All three of the judges stood there, gazing at Lia's creation for a while. They watched it long enough for Lia to have no choice but to release the spell. By the time she did, her ears were ringing, and her head ached bad enough to make her wince.
The scenery began to crumble, the spiral bone towers were first. They cracked before shattering into numerous shards, carried away by the returning wind. The fog covering the air disappeared, revealing the bright blue sky and blazing sun. The sunlight grazed Lia's face, making her squint, and immediately wince at the action.
The black rose bushes receded, revealing the now-dead grass. The scene had drastically shifted to resemble a completely barren grassy field.
The judges turned to look at Lia, who was suffering the effects of mana overexertion. The side effects would slowly pass over time; her body just needed time to recover. Despite the massive mana cost, Lia hadn't expended her entire reservoir, she simply over-used it.
Lia sat there a moment before groggily standing up. "Well, I presume I passed this portion. It seemed quite easy if I'm honest."
Silvana let out an exasperated sigh. "No one in history has ever done anything like what you just did." She paused. "Of course you passed."
Shino nodded in agreement with Silvana. He sounded impressed as he spoke. "You'll wait here for an hour. Unless you want to go to the med bay for recovery."
Lia shook her head. "It's just mana overexertion. I'll be fine in like fifteen minutes."
Shaw shook his head. "You passed, but I advise you to head with us to the med bay. Overexertion can cause massive issues later on."
Lia shrugged. "Fine, I guess."
The three of them nodded as Silvana summoned a portal, and Lia followed after them.
.....
She was teleported to the medical bay pretty much immediately. A few students were lying around, but none of them paid any attention to Lia as she sat down on a cot.
She waited for a few minutes as her headache began to fade away. Soon, a male nurse approached her.
He seemed genuinely concerned as he asked Lia a few questions. "What's your name, species, and symptoms?"
Her response was curt. "Lia Darkova, vampire, and it's just minor mana overexertion. I don't know why they insisted I come here."
The nurse nodded. "I see. May I perform a mana circuit checkup?"
Lia nodded. "Be my guest."
Lia sat down on the cot as the nurse closed his eyes. After a few silent seconds, he opened his eyes and looked at Lia. His face twisted into minor confusion. He seemed perplexed as he spoke to Lia. "Your primary mana circuits are fine, in near-perfect health." He cleared his throat. "Are...you aware you have two separate mana circuits in your body?"
Lia thought for a moment. 'I guess it makes sense. Saro probably has her own. Hmm.' Outwardly, she shook her head at the nurse.
He continued. "While it's not impossible, it is quite a rare sight. The problem is that your second set has been...badly damaged."
Lia's eyes widened in response. That was something she hadn't expected. "Hmmm...although it's not a detriment to have one set destroyed, it is an inconvenience. Any idea how to repair them?"
The nurse shook his head. "Nothing that isn't major surgery and a lot of recovery time. Especially for Vampires."
She nodded once again. "Thank you. I'll come and talk to you when I'm a student here. Perhaps you can point me in the right direction for that."
The nurse smiled warmly. "I'd be happy to. Another nurse, Ms. Koski, will bring you an O- blood bag. Should help speed up your healing and get rid of that headache. If you need anything I'll be nearby."
Saying nothing more, the nurse began attending to other patients. Shortly after, Lia was handed a medical-grade blood bag. It was warm, but the blood lacked flavor, which annoyed her.
.....
Lia had decided to tackle the second set of mana circuits at a later date. She could do anything about it now, so worrying about it was pointless. She simply waited to be transferred to the next portion of the tournament. It didn't take any longer than 10 minutes for her to be teleported, blood bag in hand. By the time the magic filled her vision, her symptoms were gone.
She now stood within a large forest, drinking her blood bag. By now, she was entirely used to being teleported and wasn't even disoriented for a moment. She began looking around, searching for her "teammates" for this round.
She spotted two guys and a girl. Only one of which was remotely familiar. It was Yura, whose eyes met Lia's. She instantly paled as Lia approached.
Lia spoke casually as if she had never stuck her hand right through her chest. "Long time no see. How's it going?"
Yura's face took on a complicated expression. "I..Er..hmm. You're strange, but I'm glad to have you on the team."
There was one loud groan, immediately followed by another. "Ugh. I hate teleporting."
"Agreed", said the other man.
Once they had collected themselves, they began to speak. Unfortunately, Lia didn't hear them, as her mind was suddenly invaded by the robotic announcer.
**DING. THE SECOND PORTION OF THE SKILL-BASED CHALLENGE WILL TEST YOUR ABILITY TO COOPERATE AS A TEAM. YOU WILL RANDOMLY BE ASSIGNED THREE TEAMMATES. TRAVERSE THE FOREST, FIND THE ORC CAMP, AND ELIMINATE ITS LEADER. ALL DEATHS WITHIN THIS REALM ARE FINAL. GOOD LUCK, CONTESTANTS.**
Based on the reactions everyone else was having, they had a similar experience. Lia watched for a moment as everyone struggled to grasp the meaning of the final phrase: "All deaths within this realm are final."
Everyone seemed to panic, even Yura looked slightly worried. Lia clicked her tongue. This was just what the academy wanted, a bunch of students to face the threat of literal death.
Lia began thinking. 'It makes no sense to have us die. I bet they worded it strangely on purpose to make people panic. It's a smart plan at least, I'll give them that."
Lia decided not to say anything to the panicking students. Instead, she kept her eyes on her surroundings. She was fairly certain it would be detrimental for the academy to kill students during an exam. Regardless though, she wasn't planning on dying.