She paused as the stream of tears that was coming out from her eyes dramatically went stagnant as well.
"What do you mean, Zain was with you?"
"Well, he did as we planned. He truly believes in the map and followed its direction until he got to the desert I created. He, as those stubborn twin," he spoke.
"And?" Zain's mother questioned.
"They passed the assessment, but Zain never died like we planned. The muscles guy among the twin foiled our plan, so I kept him at bay," the dynamic wielder concluded with a smile.
"So may I come in, or are we gonna stand here all day?"
"With a smile," she replied. "It would be a pleasure."
As they entered the house, Zain's mother couldn't help but feel a mix of relief and worry. Relief that her son was safe and had passed the assessment, but worry about the dangerous game that had been played with his life.
"I can't believe you put our son through that," she stared the dynamic wielder. "I can't even believe that I would be in support of that."
"We had to," he replied calmly. "It is the only way to ensure he will gain his magic and would be strong enough to survive in the real world. He must surely need to face challenges and grow stronger, what we did in the underground was more like a warm up."
Zain's mother sighed, knowing the deed has been done, accepted the new change.
"Now that we have finally come together again, let's enjoy every moment. You no longer have to wait for 6 months before you can secretly hear from me."
"Right," Dynamic wielder responded.
***
"Huff, huff, huff, huff."
Zain had both hands on his knees and was breathing profusely as the light finally came to a halt.
'Finally, *huff*, we have, *huff*, reached our destination.'
Right in front of Zain was a big crowd of people, some chatting and laughing, some quiet, and so on, it was the assessment ground.
The assessment ground is an expansive, circular chamber. It has high ceiling beautified with intricate acient symbols that shimmer faintly in the dim light.
The walls are lined with ancient stone, etched with runes that pulsated with a soft radiating glow, creating an atmosphere charged with magical energy.
At the center of the room lies a wide, polished black floor, perfectly smooth and reflective, designed to enhance the visibility of spells and movements. This is something Zain have never seen before.
The floor separated from the outside viewers by a shimmering barrier of light, a translucent wall that glows with energy, ensuring that each duel remains contained within its designated space of the platform. This barrier is not only a physical boundary but also a magical one, absorbing spells that strayed out and preventing any interference from outside forces except from a select few who are meant to handle the duels to be fought inside of it in case anything goes wrong.
Surrounding the dueling area are seating arrangements made of dark stone, allowing spectators to observe the battles from a safe distance. The seats are enchanted with spells to provide comfort of occupants, enhancing the viewers' perception of the duels to be fought in it.
The spectacular view fascinated Zain do much that he didn't realize his mouth wide agape.
The seats were quite much, enough for all the spectators and students to comfortably watch the duel to be fought while they patiently awaited for their turn to be assessed.
Moments later a figure stepped on the platform, making the whole place instantly quiet.
"Good day all new students of Lowaling academy, I welcome you all to the one and only magic academy of the tier eight city owned by the king of humanity himself," the man started with a booming voice that was strangely audible to the entire crowd.
"My name is Eagleman and I'll be in charge of splitting you all into various departments in the academy depending on the potential and capabilities I see in you."
"Without further ado, I will be going straight into the details. This assessment will be based on combat. You all will be paired with an opponent, and you both will duel with each other. Whoever comes out as the best will stand a chance to either be appointed into the intermediate department or advanced department."
"So...."
Raising his hand upwards, a holographic display containing the name of all the people at the ground currently could be seen, floating above Eagleman's head.
"This is the names of all the new intakes at the academy, and I will be starting with the first two names to appear here."
"Thomas Edwin and John Chris, please step on the platform to begin the duel." With that said, Eagleman slowly backed away to allow them to climb up to the five-meter square shaped platform.
"These are the rules: firstly, you must not hold back. Give us your all because we need to know what aspect you are lacking in and where you belong."
"Secondly, try not to get knocked out of the platform. Getting knocked out means victory for the last man standing on the Platform."
"And lastly, don't get thrown out of the platform. Only these are the factors that will make a fight be declared over and with a winner."
Thomas Edwin is one that possessed the magic of earth but sadly wasn't a strong mage. He is someone who showed the aura of a level 5 basic mage during his registration.
As for who knew about this was everybody due to the fact that Thomas' assessment was recorded and sent to the school system.
The registration done to Zain wasn't just for show; it was recorded magically and permanently stored in "who knows."
John Chris, on the other hand, is a level 6 basic flame mage.
Both of the mages took their stance and waited for the declaration.
"Let the duel begin!"
****
"Let the duel begin!" Eagleman announced.
Rushing forward, the duo wasted no time going into offense and Eagleman, who was standing at the side, took his pen and started noting down what no one could tell on a levitating book he had summoned.
"Haaaaaaa!" Thomas screamed as he raised his hands upward while slamming down his feet simultaneously.
A big chunk of rock was raised from the floor and he took both hands down a bit to his chest level and then swung his palm towards the direction of John, sending the rock blasting towards him.
"Scoff!"
John, on the other hand, scoffed with a smile as he chanted a single word.
"IGNITE!"
"CLOUDY FLAME BALL!"
BOOM!
An explosion was sent out as the little flame ball collided with the rock. The explosion was relatively small, but the thick black smoke that came out from it was massive and consumed the entire platform, blocking Thomas' vision.
The whole platform was covered in thick black smoke that obstructed the view of Thomas but all the viewers were strangely able to see through it, clearly the work of the invisible barrier surrounding the platform.
"FLAME BALL!"
Using the smoke's obstruction, he swiftly avoided the chuck of rock Thomas hurled earlier, then he anonymously return with an attack of his own, an actual flame ball with explosive energy surpassing the smoke unlike the previous one.
BOOM!
The arena went quiet, and John victoriously stood to allow the smoke to settle.
"This fight is over," he spoke loudly and boldly but was intervened by a chuckle that was heard from the side.
"Huh!" John exclaimed in shock at the sight of Thomas still conscious.
John's flame magic is weak, which is clear to him. Due to how low his power level is, he currently cannot produce any impressive move or very destructive one, which made him develop a combat method for himself by formulating his magic into the way that will make it suit him, and that was the thick black smoke.
His family isn't a rich one, which is not rare in the tier 8 city. More than ninety-five percent of the occupants of this city aren't wealthy, so he isn't actually in a downside, but still, he is creative and will take credit for that.
Using the basic knowledge he gained along with his understanding of his body, he created a second form of flame production which is the smoky flame ball or cloudy flame ball. Using it to block the vision of whoever he is fighting, he'll then switch to the actual flame ball that every normal flame user possesses to give his final blow.
This is John for you.