-Emilia Merwin's point of view.
Emilia watched as her friends scored up to 90/100.
She sighed heavily.
Being in a situation where you think you won't achieve something good is really worrying.
However, it is natural for people to get frustrated in these circumstances.
A case in point is Emilia.
Seeing her friends achieve near-perfect scores left her nervous.
However, the only cadet to achieve a perfect score was Asher.
Every part of the first stage of the evaluation depends heavily on mana management: your understanding, experience, and how you use it, as well as how much you can use before you run out.
Emilia is not one of those mages who possesses a lot of mana.
Having three affinities makes it difficult for her to advance in her power.
At first, she decided to reach the top and be someone strong with only one elemental affinity, but soon realized she was on the wrong path.
However, the evaluation came suddenly, and by the time Emilia changed her mind, it was too late.
Lost in thought and assuming she would not get a good score, seeing her friends achieve good grades made her even more nervous.
It was Gloriana's turn, and Emilia watched the whole procedure, over and over again, on the other cadets.
Most were getting 60/100 points, although some were barely making 20 or 40 points, which is generally considered to be destined to fail the first year.
If you don't score well in the first stage of the assessment, you are at risk of failing the year, unless you manage to improve. However, Emilia was unsure of herself.
Could she really score well or not? Perhaps her thoughts were distracting her and making her doubt herself.
As she saw Gloriana place her hand on the first sphere, the professor's voice reached her ears.
After Gloriana followed Luna, and after Luna, her.
Her turn was near, and her nervousness was evident.
"Place your hand on the sphere," the professor instructed.
It was a quick process at first.
Gloriana did the same as the other cadets, and soon the professor's voice echoed.
"98.80% to reach the second circle."
"..."
Not only Emilia, but also the cadets and the teachers were amazed by Gloriana's first score.
Almost 100% to reach the second circle, is that even real?
If it had been Asher, of course Emilia would not have been surprised. She knew Asher was in a completely different league in terms of talent and everything else.
In fact, Emilia thought to herself that Asher was someone amazing.
"He's like a figurehead for all the cadets to follow."
Talent, understanding, even his intelligence is amazing. Basically, Emilia could admit that Asher was good at everything.
It was then that Gloriana approached the second sphere.
"Place your hand on the sphere," the professor repeated.
Again and again the professors repeated the same words, in case any cadet did not perform the procedure correctly.
The second sphere measured how long the mana could be used before it ran out; the longer it took to run out, the more incredible the person was.
Soon, after a good while, the professor spoke.
"Thirty-two minutes and eighteen seconds."
Emilia looked with surprise at Gloriana.
They were all getting incredible results, despite the fact that most of them had barely been wizards for three months, and some, only two months.
What the hell happened to make them advance so fast?
Were their talents so incredible, or did they have special training?
Either could be the answer.
However, Emilia did not consider herself to be someone with outstanding talent; she simply saw herself as having normal, intermediate talent, without being elevated.
Although she trained every day, she trained with only one affinity, and perhaps she hadn't realized that she was on the wrong track by using only one.
At first, he used all of his affinities, but found it difficult, so he decided to concentrate on just one.
However, he soon realized that this had been his biggest mistake.
He sighed again.
A few minutes passed, and Gloriana had recovered a bit. Then, she turned to the last sphere.
"You know what to do, cadet. Let your mana flow, and do it as fast as you can without disturbing the flow."
Quickly, the results came in, and then the professor spoke.
"Fluency: 89.89%, output speed: 60.90%."
She was almost better than Julian, although the speed at which her mana was coming out was normal.
Emilia thought, "She's amazing."
Gloriana was behind Julian, but Emilia noticed something.
"It's like he's trying something new."
She wasn't entirely sure, but she could feel it. Gloriana seemed to be just learning how to use her mana; if she was good before, she seemed even better now, even if she couldn't give it her all.
"Cadet, congratulations, you got 90/100. Keep it up."
"..."
Emilia watched the scene, a bit peculiar. Professor Oriana and her friend Gloriana were sisters, but she felt those words sounded strange.
Although, of course, status meant nothing in the academy, it was curious to see that scene where both sisters didn't talk as usual.
"Next cadet: Luna Hazard."
Then, Luna went on to be next. After her followed Emilia, who was even more nervous.
She tried to look away to calm her nerves. At that, she saw in the direction of where the cadets who had already passed were all in a separate section.
"Mmm..."
Her eyes fixed on Julian, who instinctively averted his gaze as Emilia watched him.
Truth be told, Emilia would admit that Julian was amazing when it came to talent, though since they had arrived at the academy, they hardly spoke.
It was really strange that he tried to avoid her gaze.
Then, the professor's voice rang out.
"79.90% to reach the second circle."
Then he moved to the next sphere, and the professor spoke again.
"27 minutes and 48 seconds."
After a few minutes, he moved to the next sphere, and the professor spoke.
"Fluency: 75.99%, output speed: 75.98%."
Finally, Professor Oriana arrived and gave Luna's result.
"89/100. Keep it up, cadet."
"..."
