The Pagna warriors were starting to feel the pressure settle deep in their bones. They had known this was coming, they'd talked about it. That at some point, they would have to pretend to use magic for the assessment.

But knowing it was coming and being prepared were two very different things.

None of them had actually worked out a plan.

It wasn't like Raze could just snap his fingers and teach them magic overnight. For this test… they were on their own.

"Alright, you, the big one! You look confident. Step up first!" Professor Luka called out, his voice carrying across the open field.

Out of all the people he could've picked… it was Dame who stepped forward.

"Ah, crap," Liam whispered, eyes wide. "Wouldn't it have been better if they picked Raze first?"

"I don't know… maybe it's a good thing," Beatrix replied. "I mean, look how confident he is. If he pulls it off, maybe we can all just follow his lead."

Inside the classrooms nearby, students pressed their faces to the windows, watching with curiosity. Whenever new mages arrived, there was always the hope, maybe this one would be different. Maybe someone with a special kind of magic would show up and shake things up.

"I wonder what kind of magic he'll use."

"Yeah, I hope it's something unique. There are so many wind magic specialists lately. It's getting kinda boring."

Out on the field, Dame stood strong and still. His eyes stared directly ahead.

"State your magic core!" Luka demanded.

"My magic core…" Dame shouted back. "Is wind magic!"

Dame clenched his fists, hard. He began to gather Qi into his body. The shift in energy was subtle, but those sensitive enough could feel the hum of power building up.

His gauntlets allowed him to channel Qi blasts, something only Divine Realm warriors were capable of. But in this situation, he couldn't use those. He'd have to rely purely on the raw force of his own body.

There would be no finesse. No technique. Just one solid punch.

"Qiiiii!" Dame shouted, and the rest of the group instinctively slapped their foreheads in unison.

"Wind… Windy… Windy Qiiii!"

And with that declaration, Dame's fist launched forward, smashing through the air. The impact created a powerful shockwave that erupted directly in front of him.

The first golem shattered instantly. The second one crumbled under the force, while the third cracked in half, chunks of dirt collapsing to the ground.

Dame froze for a moment, his eyes flickering toward Luka, hoping for some sort of reaction. Anything.

The professor's face remained unreadable.

Inside the school building, the students were murmuring to each other, some leaning out of their open windows to hear better.

"'Windy Qi'? What kind of spell is that? I've never heard of anything like it."

"To be fair, I don't think I've ever seen a spell do that either. It didn't slice or cut like normal wind magic, it obliteratedthose golems."

"Right? I wonder how it would hold up in an actual fight… Did he create that spell himself?"

Their curiosity was piqued.

While most couldn't tell what had really happened, Raze could.

Qi was difficult for mages to detect, it lived inside the body, unlike mana or elemental magic, which radiated externally. Unless a person used visible Qi, most mages wouldn't even notice it.

But Raze could. And Dame had done a solid job selling it, passing off his Qi as a raw, destructive form of wind magic.

It was clever. And more importantly, convincing.

'If that performance were evaluated by the Central Academy,' Raze thought, 'it would be enough to get him through the entrance gates.'

"Next one… You, come forward," Luka said, pointing now at Beatrix.

"M-me?" she stammered, eyes wide. She shuffled forward nervously.

Of all of them, Beatrix felt the most anxious. Fear clung to her like a second skin. What if she failed? What if they told her she wasn't good enough to enter the academy? What would she even do then?

"Begin!" Luka barked, slamming his foot on the ground. The six golems reformed in their exact positions from before.

"Uhh… wind core!" Beatrix shouted, mirroring Dame's earlier declaration.

She took the same stance. Qi gathered in her fists, her hands trembling slightly as she focused all of her energy into the next moment.

"Qiiii… Windy… Qiii!" she yelled, almost identically to how Dame had.

Her fist crashed forward, and the shockwave tore across the ground. The first golem shattered, then the second, then the third was completely destroyed. A large chunk of the fourth one crumbled apart as well.

Dame blinked, stunned.

"Her strike was stronger than mine?" he muttered to himself. He wasn't using his full power, of course, but still. He hadn't expected that.

The others didn't know what had happened to Beatrix recently. Not entirely. But even she had held back just a little.

Professor Luka looked at her carefully. His expression was harder to read now, there was a trace of disappointment… but also curiosity.

"Umm… we're from the same family," Beatrix blurted out nervously. "Me and Dame, I mean. So we know the same spells. He's my brother. I just wanted to beat him in this test at least… I hope that's okay."

She bowed politely and stepped back.

Surprisingly, Raze thought that was a pretty clever way to sell it. It made enough sense that the professor wouldn't push further.

But then… trouble began to stir.

"Next person," Luka said, his gaze scanning the group before locking on a specific target. "You. The one with the eyepatch. You've been making faces and whispering non-stop, so I'm expecting something from you."

Liam stiffened. Slowly, he walked forward, his steps deliberate.

As he took position, the golems once again rose from the earth.

'Judging by the professor's face,' Liam thought, 'my system tells me he was impressed with the last two. So if I do something similar, I should be fine, right?'

Luka crossed his arms, watching him closely.

"Alright," he said, narrowing his eyes. "Show me what you've got. And it better not be another… 'Windy Qi.'"

****

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