Magic Evaluation Test (Pt. I)

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|| CHAPTER 32 | Magic Evaluation Test (Pt. I) ||

"Perhaps, this point is the perfect spot to continue.

"Where our heroes begin their journey from the bottom, aiming for the top. Where they learn that magic isn't everything as it seems, and yet, it has become one with their everyday lives.

"From the smallest things nature could offer, the Livings used magic for as long as I can remember. Now, I can't say that I'm the oldest one here. We all know that the first seed of miracles was the oldest breathing soul in history.

"However, whether the legend was real or not, it's up to you to decide.

"Now, open the page, young one. We're about to embark on a new journey."

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Monday, 20th of July, 2020

Summer...

The perfect season for the sun to shine bright and people to enjoy the heat. The warm breeze felt nice as it blew gently, tickling everything it touched.

The warmth of the sun was something everyone adored in the northern part of the globe. Living in Xenorynth wasn't all that fun, especially when one's living under the protection of Aeorece.

Circled by the coldest mountains known in the world, Aeorece was a town that no soul would visit if it wasn't for its famous magic-users. It was said that all that was born in this town was able to use even the most advanced of magic if they trained hard enough.

Not to mention, one of the most prestigious schools of magic was built upon these sacred northern grounds.

It wasn't an exaggeration when most claimed that Aeorece held the strongest magic users in all of Xenorynth. The rumours were true, after all.

Narrowing her eyes at the blinding rays that invaded her vision from the wide-open windows, a new day arrived as Ichijou Shizuka rushed down the stairs with her favoured light-blue bag and her sneakers on her other hand as she burst into the dining room.

"Am I late?!" she asked–– scratch that, YELLED at them, breathing loudly as she fixed her messy white locks. 

It was amusing for her family members to see how the one who hates running the most, sprinted down due to her lacking sense of punctuality. 

"And good morning to you, Shizu," Mitsuru greeted the exhausted female as she sat down in her seat. "Do take a rest before you eat."

"Nah, you're fine, Shizu. The only ones late are your two brothers. I'm surprised they're not with you," Kazuto cheerfully responded to the girl's question.

"Oh? That's... interesting. Where are they, anyway? I thought they were already downstairs, eating ahead without me," Shizuka inquired while stuffing her mouth with breakfast.

It seemed that Mitsuru's advice went unnoticed by her, seeing how she's already gobbling her food up. It's a miracle that her plate was still intact.

"Nee-san, slow down. Your hair's all messed up and your food is not going anywhere, you know."

Konata jumped down from his seat and strode towards the older girl. He signalled her to bend down a little to his height as he neatly combed her light tresses with his hands.

"Andddddd, done." Konata placed his hands on his hips, looking all proud and content at his little achievement.

"Thanks, Kona," the blue-eyed female thanked her younger brother as he went back to his seat, continuing to eat his breakfast. "Have you not seen your brothers, Shizuka?" Eito questioned the girl as he closed his book.

"Nope. When I went into their rooms, they weren't there so I just assumed they were already downstairs," Shizuka replied to her father and swallowed the last of her breakfast quickly. "Should I look for them, Tou-san?"

"No need!!"

"We're here, we're here!"

Yuzuru and Mizuto came running in, sweating all the while. Ignoring their huffs and puffs, Shizuka took note of how messy their attires and hair were. They looked way worse than her. 

"And where were you two?" Kaoru asked the two as they sat down, gobbling their breakfast, finishing them instantly.

'That was quick...' Everybody's jaws dropped at their inhuman speed. 

"We just climbed the cherry blossom tree in the backyard since I accidentally threw my bag outside the window, hehe..." Yuzuru grinned, rubbing the back of his neck while Mizuto just nodded.

"'Accidentally?' How did you even 'accidentally' throw your bag outside?!" Kazuto inquired as he stared at them wide-eyed.

"No idea. Perhaps the crafty little one in the basement did it."

"Who?"

The two just grinned sheepishly as they prepared for their day. Well, their day seemed to be hectic and lively.

––

The triplets sat in their respective seats as Asuma walked in with a fresh look on his face.

The man was bouncy as always. It always wondered them how Asuma was so energetic in the morning when they're all there, lying with tired eyes and sleepy yawns.

Asuma grinned and slammed his table, loud enough to wake the ones who were on the verge of falling asleep. "Gooooood morning, everyone!! How are your little day-offs last week? I'd say, mine was quite the adventure."

Various answers erupted from the students as Asuma sweat-dropped at their students' loudness.

One student giddily told their story, while another grumbled how crappy their day was.

Hearing their simultaneously loud replies made Asuma blink. 'Why on Gaia's green earth did I even decide to ask that question?' he thought to himself. 

"All right, all right!! I'll hear you out later, but first..."

He calmed the energetic students down as he pulled out a giant cube, which was as big as a desk, from his Space. The sudden gesture silenced some, meanwhile, Shizuka was standing there with a glimmer of curiosity in her eyes.

Asuma grinned and patted the cube several times, causing a few high-strung notes to ring in response. 

