Power Overwhelming

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As the written test ended, they were all herded through the building to a long corridor with a dozen doors spread on both sides. Rajian, who was the one leading them, explained that this test would measure their elemental affinities, and that they would take turns to enter the rooms. Each room held one or more of the teachers of the Academy, and they would be in charge of the test. “You’ll also have to remove the veil when taking this test.” He explained to Karna, which drew some looks from the other applicants.

As they could test a dozen people at the same time, the whole process was relatively fast, even though their group had over thirty applicants. It was rather obvious that the Academy was quite experienced in dealing with a large influx of hopeful people seeking to become students. Karna was among the last ones to be called and she had to wait for less than five minutes. As she noticed the door she was being called to, a small smile graced her lips.

'Apparently, the applicants that the teachers have the highest hopes for are all being called to the same room.' She hadn't been paying too much attention to the other youngsters around her, mainly because she was relatively sure nearly all of them would be eliminated. Her soul granted her rather sharp senses and judging the potential of those around her wasn't exactly complicated when they weren’t protecting themselves against such examination.

As she stepped through the door, she found herself in a relatively large chamber, which made it quite clear that the room was larger on the inside than on the outside. The chamber was made of the same marbled stone most things in the Academy were built of, except the center of the room, which had a small dais of roughly-hewn stone that was covered in magical glyphs that were carved into the stone. From the dais, several lines of magically conductive metal ran in a fan shape to large crystal globes all around the room. She could sense different elemental energies inside each globe.

There were three teachers in the room, making it clear that more importance was placed on this room than the others. The teachers all wore the same uniform that Rajian and the gnomish teacher earlier had, but they all had a symbol on their chest, though the symbol they had was different for each teacher. Karna was quite sure that these were masters from the various majors taught in the Academy, here to scout potential talent. One of them was an older human woman, one a dwarven male of roughly middle age, while the last one was an elven man of indeterminate age. It was hard to judge the age of an elf, even for Karna who had spent several lifetimes as one.

“Applicant Karna, is it?” The human woman with a sunburst on her breast asked. “I believe you have been told that you will not be allowed to wear a veil during this examination.” Judging by her tone, she didn’t know if Karna specifically had been told, just that most applicants would’ve been told by this point.

"Yes, master," Karna replied respectfully and removed the veil covering her face. That caused a few eyebrows to rise.

“This might be a wee personal question, but yer not a human are ye?” The elven man with a leaf sigil on his chest asked in an accent that almost caused Karna to crack a smile. She would’ve expected the accent from the dwarf, not from the elf. A good reminder to keep an open mind.

“Not exactly, no.” She replied, not elaborating further. It was almost immediately obvious from her appearance after all. Her features were already beautiful enough that she would be more easily confused with a vampire or an angel, two races famed for their appearance, although she bore some resemblance even to an elf with her sharp and well-defined features. The entirely white hair and eye-brows hinted towards a more vampiric heritage. Most importantly though, she didn’t look like a human child.

“Fair enough.” The dwarven man that sported the rather stereotypical anvil on his chest grunted. It wasn’t all that hard to guess at their specialties, although the leaf and the sunburst could be several different possibilities. “Stand on the dais and draw heavily on your mana. Don’t form it into a spell, just hold it until the test is complete.” He continued.

Karna stepped up to the dais and did as she was instructed. Having gone through the process countless times, there was no hesitation in her actions. She idly judged the spellwork on the stones while waiting for the results. Whoever had created this test was quite capable. It would provide rather detailed results and would actually be able to show nearly all of the affinities. It wasn’t quite at the level of the best affinity testing systems she had seen, but it was a far cry from the dinky tests used commonly in most universes she had been to.

As she held her mana in a relaxed manner, threads of power ran from the dais along the lines of magically conductive metal she had noted before, and finally to the crystal globes. All of the globes started glowing with power, according to her affinities. One of the globes was crackling with lightning as a thunderstorm seemed to form inside the globe, where another glowed with brown energy as it seemed to coalesce into a solid orb that filled the entire crystal. One had a storm of ice and snow, while another had what looked like a tree of life, and so on.

