Chapter 33

We walked through what seemed to be a mile-long tunnel until we had finally reached the school training grounds. There was only one entrance and exit. The hallway which we had arrived from. The training ground led to the outside which was a large open field with many different props, such as training dolls, an archery range and so on. The field was surrounded by stands covering each side, for people to spectate. In fact, if I didn't know any better I would have thought it was a colosseum. The stands were fairly full, many knights had come to watch the new students attempt the test. Opposite the entrance on the other end of the field was a table were the six elders sat accompanied by their black knights. The field had been split into five different sections. Each section contained different equipment and had a Master knight stand by. Wilfred, Barbadoes and Delbert were there. I didn't recognize the other two. We stood just in front of the entrance, all three hundred students waiting nervously. A worker came out with a strange machine that had a crystal inside. The servant pressed a few things on the machine and a hologram of the testing field was being shown. A similar machine was also put in front of the elders on the other side. "All right, the first test is the Gem of strength you will be called up to the stage one by one." Lancy went up to the stage to show the participants were to go and explain what to do. We could all see him clearly on the display of the machine. In front of Lancy was a huge black boulder the same size as himself. "Students must attempt to push the boulder from one side to the other, if you can't push the boulder you may use these gauntlets. You will get two attempts one without the gauntlets and one with. The gauntlets have been embedded with magic to increase your strength." Lancy then went on to give a demonstration, while using all his might and sweat running down his face he had managed to push the boulder from one side to the other. The students clapped with his demonstration. "Now let's see, who to go first, ah you there what's your name?" Lancy's finger was pointed towards me. "Ray." I gave a one-word answer staring back at him knowing the reason why he picked me. "What a rude Knight, you should answer those of a higher rank with respect." "I only respect those that deserve respect." Anger rose in Lancy face but suddenly he calmed down and spoke. "Using my power as an administrator for this test I refuse Squier Ray to take this test. I hope this will be a lesson to all of you to respect your superiors." I wanted to jump and lash out at him there and then but it wasn't the time nor the place. I didn't care much about the test in the first place. If I was to become a red sash it would allow me more time to study and self-train. even hunt outside for some crystals. Whereas if I was to become a white sash I would be forced to do extra classes, my free time would be gone giving me less time to hunt. Although the extra training would also be nice. I didn't lash out with this goal in mind. But it helped me, this way there was no need to fake the results of my test. Being first it would have been hard to gauge how well the other students had done. I hadn't been able to test my strength out after absorbing the other crystals it would have been hard to control my power. If I completed the test to easily more eyes would be on me.

After our scene, many students answered over the top to Lancy. I stayed and watched the other knights seeing how they performed. Most students weren't able to move the boulder at all unless they used the gauntlets. The gauntlets helped them move the boulder but still not to the other side. Gary had managed to move the boulder to the other side but with great difficulty collapsing to the floor at the end. Dan did better than Gary, which was expected due to how heavy the staff he carried around was. The student who performed best was Ian, he managed to lift the boulder and carry it over to the other side. Which many students were impressed with. Slyvia managed to move the boulder a little bit before having to use the gauntlets to push it completely to the other side. Monk didn't farewell. Only managing to budge the boulder whilst using the gloves. The first test had ended with everyone participating apart from me. We moved onto the next stage were Wilfred was the observer. Next to him was a man dressed in robes and hood covering his face. Wilfred went forward to explain the next test to students. "This test is called The hell of fire, it is used to determine the will and strength of your mind. The man next to me is a Mage from Roland academy. There are some magical beasts that are able to cast illusions. The mage here will cast an illusion of fire. For every minute you spend in the real world is an hour in the illusion. Your results will be determined by how long you last under the illusion of being burnt alive." This time the test was done from the order of scores. Since I didn't do the last test I had the lowest score making me take this trial last. All my roommates performed well on the test with Slyvia achieving the best score out of everyone. She managed to stay under the illusion for a whole five minutes. Most people had only managed a few seconds were as the top students manged a minute or so. It was finally my turn, I headed towards the stage with a plan to achieve around 20 seconds. This was the average score. I didn't want to do the best but at the same time, I didn't want to do the worst either. A yellow or blue rank would be perfect giving me the best of both worlds. It would also not attract too much attention. I arrived at the stage and the mage proceeded to put his hands above my head. The mage chanted a few words and images started to appear in my head. What appeared wasn't flames though, it was a giant red dragon. A dragon I recognised well, it was me. The image quickly disappeared and I opened my eyes shocked at the sight in front of me, to see the mage had fallen to the floor. "He's cursed, he's cursed, by the Red Dragon Sen!" The man shouted while shaking his body on the ground. Wilfred quickly asked a few knights on stage to escort the mage away. The students started to gossip. "I knew only bad luck would come of them." "but it only happened to him, not the other red-haired children." "Does this mean he failed the test?" I went off the stage and towards Gary and asked what had happened. "I don't know man, the mage had put his hand over you and cast the spell, it only lasted a second and he was on the floor sweating frightened just as you saw him," Gary said. The only thing I could think of was the image that appeared in my head was shared with the mage.