After cleaning up in a nearby in with the last of his life savings he had stashed in his house, he headed to the town square.
This was were the academy scholarship exam happened.
The royal dragon academy was a very prestigious institute, where only the royal family and top nobles were allowed to come. Usually, it would be extremely expensive to enter, unless you took its scholarship exam.
The instructors of the academy would go from town to town for a few weeks, holding a scholarship test to pick out gifted individuals from the commoners. Though only fifty seats were available.
He walked for a few more minutes before reaching the square. There was a big wooden stage with three people standing on it, two men and one woman. They surveyed the crowd of people standing on the ground with discerning eyes.
The first man was burly, with a scared face, fiery red hair and brown eyes, sporting heavy armor, a stern look in his eyes.
The woman was short and petite, with black hair and eyes, her hands resting on the twin daggers at her waist, a cold look on her face.
The last man was wearing a blue mage robe, clutching a staff in his left hand. He had wavy blue hair and eyes, a calm and serene atmosphere surrounding him.
As he joined the crowd, the buff man started speaking.
"Now that there are enough people here, we shall begin with the test. Only those who are sixteen can participate. There will be three trials. In this test we shall reveal your potential and which path you have a talent for. If we judge that you have talent, then you will be fit to take the last spot of the fifty scholarship students. If not, well you know, nothing happens. Now without further adieu, let us start the first trail!"
The man went back, and the mage came forward. With a wave of his staff, a magic circle appeared in front of the stage, dumping a giant block of metal in front of the stage.
"Your first task is to make a dent on this block of tempered steel. You may use any means you have, whether it be magic spells or weapons.
You may now begin!" The mage said.
The crowd immediately broke into whispers.
"Tempered steel! And look at the thickness, it has to be at least 5 feet in length and breadth!"
"How are we supposed to make a mark on that?"
"Even mid rank realm 1 practitioners might fail!"
As the crowd despaired, I fell into my thought.
'The academy has standards, huh? To as usual to damage such a meterial. Though it probably won't be a tough job for me since I've broken through to realm 2.'
As the line formed to damage the stone formed, I squeezed into the middle. Looking at the first contender, I saw from his aura that he was a realm 1 low level practitioner. He took a stance before the block. Breathing deeply, he held he right hand with his left and closed his eyes for no apparent reason. After just standing there for some time, he suddenly opened his eyes and dashed forward, unleashing his fist and yelling...
"Tyrannical red god fist of absolute destruction!!"
Crack
His fist broke on impact. He cried in pain, holding his fists while he was carried out.
The mage instructor sighed, while the buff instructor put his hand on his forehead and groaned. The woman instructor remained silent.
'what in the...'
"Ha! You call that a strike? I'll show you how to do this properly!"
This time, a another man stepped forward, the same realm as the first one. He was topples, giving the vibe of a martial artist. He took stood still for a few minutes with his eyes closed, standing with his leg raised. After what felt like an eternity.
"Here I go! Flying blue dragon kick of omnipotence!!"
He jumped into the air, and went leg first at the stone.
"Huaaah!"
Crack
Same result. As he was carried out, another man came up, also boasting of his prowess and doing the exact same thing.
"Soaring sky eagle divine strike!"
"Divine... Calming..!"
"Great ...!"
"...!"
"...!"
-----
Finnaly, the person in front of him stepped forward.
"Urgh, why did I have to stand in line with these commoners?"
As the blue haired, brown eyed man in front of Aaron stepped forward with an arrogant expression, the crowd seemed to recognise him.
"That's Amir hilcrow! What's the son of a viscount doing here?"
"Didn't he already joined the academy?"
In the midst of this commotion, Aaron thought to himself.
'A noble? If he's already admitted to the academy, then did he just come here to boast?'
Amir stepped forward, drawing his longsword. As he brandished his weapon, a blue aura surrounded him.
'so he's a realm 1 mid level, close to breaking through to high'
With a grunt, he swung his sword, releasing a slash of mana at the block. With a horrible screech, the slash hit the steel, creating a 1 inch deep scratch on the block.
"Amazing, so this is what a noble can do!"
"Is he in the high level!?"
"Argh, I'm never going to get into the academy!"
As the people around him despaired, Aaron just muttered
"That's disappointing. I expected more"
As Aaron stepped up, the noble walked up to him and intentionally slammed his shoulder into Aarons, only to be pushed aside. He stumbled before regaining his footing. Fuming, he shouted from behind him .
"Hey! You commoner pest, how dare you bump intoe like that! Are you blind?"
The fool tried to make himself look big and intimidating by puffing up his chest, which was quite hard, considering that he was around 5'9 and Aaron was 6'0.
Aaron ignored him, continuing to walk up towards the block of steel. Amir had practically turned into a tomato at that point, but couldn't do anything since he was now taking the test and the instructors were present.
Aaron looked up and down the block of steel, ignoring the venoumes gaze from behind him.
"This shouldn't be too hard"
And with one mighty punch, containing not even 40% of his power, he striked the block.
Wham!
The whole block of steel lifted a few centimetres of the ground before landing back down. His whole arm was embedded into the steel, with smoke surrounding it. The floor under the block was slightly cracked because of it lifting up and dropping down.
The surroundings fell into silence, with everyones jaws open, gaping at Aaron.
The instructors looked at him with their eyes popping out, the red haired instructor even falling out of his chair.
Aaron looked around the square with a slightly smug grin and said jokingly
"Did I pass?"