Graduation exams

My name is Augustine Ember and this is a story of how I and my friends rose through the ranks and became legends.

"August, " my friend Lukariah shouted, "you're going to be late for the graduation exams, so wake your ass up! "

He's been looking out for me ever since my parents were killed and my twin brother disappeared.

"I'm coming! " I shout back as I put on my clothes. I open the door to see him standing there looking more tired than I am.

The village where we call home is called Harlet. It's a rather small village that lies near the border of the Venetian Empire.

"So have you been training for the graduation exams? " Lukariah asks while we hurry to the academy, "Yeah ....a lot actually," I reply.

A Djinn is someone who has a tremendous amount of power that fights for his or her empire in war or keeps the peace in the said empire. There are 6 titles/ranks a Djinn can achieve throughout their lives Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, Obsidian with bronze the lowest and obsidian the highest.

The energy that circulates through Djinn's body is known as Chi. The total amount of chi in one's body will naturally grow larger but it can also be cultivated to grow twice the natural rate by meditating over long periods of time. There are multiple applications of chi like enhancing one's body or an item, forming it into various kinds of things, and last but not least channeling it out of our body in the form of nature.

In this world, people are born with one of the many Chi natures. There is a total of twelve natures they are: Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Lightning, Ice, Sand, Magma, Plants, Poison, Yang, and Yin. The rarest of these are Light, Darkness, and Sand.

I wield the nature of Fire while Lukariah has Ice. I envy him because ice is one of the more versatile natures it can attack, defend and capture enemies while fire only destroys.

"I can create ice in thin air now like this," he says while sticking out his hand a spear made of ice is being formed in front of him.

"Wow that's an awesome dude" I exclaim as the spear of ice vanishes in midair. I wonder if I could do something like that as well.

We reach the academy and enter the classroom where the graduation exams are being held and see about 300 participants. The both of us received a number mine's 308 while Lukariah's number is 307.

The exam proctors enter the room saying that only the top 32 participants will pass. They curtained off the part of the room saying they're going to shorten the number of participants by checking their combat classes.

A combat class is the total of all your abilities in numerical form only people with outstanding visual prowess can determine one's combat class by looking at them very closely.

Then they start calling numbers to enter the curtained-off part of the room soon enough Lukariah's number is called. "No. 307 please stand still while I determine your combat class, " the proctor says strictly "all right then let's see here physical prowess: 73, total chi energy: 187, and visual prowess: 29 in total you have a combat class of 289, very good for someone your age.

They call my name next, as I go to enter you the Lukariah walking out with a huge smile plastered across his face, "good luck. " he says to me in a joyful tone. I enter to see one of the proctors writing something on a list "No. 308 stay still while I determine your combat class, " the proctor says, " physical prowess: 58, total chi energy: 127 and visual prowess: 61 in total you have a combat class of 246 not the best but good none the less. " he ushers me out while writing on the list again.

A little while later they announce the results "No. 1 fail, No. 2 fail, No. 3 pass, " until they finally reach our numbers "No. 306 pass and finally both No. 307 and 306 pass. "

Passing the first of 3 exams is something to celebrate but we still have 2 left. I don't what to expect but I will rise to the top and achieve my only goal.

The participants who failed started protesting about how they know who to fail and who to pass. The proctor cuts them off stating that anyone with a combat class of 200 or less could never survive for long in this blood-soaked world of ours.

A few minutes after that exchange 3 new proctors enter the room saying that the ones who pass are to follow them to the second exam.

They bring us to practice field 3 saying that it will be where the second exam is going to be held. Practice field 3 is a circular forest outside the village with a diameter of 1 mile. This is where they trained us how to track and gather information while we were at the academy.

"Everyone pair up into groups of 2, " says a proctor who looks to be about 15 same as me "the goal of this exam is to capture the opposing team's king and bring them back safely to your base. " the kings being the other two proctors.

Me and Lukariah pair up while everyone else is still pairing up "U-um what are we protecting the king from exactly? " asks a timid looking boy "You're going to be protecting the king from your opponents and the monsters we placed in the forest beforehand ." says the proctor.

"2 teams will enter the forest from opposite sides. Your bases will be stationed near the entrance of the forest which you entered. " says a proctor.

We start formulating a strategy of how to win "We should bate them with our king and knock them out the moment they let down their guard and judging from the dire-" I start to say but Lukariah interrupts me by saying that it's too risky and that he has a better strategy.

"All we need to do is go to the center of the forest where the grand pine tree is rooted, this is where you come in with your visual prowess you should be able to see about 1.3 miles in any direction. I need you to be my eyes and tell me where our opponents are I have this new ability that's perfect for capturing, is that strategy alright with you? " he finishes.

"Yeah, but why go to the center ?" I ask him " My abilities are ranged, so any ice I creare not within 300 kilometers of my body will evaporate so this is the only viable way for me to do this. " he replies in a solemn tone.

Our turn arrives were up against a team of 2 boys who look a little bit too bulky for their age, so I'm guessing speed isn't their strength.

We enter the forest and quickly rush to the center of the forest. I look for our opponents while Lukariah starts creating two ice spears. I found one east of us heading to our base, "I found one. " I say to Lukariah "Where is he? " he replies.

"He's about 17km east, " I answer "are you sure this plan's going to work? " he answers my question by nodding his head and send one of the spears shooting east.

The spear tears through everything in its path and lodge in the stomach of the opponent. I don't think we're supposed to kill each other, but then the opponent's body freeze until it's sealed in a crystal of ice, so I guess he didn't kill him he just froze his body from the inside out.

Before we can do anything else the other teammate attacks us with some sort of shadow claw. Darkness his nature is darkness I didn't think I would have to go up against someone with a dark nature. " You go ahead and capture the king. Your fire gives off light and darkness absorbs light, so this is a horrible match-up for you. "

I heed his warning and take off in the direction of their base, the other team member tried to follow mi but Lukariah easily blocks him with a wall of ice.

Along the way to their base, I fought what felt like a swarm of giant hornets, but I eventually reach their base and capture the king. Bringing the king back was not an easy task it felt like I fought every monster in this godforsaken forest.

When I reach the center of the forest almost the entire area is covered in ice. Lukariah sits on 2 large chunks of ice and upon closer inspection, the bodies of our opponents are in them.

"We should hurry up and get going, " he says looking more tired than ever "this ice isn't going to hold them forever I estimate we have less than a minute. "

We head towards our base but were moving a lot more slowly than when we started. Lukariah's running out of chi and his stamina doesn't look great either. Three huge tornadoes intercept our path cutting us off from the base that means their closing in on us. A blast of darkness hits me in the back and I fall with their king.

Lukariah makes a slide which the king slides down unarmed. He then quickly creates a dome of ice around the king so he doesn't get hurt. Our opponents arrive in front of us and then 1 of them makes about 12 more tornadoes than surrounds and traps us and with Lukariah running out of fuel it's a 2v1 matchup against 2 natures I'm weak against but nothing ventured nothing gained.