The rest of the weekend passed rather peacefully and much to Amari's joy and surprise, he had the opportunity to practise everything he'd learnt about Mana control and get used to the strange dark sword.
Not after pummelling Talen to the ground, though. It was an expected result that came with a huge difference in stats, but Amari couldn't care less if he had to speak about it honestly.
His first class was the Magic Theory 101 class, and from the moment he entered, he could sense that it wasn't going to be normal. For one, all the students were already there, and the second reason being Cluez' presence in the class.
What the hell was going on?
"Well, you're the last person to join us," SilverOak said. Brows furrowed as he spoke. "So I assume that you probably didn't receive the news about the mock test today?"
Mock tests? In the second week? What kind of messed up school was this?
SilverOak rolled his eyes at his expression then gestured to the only empty seat at the back of the class.
Amari glanced at the group of know-nothings gathered there and sighed, taking his seat next to someone.
"Hey, buddy…"
He froze as the ominously familiar voice spoke next to him and groaned inwardly as he checked the person from the corner of his eyes.
'Not him again! I didn't even know this oaf could find his way to this class!'
Forcing a small smile in Talen's direction, he quickly turned his focus back to SilverOak as he was about to speak.
"You all are probably wondering why there would be a mock test in the second week. I implore you not to think of it as that. See, just think of this as a level assessment test. In the following weeks we will be employing a new system and this is the foundation. Don't mess up your score thinking it won't matter!"
A loud collective groan emerged from some of the students causing the large elf man to roll his eyes.
"Long ears is right you guys. This is very important, so you guys better take it seriously." Cluez stepped forward, scolding them in an uncharacteristically serious moment from him.
The elf's ears twitched but he didn't for a moment take a single eye off the students.
"Yes, this clown bastard next to me is telling the truth. The details of this exam will cover fundamental theory in applied forms. This can be in the form of mana control, element manipulation and so on."
Cluez raised a finger, summoning a small wisp of smoke above it. "What this silly tree hugger is trying to say is that this test will be one which combines both lessons of the Magic Theory 101 class and the two branches of the Elemental Magic class."
The wisp of smoke turned into a small bird that floated away and then burst into a cloud of illusory feathers the next second.
"And what the red nose here forgot to mention is the content of the exam." SilverOak moved from his original stop for the first time since they had started talking, moving over to the chalkboard.
"Your task today will be to find a creative way to integrate Mana Control and Elemental Mana Control into the same thing. Nothing special about it. Just think of something creative and you'll automatically get a pass."
Amari paused and loud murmurs emerged from the enthusiastic demon students.
There were two ways to approach this test, and the easiest and probably the most common was to launch an attack with both properties.
But sadly most of them had thought about the true nature of the test. Well above half of the about two hundred students in the hall there stood up excitedly, thinking they'd solved the problem.
A few others stood to the side, not jumping forward but this clearly displayed their ignorance or nervousness.
The last group of people were individuals like Amari himself, who had understood what SilverOak meant by his.
Soon enough the first person stepped forward confidently. It was a goofy-looking NPC who probably thought he was the main character, at least that was how Amari viewed it from the lens of an experienced reader.
"HA!"
NPC #1 unleashed a pitiful attempt at an attack, sweating from every pore of his body and subsequently, a small rock flew out of his hands.
"Fail" SilverOak called without any hesitation, sending the boy back to his seat.
As if that wasn't already bad, Cluez decided to rub salt on the boy's wounds.
"You look even goofier than I do, and you also failed. Not a good day for you, huh?"
Upon witnessing this scene a few more times, some of the students farther behind in the line tried to get back and sit down, realizing their mistake quickly, but Cluez quickly shot their dreams down.
"Anyone who tries to sit down after this warning is automatically failed. No exceptions. You should have thought about it before rushing to your failures. Whether you are a Mage or a Knight, comprehension is crucial."
Amari nodded in vague agreement, merely watching the show with unveiled amusement.
"Fail!"
"You failed!"
"Fail!"
"You deserve this failure to be honest. What the hell was that attack?"
"Fail"
Failure after failure rang out, and Amari could almost taste the dejected expression at the first mention of the f.
This continued for a while until…
"Pass." Cluez and SilverOak both said simultaneously, and everyone paid attention to the first person who passed.
It was the first place of the entire first-year class–well aside Amari of course–Lind.
Above the boy's palm was a small orb of lightning slightly reminiscent of the one Nichols had cast in his second-year class. It was calm, and the only thing that gave it off as a ball of energy was the eerie ethereal colour it possessed.
Amari was slightly surprised.
'Can I do that if I tried? With no energy undulations at all?'
After Lind, a lot more people passed, though it still wasn't a large number of people considering the amount of people in the class.
Sitri the little girl appeared not long after, and a small bouquet of flowers bloomed from her fingertips. None of the telltale signs of lack of mana control were present. The flowers were perfectly pruned and uniform in beauty.
She was a genius.
And again Amari kept asking himself.
'Could I really do that?'
But eventually the people on the line went in and received either failures or passes. Now it was time for the people sitting all this while. And surprisingly the first person to go was Talen?
'This idiot didn't go the first time? He may be smarter than I give him credit for…'
"It is my turn now!"