-Asher Frostblade Viewpoint.
"The first stage of the evaluation ends for today, cadets."
After those words, the cadets left. Several hours had passed just to evaluate the first stage of the three to be evaluated in total.
The results were, in fact, more than surprising.
Each cadet achieved a score of approximately 60 points, while the most talented scored over 80 points each.
The teachers, of course, were astonished. To tell the truth, no one expected such results.
However, tomorrow will be the second stage evaluation, which will focus more on the body. That means they will have to do endurance tests, such as running, weight bearing, among others.
Still, Asher was more pensive about the last stage of the assessment.
"The last one is mentality," he thought.
That was the worst one for Asher.
Although he had no idea how it would be conducted, he was sure it would be difficult for many, including himself.
At this point, it was hard to tell if Asher would score the lowest.
It was not just a guess, Asher was convinced that he could end up with the lowest score at that stage. However, in the previous stages this would not be the case.
Magic stage: 100/100, possibly in the physical stage: 100/100, and in the last one, the mind stage: 0/100.
Those were the results Asher imagined.
Despite knowing this, he was neither uneasy nor nervous about it. In the event that something unexpected happened, he would simply accept his fate.
You can't get mentally stronger in a short period of time. Maybe sleep would help a little, but with the enormous mental toll Asher was currently taking....
"I won't be able to make it through the last test," he admitted to himself.
It was impossible.
He couldn't at that moment.
Not until he recovered from his mental exhaustion and got mentally stronger.
He was weak in that regard, and that was the way anyone could easily defeat him.
You could have great physical strength, but if you are mentally weak, it would do no good. Mages must be strong in the area of the mind.
There are special magicians who train the mind to make it stronger, however, it is a dangerous process and extremely difficult to achieve. The mind is not strengthened by either talent or effort.
Asher, at this moment, had no way to recover from his mental exhaustion; his condition was in decline.
"Haa..."
He sighed heavily, leaning his head back.
At the moment, he was in the disciplinary committee room along with the others, but now he was totally disconnected from what was going on around him, immersed in his own thoughts.
Just thinking was exhausting for him.
"Huam..."
He yawned.
"I think I'll fall asleep soon," he muttered to himself.
Today was one of those days when his mental exhaustion consumed him to the point of making him feel sleepy, losing control until he unconsciously fell asleep.
"You're terrible," came a voice beside him.
"..."
Asher then turned to look at his shoulder.
Elizabeth was watching him in disgust, her dark eyes fixed on Asher's red eyes.
"What do you mean," he asked.
"You're good at everything, but you're not good with your mind."
"It happens sometimes with those who are incredibly talented. They're usually weak mentally, but not as weak as you."
Of course, Asher was weak mentally because of his reincarnation in a new body, with new emotions.
He didn't have the strong mentality of his previous life, that mentality that was incredibly resilient and that no one could break.
The mind develops in a single body, in a single person, and upon reincarnation, Asher could not bring with him his mentality from his past life. He would have to start from scratch, but he had never trained his mind.
In his previous life, his mind was incredibly resilient because he was tortured day and night for more than a decade, which allowed him to develop amazing mental fortitude.
"That sounds more like a taunt," Asher commented.
"Because it is," Elizabeth replied coolly.
"..."
Asher looked at her with a slight frown.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" she asked.
"It's nothing."
"..."
"For such a young human, you're very different from the others. You don't act like a real child, it's like I'm talking to a 25 year old adult," Elizabeth pointed out.
"..."
Asher was surprised, though he didn't show it.
Of course, he had died at 25 in his previous life, so it was normal for him to think, look at people, and talk like an adult. After all, he was a reincarnate.
But how Elizabeth had guessed it at that instant?
Of course, it was just a guess. Not that Elizabeth really knew about Asher's reincarnation.
"Maybe I was always like that," he lied.
"Really, you're too different from those your age."
"That's true."
"So..."
"..."
Asher looked at Elizabeth again.
"What?"
"Haa... It's nothing."
"..."
Elizabeth averted her gaze and looked at the others, who were in the middle of a long chat.
"They are very active," Elizabeth said.
"That's true."
"Why don't you join in?"
"So what do I say, how do I start a conversation?"
"..."
Elizabeth stood in front of Asher. Her small body floated and her cold gaze seemed to want to say something. Then she rubbed the top of her nose.
"You really are irritating."
"..."
Asher gave Elizabeth an indifferent look, but she returned his gaze in kind. They certainly didn't get along, but the contract that bound them together kept them together.
While it didn't bother him to have someone else by his side, Asher couldn't help but feel a little irritated. Elizabeth, on the other hand, wasn't the type to talk like that, especially to a human.
"You two definitely don't get along," Eliza said, approaching Asher. Eliza, who was on Gloriana's shoulder, frowned as she watched Asher and Elizabeth.
"Do you have a problem?"
"Do you?"
Both sisters stared at each other. Then, they stood over Asher's desk.
"..."
"..."
Asher and Gloriana watched the scene. The two fairies, about the size of Asher's palm, looked like little living dolls as they argued with each other. Gloriana thought so too.
"Hehe..."
A chuckle escaped Asher.
