11. Series of Exams (part 1)

Character : Nathan Fiore, A Series of Exams

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After all the applicants have gone through the first test, the exam continues.

The test after that was conducted at a different place within the academy, within a very large hall that seemed to be a multipurpose ballroom. For the second test, the applicants had to go through a series of short examinations for different aspects of our origin abilities.

The first part of the test was aiming. Every applicant was given the option to either wield a bow or simply shoot an origin attacking technique towards a target that was placed far away. The target is a simple wooden dummy that was placed on a set of ranges based on different difficulties. We're allowed to use our own weapons too if necessary, but most of the applicants ended up using their origin technique. For me, I just fire off a decent-sized fireball to shoot the dummies. 

There are five dummies in total, all with different distances. The first dummy has a distance of ten meters from the firing position. The second dummy is twenty meters away. The third one is a little further with thirty five meters distance. The fourth one is fifty meters away, and the last dummy is over seventy five meters.

To put the scoring system simply, the further we hit, the higher our points will be. But to be allowed to shoot the further ones, we must first hit the closest dummy that has not been shot yet. Meaning we must first hit the ten meters dummy before being allowed to shoot the twenty meters one.

The test is conducted on seven lines of crowds like before, but they're no longer separated by the type of origins unlike before. It took almost an hour until everyone gave the test a shot, and the results of this first part of the tests will be announced later once all the tests are finished.

The second part of the test is a test of firepower. It is a test to scale just how powerful your attacking power using your origin can be. At a glance, this test might seem unfair for certain origins, considering some elements will always have a much larger explosive force or firepower compared to other elements. For example, fire and lightning will always be the best element in terms of firepower.

That is why this test will compare the same origin against one another instead of lumping all the origins together. By comparing the applicants with others from the same origin, the test conductors will be able to score the results much more fairly.

This test only involves shooting an origin technique as powerful as you can do at a really strong target. The target is a really powerful titanium wall with mechanical contraptions behind it that can detect just how much force that the wall receives. The test conductors from the academy even praised that the wall was powerful enough to block even the strongest individuals within Avenor, so all the contestants made sure to give it their all in shooting the wall with their origin attacks.

A little spoilers of what happened, the walls got destroyed five times.

The academy teachers can only cry as they replaced the walls four times during the test that took less than an hour. 

The third test involves haste and agility. The applicants will have to do their best to go through a peculiar obstacle course that really tries its best to kill you. Not only is the course quite dangerous, some of the challenges can be really difficult to go through. We are allowed to use our origin powers to move, but even then, the course was still very difficult.

However, there is a small saving twist. The mechanical contraptions within the course would stop right away when it was about to harm an applicant, so there was no need for us to get hurt while running the course. But, just in case, there are healers and medics on standby.

Some applicants did complain that they didn't want to be hurt during the examination. Some say that the academy is too bold for actually wanting to hurt their students. But, the academy has already told the applicants to wear battle clothes or armors, which means the students should be prepared to be hurt.

They… never told me that. Fortunately, I passed the course quite breezily.

Aside from me, twenty percent of the applicants were able to finish the course. The rest were… either got punched in the face by a giant stone ball, unable to jump across some slippery balloons, or fell off the course into the cold water underneath. I guess I got really lucky by jumping off those balloons and making it to the end.

The test ended, and we all headed to the next test with barely any confidence, because the next part of the test is not only the last physical test, but easily the hardest.

The final part of the test is… combat.

"For this last part, we will pair each applicant with one another." The test conductor announced to all of us once we were done with the fourth part of the test.

"The pair will then face off in a spar against one another inside the arena."

Everyone glared at each other knowing that we will have to face one another in order to pass, but fortunately this was never a tournament. It's only an examination, and this is probably done in such a way so that the testers can score our combat abilities by watching us fight.

The test conductor then announced the rules of this part of the test. First, only the applicants from the same origins will be pitted against each other. This is done to avoid any unfairness that may occur if an origin were to face another origin that is considerably advantageous when the two were pit against each other. 

For example, it's certainly unfair when someone with a fire origin goes up against a water origin, since water can put out fire. Same thing does apply to other origins, with every origin having an advantage or disadvantage against certain others.

Second, the spar will only go on until one of the two cannot continue or surrender. If the battle has gone to a point where one side is no longer capable of standing back up, then they will be forced to surrender. Out of bounds is also an added criteria of losing, so getting your opponents outside of the arena is also one way to win.

Third and lastly, the spar is only to measure our combat capabilities. The goal isn't to win, but to show off as much of our abilities as possible. Winning will surely give extra points, but losing against a strong opponent is something that happens very often. It matters more if we showed what we are capable of, since that is what will be scored.

Once all the rules had been stated, the arenas of the sparring formed right before our eyes. As always, there's seven arenas for every origin, with each having their own jury and test conductor.

Then, the last part of the examination began.

"Prince Rejulus Fiordall of the fire origin, to the arena!" The test conductor announced, and Reju turned his annoyed face at me.

