The arena fell silent as the spectators watched the machine yield to the unstable energy within. The crystals continued to grow, albeit at a slower pace, as the machine was gradually engulfed. Echoes of metal crunching and scraping filled the air, accompanied by the sound of shattering glass and broken materials.
The proctors on standby swiftly contained the device in a sphere of translucent energy. The hexagonal pattern of the protective bubble glowing against each bolt of energy that shot out from the crystal. The danger had been contained. For now.
Amidst the chaos, the proctor nearest to the machine-- who luckily stepped away before the crystal grew out of hand-- decided to keep my results on standby at the moment. They had marked my affinity with what was obvious while keeping my connectivity levels blank at the moment. Judging from the expressions that filled the faces of the spectators and proctors, most especially Master Oribus and Miss Maryanne, this was an event that had never been seen nor experienced before; due to the same fact, I was unfortunately the subject of attention amongst a majority of the enrollees in attendance today.
During the silence that followed, the proctors decided to talk amongst themselves, and as they moved the ruined machine, one of the proctors decided to announce that the machine I had just been to seemed to have a technical difficulty, resulting in a dangerous reaction. They assured the remaining unrecorded enrollees that the rest of the machines have been inspected thoroughly and that no more accidents should occur.
However, no one was willing to buy into that reasoning. Everyone here saw what happened and is still skeptical about the Analyzers breaking down again. As I started to walk back towards my seat, I could feel a number of people observing my every move; some were even theorizing or spreading rumors amongst their peers. Others claim that the explosion was part of the test to see how they would react; some think I somehow cheated and caused a scene just to catch the attention of the proctors, while the rest had a variety of topics or questions that simply did not mind the event nor make any sense of it.
I could only stare into the hand that held the crystal. My gaze sinks deeper to my palm, fading everything else out. As my surroundings began to settle into a faint hum of ambience, I began to wonder. Was that the same energy that created the Tear of Enes? If so, was that the same light that Esshiek and Miss Maryanne described during the Eclipse? Where did it come from? Most importantly, what was it?
The more I tried to search for answers, a string of questions followed closely behind. My addled brain could not make sense of what had just happened, nor why it did happen in the first place. Whatever it was, it put me in the spotlight. Unnecessary attention and a stream of questions that I do not even have any way to answer are bound to follow. Most especially from the proctors.
What scares me the most is if a dangerous event like that happened during the analysis of my lifeblood, what would happen if I actually casted magic instead? Would I explode? Will I lose the tool? My arm? The mere thought of such sends cold shivers down my spine as I locked my fingers together to keep myself calm. I had to.
Time passed, and as everyone had completed their analysis, Miss Maryanne had the machines rolled away before they had to reveal a new playing field along the arena. Long stretches of painted sand appear before the elegant elf. Each line of sand separates into columns where an armored dummy rests at the end of the range. Our task was to cast any spell to knock the dummy over. However, there was a catch.
"The armor worn by the targets is armor made by House Adamantine master armorers and enchanted with basic lifeblood absorption by House Mythril Philologists. So remember your spells and cast true." Miss Maryanne clarified.
It wasn't clear from a distance, but the armor seemed to be full plate with Script carved into the ends of the plates. It served as a decorative cosmetic and a practical addition to the armament. This must have been the source of the enchantment. According to the books, this specific practice of magic involves intricately carving Script into weapons, tools, or equipment using a device known as a "Life Weaving Tool." However, the texts do not provide detailed information about these tools or how to activate the corresponding enchantments.
Proctors would walk up to the dummies and place their hand at the center of the chest plate. After a few seconds of focus, the Script seemed to glow for a quick moment before disappearing and acting more like decoration once more. The proctors soon took their positions and called upon the enrollees one by one.
This was the point at which our studies in sigil crafting faced significant challenges, revealing my own shortcomings. My understanding was limited to the basics; however, we had the opportunity to observe the techniques of the students who preceded us, allowing us to study and analyze their methods.
One student walked up to the range. They seemed to belong to House Cobalt. They took a breath and decided to take their time in focusing for their spell before finally creating their sigil. The first step was creating the circle, a border for the spell. It seemed like this student was creating a sizable border for this spell they planned. Once the border was created, the student would point their wand in front, where energy poured out from the tip of the tool. As the strings of energy combined with the border, a massive rune would form within the center of the sigil, calling upon the Primal Source that the spell wishes to use.
