The next morning, Theo, Leonardo, Zed, Felix, Kaleb, Lisa, and other 1st year students were standing in line, listening to Nolan.

"Okay, class, I saw that some of you have already succeeded in advancing to the 2nd adept rank, and should have already started training with spells," said Nolan, watching how Zed, Lisa, Kaleb, Theo, and several more students nodded their heads.

"Today's lesson would be a fully practical one, it would help not only more than half of the students to gather enough mana to advance, but will also be useful for others to polish their will and mind," explained Nolan, moving his gaze at the huge circular platform inside the open pavilion.

Theo and others also moved their glances at the huge open platform inside the open pavilion in front of them. The platform was made of marble, but there were many magic enchanting, glowing from time to time. There were also other students that were sitting there and meditating.

"Yes, it's the "Will test" platform, one of the unique places of our academy," said Nolan after giving some time for his students to look at it.

"You will enter into that platform and meditate as you usually do. At first, everything would look normal, but 5-10 minutes later, you will begin to see illusions, it might be anything or anyone. However, you should know that it's just an illusion of your heart demon, fear, or a terrible experience. It might be anything. However, if you succeed in ignoring those scenes, the moment you return to your senses, the platform would send a huge portion of mana towards you that would be easy to gather and use for the breakthrough." explained Nolan, right at the moment when a huge amount of mana surrounded one of the sitting students.

Theo and his classmates threw their glances at that student and watched how he began gathering that mana without any problems.

"By the way, I forgot to add that, the platform is made of unique materials that can help you make a breakthrough with half of the efforts and much bigger benefits, the more illusions you pass, the more mana you would get," said Nolan, moving his glance at Theo and other students who have already become a 2nd rank adept, "Since, you have made such a good progress, try to go as far as you can, it would be useful for your further progress."

Some of the students nodded their heads, while others were already going impatient after hearing about all the benefits they could get in there. However, there were also some of them that wanted to learn more about this platform.

"Teacher, how much mana is it possible to get from this platform?" asked one of the students among 2nd rank adepts.

"One person can get enough mana to make a breakthrough in adept realm twice," said Nolan, throwing a glance at that student, "After you make it, mana in the platform would not come to you, but you will be able to continue to train your will and mind through illusions. In fact, many of those students are elder students that come here to train their wills and minds."

Students nodded to Nolan's words before moving their impatient glances at Nolan.

Nolan sighed, shaking his head when he saw quite crazy expressions.

"Fine, you can go, but each of you will only have 3 hours in there. It is the maximum limit, 1st-year students can spend on this platform. So, if you don't want to lose this opportunity and wait for the next year, you should use it wisely." said Nolan, approaching a pavilion and opening a gate for students.

***

Theo, Leonardo, Zed, and Felix found a quiet empty place near the left side of the platform. So, they quickly adjusted themselves in lotus positions before closing eyes and starting meditation.

The time continued to pass, while students began gathering mana that was everywhere and much thicker on the platform.

Many of Theo's classmates who almost finished gathering mana for the 1st breakthrough, felt how they filled their mana hearts, and how it began changing, sipping mana from the platform in the process.

Leonardo, Felix, and other students were advancing in rank!

Only those who slacked off during their mana gathering were the only ones that were left behind. Even though they didn't train, the mana in the platform was a big aid, and they were also gathering mana from the air at a fast rate.

While, many of the 1st year students continued to pass through their 1st breakthroughs, the time for the will test has finally arrived when many small ripples began appearing around the 1st year students.

The moment those students surrounded students, they felt how their senses disappeared as if they were falling into darkness.

A moment later, they opened their eyes, seeing different scenes in front of them.

Some of them saw war scenes when soldiers were chasing after them, some saw horrible monsters eating their parents, some saw their cursed enemies, attacking them while others saw different situations they were fearing or considered as the most unfortunate. In short, all of them were passing through the harsh time, and it was quite obvious if one looked at their faces.

Leonardo was watching how shadows were killing his parents, Felix was watching how a girl that he loves betrayed him in the illusion when she grew up and married him, Zed was watching his own death, Lisa saw herself being burnt in the house while Kaleb saw how his dreams perish in just one moment.

The moment, Theo opened his eyes, he saw an injured bandit that was standing in front of another version of Theo. Just a glance was enough for Theo to realize that it was the 1st man he killed in his previous life when he was 18-years old man and got ambushed by the group of bandits. His guardian knights took care of other bandits while this one was able to reach him and forced Theo to fight him. Fortunately, Theo was stronger and succeeded in killing him, but it was his first murder, the murder that he had to do in order to survive. Even after many years, that experience was one of the most disgusting in his life.

"Hehe ... finally I got you, boy, you have no idea how hard it was to catch you today." said the bandit, approaching Theo, "Even, dividing you from your guardian knights was quite a challenge. However, here I am, it's time for your death, boy."

The moment, Theo saw that bandit, and himself, he became furious. It was the moment right before his 1st murder from his previous life. He knew what would happen next, but he couldn't do anything except gritting his teeth and clenching his fists if he wanted to get benefits from this platform.

"Die!" cried the man, approaching and raising the sword.

Right at that moment, Theo in the illusion reacted instinctively, and moved to the right, attacking himself.

A moment later, the bandit's sword passed through the empty air while Theo's sword pierced through the bandit's heart. The boy in the illusion continued to grip his sword while the blood continued to flow, splashing Theo's clothes and face in the process. Several moments later, Theo still continued to stand there with the blood on his face and his sword in the bandit's heart. He didn't pay attention to anything around him and just continued to stand there with empty and emotionless eyes.

