Relenah looked around and saw that there were several people going in a certain direction, she decided to follow them. After walking for a bit, she finally saw a line of teachers standing behind small podiums. On top of the podiums were silver colored plates.
Relenah had a confused look on her face, but then she saw students walking up to the podiums and hovering their hands over the plates. After that, she could see magic circulating the plates before condensing into different elements.
She saw a lanky looking boy that had condensed a ball of wind. He had a bright look on his face when he saw it. Relenah looked at the other students and saw the same reaction coming from the others. She tilted her head to the side in confusion.
Did these people not know their elements before they came here?
Looking back at the students that haven't walked up to the podiums, she could see they all had wonder and excitement on their faces. She could feel a sweat drop in the back of her head.
When she saw the line of students moving forward, she also lined up again at the back of the line and waited for her turn. Clenching her fists, Relenah suddenly felt nervous all over again. This was the most important part of her enrollment. If she somehow showed more than one element, then she'll have to quickly fetch her brother and run back to the forest.
She could feel her hands slowly getting clammy. Shaking the thoughts from her head, she took deep breaths to calm herself down. Focusing back onto the box in the back of her mind, she made sure all the elements were completely suppressed. After taking another look in her body, she could only detect water elements.
Well, this was all she could do for now. If the test still showed her other elements, then at least she knew she had done her best.
She looked up and was surprised to see she was the next person in her line to go up to the podium. The person in front of her hovered their hands over the silver plate and she saw they had earth. Taking another deep breath, she forced herself to slowly walk towards the podium.
When she saw other students hovering their hands over their plates, she also hovered her hand over her plate. Taking deep breaths, she focused on the water elements in her and around her. After a while, she suddenly felt like it was too quiet.
She opened her eyes to see the teacher that was in front of her staring at her plate in shock. She suddenly felt her spine stiffen. She was afraid to look down, but she knew she had to.
She slowly looked down at her hands and let out a huge sigh of relief when she saw it only showed the water element. However, when she looked back up at the teacher, he was still star-struck.
"Teacher?" she spoke lightly, hoping to get the teacher's attention.
The teacher snapped out of it and stared at her seriously before commenting, "You have a very good aptitude with water. Most students would take at least ten seconds for their elements to condense, yours condense almost instantaneously!" He waved his hands around at her.
Relenah could feel other people staring at her and she could feel their curious gazes at the back of her head. "So, where do I go from here, teacher?" she tried to get the teacher's attention again.
The teacher finally stopped his mumbling and coughed into his hands lightly, "Follow the rest of the students to the training room, next will be practical magic test."
Relenah nodded her head and followed the rest of the students that just finished with their aptitude test. She could see a teacher waiting for them so she quickly walked towards the teacher.
"Right, follow me to the next test," the teacher said before turning around in a flourish and walking inside one of the academy's buildings.
Relenah and the rest of the students followed closely behind. Turning her head, she marveled at the intricate golden trimmings lining the top of the walls and ceiling. She could also see floating orange balls that highlighted the hallway they were walking through. She looked down and saw that even the tiles were a brilliant white color. It almost feels like she was walking on a cloud and she was surrounded by tiny little light angels.
She looked ahead when she heard the teacher speak again, "Go through this door and you will enter the training room. The practical magic test is conducted in here. Do your best, and good luck," the teacher nod his head before he pushed the door open and waved his hands at the student in front to walk through.
Relenah slowly walked through the door and she felt her breath being taken away again. The room looked like it belonged to a whole different world. The walls were dark grey, the ceiling was a glassy black and the floors looked similar to the walls.
The whole training area seemed to have their own sections. Relenah looked up to see a sign that said, "Archery," she turned her head to see another sign that said, "Swordsmanship."
She lifted her head and saw a big square box that was placed right in the middle of the whole training area. It was big enough that it overlooked all of the different sections in the training room. However, she couldn't see anything through the dark-tinted windows. She assumed that people could see her but she won't be able to see them.
She turned her attention back to the students in front of her as she saw them lining up in front of training dummies. She also took her place and stood behind a student that was about to go next.
"Okay, focus on your elements, and try to at least condense them enough to reach the target," the teacher in charge of their practical magic test said out loud for all students to hear.
When Relenah heard the instructions, she felt a weird nagging feeling in the back of her head. Why did the teacher tell them to just 'reach' the target?
The student in front of her suddenly stepped forward.
Relenah looked up in excitement and stared interestingly at what he was going to do.
Oh, how she wished she hadn't seen anything. Oh, how she wished she was blind and deaf at this moment. As soon as the student stepped up, he suddenly started yelling out loud, "Head my call! Goddess of fire! Lend me your strength! And burn down my enemies!"
Relenah felt as though thousands of ants were crawling all over her skin. She shivered none stop and she watched in horror as the student suddenly started doing weird dance moves as he continued yelling out his nonsense!
He was tap dancing… oh, wait no, he's doing jazz hands? Crap, is he actually doing a moonwalk right now?!
She felt her very soul detaching from her body at the thought that she might have to do these weird rituals as well. She robotically turned her head at the other students and felt like puking rainbow when she saw the other students doing worse things than the student in front of her!
