The academy try-outs would start at 10:00 AM. Mason woke up early, since he didn't want to miss his opportunity. He arrived at the academy at about 9:00. Surprisingly, there were already quite a lot of other desperate guys.
Mason didn't know what the maximum age was for the try-outs, but he saw some middle-aged people. He hoped they were just the parents of the kids here. He didn't want to be in an academy for old people after all.
After waiting for a while, it was finally 10:00.
"Silence! Everybody who arrives after now will be disqualified immediately, regardless of status!" An old man said.
Mason seemed to remember this bearded guy from somewhere though as he went back in thought.
'Fuck, that's the old man I met in the castle academy!' Mason hoped he didn't somehow offend this old guy.
"I'm the headmaster of Lionheart academy, you kids may call me headmaster Elric." The headmaster said.
"Today, you're all here to attempt to get into the academy. We can't just accept all of you guys, so we're going to be doing test to weed out the scraps, and pluck out the diamonds."
"If you disagree with my decision, that's too bad. Even if your daddy is a rich man, his influence probably doesn't exceed mine. Just blame yourself for not having enough talent."
'Damn, this old man is savage as fuck. He's not even scared of the rich kids.' Mason was truly impressed.
"The first test you all will be going through is the most simple. When you hear your name, yell out your age and level. This is the easiest way to determine someones talent." The old man smiled.
He knew there were a lot of middle-aged people still desperate enough to try and get into an academy made for kids. It seemed most of the people here were 14/15 though.
After the old mans announcement, all the peoples names were yelled out as Mason heard all different kinds of voices.
"Ron Cole."
"15 years old, level 4!" Ron answered
"Melanie Hugh"
"14 years old, level 5!" Melanie screamed anxiously.
"Remi Nightfall." The loud voice was now a bit quieter.
"15 years old, level 18." Remi said with a cold and confident tone.
Voices could now be heard in the massive plot of land they were in.
"Nightfall? Is it actually a princess? Remi, how come I've never heard of a Remi within the princesses though?"
"Silence!" The headmaster yelled out.
After all the commotion, it was finally Mason's turn
"Mason White."
"14 years old, level 10." Mason said with a bitter smile
'I wanted to make a grand appearance but it seems I'll have to wait another month or so.'
Level 10 was really high for a 14 year old, but after hearing of a level 18 around the same age. The crowd wasn't really that interested in Mason. The ones that did look though, were almost immediately attracted to his good looks.
Remi Nightfall also looked over, and she locked eyes with Mason for a split-second. But Mason knew they definitely did.
Mason found Remi to be quite the beauty, completely his type. She had long blond hair, eyes as blue as the ocean. She wasn't short, and not tall either. Mason guessed her to be around the same height as him. He knew girls grew faster in height during puberty, but since he was always quite tall it dented his ego being the same height as a girl.
Remi's bodily features were also developed pretty well for a 15 year old girl. So Mason already set his eyes on his ideal school girlfriend.
Remi however, seemed not to care about Mason's looks as she just went on her way.
After an hour or two, they finally finished examining all the candidates.
"Alright, everybody who didn't make it through round one have already gotten the message. I'll be asking those people to leave now." The headmaster said.
Mason saw around 400 people leaving.
'400? From the first round alone?' Mason got quite nervous after hearing this.
"How many rounds will there be in total, headmaster?" Mason looked around to see the person with enough nerve to ask a question in this situation, and sure enough, it was Remi.
"Good question! There will be 3 rounds in total, the second one will start now, and the third one will start after you guys get a quick break." Elric answered.
"The third round will be a test on your proficiency in killing beasts. Killing beasts is the most important task for Mages, as they are the ones who protect the country from them."
"We have enough beasts caught for everybody, so you get to choose what level beast you want to fight. Of course, don't go to far to impress us because we won't be there to save everybody."
"Let the second round start!" Headmaster Elric yelled.
After that, they started calling out names again. Now, they had to walk towards a special cage. There they would inform the teacher examining them what level beast they wanted to fight. The teacher would just go fetch one and watch you fight it like some sort of Roman gladiator fight.
After waiting for a while, it was Mason's turn. He started walking towards cage number 8, and he told the examiner that he wanted to fight a level 17 beast.
"Are you sure you want to fight a level 17 beast? I know you're level 10 at a young age, but don't get overconfident! You might actually die!" The teacher said.
"I'm confident, teacher." Mason simply answered.
"Well, if you say so." The teacher replied as she put Mason and a level 17 beast in the cage together.
'System, type of beast and HP please!'
[Level 17: Rock Golem, 2000HP]
Mason nodded as he used only 2 spells, Freeze and Ice Golem. He had decided back in the village that he wouldn't use Ice Golem but when he saw Remi today he knew he had to impress the teachers to get rank 1.
The showdown between golems started with one immobile. So Mason's Ice Golem Got in two punches with did 1000 damage in total. After all that happened, Mason told his Golem to focus on defense as he used Ice Lance.
The Rock Golem died instantly to the Ice Lance as the teacher in cage 8 almost choked to death.
'This kid just killed a level 17 beast in 10 seconds? What have I witnessed today? When I was 10, I used to eat sand and snort crayons!'
"Mason White, pass." The teacher said with a bitter smile.