Keith threw a look behind him and glared at Vaeryl. He just looked back and waved with a big smile, even saying, “Hey, don’t make the judge wait!”

It wouldn’t be a good idea to really annoy the judge, so he turned around with a solemn face. ‘Whether I’m up second or last, it doesn’t matter!’ he encouraged himself. He walked up to the judge and stopped in front of him. “I’m ready.”

The judge smiled in response and lowered his hands upon Keith’s. He had casted another spell when Keith was walking towards him, which was why he was able to provide Keith with one the moment he stopped in front of him.

The moment the spell was given over to Keith, a frown appeared on his face. Somehow it felt like a part of his perception extended from within to surround the spell. He slowly but surely started to feel connected to the bundle of dense white light in his hands.

It felt strange… unfamiliar.

He had never experienced something like this, making him a little confused at first. When he slowly started to move his hands in opposite directions, a frown appeared on his face. It seemed that not only the spell was being manipulated, but also his perception that was adhered to it. The more he stretched out the energy, the more a part of his mental energy was being expanded outside his body. After stretching the spell for a little, Keith’s mind started to ache. It felt like he existed on two different fronts, a small part of him in his hands, being held by the bigger part of himself. He started sweating after moving his hands some more and finally couldn’t hold anymore. He dropped the spell, effectively severing the connection he had with it.

The judge’s face didn’t change at all, only whispering to Keith: “Low amount of mental control, do you want another try?”

Keith looked at the ground and saw the light magic disappear right through. On hearing what the judge said, his face changed. ‘That was one try already?!’ He looked up and saw the judge smile amiably. He let his eyes wander for a second, taking in his surroundings. Most people had been looking expectantly at Keith, especially after his performance in the first test, but now most of these people already lost interest; Keith’s first try spelled out nothing extraordinary. He saw Vaeryl and Niyla watching him with very expectant faces. Niyla even had her fists balled, it almost seemed like she was being tested herself. When Keith turned his head to look back at the judge, he somehow met Dillim’s gaze. Dillim was looking at him with a frown. He then pointed at his hip and closed his eyes, breaking the eye contact they had. Keith kept staring at him, confusion visible on his face.

“Cough, cough,” the judge lightly coughed, regaining Keith’s attention. “Do you want a second a try, or do you want to be graded by your previous attempt?”

Keith said nothing as he raised his hands once more. A determined look could be seen on his face, he thought he understood what Dillim meant by pointing at his sword. Everyone kept saying this test was about mental control, which makes sense. Maybe instead of moving his body and have his mind accompany the movement, he should try to move the spell with his mind.

Dillim taught Keith that there are two different ways of movement. The first is to first think about what you will do and then have your body follow the movements. The second way is to simply let your body move without thinking.

When Keith received the spell for the second time, he closed his eyes, focusing himself. The next thing he did, was pretend the spell in his hands was a sword. When he felt his mind join with the spell again, he started figuring out the path he wanted to move, instead of immediately moving his hands.

A frown appeared on the judge’s face. The first time Keith made contact with his spell, nothing extraordinary happened, but now that the child in front of him was holding the bundle of energy for the second time, he somehow changed. It almost felt like the bearing of the child had changed, bringing with him a hateful and determined aura.

Keith didn’t know how he was being perceived by the judge and he didn’t care. He had figured out what kind of movement he would make; one he had repeated a lot of times the previous days already. He then ‘willed’ the energy first, only having his hands accompany the spell.

The audience started to pay attention again, at first it looked like Keith would just fail again, but somehow the second time something felt different. They then gaped when they saw Keith make a slashing motion with his hands, creating an arc of beautiful light magic. Because of the spell’s properties, everywhere it traveled a transparent path of light would appear before slowly fading away.

Keith felt his hands being guided by his spell, which was being guided by his mind. When he completed his motion, a clean, sharp horizontal cut from left to right, he planned on continuing his motions. He raised the spell above his head, simply letting his hands move along. He then ‘cut’ down! This time it felt a little different; the moment he completed the second movement his mind started to lose the detailed control he had over the spell. The sudden change in control resulted in him relaxing his connection because of surprise. The spell fell to the ground, extending the path Keith had drawn from his head down towards the ground.

“Hmm,” The judge pondered. “Not too bad a recovery, a quick learner it seems. Average to high mental control!”

Keith dejectedly looked at the ground and returned to his place next to Vaeryl and Niyla. He had a sad look on his face as he walked back, but when he saw Vaeryl’s face he asked; “Why are you looking at me like that?”

