Chapter 52: Awakened Exams

Keyes nodded toward the barrier squares that he had set up, and two of the other team members set up cameras, while the teachers took out a set of sensors. "These measure energy disturbances. They will give us a pretty good idea of how much power you are using on each attack. We would like you to use all your power on each strike, even if you know that it will break the barrier. There is a sensor dummy behind that, made of armoured plate, and it will measure the residual impact if your attack isn't dissipated." The teacher explained. "That should be simple enough. I will send a full strength Rend at each of them, and we will see what the barriers say." Karl agreed. As soon as he stopped speaking, Karl sent the first attack at the barrier that should be ten percent of the mage's total power. The barrier shattered without any hesitation, and the plating behind the barrier lit up with the impact. "Not bad. Keep up the pace, and then we will have you continue your attacks on the barrier that you can't break to test your endurance." The teacher reminded him. The second attack likewise shattered the barrier without issue, but the third left the Rend attack visibly dimmed. The fourth barrier seemed for an instant like it was going to hold, but it also flickered and collapsed, nullifying the attack the same way that Karl had been nullifying attacks against the school's mages during practice for the last two weeks. After seeing that, Karl knew that a simple Rend was not going to take out the next barrier, no matter what he tried to do, and the teacher wouldn't call multiple concurrent attacks a win for actual attack power. So, he held the Rend on the claws of his new gauntlets, and slashed at the barrier with his hand. The brute force did what the ability alone could not, and the fifth barrier cracked, but held together for two attacks, and only collapsed when Karl hit it a third time. Karl coated the claws on both gauntlets and fiercely attacked the sixth barrier, leaving claw marks on the magical shield that quickly reformed to a smooth surface. For ten minutes, Karl beat on the magical barrier with no sign of it collapsing, then he stepped back to catch his breath. "That's what I've got." He informed the professors and the gathered Special Forces team. The Special Forces team leader nodded in satisfaction before speaking. "Impressive, combining the skill with a physical attack noticeably increased the total damage output, and you've still got your pet in reserve. There is no doubt that you are at the Awakened level. Being able to reliably break the third barrier until you are exhausted would be enough for that. If you could have gotten through the fifth in a single attack every time, we would call it the minimum for Ascended, but you're not quite there yet, even with the physical and magical combined. We allow the warriors to enchant their swords, so the methodology is sound. You have our certification that you are indeed an Awakened Rank Elite." The teachers and Sergeant Rita conferred for a moment, and then the longer haired of the two nondescript teachers cleared his throat. "The teaching staff is in agreement. You are promoted to the Awakened Rank." He declared. "Student Dana, please step forward to begin your test." Sergeant Rita requested as the Special Forces mage recast the spells. The team leader leaned over to whisper to Karl as Dana mentally prepared. "The reason it has to be one attack is that if there was an actual mage on the other side of that barrier, they would be reinforcing it constantly to keep their defences up. If you can't break it in one shot, you can't hurt the mage." That made a lot of sense. The Commander Rank mage on the Special Forces team had just put the barriers there, he wasn't doing anything to upkeep them. But a magical beast with a barrier ability wouldn't let you just keep attacking without even trying to defend itself. Unfortunately for Dana, Magic Missile wasn't well suited to this test, or to combatting creatures with magical barriers. It was more of a multi target, dispersed damage type of ability. But it could be condensed to fire all the mana she could gather into a single spell. It would be best if she held back a bit until she knew what she needed to break the barrier, though. Unlike Karl, who had an easy time using multiple Rend attacks, her magic drained her stamina rapidly at full output. But she focused her Magic Missile into a single full power bolt and shattered the first two barriers in rapid succession, then the third, which nearly nullified her missile, but which shattered smoothly enough that the teachers gave a satisfied nod. "You can split it into multiple missiles, and we will still count it as one casting. We understand the limiting nature of the spell." The professor encouraged her. So, the fourth was a barrage of five missiles, the last two of which made it through the broken barrier, but the fifth remained solidly intact, only glowing briefly the same way that the sixth had for Karl. She tried multiple attacks, long sustained barrages, heavy single attacks, but nothing worked. The fifth barrier simply wouldn't break for her. "That's good. We have seen enough to know that you can sustain Awakened Rank magical output. Congratulations, Student Dana, you have been promoted to the standing of Awakened Rank Mage." Cheers went up all over the waiting rooms, as the two first year students were officially promoted, and the teachers handed over the black embroidered student badges to go on their jackets. "You're not free yet. I still want those reports done, and that means you too, Mister I'm Special Forces now and too cool to call my family on the holidays." Sergeant Rita added, looking at one of the team members with a hard glare. The entire team burst into laughter at that, and Karl marvelled at the twist of fate that must have been for their relatives. Having two successful awakenings in the same family was incredibly rare, from what Karl knew. But then it could just be that there weren't many big families in the mining town, so it just hadn't happened to anyone he knew. It was quite possible that certain families had much more luck than the average in awakening their talents. The so-called blessed families, as the Nobility referred to themselves, but for a compatibility with the serum, and not their relation to Royalty.