Each of the crystals seemed to be filled to the brim, yet two in particular stood out. One of the globes looked like a miniature star had been placed inside the globe, and the globe started showing signs that it would melt soon, while another was glowing with such brightness that it almost blinded everyone in the room. ‘Oh dear. They’re actually testing for True Light element. Well, at least they’re not capable of testing for the True Dark.’ Karna thought to herself. That would require a completely different test.

“You can stop now!” The human woman called out hurriedly, and she complied immediately. Still, it seemed that the two globes that had stood out were at least slightly damaged and would need to be replaced. It wasn’t that her other affinities were bad, but that the two elements simply overshadowed the others. Or actually three, but they were not testing for the last one.

“Did…did we get the readings at least?” The dwarf man asked.

“Ye, we got ‘em.” The elf replied. “The fire and light are off them charts, but them others also be stellar across the board. Never seen results like this!” He looked up at Karna eagerly. “Ye wouldn’t’ be interested In becoming a druid would ya?”

"Hey, no poaching allowed during the exams!" The human woman protested while looking sternly at the elf. "Scouting is allowed, but no poaching until they've gone through the first month of the curriculum so that they can have a better idea about what to choose in the future. With that said, I would certainly like it if you kept the war mage specialty in mind." The sunburst was for war mages? Seriously? That...made some sense, but it was not Karna’s first guess.

“Shut it both of you!” The dwarf raised his voice a bit and turned to look at Karna with narrowed eyes. “You don’t look surprised.”

“I’m not. I’m well aware of my affinities.” Karna shrugged simply. She was not going to try to explain.

“I see. Is it just me, but did I sense it correctly and you’re already attuned with fire?” The dwarf asked, steepling his fingers in front of his face. That caught the other two by surprise. Likely the dwarf had also attuned to the element and could sense a slight connection.

Now it was Karna’s turn to be surprised and she paid more attention to the dwarven man. He had the same short and stocky frame as most of his people, but he was clearly muscled due to all the time spent in a forge. He had a long brown beard that was immaculately styled in three thick braids held in place by ornamented golden rings. “Very perceptive, master…” She allowed the question to hang in the air.

“Menkhaf. Master Menkhaf and I teach artifice as you may have already guessed.” The dwarf grunted. “Judging by your affinity, you probably didn’t make the mistake of using a low ranked essence for your attunement.”

Karna nodded in reply and the dwarf continued. "Good. With a fire affinity like that, you'll be popular in most majors, and the Wardens will likely be at the forefront of trying to recruit you with your affinity with Qhaysh.” He used the old name for True Light magic. “I recommend you take your time and weigh your options carefully. With affinities like those, I’m pretty sure the offers will stick around long enough for you to make a careful choice. And if someone’s dumb enough to rescind their offer…well, it’s their loss, now isn’t it? I’m quite sure I’ll be seeing you during your lessons, assuming you don’t horribly bungle every other test.”

“I appreciate your words master Menkhaf.” Karna made a small bow while cupping her fist with her other hand.

The dwarf cracked a small smile. “I see my warning was unnecessary,” He realized from the way Karna had taken the information. Yet she had been polite enough to take the advice in the spirit it had been given.

"Are we done here, masters?" Karna asked and placed the veil back on her face, with a small silver chain going behind her head to hold it in place.

“We are.” The elf man stated with a nod. “Or at least ye are. We hafta replace the damn globes.”

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Rajian led them to what looked a bit like an archery range next. This time it seemed the tests would be open to being seen by everyone, and Karna spotted several older students observing things from the large viewing galleries on the sides. Several other applicants had also stuck around to watch things, and a significant number of teachers had also gathered at the stands. It seemed Arjuna was also among them, as Karna spotted him talking with some other teachers and Duskclaw had also arrived. She had been forced to take care of some duties and had not been sure if she would make it.

There were three other groups already present at the range, and despite the fact that there were several places for half a dozen applicants to take a test at the same time, it was obvious that this part was the bottleneck of the second round of exams. It also wasn’t exactly a mystery what they were meant to do at this place. Karna could see as a pair of prospective students both cast spells towards the targets at the end of the range.

Rajian stopped them behind the other groups that had arrived before them and turned to address the group. “Alright settle down. It seems we will be forced to wait a bit. The teachers that will perform the exam will explain you the specifics of the test, but I might as well save everyone some time and give you a brief rundown. When your turn comes, you will be given a time limit and in that time you will be tasked with taking down as many targets as possible. The more and faster you destroy targets, the more difficult the test becomes, as the targets will start moving, and there will be also other targets that you need to avoid damaging, essentially simulating collateral damage.

