First Year Assessment

The first year assessment was one of the most major events in the National Magic Academy of Lanthanor. Most people judged the future potential of a mage by his/her performance in this assessment. This was because many believed that what one could achieve in a single year was a strong sign of what they would be able to achieve throughout their lives.

The sprawling lawns of the academy were the default location of the assessment. A podium was specially erected at one side, with numerous chairs placed on top and one enormous throne dwarfing them all. The throne seemed to be made of some alloy of gold, shining in the sun with the two lions that were carved on the hand rests looking like they wanted to leap out into the open fields.

On the day of the assessment, the whole academy was gathered at another side of the lawn which was designated as the spectator seating area. The seats were slowly filling up, with the front rows already occupied who had come early specifically to experience the front row action.

Another major reason for the enthusiasm of the spectators was that the strongest man in the whole kingdom would be present at the assessment. It was the King of Lanthanor himself, who would spectate to see how the future mages of the kingdom were progressing.

The king was seldom seen outside, always busy training and focusing on improving himself to provide a stable life to the kingdom. Although he had a few flaws, many commoners still blessed him everyday in their hearts for being able to provide Lanthanor with an atmosphere where they could flourish.

Of course, there were also many that cursed him due to his overt partiality in the matter of the royal family. He supported almost any and all of their actions, letting them wreak havoc on many commoner's lives. Daneel's family was one such family who had been affected.

Soon, it was time for the assessment. All of the students had gathered a half hour beforehand out of respect for the king.

Right as the clock struck the time that the assessment was supposed to start, 2 men appeared on the podium which had already become filled by dignitaries from other academies or training halls.

It was the familiar court mage and a man with broad shoulders.

A reddish-gold coat lay lazily on his back, with the royal crest displayed for all to see.

The man wore the chain-mail of a soldier underneath the coat. Only, the chain-mail seemed to be made of an alloy similar to the one in the throne.

He had a gaunt face, almost as if he had just woken up from sleep. Long, silver hair was draped over his shoulder, extending down to below his chest as his piercing eyes gazed at everyone around him as if scanning for danger. His nose was crooked, as if it had been broken many times and his lips were thin, compressed into a line. Each and every person on whom his gaze fell could only cower.

As one, the spectators and the dignitaries knelt, lowering their heads. Daneel had no choice but to kneel for this power hungry, uncaring king whose only aim was to grow in power. It was thoughts like these that made Daneel think back to the first words of the system-that he was destined to conquer and dominate the world. Maybe a change in leadership really was needed in this kingdom where the nobility could do whatever they wished with no one to stop them. Even someone who could be the future back bone of the kingdom was ignored, making him feel that the leadership's priorities were just not right.

The King sat down without a word, and the court mage walked forward and proclaimed, "Let the assessment begin!".

With these words, the First Year Assessment got under way.

There were around 300 students in the first year, and it was impossible for spars to occur between all of them. Hence, there was first a weeding process in which only the most promising candidates would be chosen.

All of the students arranged themselves in a rows as per the judges' instructions.

In an empty space in front of them, 20 wooden puppets appeared. They were humanoid, with feature less faces.

"Take the puppet test in batches of 20. Whoever knocks down the puppet before the puppet reaches you passes and goes on to the next round.", announced the judge.

The first batch of puppet testing was soon under way. The objective was to test the speed of the young mage's connection with whatever elementary particle they chose to make a simple spell to knock down the puppet. The puppets were designed to fall no matter what spell hit them-be it a small fireball, a gust of air or even a sprout of water. These were all simple spells that had been taught to them in their first year.

Various individuals had various levels to which they could connect with elementary particles and coax them to change to their will. Ones with high comprehension could directly see the particles, making it easy for them to use their mageroots to influence them. As they had been taught, the key was visualization. The stronger they could visualize, influence and connect to the particles, the better result a spell would give. A spell was basically just an instruction on how to connect. Simple spells required simple instructions. More powerful spells meant more complex instructions which required more advanced levels of mages.

A mage only increased in level when he/she could control a set number of particles. According to the system, this had a direct correlation with the decalcificaition of the pineal gland. The pineal gland was basically like an onion, and with each level, each layer of the gland would be decalcified and peeled off.

The main problems that the young mages faced at this stage was being able to throw a spell at the puppets which ran towards them. They only had a minute to do so, and even students who had Orange level comprehension found this hard.

Students with Red Comprehension breezed through, just using a simple fire ball or ice shard. Laravel was of course showed off the most, using a lightning bolt and making everyone gasp. Lightning bolt spells weren't part of the first year's curriculum, after all.

In the 6th batch, it was Daneel's turn. With a calm expression, he walked onto the designated position and waited for the puppet to charge.

Almost all of the academy had their eyes on this kid who had made waves in the kingdom due to having pseudo-legendary potential. Only, many were puzzled when he was treated the same as one with Red level potential.

Even the king, who had been slouched lazily on his throne, sat up noticing that Daneel had taken the stage.

The puppet started running toward Daneel at a medium pace, giving him exactly 60 seconds to throw a spell.

Daneel, though, just stood there with his arms folded as if he weren't the one who was taking the test.

After 30 seconds had passed, he was yet to move, looking around at some of the students who were struggling to connect and send instructions to the elementary particles.

At 20 seconds, he finally looked at the puppet for the first time since the test.

At 10 seconds, a few people started to say that the test had definitely been bogus and he was just trash.

Even the judges and the court mage was puzzled seeing Daneel's nonchalance.

"THUMP"

The puppet, which had been running towards Daneel suddenly slipped and fell, skidding to a halt in front of him with its head almost touching his foot.

The spectators were startled beyond belief seeing this peculiar scene take place. Had Daneel done something in that 5 seconds? Or had the puppet just slipped?

Did it even count as a pass if the puppet just slipped?

They wondered, while the court mage and the king stared at Daneel with their eyes wide open, as if seeing a monster.