(A/N: Officially the longest story I've written so far, and it's only the beginning. High hopes that this reaches the 100k words mark.)
It came as no surprise that the sisters won the second test. Erin didn't bother to ask which one of them should be first. She believed their display on the practice dummy was answer enough. So without further ado, the team set off from Rusvil under the cheers and blessings of the crowd, led by the city lord.
The successful candidates had the choice of boarding the only free carriage, or riding alongside the convoy. Quite a few of them took the opportunity to ride a horse, since being cooped up in a single carriage with a dozen people, although spacious enough, would also be awkward and uncomfortable.
Isla and Sila chose to ride together, they had no intention on getting to know these people. The twins didn't see any potential in this group, so apart from polite greetings, they didn't bother to converse with them.
The two instead rode on the back of the same horse. Luckily they were both spry and healthy, so they weren't too heavy for the horse.
"Look at them. They think because they have such a high affinity that they're better than us. Who doesn't know that a magician is more valuable to the empire than a warrior" Lucy said hypocritically, not caring about the expressions of the warriors around her.
The guards of the academy couldn't help frowning, although what she said was crass, it wasn't entirely untrue. A magician had the benefit of long ranged and area attacks from the beginning of their path, which only improved as they became stronger. This gave them a massive advantage over the warriors who were relegated to single target attacks, until they reached at least the purple gold rank.
When warriors finally reach the purple gold rank, their aura will have become powerful enough to be generated externally. They can use it in a number of ways to improve their combat ability, some of which is using the aura itself to form weapon arrays. A method created by a genius warrior millennia ago, to combat the monopoly of the mages.
However, few warriors focus on this aspect, because it takes an incredible affinity with their aura to be able to produce the arrays to a level where they can compete with the wide area attacks of powerful magicians.
Most warriors focus on honing their single target skills, which just so happened to be the magicians weakness. So a delicate balance has been forged between the two sides where they both get a piece of the pie. The physical capabilities of warriors make them excellent in close combat, and even better in receiving damage, so they bare the brunt of the opponents force, while magicians are usually protected behind the warriors so as to allow them to cast their devastating spells.
Isla and Sila could easily hear the words spoken by Lucy, but in their ears, it was nothing more than jealousy. A pampered little lady, who was taken care of by her family. She has no idea what's in store for her when she reaches that cannibalistic place. Isla sneered, leaning her back against Sila, who was holding the horses reins. She hopes that woman can be as arrogant as she is now when they reach the academy. If it can add a little interest to their life, then Isla is all for it.
The journey through the Rind forest was quite special to the twins. Isla watched as they passed through dense brush, which changed to boundless open fields, back to vast expanses of forest, and she couldn't help being mesmerised by the beauty of this great forest. When the team had been walking for four days, only stopping to rest before heading back on the road, they finally came to the outside of one of the major cities of the empire.
Stood before them was a wall that reached many times higher and longer than Rusvil's. The solemnity of this gargantuan structure sent goosebumps through the twelve candidates, including the twins.
Although Erin had little interest in this group, she still held the title of a senior student of the academy. She didn't want them to complain about her when they arrived at the academy, which might affect her rewards for the task, so she chose to give an explanation to these country bumpkins that hadn't seen the heights of the sky.
"The city in front of us, some of you may know, is Etrida. It was formerly a stronghold during the beast tides. It stood as one of the barriers to fend off the hordes, and once held a garrison of millions.
Naturally, after the end of the beast tides, there was no longer a need for such a large army, so the stronghold was slowly changed into a city. Now thousands of years have passed and the only remnant left of the once great stronghold, is the enormous city wall.
It was said to have been crafted by the dwarves, and imbued with the magic of many extremely powerful magicians, which is why the wall still stands intact so many millennia later".
The candidates continued to stare at the great city wall, but the twins were looking at something different from the rest of the group. They felt a terrifying aura coming from the wall. A warrior's aura. It held an unimaginably strong blood-lust, which was beginning to affect both of them.
The two of them had no idea why this aura seemed to only be felt by them, but they knew that they needed to calm down, before they went insane.
Isla and Sila looked at each other, their eyes had become bloodshot at some point. Thankfully they had managed to enter the city by this point, but the feeling only became worse.
Erin explained to the group that they'd rest here for the time being, and wait for groups from other outlying cities to arrive at Etrida, before setting off as a larger group. And that during this time they were free to explore the city, or stay in the inn.
However, only Delia beside her noticed that the twins had something wrong with them. She herself was a purple gold rank warrior, and could easily feel their raging internal aura. She knew the best thing to do was cordon them off, but a flash of interest ran through her eyes, she wanted to see how the two of them would resolve this crisis.