“You will be judged on the number of targets and the level of spells you use, yes, but the test will be calibrated according to your current level. The main purpose of this test is not to see who can throw around the highest ranking spells, but to figure out how good you are at using the power you do possess. Someone who takes down fewer targets might get a better score than another one who takes down more based on their skillful use of spells. There are many things that can affect your score, such as the number of spells or abilities you use, the time you take chanting, your ability to cast voicelessly and without gestures, your accuracy and wasted mana, and a dozen other factors."

“Remember to inform your teacher of your current rank as a mage, or a warrior if you prefer to take the test using your ki instead. The range will be calibrated accordingly. If you are caught lying, you will be automatically rejected, and will forever be banned from trying again, so don’t bother. We’ve grown rather good at spotting cheaters over the years. Any questions?” Rajian asked at the end of his explanation.

“Are we allowed to use items, such as weapons if we plan to use ki?” An older boy asked.

“You are allowed to use a weapon if you plan to use ki, or a focus if you plan to use mana and nothing else. In either case, the item will be handed to the teacher observing you for inspection, and you are not allowed to use a magical weapon or a focus that grants you any benefits beyond the very basic benefits that you gain from a standard focus. If you didn't bring a non-magical weapon or a focus, first of all shame on you for not thinking about such basic things, and secondly, the teacher can provide you with one should you need one. Any other questions?”

There were a couple more questions, but nothing that actually interested Karna. The test was rather well arranged. Personally, she would’ve arranged the whole thing inside an illusionary array to allow for a more realistic test, but that would’ve taken quite a bit of power to keep the array running. A rather tiring or expensive prospect considering the sheer number of applicants, as there would likely be at least tens of thousands of applicants that made it to the second set of exams, likely even hundreds of thousands. That also meant that there were more of such ranges in other parts of the Academy grounds, as handling so many students even over several days was quite daunting.

“Alright, if there are no further questions, I can explain what happens after you’re done. Your results from the three tests will be calculated, and you will be ranked accordingly. Those with good enough scores, or those that managed to attract the attention of the examiners despite a lower score, will be invited to take part in the third set of tests tomorrow. Rest well tonight, as the third set will likely be the most exhausting.” Rajian finished his explanation.

Karna had time to observe the performances of those that had come before her group, and she wasn't wildly impressed so far. There had been a handful of performances that had been worth notice, and only a single one that had actually impressed her. The girl that had impressed her had been around twelve or thirteen and had long golden-colored hair and a rather haughty demeanor. Clearly the daughter of some noble judging by her attire. Karna had also been forced to re-evaluate her estimation about the number of applicants as six other groups had gathered behind them by the time it was her group’s turn. And some of the groups were three times as large as her group.

Finally, it was her turn and as she was called up she noted that Duskclaw was about to cheer but was held back by Arjuna. ‘Ah yes, the no meddling rule.’ Karna thought with a wry smile. The human man in charge of her exam looked fairly young. He also had an insignia she was familiar with on his chest, a portal similar to the one Arjuna had. Apparently, his specialty was related to spirits.

“The ones that came before you gave me the impression you have already been told what to expect?” The man asked with a slightly bored voice.

“Smash targets, don’t smash wrong targets, points for creativity and speed, blaady-blah.” Karna summarized sarcastically.

“That’s about the gist of it. Second circle mage correct? Hit the red targets, don’t hit the blue ones. You’ll have to reveal your face while taking the test. Do not worry. The stands are far enough that only the masters will have a sharp enough eyesight to actually see your face in detail.” The man said a bit dismissively. The parents of the examinees were not allowed on the island usually, so the only people powerful enough were the teachers.

“Considering there are elves in the stands, that’s not entirely true, however…” Karna retorted, before pulling the veil down enough to reveal her face. She was aware that the elves were focused elsewhere and would soon have something else to draw their attention.

The man paid a bit more attention suddenly but didn’t say anything beyond what he was supposed to. “Get ready, start!”

