As he and Nate got through the gates of the academy after being queried and thoroughly searched by the guards, Josh fed his eyes with the beautiful scenery of the academy.
The beautiful tamed birds hovering above their heads, the beautiful buildings, a waterfall with a gigantic white statue of a man holding up a book in one hand and a sword in the other.
He admired the beautiful lawned grass, with exotic flowers adorned by the sides.
Finally, he took a breath of fresh air, immediately feeling invigorated by the ridiculously pure mana in the atmosphere.
"Beautiful isn't it?" Nate asked, snapping Josh out of his daze.
"Yeah." Josh nodded.
A short stocky man approached the group of students and said "I see you're all enjoying the scenery. well, sorry to interrupt but I need to get you all to the training ground where you will be taking the entrance test."
Seeing the intending 8 students nod, the man turned around and led them through the school, as the students continued to admire the school's grandeur and the tall gigantic buildings all around the school where one would easily get lost if they didn't know the routes.
They finally got to a large stadium with numerous pieces of equipment to help train both the mages and warriors, the group then proceeded into the stadium and got to a part of the stadium which was reserved for this occasion.
On getting there they met a rather beautiful woman adorned in fiery red robes that hugged her curves perfectly.
"I am here with the intending student's Ms. felicity." The short stocky man said giving a slight bow.
"You can go." Felicity said, not sparing him a glance.
The man turned and left the area leaving the intending students in the care of Felicity.
"Follow me." Felicity said, turning her back to the intending students.
"That's the vice principal right?" Josh asked Nate, as he immediately recognized her beautiful face from pictures he had seen several times on the internet.
"She sure is." Nate nodded in agreement.
"She comes off as a bit cold don't you think?" Josh voiced out his observation.
Nate chucked and said, "wait till you meet her."
"Her?" Josh raised his eyebrows confused.
Nate gnored him, he stopped in front of a girl with beautiful facial features, and a cold yet somewhat regal aura around her and said, "Hello sister."
"Hi," the girl replied, and turned to Josh, "and who is he?"
"Oh, he's a friend of mine." Nate replied, and put his arm around Josh's shoulder, "Kate meet Josh, Josh meet Kate."
"Nice to meet you." Josh said extending his hand for a handshake.
Kate stared at Josh's hand hanging in the air for a few minutes and extended her hand towards his, "Nice to meet you too."
"Can we please get going before I commit murder?" Nate said, a little annoyed by Josh and Kate staring at each other in the eye, each unwilling to let go of the other hand.
"Right." Josh chuckled, slowly letting go of Kate's hand.
Josh and Nate continued conversing, with Kate also participating in their conversation from time to time, as they followed Felicity's lead. Felicity led the students to some equipment which Josh and the other students immaculately recognized.
Felicity turned to the students and said, "mages on the right and warriors on the left."
The students immediately lined up in an orderly manner, with the mages on the left and the warriors on the left.
"Now, as you should already know mages will put their hands on the orb of talent provided and infuse some of your mana into it, which will reveal your magic affinity or affinities and innate talent." Felicity paused to let the information sink in and continued, "please note that there is no way to rig this, so you had better start going home if you're here with that intention in mind."
Seeing that no student was leaving, she turned to the warriors and said, "for you warriors, we're going to test your physical capabilities, and if you do not make the cut you're going back home."
"We're going to be moving this way, one mage will come first to take his test then a warrior will come immediately after. I hope I made myself clear?"
"Yes ma'am!" The intending students replied in unison.
The first mage approached the orb of talent with confident strides, he placed his hand on the orb infused some of his mana into it, and it emitted a bright light.
When the light disappeared, Felicity bent over to read the words written on the small screen at the top of the orb.
"Earth magic with an A-rank talent." Felicity nodded and head, "you're getting into B-rank class, go that way." She commanded, pointing at a particular spot behind her.
As the mage went over to the place Felicity told him to with a spring in his step. The warrior proceeded to meet General Claire, she led him to a round machine with a meter by the top which the current reading was zero.
"This is the first test which will determine your strength, punch the machine as hard as you can." she explained as the boy proceeded to where the round machine was.
He proceeded to punch the round machine which began reading until it stopped at the number fifteen.
"In this test, the machine over there will shoot beams at you, which won't as much as tickle you, by the way, once you get hit by the machine you're disqualified, your score here will be determined by how long you stay without getting hit." Felicity explained.
The boy proceeded to the front of the machine, the machine immediately began producing beams as the boy ducked and dodged and he was finally hit on the leg after a total of 8 seconds which was considered an average performance.
The boy proceeded to meet with Felicity, who provided him with a stamina pill to help him get in good condition for the next test.
"The next test is pretty simple, all you have to do is run on the treadmill which will be set at maximum speed as the computer observes when you have reached your limit." Felicity explained as she led the boy to the treadmill and set the speed at maximum.
The boy got on the treadmill and proceeded to run at full speed until he was exhausted after ten seconds, he scored ten points similar to the scoring pattern of the second test.
The boy got off the treadmill and met with Felicity who gave him yet another stamina pill.
"You didn't make the cut kid." Felicity said to the boy, whose eyes turned watery.
"Go that way, someone will come to accompany you and others that will join, outside the academy." Felicity pointed to a spot at the far back of the stadium.
The test continued, with a majority of the students failing the test. Soon, it got to Kate's turn.
"Good luck." Josh said to Kate.
"Thanks." Kate replied with a smile and made her way to Felicity.
"She doesn't need luck." Nate whispered into Josh's ears.
"She's just as talented as you?" Josh asked.
"As much as I hate to admit it, even more." Nate replied, with a bittersweet smile on his face.
Kate proceeded to meet with felicity, and put her hand on the orb of talent, infusing some of her mana into it, and the orb emitted a bright light.
Felicity bent over the orb, and read the words inscribed on the small screen, "Impressive." Felicity nodded, to the student's surprise as it was the first time she had commented on any of their talents, the surprise soon fades away when they heard her next words, "S-rank fire magic affinity, A-rank Light magic and D-rank air magic affinity."
"It seems we have our first S-rank student for the year." Felicity said, and continued, "go that way please." She pointed at the spot where the other mages who had passed the test stood.
Kate nodded and proceeded to walk towards her fellow mages, in slow graceful steps, causing the male students to ogle at her.
The next warrior took the test and was put into the C-rank class.
"You're next man." Nate whispered into Josh's ears.
"Yeah." Josh nodded and made his way to Felicity.
Josh put his hand on the orb, which emitted a bright light.
Felicity bent over to read out the results of Josh's test, "impossible!" She hollered, to the bewilderment of everyone in the arena.
Felicity suddenly took out a phone from inside her robes, she put the phone next to her ear and said, "enough with the pleasantries, get me the spare orb of talent. Just do as you're told!" She barked to the receiver.
"Sheesh, Hate to be that guy." Josh whispered under his breath, and Felicity immediately threw him a glance that made him thankful that looks could not kill, at least not hers.