No sooner had Nathan teleported to middle-40 floating island than he saw a crowd gathered ahead.
From a distance, he could hear an angry voice of a girl: "Anthony, why would you do this?"
"Luna, listen to me explain..." A boy's anxious voice followed.
The girl roared, "I don't want to hear it! I've already told you, I don't want to be with you. Why do you keep pestering me? You're only making me despise you more!"
"Luna!" The boy was in agony.
It was clear to Nathan who was involved.
As he approached the crowd, he caught snippets of the surrounding chatter.
"Wow! That girl is so pretty. Does anyone know which class she's from?"
"I'm not sure, seems like she's a freshman."
"Hmph, I can't stand guys who cling like a bad rash!" another girl scoffed.
"Right, that girl applied to the Inspectorate Department just to get away from him, but he still had the nerve to apply as well... Some people just never learn."
Nathan remembered his first encounter with Anthony on his very first day at Nebula Academy, right at the entrance.
He later learned that Anthony was the heir to a dark magic family from the Gale Empire and also the nephew of Frank, the newly appointed head of the Resource Department at the academy.
And that Luna Raven, the girl, was a princess from the Gale Empire.
Since the start of the term, Anthony had made several public attempts to court Luna, even declaring her off-limits to other male students as his exclusive preserve.
But Luna seemed to greatly detest this, often losing her temper over Anthony's impudence.
Yet, Anthony showed no sign of restraint, growing increasingly presumptuous.
For this, Nathan couldn't help but feel embarrassed on Anthony's behalf.
However, hearing that the argument was about applying for the Inspectorate Department, he couldn't help but become interested.
This time, there were hundreds of applicants.
Among them were freshmen from this year as well as sophomores and juniors.
He also noticed many students from the martial arts class, identifiable by their shorts and tank tops paired with iron knuckle gloves, joining the assessment.
He saw Alex Clark too, who seemed to be closely following Anthony.
Besides, he recognized many familiar faces.
To Nathan's surprise, he spotted Prince Baron among the crowd.
He was standing near Luna and Anthony, and through the gaps in the crowd, Nathan saw the prince staring intently at Luna, as if he had discovered a new continent, with a look of fascination on his face.
Behind Prince Baron stood a girl with a fair complexion, dressed in a green mage robe.
She seemed to feel Nathan's gaze and looked in his direction.
Their eyes met for a moment, and Nathan felt a familiar aura but realized he didn't know the girl.
At the front of the crowd, several officials from the Inspectorate Department were whispering among themselves, including the tall figure of Sophia.
Nathan didn't approach her but followed the crowd forward instead.
Soon, it was 1 PM, and the assessment began.
Within a magic array formed by six giant stone pillars, a stone golem, condensed from earth elements, lumbered between the pillars.
Each step it took echoed with a thunderous sound.
The crowd stopped outside the magic array.
An official from the Inspectorate Department announced the start of the assessment. "Eliminate the stone golem within ten attacks to pass."
Then, a martial arts class freshman, with a burst of red light enveloping his body, charged into the magic array and landed a punch on the golem.
With a crash, stone shards flew, and a dent appeared on the golem's body.
The massive recoil also pushed the freshman back.
The freshman threw another punch but was sent flying by a broad sweep of the golem's arm.
Outside the magic array, the freshman clutched his chest, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.
He wanted to try again but was pulled back by his peers.
Next was a second-year elementalist.
He kept his distance, launching ice spikes, ensuring the golem couldn't get close.
The ice spikes covered the golem in frost, significantly slowing its movements.
However, the damage from the ice spikes wasn't enough to destroy the golem.
After ten spikes, the elementalist shook his head in defeat.
As time passed, the crowd began to understand the golem's capabilities.
High defense, immense strength, strong resistance to magic.
Nathan assessed silently.
Due to the Blood Burning condition, Cliff advised against frequent use of magic, which could trigger the Blood Burning curse.
To defeat the golem, his best bet was to unleash his strongest attack and shatter the golem's head in one blow.
Currently, his only option was the Fireball spell.
Amplified by Blood Burning, its power increased significantly, but it still wasn't enough to destroy the golem's head in a single hit.
At that moment, a gasp of astonishment rippled through the crowd.
In the magic array, a magus in a green robe compressed a wind blade from three feet in diameter to one, then shattered the golem's head with a single strike.
"Emily, passed!" Sophia's voice echoed from afar.
Excitement shone in the eyes of the girl in the green robe as she walked towards Sophia.
After more than an hour of assessments, only three individuals had passed, standing by Sophia's side, while half of the applicants had already been eliminated.
Some, despairing just from watching, wisely chose to leave the floating island.
In the magic array, the scattered stone fragments wriggled and soon reassembled into a golem.
Nathan replayed Emily's strike in his mind.
"Compress the magic first, then release it!" he murmured, recalling the magical knowledge he had learned.
"So that's how it's done!" Five minutes later, he watched a fireball in his hand shrink and slowly dissipated the magical energy.
As the crowd thinned, Nathan saw Anthony step into the magic array.
He merely chanted a series of spells and made a strange gesture towards the golem before stepping out.
At first, Nathan didn't understand what had happened.
But the next moment, he saw many red ants, each the size of a thumb, emerge on the golem, quickly covering its entire body.
Accompanied by the dense sound of gnawing, the golem crumbled into dust without a chance to resist, and the ants exploded, scattering stone dust everywhere.
This scene made almost everyone gasp in shock.
Nathan frowned slightly, a deep wariness towards Anthony rising in his heart.
Then came Prince Baron, who appeared relaxed, striking the golem with lightning and reducing it to rubble, easily passing the test.
Some time later, it was Nathan's turn.
He stepped forward, chanting the Fireball spell, and a small fireball formed in his hand. However, he didn't release it but held onto it, motionless.
By this time, fewer than twenty people remained.
Over two hours had passed, and most of those left were confident in passing.
Seeing Nathan conjure just a small fireball, everyone was amused.
"A hundred small fireballs would still be useless. Hurry up, or just give up. Don't waste time," a lazy voice from a third-year senior rang out.
Nathan remained unfazed, his entire focus concentrated on controlling the fireball in his hand.
Though it appeared to be a small fireball, and his movements seemed to be merely dragging it along without much change, his expression was one of intense concentration, his palms even trembling slightly.
What he held was not a mere small fireball, but a large one.
He deliberately slowed the release process, compressing it simultaneously, making it appear as a small fireball from the outside.
In reality, the fire element in Nathan's hand continued to gather, converging from his body into the fireball.
Blood Burning allowed him to exert two to three times the power of his usual spells.
At full force, he was confident of enhancing the large fireball to three times its usual size.
However, the process was slow, being his first attempt, and he proceeded with caution, fearing failure.
Five minutes passed, and Nathan still stood in front of the magic array with the small fireball, motionless.
The golem continued to weave through the magic array, leaving the onlookers speechless.
"Nathan, can you stop wasting time? A small fireball, held for so long, what are you thinking?" a frustrated classmate from his batch yelled out.
"Isn't that Nathan from the Flame Research Society?" another student remarked.
"I bought his theory from the Flame Research Society a few days ago. I found his content profound. How come he's struggling with a small fireball? Hope he's not all show."
"Damn, me too. That theory cost me two hundred credits, which really hurt. His fire theory better not be fake!"
After recognizing Nathan, several second-year seniors began to regret their purchases, and a wave of dissatisfaction brewed among the crowd.
Just then, an impatient official from the Inspectorate Department glanced at his watch and said, "Let's call it quits. We're almost out of time. Next, please!"