As soon as he shouted, targets started showing up on the range designated for her use. At first the targets came slowly, but their pace rapidly quickened. None of her targets lasted for more than a second, as she could sense the place where they would appear before they actually did thanks to her sharp senses. The blue targets felt just a tad bit different. Not much, but enough for her purposes. A barrage of bolts of energy spun into existence around her and hurtled down the range with blinding speed.

She purposefully used different elements to get points for variety, as she randomly cycled through all the elements, except Dhar and Qhaysh. All of the elements had a very basic attacking spell of the first circle in the simple bolt of energy formed from the particular element. The form changed a bit based on the element, but the function didn’t really change all that much. A bolt of fire was about as useful as a bullet made of stone when thrown at a target. When used as a single bolt, such spells would be classified as a first circle spell, while her variation was the more effective second circle version called ‘Barrage’ that would send a large number of such projectiles at targets of her choosing as long as she kept the spell going.

Her barrage of projectiles was quite simple but very effective, and her mana consumption was low and efficient. She controlled the energy in each bolt perfectly as the first targets required barely any power to take out, while the later targets required her to put a lot of oomph into each projectile. If her mana hadn’t been purified to perfection, she might have needed to use several bolts on a single target towards the end. She also made sure every bolt hit their target, sometimes even homing around blue targets.

To add further variety, once the targets started appearing in larger groupings, she added in variations of the basic fireball spell in other elements, basically clumps of elemental mana that exploded on impact, creating an area of destruction. Such spells were usually considered third circle spells, though mostly of the easy variety. The fact that a mage was of a certain circle didn't preclude them from casting spells of higher circle, but it did make casting such spells much harder. Usually, they'd have to use a longer chant than they would have to if the caster was of the correct level, and they would also have trouble controlling the spell. Of course, the required mana was also much higher. That was the main benefit of forming more circles, as they would assist in casting more difficult spells.

As Karna had plenty of experience with these spells and even spells from circles no one on this plane had ever seen, going up a single circle was not a large challenge for her. The purity of her mana also made the increased consumption almost trivial. If she had tried casting spells of the fourth circle, she might have been forced to actually use chants to aid in control, but third circle spells were still fine. As the time ran out, over 900 targets had been eliminated, which was more than triple of the noble girl Karna had spotted earlier. Most examinees had struggled to get much over thirty as they had to chant every spell. ‘This should be good enough. It’s a high enough score to be considered a good enough performance to put me in the first class.’ She thought to herself.

“E-examinee Karna, 963 targets destroyed, not a single wrong target hit!” The young teacher announced as Karna put on her veil again.

She could see Arjuna and Duskclaw grinning in the stands. The observing teachers graded her on variance and spell usage as well, but she would not find out about those scores until much later. “Are we done then?” She asked the teacher in charge standing next to her.

“Yes.” He looked at her more seriously. “I’m sure we will meet again. Just so you know, with a performance like that, there’s certainly going to be an investigation to check whether you were cheating. Seeing as you didn’t even use a focus or any items, I’m sure there should be no issue, but I’m warning you just in case. They will likely want to check that you really are a second circle mage tomorrow as you come for the third group of tests.

“My thanks for the warning. There is no need for concern though. We will be seeing each other again." Karna stated coolly and turned on her heels to walk back towards the place they had left the airship.

“You overdid it just a tad.” Arjuna laughed as he and Duskclaw joined her moments later as they had left the view of the other examinees.

“Just a tad?” Duskclaw asked incredulously, even though none of it showed on her face. “She completely smoked any competition! I heard the teachers already raving about her affinity test as well.”

“Ah, speaking of, did you really destroy two of the testing globes?” Arjuna asked with a more serious look.

“Eh, I blame the one who designed the testing formation. They forgot to add a limiter. The globes had probably been damaged over years of use as well.” Karna retorted, playing the whole thing off.

“Sure, sure. Whatever you say.” Duskclaw didn’t even bother hiding the sarcasm in her voice. “I don’t think anyone has gotten more than triple the points of the second place in the entrance exam rankings before. Have you heard about such a case master?”

"I have actually," Arjuna stated calmly. “Twice. The second one reputedly leads the armies of the Aegean Empire nowadays.”

“And the first one?” Karna asked, already having a suspicion about the other person being a reincarnator.

“You’re looking at him of course.” Arjuna grinned. “Makes a father proud to see their daughter follow in their footsteps!” The man even had the audacity to fake an emotional tear.