"..."
"What are you laughing at, human?" Eliza frowned, clearly annoyed. She knew Asher was laughing at how the two fairies looked.
"It's nothing."
"Bullshit! You were laughing at us, weren't you?"
"..."
"It looks like it," Elizabeth added.
"I should teach you a lesson," Eliza said, annoyed.
Gloriana quickly intervened.
"No, Miss Eliza. You shouldn't hit humans for something like that."
"That may be, but it's very rude to laugh at your elders."
"..."
"..."
Elders... How old would they be? Asher knew that Elizabeth had been a companion of Encrid during the dark ages, which had been over ten thousand years ago.
Some ideas wandered through his mind - could they be more than ten thousand years old? Maybe eleven or twelve thousand? However, he quickly dismissed the idea.
He couldn't imagine the trouble it would cause if he mentioned those ages out loud in front of them. Just thinking about it sent a shiver through his body.
"I would definitely get beaten up."
***
-Scene change.
-Aria Bell's point of view.
Aria was in her office. Each teacher at the academy had their own space. She was reviewing the papers Oriana had just handed her. Her eyes roamed over each line before looking at Oriana, who was sitting in front of her desk.
"Is this true?"
"It is."
Aria read carefully. Her eyes widened with surprise as she saw the results. More than ten cadets had scored more than 70 points in the first stage of first-year evaluation. Of course, the evaluation also included the upper years.
Aria was quite surprised - how was it possible that so many cadets had scored so high? What surprised her most, however, was Cadet Asher.
"100/100 and he's about to reach the third circle."
"Yes."
"Julian is also close to the second circle, as are Emilia and Gloriana."
"It's strange, Grey and Freddy are the only ones who are still far from the second circle."
"I thought the same thing, but maybe it's because they've been focusing more on physical training and mock combat than magic," Oriana explained as Aria watched her closely.
That made sense, but if they kept it up, they would soon fall far behind compared to the other cadets. Still, Aria understood that perhaps they had their reasons for focusing on the physical aspect and putting magic aside for the time being. She knew that both cadets possessed incredible talent.
"I thought Julian wasn't that talented."
"I thought so too, but he's the closest to reaching the second circle."
"Do you think he is the second most talented cadet?"
"In my opinion, yes, he is the second most talented."
Aria looked at the papers again. Tomorrow the second stage of the evaluation would begin. It was divided into three days: the first day was the magical evaluation, the second day the physical evaluation, and the third day the mental evaluation.
Each evaluation is divided into several parts. For example, the first evaluation, the magical evaluation, was divided into three sections: the first, the second, and the third. However, the physical assessment has the most parts.
"There is also a problem."
"..."
Aria looked at Oriana curiously.
What did she mean by problem? Currently there was no downside, at least not related to the cadets. Of course, ruling out the possibility of the dimensional rift or something similar.
"Asher."
"What's wrong?"
"I recently discovered that his mental state is declining. He has mental exhaustion and is too weak in that area. At this rate, he'll be corrupted within a year."
"..."
Aria couldn't say anything, she just looked at Oriana silently.
How was it possible that the best cadet was suddenly suffering from mental exhaustion? She couldn't believe it. If this was true and Asher failed to recover, there was very little time left before she would lose him.
The mental exhaustion situation was very serious.
In the past, there were powerful mages who succumbed to mental exhaustion. Although they were strong, that condition led them to lose all their strength.
"Is there no way to help him?"
"That's right."
"We know that mental exhaustion can only be recovered by the person suffering from it, right?"
Aria spoke as Oriana watched her.
"Exactly, and there is no cure."
"You're right, it will be difficult to recover."
The situation was complicated. Losing someone so talented, especially with the dimensional rift about to open, was not a luxury they could afford.
The dimensional rift represented a huge variable that suddenly appeared. Losing talented mages meant reducing their forces to fight it.
Currently, there was no way to close the dimensional rift. Although it was contained for now, its size and length were expanding, and it would gradually open up, tearing apart the fabric of space-time. The origin of the monsters emerging from the rift seemed to be in a different reality.
"Haa... At this rate, Asher Frostblade.... Will be corrupted by the force of his own mind."
"We're in trouble."
Aria and Oriana shared the same concern.
Losing Asher would be like losing the most powerful wizard of the future, just as the war against the dimensional rift loomed. It was unacceptable.
"We must find a solution," Oriana said.
"There is one."
"What?"
"Yes, but I'm not sure there is a wizard with that affinity. It is an affinity that was recently discovered within a grade 1 dungeon, related to the unknown era."
"What affinity?"
"In that unknown era, the mages called it light magic."
"Light magic?"
"Perhaps you don't know because it's a recent discovery, a few days old. The patriarch of the Hazard family himself found it, and they are currently looking for clues about that era and about the mysterious affinity of light."
"So, you're saying that affinity is the only way for Asher to regain his mental state?"
"I'm not sure, but scientists have claimed, upon closer examination, that that affinity has powers capable of doing incredible things."
Aria and Oriana began to devise a plan. However, who in the world could have such an affinity? It was something so recent, coming from a mysterious era, that probably no one possessed it... or so Aria and Oriana thought....