65 Chapter 61 - Arcana Academy Entrance Exams I
Following the teleportation of their all their wards, parents and guardians, along with various individuals from far and wide who had come to witness the very first entrance exam that Arcana Academy was organizing, were immediately ushered and guided to the venue where the exams would take place.
The venue where the exams would take place could be described in simple terms as a sprawling stadium that was two times wider than an actual standard stadium and three times longer than it.
The plain grassy fields of the stadium however, was instead replaced with a mixture of open grassy plains, thickets of small forest-like regions, small streams and small rocky regions too, all specially designed by the academy itself to evoke the feeling of a miniature island arena.
Surrounding this miniature island arena was a transparent yet crystalline-like curved dome that surrounded the arena's wide expanse, a structure that was put in place to provide the onlookers who sat around the arena on their respective seats a clear view of all that was going on and also protect them from stray spells the candidates could release.
In addition to this eye-catching and stylized landscape was a humongous holographic screen, it's screens split into various regions of the arena to provide a panoramic view of everything that would be taking place in the arena.
But even as everyone settled down in their seats while waiting with feverish excitement and anticipation for the exam to begin, they all could not deny that they were immensely curious about the black, rectangular floating structure with finely curved edges that was just below the crystalline dome that surrounded the arena.
Soon enough though, in just over three minutes as they eagerly waited for the exams to begin, the structure suddenly disintegrated to reveal a genuinely shocking sight.
What followed from the audience's reaction were looks of immense shock, audible gasps, confusion and undoubtedly, unparalleled excitement as they all watched the previously transported candidates, free-falling from the sky.
Yes, all the candidates were free-falling from the sky and towards the ground at a rapid speed, seemingly with no way of landing safely on the arena.
"You all weren't expecting that, were you?!" Derek's animated voice boomed like a cascading wave through the audience stands.
"That's what makes this so exciting! Unexpected situations!" the young announcer continued with a contagious yet gleeful excitement.
"So, how will our candidates survive this sudden curveball? Only way to find out is to keep watching!" Derek commented and exclaimed like a seasoned commentator that was trying to ramp up everyone's excitement.
***
(A few seconds just after every candidate was teleported)
"Where are we?!"
"And why is it so dark?!"
"Surely, this isn't where the exam will take place is it?!"
"I can't see shit! What is this place even?!"
"At least we can hear each other's voices. It'd suck so bad if we couldn't hear ourselves!"
15:37
"Yeah, let's just stay calm…"
As all the youths who were mass transported into a floating rectangular dark structure, still currently unknown to them, were making remarks, lamenting and voicing their opinions about the weird situation they were currently in, a sudden gleefully animated voice rang through the expansive and completely dark space they were in.
"Welcome, aspiring rankers, to Arcana Academy's entrance exams!"
"I know you guys can't see a thing but don't worry. You're safe, for now…" the gleeful voice continued with an almost concealed snicker.
'Did he just snicker or was that just me? Well it is Derek after all so I wouldn't put that past him' Flynn inwardly asked and responded to himself following the last statement the gleeful voice made.
"Now, although the details surrounding how this exam is supposed to play out have been giving to you all in your invitation letters, let's reiterate it briefly just in case"
"The arena your exams will be taking place at, will be teeming with danger and robotic variants of popular fissure monsters created by the Academy's top engineers" Derek began.
"Use any means at your disposal to win against them!"
"Once you're moved to the arena, you'd better be prepared for anything!" he continued explaining.
"Your main goal for this exam is survival! Survive till the timer runs down!"
"You're also permitted to attack yourselves but trust me when I say this…"
"You won't even have time for that!" Derek stated with a delighted clap that resounded through the expanse of the dark structure.
"A marking spell has also been placed on all of you from the moment you were transported here so don't be too worried about fatal injuries"
"You'd immediately be taken out of the arena before anything minutely fatal can happen!"
"I should remind you once again though…" Derek said with a thoughtful tone.
"Passing or failing, you'd still be accepted into the academy…"
"Why then is the Academy organizing this exam you ask?" Derek questioned, seemingly with a tone that implied that he knew the exact reason why.
His next answer however, really got on a lot of people's nerves, especially because they thought he'd be kind enough to explain just why an entrance exam was included in this year's enrollment.
"Who cares as long as I'm enjoying this! Your sufferi-… Ahem! I mean your battles will be fun to experience so make sure to go all out!"
"Damn you Derek!" some candidates cursed in annoyance.
"You cheeky bastard!" a few others voiced in resentment
"My my! Are you guys complimenting me? That's so nice of you!' the top-hat wearing announcer responded happily to the few insults that were thrown at him.
"I'd love to accept more compliments but I digress. Let's get back to the main topic" he continued.
'Just as I remember him. A real menace to say the least…' Aiden smiled to himself while shaking his head in resignation at Derek's words.
"In just ten seconds, your exams will commence so begin that countdown in your heads!"
"10, 9, 8, 7… Oh, before you go guys, I should give you one more advice!" Derek suddenly stopped counting and said, almost as if he remembered something really important.
"Think fast!"
The moment those words left his mouth, the dark space immediately disintegrated to reveal the beautiful white clouds and blue sky, along with a crystalline dome that was just above the now surprised yet very confused candidates.