Judging by the spherical, droplet-like design of the rune, they intended to call upon the Primal Source of Hydrox, a fact confirmed when the sigil began to glow blue. However, the spell had not yet been cast, as a script began to form along the inner border. Tiny figures created both short and long phrases while being carefully spaced out amongst themselves, commanding the rune according to the caster's desires.
Although some of the figures for the script seemed inaccurate in some places, the spell stopped moving, and the script was set in place. Once all was ready, the caster would feed the last bit of lifeblood into the sigil before the spell would be created.
From the circle, a massive sphere of ice emerged, hovering in front of the sigil. The caster flicked their wand to hurl it toward the dummy, intentionally landing it a few feet away. Upon impact, the ice shattered, sending waves of frost and crystalline spikes cascading outward. One wave struck the dummy; although some of the damage was absorbed by a faint screen of light, the armor was hit, causing the dummy to topple over. Once the proctor confirmed the hit, the student began to celebrate their well-earned success.
This was an insightful display of magic and how it should be used. However, some weren't as lucky or skilled. Turning over towards the far end was another student, House Mythril. This one seemed to be overconfident in their skill as they began crafting their sigil, but instead of creating a singular sigil in massive size, this one decided to create multiple smaller sigils-- circles that bear the same size as a small biscuit-- and scatter them in a disorganized array in front of him. As these sigils glowed red, small spirits of fire were created from the spell and flew towards the target at breakneck speeds.
The spirits would strike the target, but the screen of light absorbed the energy from these spells without any difficulty, leaving the armor without damage and remaining untouched. This caused the proctor to confirm a fail in this part of the test before moving on with the next student.
It would be quite some time before I was called to test out my magic as well. Although lacking a focus, I had to make due somehow. When I arrived at the range, a finger tapped at my arm, pulling me out of the trance I found myself caught within my mind. Mis Maryanne was my proctor for this part of the exam and before I did begin, she walked up and whispered as best as she could.
"Knock 'em dead." She threw a thumbs up before extending a hand, offering me the space to cast magic.
I took a breath. Wondering how I could possibly complete this exam once again. I feared that if I managed to cast any sort of spell, the energy could be unstable again, and it would cause some sort of magical explosion. Unless I cast it at a smaller scale, then magic wouldn't be as dangerous...
An idea came up on my mind, and without any consideration if it was within the rules or not, I at least had to try for my own sake. With Obsidian in my hand, I took a stance. Instead of leading with the sharp end of Obsidian, I turned it around and led with the hammer side. With deep breaths to calm the nerves, I raised Obsidian up high, and as I focused lifeblood into the end of the hammer, I slammed it into the ground with as much strength as I could muster.
Instead of splitting the floor, earthen elements would envelop the point of impact, creating a small chaotic mound of frozen Enesial. My hunch worked. Since I had the material, I would drag Obsidian from the mound, breaking off pieces of it that grew around my weapon, and it was here that I focused on my spell, or at least some sort of assistance to what I wished to do afterwards.
I evoked the source of Aero, and as I did so, I recalled the instructions of speed, strength, and durability. I placed the border by the mound I had just created and once it stood by, all I had to do was feed it the remaining lifeblood to cast the spell. So I reeled Obsidian back, switching back to the sharp edge, and changed my stance. As I stepped forward, I swung Obsidian against the mound, breaking the vein and feeding it into the sigil, hoping it would work.
As the shards of frozen Enesial flew past the sigil, the energy within the debris would fade, using the unstable energy contained within to fuel the spell, and as the circuit was complete, the shards would serve as projectiles used for the spell. Instead of dropping to the floor, the shards would fly outwards at inhuman speeds, yet at unpredictable trajectories.
It was like an explosion of shrapnel that wouldn't discriminate who would be caught in the blast. Each enhanced shard would shatter against the barriers on the sides of the current column I stood in and what was left that was able to travel towards the dummy had easily bypassed the screen of light. The spell that caused it to travel might have been absorbed by the enchantment of the armor, but what was left was essentially a rock. The remaining shrapnel would either dent the armor or would pierce and be stuck within its make. The dummy wouldn't fall over, but the armor was essentially destroyed.
I turned towards Miss Maryanne, who seemed excited at the display of power and energy at first but would unfortunately have to deliver the news that I had passed the test, but with a very severe warning, a scolding, and a fee for damages...