Vaeryl looked very surprised, he had his eyebrows raised the whole time as Keith walked to him. Hearing Keith question him, he replied; “Because I’m surprised! You said you never meditated, right?!” He then shook his head and clapped Keith’s shoulder again. “You’re still fit to be my friend! I don’t know how you managed to do that, but nice movements! Most people who have never trained their minds simply drop the spells the moment they receive it. I thought you were decently talented the first time already, but when you changed your bearing the second time it seems I was mistaken!” Vaeryl had a big smile on his face, just like Niyla.

“You’re pretty cool, but I’m definitely more talented!” Niyla exclaimed to Keith when she saw her brother compliment him.

‘Changed my bearing?’ Keith didn’t understand what Vaeryl was talking about, but he just smiled and his mood got a little bit better. He didn’t know that after he was taught by Dillim to do so, he had been venting all his emotions when he was holding a sword. Even though he had slowly changed a little, every time he held a sword, his mind would immediately link it to his darker emotions. Keith didn’t really know about this, he only changed subconsciously when he held a sword, his judgement wasn’t clouded at all.

After Keith underwent his test, other students started walking up too. You could clearly see who had trained their mental energy before and who hadn’t. Some students immediately dropped the spell twice in a row, while others performed quite well. It seemed like a lot of the students who didn’t have a good affinity still managed to get a high grade on their mental control. This made sense, because everyone could practice and increase their mental control. It only needed talent at higher levels, where mental control would become increasingly important.

After a lot of students went up, Vaeryl decided that he should go up too. He walked up with a smile and a confident look. When he reached out one hand to the judge, the judge nodded at him and then handed his spell over.

Vaeryl then did something that no one had done up till that point. He threw the energy into the air with his right hand, making it float above his head. While it was floating there his surroundings slowly lit up because of the spell. It then started to slowly float down, almost reaching Vaeryl’s head. The moment the spell made contact with his head, it slowly started to expand. The dense gold energy started to split up in lots of small parts that were all starting to cover Vaeryl. When a majority of his body was covered up with the spell, he looked like a golden statue. After remaining in this state for a second, the whole spell started to dissolve, leaving a profusely sweating, but smiling, Vaeryl to stand in its place.

“Brother is too cool!” Niyla could be heard exclaiming while everyone had gotten quiet.

“Exceptional mental control!” Maoll exclaimed with wide eyes.

When Vaeryl walked back, he saw Keith staring at him with wide eyes. “How did you do that?”

“If you had been forced to train your mental energy too, then you would’ve been able to do the same thing I did. I’m more impressed by you to be able to perform so well without ever training your mind!” Vaeryl replied humbly.

After Vaeryl went up, some other students went up, including Niyla. She managed to get a high to exceptional mental control grade, making her happily bounce towards Keith and Vaeryl.

The disparity between students who trained their mental control and who didn’t, only kept becoming more noticeable. Most of the students had either a low amount of mental control, or a high amount of mental control. The students with average mental control were in the minority. Furthermore, there were more students with an exceptional mental control than there were students with an exceptional elemental affinity.

“Alright,” Maoll said, gathering the attention of everyone when the last student had been graded. “Everyone’s names and grade have been noted. The mortal and deity-grades will only become important after they have formed their mana core. The day after tomorrow, the year will officially start. Congratulations to all the students have passed! I will see you all in front of this building on the first day!” He then started walking away, leaving everyone without looking back.

“Well, that went as expected!” Vaeryl said as Niyla, Dillim and Keith walked outside the building. Dillim had been introduced to them on the same day that Keith met them. He didn’t really mind and mostly just kept his indifferent face on.

“Hey,” Niyla asked Dillim when they finally managed to escape the sea of people trying to exit the building. “How strong are you?” She asked with a twinkle in her eyes.

Dillim just looked at her without showing anything on his face. “Strong enough to stop him from coming in harm’s way.”

“Does that mean you’re stronger than my brother?”

Vaeryl and Keith laughed as a response; they saw Dillim make a wry smile, unable to respond to her simple question. They both understood just how big the gap between them and Dillim was. Vaeryl hadn’t seen Dillim show his might, but after he asked Keith he understood just how strong Dillim was.

When they stood outside again, everyone returned to their respective dorms, it had been a long day for them.

Two more days quickly passed. Keith and Vaeryl sparred some more and when Dillim walked in on a session, he actually guided both. They also explored the surroundings a little together, having Niyla join them too. In this manner, the two days quickly passed.

Morning.

Keith woke up with vigor, even though he hadn’t slept long, he was brimming with energy and determination.

‘Today the school year will finally start!’