"Artus, nine minutes!".
As soon as Artus stepped out of the chamber of illusions, the guard announced the result. Lots of eyes were on him, and even though it was not the longest duration among the participants, it was definitely remarkable; on top of that, the one who achieved it was a young child with lots of room to grow; he still had potential, such a child deserved special attention.
Artus ignored their stares; he headed to the resting area to calm his mind; he made use of NuroFusion to isolate himself from the illusions after he saw his past life regrets; it was enough for him; he was not interested to see fears and nightmares after all, something best kept unknown.
He closed his eyes and waited for the second test to finish. Participants gathered again in the arena; they were greeted by Galdor again.
"I welcome you again to the trial of the magic division."
"Now, I will announce the second stage's result."
"The average time was about five minutes, while the longest was twelve minutes."
"First, all participants who lasted less than five minutes inside the chamber of illusions will be considered as have failed the trial and will disqualified from continuing."
Many participants who barely passed the five-minute mark started rejoicing; they thought they would be eliminated; after all, achieving an above-average result in the magic division trial was not praiseworthy.
"Wait, I am not done yet with announcing the results; save your cheers for later."
The participants looked at Galdor again, puzzled by his words.
"All participants who did not pass the seven-minute mark are also considered to have failed the test."
Galdor's words hung in the air, shocking the participants with their unexpectedness.
"But they will not disqualified from continuing the rest of the magic division trial."
"If they want to become students at the academy, they will need to achieve outstanding results in the following stages."
"Overwise, if they just passed the two following stages, they would be considered as having failed the magic trail."
"The means whether you get accepted to the academy will depend on the overall performance of the last three stages."
"We made changes to the admission criteria not only because of the increased number of candidates this year but also because we took into account that there is a significant number of participants who did not come from rich or noble backgrounds, so they did not receive any proper education or training priorly."
"We don't want to miss talented individuals just because they did not do well in one stage due to lack of knowledge or training."
"Not only that, but you also have to know that there are several classes of mages; each class specializes in certain spells, and so on, so naturally, each class will require a somewhat different set of quantities."
"Although our Valeria kingdom is considered small, and we don't have knowledge about advanced magic spells and techniques, a chance may arise in the future to get exposed to such a thing. When that time comes, we want you to be ready".
Artus looked at Galdor deeply; it seems that there is more than meets the eye to the academy trials this time, opening the door for commoners as not out of goodwill.
**************************
"Now we will start the third stage of the trials, the perception."
"We will test your ability to perceive Aether, the world's energy."
There was a large light blue colored crystal in the center of the field; it was inscribed with magic symbols, and above it was a huge magic circle rotating slowly. This crystal is a conduit for Aether, the world's energy, and it will help you visualize Aether as stars in the night sky.
"You will be required to put both of your hands on this magic crystal and close your eyes; the magic crystal will help you visualize Aether as stars in the night sky."
"You will be able to use your mind to visualize as many starts as you want; you can even visualize thousands of starts."
"You need to use your mind to count as many stars as possible."
"The more stars you count, the higher your score will be; it will be reflected as a number above the magic crystal."
"It's important to mention that the moment you lose track of your counting, your test will be finished immediately, and your total score will be the last number you reached minus one-fourth; it will be reflected above the magic crystal."
"The same thing applies. If you count the same star twice, so be careful."
"the required number of stars to pass the test will be calculated after all of you have finished based on the average and the highest number, the same as the previous stage."
"To perceive is not the same as to see."
"If you want to make you of the Ather, you should not merely see it; you have to perceive and feel it. You must recognize each individual particle by itself".
"We will start now."
"Good luck".
The key to this test is not to bite off more than you can chew; if you get greedy and visualize lots of starts, you will risk making a mistake; not only will your test be terminated immediately, but you will also suffer a penalty dedicating one-fourth of your total score.
Participants who did not pass the seven-minute mark in the previous stage backed off; after all, they will need to use the top scores as reference points.
One participant who scored eight minutes in the previous stage walked toward the crystal stone.
"I have passed the previous test, so even if I did not do well on this test, I still have a chance to be accepted to the academy. I will do you all a favor and be the first to start."
He put his hands on the magic crystal and closed his eyes; after a while, the magic crystal started pulsating.
In his mind, he saw himself standing under the sky at night; it was so dark that he could not even see his own body, and it slowly started shining in the sky.
He focused his attention and started counting them.
After a while, he opened his eyes, and the number seventy-eight was reflected above the crystal.
Artus was torn between choices. Should he keep playing it safe or go all in?