What was this?!
What did I get myself into?!
Is this a magic academy or a dance camp?!
Oh my god… one of the students actually started belly dancing.
When Relenah felt as though she couldn't watch anymore, she suddenly saw the students' elements materializing in front of them. Looking at the magic intensely so that she wouldn't see or hear their rituals, she felt as though she was struck by lightning yet again.
The students released their elements… and all of them quickly disappeared afterwards.
…
Relenah felt so confused.
God, what is going on?
She turned to the teacher and saw the teacher nodding at the students and smiling brightly at them.
COME ON!
They just danced in front of you! Why are you smiling at them like they just solved world hunger?!
Relenah felt all her brain frying into a black coal when she saw how proud the students looked.
Did she really have to do what they just did…?
"Okay, next," the teacher waved her hands and the next line of students walked in front. Relenah could feel her soul slowly leaving her body as she also walked up to the yellow line in front of her.
"Do your best, start," the teacher gave her signal.
Relenah looked at the other students in horror and found herself unable to move. She really did NOT want to copy them. The other students behind her looked at Relenah in confusion. A girl that was standing directly behind her tapped Relenah on her shoulder.
Relenah turned around and the girl whispered, "You should start your incantation now, if not it will take too long for you to call forth your element."
Relenah felt her brain twitch, she just showed a polite smile and nodded her head at the girl in thanks.
Slowly turning around, she saw that the other students finally finished their weird rituals. She looked on as each one of them threw their magic and none of them even made it half-way to the target. She let out a deep sigh.
"You, over there, you haven't casted your spell yet?" Relenah suddenly heard the voice of the teacher. She lifted her head and saw everyone staring at her. She stiffened before nodding her head at the teacher.
"Okay, I'll start now," the teacher looked at her in confusion as well as mild irritation.
"Well hurry up, we can't wait for you to do your incantation. You should've started the moment the other students did."
Relenah ignored the teacher and the students' whispers and focused on the water elements around her. Lifting her hand, she willed her water element to form a big water ball. She heard audible gasps around her but she paid them no mind.
Focusing on the water ball, she envisioned it solidifying into a crystal ball. When her crystal ball was finished, she spread her fingers and the crystal ball shattered into multiple little icicles. Relenah waved her hands and the icicles all at once flew towards the targets. The sound of ice whistling through the air was all that she heard as she saw the icicles hitting all the targets in front of her.
Letting out a breath, she called back her magic and calmed down the magic coursing through her. She then suddenly heard more gasps coming from all around her.
Opening her eyes, she stared questioningly at those around her. All the students were gaping at her and even the teacher in charge was pointing at her with a shaking finger, "Y-you… you're… g-glowing…"
Relenah looked down and saw the usual azure glow but this time, it wasn't just in her hands, the azure glow had spread up her arms and reached her shoulders. She looked back at the teacher and tilted her head in confusion, "Is there a problem with my glowing?" She asked seriously.
The teacher seemed shocked at her question, but then she quickly shook her head with her mouth agape.
Silence followed soon after. Relenah suddenly felt as though she just did something, she shouldn't have…
Before she could say anything else, she suddenly heard a static sound which came from above them.
Relenah tilted her head back and saw the square box above them slowly turn translucent. She could then see an old noble-looking gentleman standing straight with his arms held behind his back.
"Assign her to class S," a deep old voice sounded before the sound of static stopped again.
The teacher that was handling her test snapped out of it and bowed her head towards the box before turning towards Relenah.
"You will be placed in class S, please follow the teacher behind you."
Relenah turned around and was surprised to suddenly see another teacher appearing near her. She kept her eyes lowered and silently followed the new teacher that just appeared.
It was strangely quiet as she continued following behind the teacher in charge of taking her to her class. She looked up slightly but the teacher didn't even spare her a glance.
She let out a quiet sigh and obediently followed.
After several twists and turns, she was suddenly brought to a different building. The building was painted a beautiful azure color with hints of turquoise here and there. She also noticed that the trimmings around the building was also gold.
"This is the water elemental dormitory," the teacher in front of her suddenly said.
Relenah looked up in surprise but quickly nodded her head when the teacher turned around to see her reply.
"Since you'll be in S class, your room will be on the top floor."
Relenah looked at the back of the teacher in confusion, "What does being in class S mean?"
The teacher looked at her for a while before he spoke, "Class S is a class involving the strongest elementalists from each element."
Relenah nodded her head silently. She suddenly furrows her eyebrows after she thought about it for a while, "You said class S is for the strongest. As far as I know, this academy lasts for five years."
The teacher nodded, "That is true."
"Doesn't that mean the strongest should be the fifth year of the water elementalist?" Relenah asked.
The teacher turned around to face her completely which took Relenah by surprise. She stood up straighter and gave the teacher her full attention.
"That would be true in most cases, but there are occasions where those that are younger are sometimes stronger than those that are older. It just so happens that your power is considered stronger than that of the current strongest fifth year."
Relenah could feel another sweat drop at the back of her head.
Crap, now she's going to be in everyone's line of sight. Her plans of laying low have flown out the window and completely disappeared, much like the spells of all those students doing their rituals.