Marcus took three steps in succession. He almost caught up to the girl, but taking those many steps at once pushed him down to one knee. He could barely get up. Once he got up though, he consolidated his position and was ready to take another step forward to match the girl.
The girl looked back and saw that Marcus had almost caught up to him. She decided to immediately take another step forward without any rest. She took a step forward and felt a huge burden on her body, but she kept going.
She took another step forward and suddenly realized that she had pushed herself too far. She was pushed back by the pressure and was falling to the ground.
A pair of hands caught her body while she was falling down. The hands gently dropped her to the ground.
"You should be more careful," a calm voice said from behind her.
She looked back and saw a handsome boy with flowing black hair. His striking blue eyes seemed to look into her.
Leo smiled and looked at Marcus. "How's it going?" He asked.
Marcus smiled bitterly. He was struggling to maintain his body under the pressure, but Leo seemed to be perfectly fine. He wasn't even breaking a sweat. At this point, the examiners stopped the exam.
"We are done. Everyone who is on the 1st level can leave." They said. They immediately walked to the three people who managed to make it to the 4th level.
Out of everyone, Leo had taken the most time to get there, but he was in the best condition by a mile. Even though he wasn't fast, he clearly could go further if he wanted to. He just chose to stroll through the platform without any hurry, so he ended up in the same position as the other two.
"It is incredibly commendable that the three of you made it this far. We have very high expectations for you," Maria said. Lisa just nodded.
"Thanks," Marcus smiled widely.
"You can go to the next stage. Asher will handle that stage for you," she said.
The girl who was on the ground got up from her state. She looked at Leo and nodded. "Thanks for helping me," she said meekly. She then scurried away without any trace of the arrogant look she had when she first walked into the place.
Leo and Marcus also walked behind her. They rejoined the group of people who got past the first test. In total, there were 462 people who got to the next round, with more than 300 of them being 1st Circle Aura Knights.
Leo realized that he and Marcus were among 10 Late-Stage 1st Circle Aura Knights. Everyone else was weaker than them. He was surprised that the level of the supposed famous academy only attracted this much talent.
They walked along with the group that followed Maria to the second test. When they got to the test area, Leo looked around for the examiner. He quickly found where he was. Asher was sitting on a tree, observing the group.
When Leo looked at Asher, he locked eyes with him. Asher immediately knew that Leo had found him within seconds of them reaching the testing area. Leo cursed in his mind and looked away. He forgot that he wasn't supposed to have that good perception as a 1st Circle Aura Knight.
Asher was sitting on the tree, observing the new candidates for the academy with curiosity. He wanted to see if there were any interesting people like the ones he saw a couple of hours ago. When he looked at the particular candidate, he saw that he was already looking at him.
Asher was surprised that the kid had already found him among all of the surroundings. Even 3rd Circle Aura Knights didn't have that level of observation, but a 1st Circle Aura Knight could do it in seconds.
He decided to reveal himself after thinking about it for a second.
"Thank you, Maria. I will take it from here." He said.
He looked at everyone. "I will be conducting your next test, and overseeing your final test along with the other examiners."
Everyone looked prepared for what they were supposed to do, but they couldn't expect what it was going to be. The place they were at was some sort of area for competing. There were multiple stone arenas around the place, each 20 meters by 20 meters.
He looked at the group and said, "Form a line."
It took them 5 minutes to neatly adjust themselves into a line. After they did, he gave them further instructions.
"You will now perform any one of your aura techniques in front of me," he said. "If it is not at a sufficient mastery, then you won't pass this round."
He seemed pretty serious when he said this, so Leo was surprised. He didn't think they would judge how good they were at executing aura techniques just to enter the academy. Wasn't that what was supposed to be taught to them after they got into the academy?
He saw the first person in the line walk to the arena. They looked at Asher and said, "But I don't have my weapon with me."
Asher said, "You are not allowed to use weapons. Execute your technique without a weapon."
The clueless person attempted to use his aura technique, but it failed. He normally used a sword, but without the sword, he didn't know what to do with the aura. He couldn't improvise in time for this. He couldn't even coat his hand with aura since he had never tried it.
Asher looked unimpressed. "Next," he said.
The next person came onto the stage and tried to use her aura technique, but she also failed. As did the person after that. A total of 20 people failed before someone was able to use their technique without a weapon.
They simply coated their own hand with aura and released it as a slash.
"Good. You pass," he said.
Time went by and out of hundreds of people, only dozens seemed to make the cut. By the time it was Leo's turn, 300 people had attempted to finish the task, and only 46 of them managed to pass. Almost all of the Apprentice Aura Knights automatically failed because none of them knew how to use any Aura Techniques.
While this seemed unfair to them since most Aura Techniques were for 1st Circle Aura Knights or above, there were Aura Techniques that they could learn. They just chose not to learn them and thus failed the test.
There was a single Apprentice Aura Knight who did know how to use an Aura Technique. She even knew how to execute it without a weapon, so she was able to pass the test.
As for Leo, he wasn't worried. He knew that he had enough control over his aura that he could use it without a sword. He had even done it a few times before. He got ready to show his aura technique to Asher, but he stopped him.
"Wait. For you, it's different. You have to use a Bow and Arrow," Asher said.
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