"I'm first…? Really?" He asked with such an annoyed expression, and I only laughed at him.

"Good luck!! Don't lose on the first round---"

"Against him, Prince Nathan Fiore of the fire origin!" The test conductor continued, and everyone gasped from amazement.

Meanwhile, Reju turned his happy smirk at me.

"Oh, no shot!" I muttered out of shock, and Reju only laughed.

"I think they are calling the names based on the highest score from the first test. The one with the crystal balls." Reju mentioned it after thinking about it, and I sharpened my ears to listen to the arenas belonging to the other origins.

At the other arenas, I can hear Lily's name being called up to the stage the first time. Going against her was the other guy who achieved the highest score for the water origin, so it seems Reju's theory was real.

Then… that means that guy is also going.

"Eric Axwell of the lightning origin, to the arena!" The test conductor from the lightning origin announced, and I quickly turned my gaze over there.

From afar, I can see the simple looking guy that looks vastly different than other people entering the arena. His face looked empty, and it doesn't seem like he had any excitement whatsoever for this battle.

"Hoi, Nate! The jury is asking." Reju suddenly called my name, and I woke up from my thoughts.

I noticed that all eyes from the fire origin people are on me, and I realized that they are all waiting for me. Even the jury is staring at me so intensely, wanting to get this match started as soon as possible.

In that case… yeah. Let's end this quickly.

"Hey, Reju." I called Reju after making the decision. "Sorry, but can we finish this quickly? I want to watch the battles at the other arenas."

Hearing such words from me, Crown Prince Rejulus only became angrier due to the taunt.

"Are you kidding? You think I'm wasting this chance--"

"We fought each other many times in the past! Besides, we'll get many other chances later on. This is not something I can miss, so let's end this quickly." I hurriedly said to him, and Reju looked like he understood that I had something in mind.

"Then, what do you suggest?" He closed his eyes, and I gave it a quick thought.

"What about shooting your strongest attack at me? If I'm still standing, then you surrender." I suggested the possibly dumbest idea ever, but it seems like Reju is very happy with that.

"Good!!" He said as he charged up a ton of energy into his palms.

Beforelong, a massive fireball is being made right in front of him. Everyone was bewildered by how powerful this fireball is, and they are all worried that this might kill me if I'm not careful.

However, there was nothing for me to worry about. After all, this isn't the first time Reju has shot one of those things at me.

"Try to survive this, then!!" Reju muttered angrily as he fired the fireball, and the powerful sun-like flame flew very quickly to my position.

The fireball grew larger in size as it flew, and it arrived in front of me in an instant. Meanwhile, I only lifted my right hand at the incoming fire.

BOOOOOOOMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The powerful explosion occurred on the arena for the fire origin, and everyone stopped whatever they were doing to watch what happened. Everyone from every origin turned their attention to what just happened above the arena, wondering if the person in question is still alive or not.

Fortunately for them, I'm not that easily killed.

"Man… you've been training, haven't you?" A voice came from behind the large amount of smoke, and Reju opened his eyes wide from shock.

I waved my hand to clear the smoke around me, revealing to everyone that my appearance was more or less the same as before. The only difference is, a small portion of my right sleeves looked quite burned since it took the fireball head on. Other than that, none of my other parts of the body was even slightly cooked.

"Y-You… How?" Reju asked out of pure confusion, and I only chuckled at him.

"It's what I did before I went to Ellen. Pretty crazy, right?" I said to Reju, mentioning something that I have said to him before about why I left him.

Hearing such a thing, Reju only laughs maniacally while facepalming. "In that case, it's my loss."

Reju lifted his hand up for the jury, and the jury noticed the man surrender. The jury then wrote down the result of the spar, and he allowed the both of us to step down from the arena.

After stepping down, the arena behind us was immediately fixed by a group of earth origin teachers. It only took them a second to completely patch the crater that Reju made with the fireball, and to me, that's more amazing than Reju's fireball.

"Seriously… just what did you do to be able to withstand that?" Reju asked me after we both got down from the arena, but I lifted my hand to stop him.

"Story later. Can we watch the lightning arena? I'm… very curious." I said while keeping an eye on the arena that is really far away, and Reju realized that the person fighting there was the one who got over seven thousand points.

"Yeah. Let's go." Reju agreed, and he started running following me to the lightning arena.

However, by the time we arrived, the one fighting above the arena was already over. Both Reju and I can only watch in silence when the two people fighting above the arena are not the ones we expected to be.

"That can't be… it's already over?" I muttered out of pure confusion, and I can't help but realize why that is.

The fight between me and Reju only lasted about fifteen seconds. Combined with all the drama about him getting angry and stuff, it might take twenty five seconds. Added by our time running over here, a combined thirty seconds. 

And yet… the fight over here was already over.

"If you're curious about my battle… It ended boringly." A voice was heard behind me, and I turned around quickly to find the person I was really curious about.