Both moved forward, near the front of the queue to where a group of kids, the same age stood.
Ready to take the entrance exam.
"Everyone who is taking the entrance exam, stand here!", an older man with a beard shouted out in a plain open space.
The groups of entrees were scattered. Most, the majority, were at the bearded man and both Archehon and Xavier walked over towards them.
The queue changed. It was a line which soon turned into a dot as the last person entered the open space.
"Alright! Now that every entree has made their way here. I will give you the instructions on the entrance exam.", the bearded man shouted.
"My name is John and I am one of the teachers who works at the academy. I broadly teach the weapons class as I know how to wield multiple weapons.", John introduced himself.
"Today, in the exam, you will have three different tests. The first test is on your abilities which will examine how strong your core strength is. The secondary test is making you fight against beasts which won't kill you but I still expect you to give it your all."
"Finally, the last test, which is the most important examination, will be having you fight against each other.", he finished his explanation.
"Are there any other questions?"
John scanned the crowd and found a hand raised.
"Yes. You.", he pointed towards the hand in the middle of the crowd.
"Will the first test be fair for examinees who have magician/Spiritual abilities?", a green haired boy asked sensibly.
The boy looked very handsome and famous. Many other eyes shined, drooling over the model, while others, didn't have the same intentions.
"Yes, it will. It's adjusted to a level fair enough for mages or spiritualists."
"No way! Is that Petyr Haydn? The genius of his family!", one guy whispered loudly.
"I heard the Haydn's are a very rich family that grooms talents such as Petyr. They sell magic devices worldwide."
"No wonder.."
'Haa.. how annoying. I don't want to hear these weaklings getting fussed up about some rich kid. I would've smashed their faces to the ground if it wasn't for keeping a good profile.', Archehon sighed on the inside.
'...'
'Dammit. I miss my underlings from my previous life who always praised me and obeyed everything I said.', Archehon remembered one-sidedly hitting his underlings until they had bruised bodies.
"Okay, okay examinees. I don't mind a bit of chatter in-between the tests but I'd prefer everyone to remain silent. I'm a busy man, after all.", John showed his pressure near the end of his sentence.
"Everyone. Follow me."
The entire group trailed behind the examiner like ants building a colony. From the green field to a massive hall, one of which someones voice would echo when they talk. The gray walls made it look more like a factory which linked with the purpose of the hall. Training.
"Now that everyone has arrived, I will explain in full detail what we're doing. We will be doing many things- Cardio, pushups, sit-ups, squats, burpees. I want everyone to be able to do all of them for as long as they can. To pass, you need to last twenty minutes."
"W-what?? Why aren't we being tested on our fighting capabilities?", one guy was shocked, like an idiot.
"No more questions! We'll start with a run on the track over there in fifteen seconds!", John ordered the group including some weaklings.
So many were shocked from the workload and flinched, while the minority, got into position on the track before the rest.
"Three! Two! One! Go!"
All of the examinees started sprinting right away. Some metres ahead, some behind.
"Last here for over ten minutes but a red Lazer will follow you at a certain pace. If the red Lazer touches you, you're out!"
The red line followed behind the examinees. When one person almost touched it, he awoke his senses and sprang ahead.
But, unfortunately, for some people, that didn't last very long.
The red line sped up while some applicants grew tired from the remarkable speed they had to survive and touched it.
"I-I can't take it any, more.."
One examinee fell to the ground and touched the laser which triggered a machine to ring out loud.
"|Examinee: 'Austin' has failed the exam|"
This happened for many other applicants, constantly ringing the machines voice out loud.
"|Examinee: 'Andrew' has failed the exam|"
"|Examinee: 'Sean' has failed the exam|"
Out of the examinees, who at first were populated around two hundred and fifty, a large number of people failed the first test.
'Tsk, how disappointing. These people want to become heroes and don't even exercise vigorously. I can't believe that seventy-five students have failed already.', John showed a distasteful attitude.
"Time's up! I'll give everyone a two minute rest and afterwards, everyone will have to do- forty pushups, sit-ups and squats each! Do this within another ten minutes."
