Junior Instructor Evan Reid was waiting in the teleportation tower for new students.
He was of average height, in his thirties, with blonde hair, a clean, neat face, and was a 7th-circle wind elemental user. He had gotten the junior instructor post one year ago. He was from a common background, and most of the students in EE Academy didn't respect him.
He was waiting here to receive the students and guide them.
He saw a purple light shining in the teleportation circle, and around eight students appeared, immediately starting to retch.
A person in a white uniform said to the students, "Move out of the teleportation circle."
Alex opened his eyes and saw a similar ceiling with chandeliers hanging down, white sofas placed in the corners of the big hall.
Alex moved out of the teleportation circle.
An average-looking person in blue clothes came toward them and said,
"My name is Evan Reid. I'm a junior instructor at EE Academy. Please follow me—we'll gather at the exam site."
Alex and the other students followed the instructor and exited the tower.
What Alex saw shocked him.
The tall buildings and towers stretched into the sky.The towers they had seen in Romania City would pale in comparison to these.
There were around twelve towers here: ten towers making a circle around the city, the teleportation tower smaller and placed inside that circle, and one massive tower at the center.
Each of the ten towers had a different symbol at its summit:Fire Dragon, Fire Phoenix, Earth Dragon, Ice Phoenix, White Phoenix, Flying Snake, Mythical Lion, Shadow Panther, Mythical Eagle, and one tower had only a purple-colored 'V' on it.
The instructor interrupted everyone,
"Welcome to Protegia City. This is the city where all ten clans' towers reside, and where the Academy testing usually happens.It's one of the most secure cities—and the only city not placed against any danger zone.You'll get to know a lot more if you get admitted into EE Academy."
They all followed the instructor to the tower at the center of the city.
They entered a huge hall, almost as big as a football stadium, where a lot of students had already gathered.The instructor brought them to a counter where they were given tokens.
He advised,"Please keep these on yourself at all times. If you lose the badge, you'll be eliminated from the test."
Alex got token number 4999 and put it in his pocket.
"Go wait there," the instructor said, pointing to the crowd of students.
So, I'm second last, huh? Alex thought. There are around five thousand students, I think. What will be our first test?
Alex stood in the back, unable to see most of the people.After half an hour, someone came onto the stage.
"Hello everyone. My name is Senior Instructor Lucius Aurelwyn.I'll be introducing you to the first test."
Alex saw the instructor—he looked in his forties, wearing a white shirt and black pants, sleeves rolled halfway up his arms.
He had a neatly trimmed small white beard and short, properly styled white hair.
"Your first test will start here, in this hall.
We'll see how well you adapt to your own elements.We'll be watching closely.If you are not able to continue, you just have to shout 'I give up,'" Instructor Lucius said and left.All the other instructors started leaving.
The doors closed—and suddenly, the lights went off.
Alex remained calm; he was able to sense everything.
So they started with the dark element, Alex thought.
Suddenly, Alex shifted sideways—an arrow shot past him, narrowly missing.They are attacking too, he thought.
At first, only a few arrows came, shooting slowly—it was easy for Alex to dodge.Then their number increased: three, six, nine, twelve.Still, he was able to dodge because their speed was slow.
But after that—the speed increased.
Alex summoned his shadow daggers, parrying the ones he couldn't dodge.
Yet, half an hour later, his elemental energy was exhausted.
Gritting his teeth, Alex drew out his spear and started parrying again.
But now—the number of arrows reached twenty-four at the same time—with even more speed.
His basics with the spear were solid, but the sheer speed and numbers overwhelmed him.
Suddenly, while parrying three arrows with his spear, another arrow shot straight toward his face.He had no time to dodge.Acting on instinct, he threw up his non-dominant hand to protect his eyes.The arrow pierced his arm—blood trickling down—but Alex didn't stop.
He kept dodging, kept parrying, refusing to fall.It continued for more than two hours.
Then, without warning, the power behind the arrows surged.This time, when he tried to protect his eyes with his arm, the bone cracked—broken.
"Fffuck!" Alex hissed—but he didn't fall.
He kept dodging with his broken arm, trying to heal it with his wood element—only to freeze in shock when it didn't work.
"Shittt!" he shouted.
Focus. Don't get agitated, Alex told himself, gritting his teeth.
The thing was—Alex hadn't been properly taught how to use his elemental powers.He had only read a few books—most of what he knew was aura, shadow merge, and shadow daggers.But shadow daggers had a limit.
I think my arm's bone has become powder, Alex thought, gnashing his teeth in pain.
My shadow daggers' cooldown has ended. Let's use them carefully, he reminded himself.
With a limp, sagging arm dangling by his side, Alex started dodging again.
He still used his spear to parry some of the attacks—but he wasn't able to make much difference anymore.
In a dark room, with blue lights coming from the monitors, more than fifty operators sat in front of them.Behind them, in two rows of chairs, the instructors were sitting and observing.
"What the hell is he doing?!" Emilia Aurelwyn shouted, sitting near her Instructor Lucius started laughing and said,"Are you worried about this kid?"
"No, I am not! That idiot isn't using his powers properly!" Emilia huffed, crossing her arms in front of her chest.
Instructor Lucius, seeing this, sighed and said,"Emilia, I don't think he's learned anything about environmental element manipulation.And his dark elemental energy is very pure—even Noctshade and Veylor family descendants don't have that.
Even with this, he has survived for three hours.Look at the other kids—many have already given up, and only half have remained.The other kids who survived all belong to noble families and were properly educated."
Almost at the same time, Emilia stood up and screamed,
"What the hell?!"