Luna was one of the few students that finished the test early with flying colors. In the line to the said battle activity, there were only three of them as the test had just started. Then, she began to look at them in utmost vigilance.
The taller one had two long thin swords hanged at his back and the other had short staff made of metal that was adorned by a shining pale blue jewel at the top. Their weapons were surrounded by a dense magic aura.
Though not completely visible, Luna could see those magic surrounding people's weapons ever since she had her magic awakened.
Because of that, she could observe that the two of them were here not because they were the first in line in their classes but because they had the magic power to pass the new students' test.
As it's taking too long, she decided to see the test that others were taking. New students were allowed to roam around while the older students could only watch from afar. It's because the place would get crowded if they didn't implement it.
In the paladin's section, both battle magic and healing magic were used but their magic offense was stronger than their healing magic. It paled in comparison to Luna's healing prowess.
The student that was currently taking the test suddenly tripped and was sliced by the man's blade. Luna's eyes widened by the sight of it as the others looked at her like it was just normal and didn't offer her any help.
It was not the only wound she received and continued till she finished the test while healing herself in between.
'What kind of test is this!' Luna said.
She still wasn't used to the sight of a human with crimson blood that continued to flow in their entire body and their clothes that were heavily soaked in it. For some reason, the smell of iron began to whiff her nose.
When she looked around in great detail, the others' section except the healers' section had students that were almost soaked in blood.
"The paladin's section is still nothing compared to other classes," Luna thought.
The chatters of everyone especially the older students had masked all the helpless voices of the examinees. All of the students that have been admitted were all in the magic tier of 5. A level where they mostly train for almost a decade yet the scene here made her question how hard the test was.
'I'm glad that I'm in the healers' section,' Luna said.
This was different from what she read from fiction where a main character's life would not be threatened by cuts of blades from the Advanced Mages.
Luna promised that she would not let her future teammates be hurt by incoming attacks. Not because, she was a very benevolent person but because she couldn't stand the sight of their blood violently gushing out of their body.
It was a bit selfish but all humans had their own selfishness. At least, she wasn't harming anyone by it, for now.
Luna hurriedly went towards the line that was now full of people. She lined up because as the line grew longer, the bloody the students looked. It just meant that the most skilled students could be found at the forefront which she wished she hadn't stayed away from.
Although as a healer, she needed to get used to the sight of a human's injured body slowly at a time until it became nothing to her.
Earlier, Luna almost felt vomiting though it's still good that she quickly went back into the line as she wasn't that far from the very front.
She could just simply heal them but it might be interrupting the tests made by advanced mages and doing so would lessen her magic powers with the great number of new students that were covered in blood.
It took a whole hour for the single battle to start listing the people who will join.
"Finally," Luna whispered.
For a person who would start fighting at the arena for the first time in her life, she didn't feel nervous at all but she was impatient as this day seemed to last too long.
Meanwhile, her turn finally came.
"Healer, Lady Luna Noir sien Mendelevinn," she said.
When it was Luna's turn to be listed, the advanced mage in front was once again astounded but she heard his sneer after.
'The astonishment is for hearing my last name and the sneer is for my boldness,' she concluded.
"A healer? Are you sure?" he uttered.
Luna who forgot to put on her badge suddenly showed it towards his face.
"I think this would be enough? Also, I never heard a rule stating that a healer could not join," Luna said.
"Too confident aren't you? Here's your number!" he said.
Luna quickly took the torn piece of paper from his notepad and walked away.
The paper indicated that she had the number 55 and all of them would be chosen randomly. A series of explanations about the battle was also written.
'All students will have a total of ten consecutive battles for the first round. There are two kinds of persons in the arena. One is the first challenger which is the one who will be called first and the other one is the second challenger.'
'The second challenger will become the first one if he won the battle. But if the first challenger won all the ten battles, the next opponent would instantly be the first challenger. This will go on until the new students finished fighting.'
'You will gain a single merit per battle and will advance to the next stage if you obtained five merits.'
"Advancing to the second stage meant more merits," Luna uttered.
She didn't know how they could make use of the merits but it would be good if she was able to gain as much as she could.
Somehow, Luna felt that she have to take every opportunity that came so she would be able to quickly learn new things and graduate sooner.
'I can do this!' Luna thought.
"Good afternoon, new students! I hope you are starting to adapt to our academy. I'm the vice-leader of the lower students' association, Damian Sel Clementin, an Advanced mage. Anyway, we will now start the yearly rookies' battle!" he said.
Everyone sitting around the arena cheered for us. It seemed that even though they would only be watching a rookies' fight, the excited faces of them bewildered Luna. Her heart raised and felt that things would not turn as she had expected.
'What is it?' she said.
Furthermore, the new students that were lining up orderly were not as many as before it seemed that only half of them were there.
'Oh, only half the new students had joined the single battle,' Luna thought.
The man at the center who introduced himself as Advanced mage Damian, had a dark blue box above a small elegant table.
Luna could see the same magic aura surrounding the box and the vice-headmaster. He put his hands inside and showed them a small badge afterward.
"Number 376, first challenger," he said.
The man was very far from Luna.
'So there may be a total of 400+ new students that joined," Luna thought.
Her habits of counting numbers came up again.
"Number 178, second challenger," the vice-headmaster continued.
The two men came into the arena. The second challenger wore an elegant blue robe with a golden wand in hand while the other wore simple uniform-styled clothes and held a long sword in his left hand.
"Start!"
The battle began shortly and both of them stood guard. The main mage class chanted and six water arrows went towards the swordsman's position which the latter avoided with ease and strode in astonishing speed.
The man hastily continued firing magic water arrows that were smaller but tripled in number.
Displaying no fear, the swordsman forced his way to the mage that resulted in some water arrows as sharp as steel blades cut his right shoulder.
It was good as long as it wasn't his left hand. Immediately, he stabbed the side part of the mage without hesitation. He kicked his body away and made sure he wouldn't be able to stand up. Despite him numbering 178, it didn't mean that he could win easily with numbers below him.
After all, during the first test, some of the students formed groups and threatened others that would dare take the test first which Luna didn't know of.
Luna watched the scene with her now cold hands. There was only one thing in her mind.
'Ruthless, so this is what it looks like to survive the academy' Luna thought.
Though her hands were cold, there was a flash of excitement that lingered through her eyes.
It immediately vanished after seeing the man whose blood seemed to splatter on the floor. The white floor of the arena was now tainted with deep red color.
'How much of this scene will I see today?' Luna thought while covering her mouth and nose with her right hand.
--To be continued--