"Go stand on your own spot to be prepared!"
Archehon completed half of his act well, blending into the averagely talented students.
'Good thing he didn't pay attention to me. I should continue to act like this.', he thought.
Two minutes passed and everyone got into their positions.
"Your rest has ended! Start immediately or you're failing!"
Different speeds or times. All of them started the pushups. Archehon pretended to sweat buckets while a good number of people did the same, other than the small minority.
The few people who weren't struggling included the green haired genius who did it with ease and another twenty people, not on his level.
More people continued to fail the examination.
"|Examinee: 'Jake' has failed the exam|"
"|Examinee: 'Natalie' has failed the exam|"
Finally, the first part of the examination was completed with only half of the examinees left.
"Okay! Everyone who has lasted until now, has passed the first test! You will get another two minutes to rest before we go to the second test.", John shouted like an army sargent.
A small number of the people who survived, dropped to the ground out of exhaustion. The number of people who looked like they would last the next few tests weren't good.
The extremely short rest felt like it finished in a blink of an eye.
"Rest has ended! Everyone, follow me!", John shouted as some of the examinees crawled which wasn't a good sign to have.
Archehon acted just like those examinees but didn't go far enough to the point where he'd crawl as that would only just hurt his pride.
The hall was incredibly large. They were only inside a part of the hall which would make one question just how expensive, and how much they could've invested in the whole academy. Everyone had reached the next part of the exam, the second test.
In the area, was a large arena filled with around five boxes which all looked like mini-arena's of their own. Some of the first time examinees, excluding Fuchsia, gasped at the place. The seats were aligned perfectly to spectate.
"Now, I will not waste any more time and explain how the second test works! As I have told you before, you will be fighting beasts. These beasts are virtually generated and managed so that they will not harm you. The type of beasts you will be fighting are Rank 3 beasts. But, we have exceptions for students that will want to do more than just that.", John explained the second test.
"If a student fights a Rank 3 beast and wants to fight something stronger, then I'll allow them to fight a beast that is one rank higher. If the beast is defeated, then they'll receive special permissions inside the academy once they pass. The higher the rank, the better permissions. Keep in mind that, I, am the one deciding this.", John finished pointing out a special offer.
'Haaa.. what a shame. These weaklings are even thinking about trying that out. They don't know that, even if it's a difference of one rank, the beasts unlock new abilities every time they progress a rank.', Archehon thought as he glared at some of the silly applicants who had such terrible stamina.
"Archehon, aren't you going to try it out? You're definitely strong enough for it.", Xavier whispered as he looked at Archehon, deep in his thoughts.
"Well, not really.", Archehon looked the other way.
"Not really? It's strange. Why couldn't you have just gotten a fake ID if you're so desperate to not garner attention? I don't understand how using one would be bad?", Xavier whispered again, enough to prevent nobody from hearing them, thanks to his expert senses.
'Well, all that would just hinder my plans and end my life. But I can't tell you anything, or you'll ruin it all.', Archehon thought.
"Uh, I just think I'm quite weak, haha.", he acted innocently while scratching the back of his head, saying it out loud instead of whispering.
"Hm? Whatever.", Xavier instead looked at John, in the middle of providing his instructions.
"Alright! Everyone get into a queue over there! And, you'll all fight randomized beasts to ensure fairness!", John finished talking and everyone immediately got into a line.
The first examinee walked forward. He had black hair with a muscular physique and held an axe. He stood in the arena waiting for the beast to appear. The next person did the same. So did the person after that. All of the boxes were filled with examinees waiting for the buzzer to ring which indicated when the beasts would appear.
Buzz!-
The buzzer rang and different types of beasts appeared. The first examinee got a horde of Rank 3 Goblins. The next person had to fight trolls, then golems. It was truly different for each person even if it seemed unfair.
Every applicant fought the beasts. Using different tactics. But. Not all of them succeeded.
"|Examinee: 'Connor' has failed the exam|"
"|Examinee: 'Jennifer' has failed the exam|"
The examinees went in and out. Fighting the varieties of beasts.