"Number 61, Soal Rem, approach the platform". This was it, 11 years of hard work lined up to this exact moment. As he stood on the stone which would decide his fate, he let out a prayer in his mind, just hoping for once things would go his way. "Soal Rem, Mana: 0, element: none, Unranked". His hopes and dreams crumbled as he stood on the platform, dazed and utterly destroyed. 11 years of sweat, tears and blood. They all led to this. In that moment, his will crumbled and the prodigal son of the Rem family was no more, all that was left was a shadow. And as he walked himself off the platform, he was being given looks of pity from strangers and facial expressions which could only represent disgust from his family.
His face contorted as he started whispering to himself, "Why me, why could I not fulfil my destiny, fulfil who I was meant to be". As one of the 12 prestigious families, the Rem's didn't take failures, did not pity it, they killed it or at best sold it because when a Rem was a failure, he or she was not a member of the family rather an unwanted object.
Knowing this, while he was in despair, Soal did not lose his ability to think. Soal was not only preparing to be a mage but also a scholar. And he quickly concocted a plan. While he was number 61 the private mage power ceremony only ended with the number 80. Which would take another 10 minutes. All participants were free to wait outside in the meantime after their turn was over and as it was extremely disrespectful to the families who still had potential mages joining their ranks for these 10 minutes the audience could not leave. Thus, dashing out of the hall as quickly as possible. Battling both exhaustion and the trepidation that was gnawing at him. Soal did not look behind. He had sprinted for around 5 minutes after which he found a gargantuan forest which had huge trees and was practically a labyrinth. Soal however had been visiting this forest to train from the time he was 10 so practically knew it like the back of his hand. Soon he found himself deep in the forest and spotted a familiar cave which he used to train in. He quickly scurried inside the cave and saw a familiar small knife which he used to use. He emptied his pockets finding a protection amulet. This amulet had been given to Soal by his mother recently and could protect him from anyone with evil intentions to a certain degree. Not wanting to waste more time, Soal quickly ran out of the cave with an amulet around his neck and a knife in his hand and made his way to the other side of the forest. As Soal continued to hurry he heard rustling from the bush. The amulet faintly glowed red as it had detected an intent to kill towards Soal. Keeping his eyes on the bush, Soal slowly stepped back trying to take another route. In a blink of an eye a green tiny creature jumped out from the bush. Soal took a fighting stance and as the creature lunged forward, he swept its feet from under it. As Soal was about stab at the goblin to finish it off, he hesitated for a moment, causing the creature roll out of his stab. The goblin slowly backed Soal to a tree and as Soal tried to gain space by pointing his knife it was kicked out by the goblin. Soal for the first time in this fight was desperate for survival. He didn't run away from getting killed by his family just to get killed by a measly manaless goblin. The goblin had an advantage in its speed while Soal had the advantage in his strength. The goblin however unexpectedly made a run for the dagger which had fallen in the bush, and Soal realising he would not be able to get to it before the goblin, did the only thing he could. Soal ran. While the goblin was faster than Soal, he likely had higher stamina and if he could just- Soal tripped on an exposed tree root and fell face first towards the ground. The goblin quickly caught up and soon they were face to face again. Soal was overwhelmed and could not think. Suddenly, Soal started to feel more energetic and his mind cleared suddenly he could think again. And as the goblin stabbed at his face, time seemed to slow down for him. Everything was so clear, all the exhaustion that was present in his body seemed to have left and his mind felt sharper. In that brief second he disarmed the goblin and uppercutted him, making him fall to the floor. Soal rushed for the knife, after which he saw the goblin had been knocked unconscious. Without hesitation Soal plunged the knife into the goblins neck, killing him. Soal's body suddenly felt heavy again and as he leaned on one of the trees, he felt energised all of a sudden. It seemed like the trees were somehow transferring energy to him.
Not having much time to think about this new development due to the prospect of being hunted. Soal used this newfound ability of his to make his way through the forest, luckily not meeting any goblins or other beasts on the way. As he slowly made his way towards the end of the forest, he set his gaze upon his destination, the elephantine city of Falof. The city was much more lively than the small town he grew up in. He started approaching the gates in order to get himself into this safe haven. "1 gold coin is the entrance fee" said a guard who appeared out of thin air. As Soal handed him the gold coin as he passed the gold coin to the guard, the guard looked at him suspiciously before stating "This gold coin is forged, you must come to the city courts for trying to fool a guard". Soal's mind raced, these coins were given to him by his mother and he knew that they would not have been fake. With no reasonable explanation coming to mind, Soal uttered a single word, not because he wanted to, not because his mind or body told him but because something compelled him. "Transfer" suddenly the guard felt that all his mana had been drained, he felt tired, and as if he had no energy. Poof! The guard fainted landing face first. Soal rushed into the city gates, his heart racing at a hundred miles per hour. He felt like he had gained a small adrenaline boost, he felt power which he previously did not have coursing through his veins.