"I need all of you to put these on~!"

He got tons of gym clothes that were folded neatly from within the cube, onto his desk. He asked Vinnetra and Elloise to pass the gym clothes as they were the closest to him.

"Okay then, meet me in the sixth gym building. We'll be doing something important today."

"Sixth gym building? How many are there again?" Elloise asked cluelessly. It seemed that he was still in the process of waking up. They could literally see the question marks hovering around his drowsy head. 

"I believe there are six of them, Ell," Avangenille answered him.

After earning a short 'ah' from the tangerine, the boys and girls went separate ways. Of course, their changing rooms were far away from each other to prevent... 'accidents' from occurring.

"I wonder what we'll be doing today?"

"Dunno. I just hope that it ain't anything related to physical activities. I wanna sleep."

––

"Whoa..."

"Gaia, this place is bigger than my whole house."

They all gaped at the high ceiling of the sixth gym as they walked into it, with them carrying their bags as well. The sounds of their footsteps bounced from one wall to another, letting them know that the big space was as empty as it could be.

It was so packed during the entrance ceremony that most didn't even notice how big the gym was.

"These clothes fit nicely, huh?" Avangenille asked with a wide grin, satisfied how the double-layered uniform fit her snugly.

"They looked like they had the same size too. Who knew they would fit even me," the almond-haired girl, Ylffore, also added to Avangenille's sentence.

"Well, they're not Saint Xilverein High School for nothing," Zannera commented as well, checking out his own gym clothes. "Nothing really surprises me at this point. I wouldn't even be if they teach us how to fly without a broom here."

"All right, let's not waste more time and get straight into the test," Asuma announced loudly while scrolling through a translucent floating screen that followed him everywhere. 

"TEST?!" they exclaimed, eyes wide and worried about the sudden test.

"You didn't tell us anything about a freaking TEST!!" Yuzuru, Elloise, Orion, and Kishi exclaimed hysterically, representing the whole class.

Asuma backed away when several teens began to throw tantrums, shouting complaints that he 'never' would've expected when he failed to remember announcing something so important.

"Whoops, my bad. I forgot to tell you," Asuma admitted and grinned lazily. "It's just a Magic Evaluation Test, so there's no need to worry. It's an easy one."

A collective sigh of relief was heard as they walked towards their homeroom teacher.

"Okay, soooo..." The khaki-brown-haired teacher tapped his finger on the screen as he seemed to be deep in thought. After a short while, he shouted, "Vinnetra, Elloise, and Arnettia, line up!!"

The three did as they were told, lining beside each other.

Seeing how there was no other instruction (and the fact that they had never done this before), the trio stood confused.

"Uhhh, what are we going to do, Teach??" Elloise asked as the girls just enjoyed his silence while it lasted.

"We're going to do all sorts of tests today, so prepare yourself!! I'm going to work you to death until you pass your limits!!" Asuma spoke dramatically while pointing at his students, causing some to laugh while others wore a deadpan expression. 

Rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment, Asuma cleared his throat. "First up is a Speed Test. You'll need to catch my little assistant over here."

A little female fairy appeared beside the Spirit Wielder. She was flying next to the khaki-brown-haired male the whole time, it seemed. However, the small size she had made her almost invisible to others. The perfect target for a speed test.

The fairy had bright yellowish-orange hair and gold eyes. Adorned by a simple dress made out of red and orange maple leaves, strung together, she looked like she could blend in with fall.

Her little wings were translucent, but they could see faintly that it has a little tinge of pale yellow.

"Let me introduce you to my contracted little fairy." Asuma lowered his palm and let her stand on it. She was so light that he could barely feel her. "Her name is Phenera and she's an Autumn Fairy."

Well, no wonder she's themed to look like the maple leaves.

"Hello-hello~ Like Master had said before, my name is Phenera! In this Speed Test, we'll be testing your speed. Worry not, it won't affect your grade!" she explained cheerily. "You'll race to catch me in that little containment."

Pointing towards what seemed to be a small, translucent lantern-like cage, they all ignored it and focused on the small being instead.

"Whoaaa! I've never seen a fairy before!" Vinnetra exclaimed happily with Mizuki and Shizuka smiling beside him.

"Haha, well now you have, kid! All right, you just need to capture her in this little ball. Ready, set... GO!!!"

––

They kept going at it until they reached the last student. Elloise, Isseiris, and Yuzuru ended up being the fastest in catching the little blonde fairy, having little to no difference the entire time.

Keita was surprisingly faster than the three of them. He would've captured Phenera first if it wasn't for the fact that he craved his bed and used the floor instead for sleeping.

Shizuka and Riveria huffed and panted in the corner of the gym, tired of all the running. They were lucky that the school had no penalty for those who claimed the last place in the evaluation test. Or they'd be doomed.

"I hate running... Huff..." Shizuka complained to herself as Riveria, the half-elf, beside her nodded in agreement, unable to form any words due to exhaustion. 