Almost immediately though, all of the candidates' confusions were very short-lived as they soon realized that they were free-falling from the sky, several meters above the ground!
"Aaaaahhhhh!!!"
"Fuuuccckkkk!!!"
"That damn bastard!!!"
"Screw you Derek!!!"
"Muuuummmmyyy!!!"
So many different forms of frightened shouts, annoyed curses and screeching cries for help could be heard from so many wards as they fell downwards from the sky with no idea of how they were going to land safely.
Although there were all super-humans and they could tank the fall if they wanted to, they all knew instinctively that falling from a height like this wouldn't leave them with just small injuries.
It also did not help that if the marking spell placed on them considered their fall a fatal injury, they would immediately be taken out of the arena without even getting the chance to show off their skills.
Also, even though the Academy had made it known to them several times that as long as they participated in the entrance exam, they'd be admitted without issues, the pride of most of these youths which were brimming with determination, courage and immense hopes and dreams for the future, would not allow for them to take it easy.
Coupled with that was a thirst to prove themselves worthy of being admitted to the most prestigious academy in the world.
They wanted to prove to both everyone and themselves, that they weren't just admitted just because they were of age to attend the academy but because they had the strength and willpower to see their academy life through till the end.
Soon enough, different youths began to pull out different spells out of their arsenal to either lessen their fall damage as much as possible or even completely mitigate it.
Some youths however, just had much flashier spells than others and their immense skills immediately stood out, causing the crowd to go wild with excitement!
The pair most people were now actively interested in, had been the first to pull out a massive spell.
Ivar and Ivelia, as if almost coordinated, separately and simultaneously summoned individual towering yet smooth sliding walls of earth far from the ground from the moment they had started falling, causing both of them to reposition themselves properly and gracefully slide down to the ground, almost as if on a rollercoaster ride.
Although their spell had ended up creating a pathway for so many other candidates, they didn't really care because first and foremost, their survival was necessary.
Next up was Caroline who had summoned a large gigantic green vine which jutted from the ground and had multiple red roses blooming all around the wide expanse of its body with her [Floral Series].
The ruby-eyed lady had then used her daggers which she usually kept for close-range combat, as opposed to her retractable bladed whip which was her main weapon, and stuck it into the sides of the vine while sliding downwards to the ground.
She too just like Ivelia and Ivar had ended up creating a pathway for a lot of people.
However, as if to prove people's beliefs about her foxy nature right, the harmless-looking and inviting giant vine, suddenly began to jut out hardened green spikes from its sides, leaving only Caroline's pathway harmless while causing other candidates who had latched onto her gigantic rosy vine to either be immediately disqualified or thrown off of it and back into the air.
Through all this, Caroline had a sly smile that hung on her face as she continued sliding downwards harmlessly.
Ben Steelblade had also ended up summoning a tall yet steep green diamond-like structure to also slide down harmlessly, a trademark of their families [Diamond Series] which was a much stronger variant of the [Earth Series].
Other candidates who also caught the attention of the now roaring crowd included the prince and princess of the nation of Arcadia as they summoned azure birds which seemed more akin to flaming phoenixes to transport themselves safely to the ground with their [Azure Series].
Lucas on the other had immediately transformed into a trail of blue lightning as he streaked through the sky with his [Lightning Series] towards the rocky plains of the arena.
Amelia and Bryan however had also used their [Nova Series], a stronger variant of the [Light Series], to transform themselves at intervals, into streams of white light particles, almost as if disintegrating and reintegrating as they phased through the air till they reached the ground.
As the crowd was getting immensely entertained by just how talented a lot of their generation's youths were, a good bunch of them watched as a certain black-haired youth and along with a silvery green-haired youth who were very much far away from each other, tucked both of their hands into their pockets even as they kept free-falling and nearing the ground every ticking second, that too without a single change in their normal expressions.
'What are they up to?'
'Had the Belmont brothers given up on the exams?'
'Yes, they could take the fall, but wasn't that too reckless?'
Those were the various thoughts that they had on their minds but soon enough, their minds changed once they saw just how both brothers had landed gracefully but without anything remotely flashy.
Flynn upon getting about twenty meters close to the ground had casually activated his [Force Field] spell and had made its properties bouncy and flexible.
As a result, when he came in contact with the ground, his [Force Field] spell had caused him to bounce upwards once more and he immediately did a single flip while discontinuing the spell and landed gracefully in a crouching position, all in a matter of seconds.
Aiden on the hand had coated his entire body with mana and had activated his [Zero] spell just inches away from reaching the ground, and then, discontinued the spell almost immediately, causing him to land gently onto the grassy plains, still with his hands in his pockets.
To the onlookers however, it seemed as if he slightly levitated for a few seconds and then landed on the ground like a hover car would.
Some candidates however were not so fortunate to land on the arena safely and were immediately surrounded by a shimmering white light which then promptly took them out of the arena and into the rooms designated for healing and first aid.
Now, as most candidates were now on the ground and lot of them were rejoicing at their success, a big explosion shook the arena, immediately disqualifying a good chunk of them in an instant!
-BOOOOM!!!
Yes! Finally! I've brought the menace named Derek Loyster to life!
(O ^ ~ ^ O)
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