happened to him in his previous life as an argument. He forced himself and started to refine the Core.

The System could help him a little with this, but he had to do most of it by himself.

<Circulate your Mana, and direct it to your head. The System will assist you so do not fret and focus>

The Core shone, with the light slowly seeping into Link's skin. Moving to his veins and flowing into his blood.

<What?>

Zero was shocked, the process was supposed to be hard, the Energy should have been fighting back, in which Link had to focus on pushing it towards the right direction, but Link was not making any effort, the Energy was flowing by itself smoothly.

<Skill Tree Unlocked: Psychic Power>

"Wait, that's it?" Link asked, confused.

<You are one lucky bastard, you know that?>

"How so?"

<The Divinity race are frightening>

"Was this not the System's doing?" Link asked.

<The System would only show you the path, you had to push the Energy yourself. But you didn't even have to, it ran by itself. Like this was what it wanted>

"Creepy" Link continued "What is a Skill Tree?"

Wosh!

A new Window opened. It was very much like a tree. There was a skill branching into many others. It was like a pathway, or choices the User must make to pick his own style.

The First Skill was called Psychic Energy. That was the first and only one, then 2 lines came out of it leading to two others, and those two have 4 lines leading to more. It was an amazing view.

"Incredible. Do i have to use Skill Points to unlock these?" Link asked.

<No, you have to meet a certain amount of Psy Energy to unlock. You can earn it by finding Cores like the one you found on Lyrius>

Link started checking it out, and was impressed. There were some Skills that sounded incredibly overpowered. It was mind blowing.

...

Link and many other students were in the Academy's Main Hall. They were asked to go there after they finished their classes.

"What is happening?" Samuel asked.

"I'm not sure, probably some sort of announcement" Said Fei.

After half an hour of waiting. The principle with the Professors appeared. They followed behind him and stood in front of the students.

"Ok my dear Apprentices. You've been taught the basics in the most important subjects. And now we are going to put it all to the test. Next week the exams that will decide if you should stay and resume your studies or leave will be held. I hope you are all ready"

The Principle spoke for a while then left, leaving the kids shocked.

"Exams? So soon?"

"I'm doomed"

"What will they be about?"

"I don't know. Since the principle doesn't want to share i'm guessing it's not something easy"

The Students chatted for a while before leaving.

*****

"Headmaster. Are you certain about this?" Tommy asked.

"Yes, I am. If these kids don't know how to plan and act. We can't have them calling themselves Mages of our Academy" The principle said, stroking his beard.

"But a field exam is not something we can do. What if something happens to them outside?"

"You have nothing to worry about. Your co-workers will be keeping an eye on them, making sure such things do not happen. You have to put some trust into our students. We did not pick the trash"

Tommy nodded and bowed to the Principle as he left.

"A Mission in that wretched place? This is going to be troublesome."

*****

Link continued with his Missions as if nothing happened. For the next week he managed to complete 6 Missions and Level Up. Adding his Status point into Stamina and his Skill Point into Blink.

The Skill 'Blink' Became quicker and used less Mana. Plus the Distance became wider. Link knew that he might need something like this and so he made his choice.

Link has managed to get himself quite the reputation in the Mission Hall. He had been completing a Mission everyday, and returning without a scratch.

He kept at it until the day before the Test came.

Bai explained their Mission and the surrounding area.

From what Bai said. The Academy was Located somewhere no one knew. None of the kingdoms were close. They were each given the same Mission.

'Earn 10 000 Gold'

It was decided that they will be given only a few items and released. They would have to find a way to earn all that Money from the Kingdoms and towns around.

They were told that their identity as being Mage Apprentices were something that cannot be known to the people of this land. And if any said anything they will fail the test and be expelled.

Bai made sure to warn them that, in the land outside, their titles and previous names were non-existent here, so being the sons or daughters of Nobles held no value.

They shall take the identity of travelers or adventurers and slowly earn themselves a name.

Bai canceled the class and left the Students to talk for a bit and to prepare themselves. Because tomorrow was the day.

"This is going to be easy"

"Yeah, with our Magic this will be nothing"

"These people don't know what Mages are? Then won't they worship us if they found out?"

"We'll be like gods to these ignorant fools"

"Hahaha"

Link stood there listening to the others and shaking his head in disappointment.

"What's wrong Link?" Fei asked. With Samuel and Tom next to him.

"These kids are stupid." Said Link.

"I agree" Said Fei.

"Why?" Samuel asked.

"We'll be going to a foreign place, where everything is different '' Link continued "We don't know their rules, beliefs, their cultures and so on. For all we know you can step on a cat's tail and have the whole town coming after you. Maybe there is a place where they worship a god that hates people of a certain race. And they will be killed on the spot. We don't know the area, the creatures or how to earn that money in their society. They think the Academy is prohibiting us from saying we are Mages because the people out there don't know of our existence? I believe not"

Tom and Samuel nodded, they now understood what Link was thinking.

**********************************************************

Thank you for the votes and comments, please keep it up <3

twitter.com/Moncef_Zm

instagram.com/monopia.wn

**********************************************************

Currently :

****

-- Beast Souls :

<Wind Wolf's Beast Soul> <Dagger> <Intermediate Level 1>

<Sky Turtle's Beast Soul> <Armor> <Basic Level 3>

<Ruby Python's Beast Soul> <Glove> <Basic Level 2>

<Water Fox's Beast Soul> <Halo> <Intermediate Level 1>

<Dire Wolf's Beast Soul> <Pet> <Basic Level 2> <25 / 1 000>

****

-- Status :

<User: Link>

<Race: Divinity>

<Level 1> <2nd Tier>

<2 500 / 30 000 Exp>

<HP: 55 / 55>

<MP: 1 963 / 2715>

<Strength: 13>

<Agility: 15>

<Stamina: 11>

****

-- Skills :

<Shadow Walk> <Active Skill>

<Counter Instinct> <Active Skill> <2>

<Blink> <Active Skill> <2>

<Wind Blade> <Active Skill> <1>

<Consume> <Active Skill>

<Instinct> <Passive Skill>

<Heal> <Active Skill>

<Air Boost> <Active Skill>

<Ambush> <Active Skill> <2> (10 Minutes)

<Heat Vision> <Active Skill> (1 Minute)

<Soul Possession> <Active Skill>

<Shadow Clone> <Active Skill>

<Dungeon Search> <Active Skill>

<Alertness> <Passive Skill>

****

-- Martial Arts :

<Viper Sutra> <0 / 200> <2>

<The Story of Genes> <0 / 2 000> <3> <Apex Predator>

****

-- Quests :

<Main Quests :>

<Reach Level 10> <Second Tier>

****