When Theo killed the bandit, many ripples appeared in the illusion, and a moment later he felt himself sitting in the same position, surrounded by the huge portion of mana.

Theo opened his eyes, clenching his fists, but noticing the mana, he quickly remembered about his goal and closed his eyes, starting to gather and circulate as much mana as possible. He had only several hours that he could use, so Theo planned to continue stimulating his mana heart to approach his breakthrough.

The same scenes were happening everywhere. At first, all the students were angry or horrified, but they quickly sobered up as they realized that it was an illusion and when they saw mana around them.

Leonardo and Felix advanced in rank, becoming 2nd rank adepts while Zed started filling his mana heart and approach the 3rd rank of adept.

A short time later, another portion of whirlpools appeared on the platform, surrounding the students and blocking their senses.

A moment later, all of them opened their eyes in different locations and situations.

Theo opened his eyes, seeing many knights and mages fighting each other. Theo turned his head to analyze the situation and a moment later he saw Leonardo and many of his colleagues that served with him in the Union's army during the war with Grifon kingdom. The illusion transferred him to the start of the war when many of Union's armies were detached by the opponent and many of its units had to fight by themselves in their forts or other defensive positions.

Just a glance was enough for Theo to realize where he is and what would happen. So, Theo turned his head and looked at the 2 youth around the 23-25 years old in mage's robes.

The much more elder version of himself was now holding a much elder version of Leonardo that was bleeding from several wounds.

At the same time as they moved, the defensive line continued to crumble apart, while many advanced spells of all elements continued to move across the battlefield. Following another attack, the enemy breached the line, and moments later hundreds of knights appeared, piercing through the line.

The chaos was happening everywhere, Union's units continued to fight, but it was clear that they were losing against a much more numeric and stronger enemy. The pair continued to pass while the enemy was slowly catching up with them.

A short time later, they finally reached the nearby forest together with other survivors.

Theo continued to hold his friend and move as fast as he could, but a moment later he heard approaching enemy and death cries of Union's knights and mages.

Leonardo also heard that, and a moment later, he pushed Theo away before swallowing a small pill.

"Leonardo! What are ..." cried Theo, but stopped when he saw how his friend swallowed a certain pill.

A moment later, Leonardo felt an increase in strengths, and straighten up, smiling at Theo.

"Theo, this's the end for me, we both know that I won't survive in this chase and would only burden you," said Leonardo, starting to silent chant advanced spell.

Theo shook his head before beating the ground below him, creating shelters around him.

"Leo, why? You still had a chance, why did you swallow this pill?" cried Theo while tears started appearing in his eyes.

Leonardo smiled before looking at the two nearby knights that accompanied them since the start of the army duty.

"Take him, and run." ordered Leonardo to those men before returning his glance at Theo, "Theo, my brother, there is no choice. Back in the battle I was injured by their Great mage and knew since then that I would most likely die without immediate treatment. I should have used everything I had against that bastard, if I did, we might have succeeded to hold this line."

"Theo, take care of my family and my fiance, I would buy you as much time as I can," said Theo, covering everything around him with a thin layer of ice, and throwing a last glance at the disappearing Theo's figure.

Right at the moment when he finished his spell, the group of riders in knight's armor appeared in the woods and lashed out at lone Leonardo's figure.

Theo could only sigh, clenching his fists as he watched how his friend was sacrificing himself. Though it was painful, Theo didn't move his glance away and watched at his friend till the last moments of his life.

The moment, Leonardo fell to the ground, many ripples appeared in the illusion and moments later, Theo felt that he returned back to the platform.

The moment he opened his eyes, tears appeared in his eyes.

Theo continued to look in front of himself, before coming to his senses and noticing a huge portion of the mana around him that was much bigger than the mana that surrounded his classmates.

Without wasting another moment, he closed his eyes, starting to gather as much mana as possible.

At the same time as Theo continued mana gathering, other students began coming back to their senses, they had different expressions on their faces, some were terrified, some were delighted when they returned back to the platform while some had emotionless expressions on their faces. Even a small portion of them stood up, leaving the arena.

However, a short time later, most of the shocked students came to their senses and started to gather as much mana as possible.

In fact, the amount of mana that was released after this round was enough to fill the mana heart to the brim and enough to stimulate it to make a breakthrough.

Feeling a pain appearing in his mana heart, Theo realized that he gathered enough mana and stimulated his mana heart enough to make a breakthrough!

A moment later, his mana heart started shifting, releasing the huge portion of the mana that immediately started moving across his body.

Of course, Theo couldn't lose such a chance, and he concentrated his full attention on mana circulation. Unlike the previous time when he could barely control his mana, he was stronger and had the help of the platform in his arsenal.

Due to these new factors, mana couldn't move in any direction it wanted, while Theo started moving it towards his main organs and bones as the 1st places he wanted to enrich with mana.

The mana disappeared in those areas, shifting and improving them in the process, while Theo and others continued to train and meditate on this platform.

***

An hour later, Theo and others were standing in line, listening to Nolan.

"Good job, class, I can see that you had many benefits during this lesson. Most of you have become 2nd rank adepts, while others 3rd rank adepts," said Nolan, throwing his glance at his students, "I can see that it was a quite bad experience for you all. So, I wouldn't continue to hold you here, you can leave."

The moment Nolan finished his speech, students moved in different directions right at the time when a bell resounded across the academy.

Nobody had lessons from minor departments, so most of the students immediately rushed home to have some rest and mental recovery.