––

The next one was strength evaluation. They just need to punch a––

'What in Gaia's name is that thing...?' they all thought, eyes locked on a giant doll of a dragon–– a winged dragon, to be exact. Was that even a dragon though?

The doll had splattered paint all over it, varying in colours. Its eyes were made out of different black buttons, some of the strings and threads of the doll were loose and poking out everywhere.

"Meet my trusty pal, Ollvoes!!"

"Ollvoes...?"

The class comically tilted their heads, confused at their teacher's weird interest. First, the doll, the fact that it's a dragon, how the paint was splattered all over it, and the odd name Asuma decided to give it.

Certainly, things will never get dull with the man around.

"Yeah, so little Ollvoes right here will measure your strengths and physical power through your punches. You just need to aim for his belly, simple as that~!"

'Little, he said. It's almost touching the ceiling with that huge body of its.' Yuzuru thought to himself, gaping at the gigantic dragon doll.

"Okay, start punching, kids!!" Asuma said energetically to the class of 1-6, earning sweat-drops from his beloved students.

They did what they're told and punched the stomach of the dragons. Some even managed to stumble it back. Riedence got the highest score, punching the thing with just one fist. Others were shocked at how strong Keita was. And once again, Isseiris matched evenly with the Ichinosuke by just a few numbers behind.

Once again, Shizuka and Riveria flopped down onto the ground, panting for breaths.

"I... hate doing this. We really need to work out more," the platinum-blonde-haired girl managed to say in between breaths. 

"Y-Yes, we really should... Haa..." Riveria breathed out. 

––

The next evaluation was accuracy. The giant doll was kept safe by the khaki-brown-haired male in his Space while he cast some spells.

Target boards started floating up, with all the students lining up one by one. The moving ones were a lot harder to hit, but the ones that were not weren't any easier.

"You can hit the target however you like, just don't step over this line..." Asuma drew a white line on the ground in front of the students.

"Can we use weapons?" the werewolf, Innyse, asked Asuma.

He hummed in acknowledgement. 

"Yes, you may use weapons of any kind. But since you can't cross that line, I suggest you use a javelin or bows and arrows," Asuma suggested to the boy, earning a fiery look from several of the students.

"Hmm... What should I use..." Nerea mumbled to herself as she laid out a bunch of weapons, trying to pick one of them, while the others were busy thinking of what to do instead.

"ALL RIGHT!! WE'RE GONNA DO THIS!!!!" Elloise, Kishi, and Yuzuru shouted to themselves, causing the others to laugh at their loudness.

Well, the reality was not that kind to them as they miserably missed all their targets.

Shizuka placed in first as she just sent light-made butterflies towards the targets. Innyse and Isseiris also perfectly scored as they aimed the targets with bows and arrows.

"Err... At least, you tried...?" Zannera commented, but it sounded more like a question. 

"HUAAAA!!" Elloise cried rivers and banged the ground in disappointment, meanwhile, Kishi and Yuzuru stood depressed by the corners of the building.

"How could you guys miss ALL of them?" Orion inquired the trio, starting to get annoyed and ticked off. Clicking his tongue, the red-eyed boy said no more and strode away.

"Now, now~ Let's not fight here~ Onto the next test!!"

––

The gym was now full of golems made out of iron and other minerals.

"Wha––?!!" their mouths were hanging down at the size of those golems, more than ten times bigger than they were. It's a wonder how they could still fit within the gym.

"Are we going to defeat them?" Mizuto asked Asuma as the older male shook his head slightly.

"No, you're just going to defend yourselves against them! No attacking, all right~?"

'That's even worse!!!'

Most of them screamed internally as they stared at him agape. Without warnings, the golems attacked the students, startling them in the process.

"OI! WHAT IS WITH THESE GOLEMS?!" Orion complained as he put up a fire shield, barely holding against one of those giant monsters. "I thought you said it was going to be easy!!"

"Are all evaluation tests supposed to be this hard?!"

"Sir! Are we really not allowed to attack them?!" Vinnetra asked as he ran from the golems, trying to evade its attacks, "I certainly do NOT excel in defence–– whoa!!"

The raven-black-haired male was flung high in the air by one of the golems. Fortunately, Shizuka and Mizuto cast a combination spell in time to catch him from hitting the ground.

"Thanks!!"

Chuckling to himself, Asuma just casually watched his students struggle as he answered Vinnetra's question, "Nope! You just need to defend yourselves from them for ten minutes, more or less. I need to evaluate your stamina and defence, that's all."

"Oh, come on! I thought offence is the best defence!!"

"How will I defend myself against them?!"

They yelled a bunch of complaints while defending against the Golems. A cup of tea appeared out of nowhere as the khaki-brown-haired teacher sipped it and released a satisfied 'haa~' in response. 

"This is going to be interesting~"

"Drop your tea and stop this test, you cursed man!!"

"But it's needed! No complaining now! Pass your limits to finish this test," he chuckled loudly. 

|| CHAPTER 32 | Magic Evaluation Test (Pt. I) - To be continued... ||

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