After eating at the cafeteria and studying at the library with Alvin, the time flew by quickly. Now having returned to the auditorium, the ranking announcement was about to start.
Walking on the podium, instead of the headmaster, a female teacher could be seen walking towards the lectern. Not wasting a single second, the female teacher began to speak into the microphone.
"I will keep this short. The ranking that will soon be displayed is an individual student ranking where you will be assigned a rank, with number 1 meaning the best student till number 5000 being the worst. Based on the student rankings, you will be assigned to a class number. Students ranked [3001- 5000] will be assigned to class 5, students [1501- 3000] to class 4, [751-1500] to class 3, [251-750] to class 2 and the students ranked [1- 250] will be in class 1."
Having said this short explanation, the female teacher made her way off the podium. And shortly after, the student ranking was projected on a big screen in the front of the auditorium.
After seeing this, the auditorium started to become increasingly more noisy. The excitement from people with high rankings and the devastation from people with bad rankings could be heard, but most of the noise was caused by people full of anticipation, trying to find their name on the long list.
But Yune didn't really fit in any of these categories. He had soon found his name behind the ranking number 4956, meaning he was one of the worst students in class 5. But unlike others who got such a bad ranking, Yune wasn't devastated at all, having no emotion to this numerical value at all.
Opposite of that was Alvin who was part of the first category, excited after seeing that he got a ranking high enough to be in class 1. "Yune, I got into class 1!" He said excitedly. "What rank did you get?"
"Congratulations." Yune said to Alvin as he was glad for him, before saying his own ranking in a neutral expression. "I am number 4956."
Hearing this number as a friend, most people would have felt saddened for them, but Alvin knew Yune wasn't unhappy with this score, and offered him a smile. "Nice, that means you get to stay at the academy with me!"
This remark got a small chuckle out of Yune. "Thanks." Yune said before his expression saddened a little. "But we won't be able to see each other much after this. You will have to follow the lectures from class 1 and I will have to follow lectures from class 5."
"Ah, don't worry about that." Alvin said confidently. "The schedules of all different classes align, meaning that we will have plenty of free time to see each other in between classes."
Having heard this, Yune felt glad. "Thanks Alvin, I will see you tomorrow." Said Yune as he left the noisy auditorium.
Having returned to his room, Yune sat down on his bed, sitting cross-legged. Yune didn't have any plans to go to sleep yet even though tomorrow would be the first full day of lectures as he had a lot he wanted to do.
Not having been able to control his mana unlike the other students, Yune felt like he was behind. Even though he logically didn't mind being one of the worst students as he would still be having three meals a day and a roof above his head, but for some reason Yune got a feeling he couldn't shake off, a feeling like he wanted to explore this new power inside his body.
After the evaluation, Yune had already taken action, reading a few specific books on mana control and he also asked Alvin to give him a more practical explanation and his own experience.
From the information that Yune had gathered, it become more apparent that it wasn't weird that he hadn't been able to control his mana in only a few minutes. It normally took people days or sometimes even weeks, but for some reason Yune felt that he was close to grasping something and didn't want to lose this feeling.
Now with more knowledge about mana control and as much time as needed, Yune began taking the first steps towards grasping mana control.
Starting from the most basic steps, Yune began focusing on his breathing and adjusted it, trying to take measured breaths in and out. After a little while, a breathing pattern that seemed most comfortable to Yune had formed, which quickly become something instinctual like a muscle memory. His breathing now felt more natural, increasing Yune's concentration and the amount of oxygen that entered his body.
With this first step done, Yune was now ready to actually begin. Having obtained an increased amount of concentration, Yune's only purpose now was to get a better feeling of the mana in his body. Concentrating on a specific mana orb, Yune started to follow it around trying to get a better feeling from it.
Following around this particle of mana, what before was just a vague sense of warmth, gradually became more clear and into focus. This sense was changing fast, and had now become so clear that the particle of mana resembled a smooth marble instead of a fleeting cloud. And then suddenly, something clicked in his mind.
Yune's mind suddenly felt like this particle of mana as a part of his body. With a sort of sixth sense being created at that very moment, Yune's perception started changing as he quickly gained a sense of control over this particle of mana just, this feeling resembling the control one had over their muscles.
Not wanting to forget this feeling, Yune shifted his focus on a random particle of mana and it started to slowly move in whichever direction Yune willed it. In this very moment, Yune experienced feelings of accomplishment and joy which he hadn't ever felt before.
Filled with excitement, Yune started moving this one particle all over his body from the tips of his fingers all the way down to his toes just like a kid playing with his new toy.
But moving this mana particle around didn't seem to satiate this new sixth sense that had formed. Yune felt like something was missing. After thinking about it, nothing came to mind.
But then when Yune had completely cleared his mind, it almost felt like this new sixth sense took control over his body and the mana particle that Yune was focused on suddenly started dissolving.
Yune immediately knew what this meant as he had both read it in a book and had been told by Alvin. 'I am transforming my mana into the power of my mark.' Yune thought full of anticipation.
Normally, a single mana particle wouldn't really have an effect on one's body, but for some reason Yune instinctively knew what power he had as soon as that one mana particle was used, making his body feel ever so slightly lighter.
"My mark gives me the power over gravity!"