Emilia watched the whole process and Luna's evaluations. Although she was behind Gloriana, she wasn't that far behind; both were almost equal in talent. Of course, being recently awakened mages, their talents were not yet on full display.
However, upon reaching the second circle, their talents would be fully revealed.
"Next cadet: Emilia Merwin."
Her turn came.
Her chest sank.
Her heart pounded nervously.
Her breathing hitched.
Her body began to heat up, which made her start to sweat.
She bit her tongue and said to herself:
"Calm down. Even if I don't get a good score, there's no need to be nervous."
"Just calm down."
"Calm down and don't be nervous. It doesn't matter what the score is, I just need to be calm."
She repeated to herself over and over until she finally stood in front of the teacher holding the first sphere.
She placed her hand on the sphere and after a few seconds, the professor's voice came through.
"99.98% to reach the second circle."
"..."
In an instant, she opened her eyes and looked at the professor, confused. Then she looked at Professor Oriana, who seemed skeptical at the result, perhaps already used to seeing such numbers.
However, Emilia was perplexed, in shock, and thoughts flooded her mind.
How is this possible?
Why am I one step away from advancing to the second circle?
At what point did my mana become strong enough to be so close to the second circle?
She still wasn't sure herself.
Maybe the professor was confused, so she decided to ask:
"No... it's wrong..."
"..."
The professor looked at Emilia, confused.
What does this cadet mean, is she not happy with her result?
Then, the professor spoke:
"No, every result is accurate, Cadet Emilia. Now go on with the second sphere."
With nothing more to say, Emilia went to the second sphere.
He channeled his mana properly and let it out.
One minute, ten minutes...
He lost count, and then....
"Haa... Haa... Haa..."
"Twenty-eight minutes and fifty-eight seconds."
"..."
She was taken aback, but her exhaustion prevented her from showing it.
She was really exhausted. It was really exhausting, as if she was about to die; her whole body felt weak.
That was one of the consequences of completely depleting her mana; it was really a horrible feeling.
It was as if the life force had vanished, leaving only an empty shell inside her.
"Rest ten minutes and follow to the last sphere, cadet."
The professor spoke, and she walked as her legs trembled slightly, then sat down on the floor to meditate.
Ten minutes later, she opened her eyes and quickly stood in front of the professor holding the last sphere.
He placed his hand as usual and let out his mana.
As you well know, the last sphere is the most important.
This evaluation measures how good you are at using mana, and, of course, every mage must have an excellent understanding of it.
Therefore, the last sphere is crucial.
"Fluency: 70.56%, output speed: 79.88%."
Although it was quite high and almost equal to the results of her other friends, Emilia wondered.
"How did I achieve these results? It was supposed to be the opposite," Emilia thought as bewilderment filled her mind.
However, she knew that these questions would not be answered immediately; she would have to find the explanations herself.
As she tried to assimilate what had happened, Professor Oriana's voice brought her out of her thoughts.
"87/100, congratulations, cadet," Oriana told her with a neutral expression.
Although she received the praise, Emilia barely paid attention. Still confused, she made her way to where the other cadets were. She stood next to Julian, trying to calm herself.
"Oh... You were amazing, Emilia," Julian said, scratching his head nervously as he avoided her gaze.
Emilia watched him curiously, noting how uncomfortable he looked. "Hehe, thank you, Julian. You did very well too."
"I-it was nothing... Asher was the most amazing, you know? Hehe," Julian replied, smiling awkwardly.
Emilia smiled at Julian's reaction, but something about his demeanor struck her as odd. "Is something wrong, Julian?"
"Uh... no, nothing," Julian replied, quickly averting his gaze.
Emilia decided not to insist and turned to Asher, who was up ahead.
"Hi, Asher," she greeted in a tone that even to her seemed unusual.
Asher raised an eyebrow, clearly puzzled by the sudden interaction. "Hi," he replied tersely.
After that brief exchange, silence settled between them. Emilia sighed, feeling the awkwardness of the situation.
"I'm so bad at talking to him... but he's also bad at talking to others," she thought, resigned.
It was true that Asher didn't usually initiate conversations unless he had a clear reason. However, when the topic interested him, he could talk at length. Emilia knew that, but that didn't make her feel any less awkward at the moment.
As she tried to calm her thoughts, the echo of her results kept echoing in her mind. "Do I really have talent?" she wondered.
Until now, he had always doubted his abilities. He had trained hard, but had never made significant progress. He had believed that his lack of progress was due to using only one affinity, which supposedly should have accelerated his growth, but the results said otherwise.
"Have I always been talented?" he wondered, questioning his previous beliefs. "Then why hadn't I realized it before?"
A faint smile appeared on his face as he pondered. "I guess I'm just really dumb sometimes."
Now, everything was clearer to her. She was not an untalented or mediocrely talented person. She came from the Merwin family, one of the ten great families, and her father was one of the most powerful wizards. But that did not guarantee that she would inherit all of his talent. However, she was now certain that she had exceptional abilities, and that was something she could no longer deny.
"I always had talent," Emilia thought with determination, and from now on, she would never doubt herself again....