Arcane Academy: The Divine Extraction Legacy

Chapter 906: Finding Talents



Armin felt a bit nervous after realizing that it was finally his turn to get assessed. There were a total of five tents where there was a group of examiners to assess them. He also noticed the

four other enrollees like him, and as expected, they were also nervous.

This made him feel a lot better.

"Right... Everyone is just like me... It's also their first time coming here. I can do this." He muttered to himself. In any case, he believed that this academy wasn't looking at the background of their enrollees when assessing the talent of their students. What was important was the result of their own assessment.

After calming down, Armin stepped forward as he was guided by one of the attendants... Looking at it closely, he realized that this figure was probably the rumored metal golem.

It was quite an interesting sight...

Anyway, he had to erase his random thoughts and focus. Armin's heart pounded as he entered the examination tent.

Inside, five examiners sat behind a long table, each one cloaked in dark robes bearing the emblem of Marshall Academy: a silver raven surrounded by arcane symbols.

Their presence wasn't too imposing as he had expected, and they even seemed welcoming.

They each looked at him with a calm gaze. They seemed relaxed as they measured his worth with their eyes alone.

Armin took a deep breath as he confirmed that Professor Zeno wasn't part of the examiners. They were all quite young, around the age of 30.

The first examiner was a man with graying hair. He gestured for Armin to approach the Spirit Converging Crystal on a platform in the middle of the room.

This Crystal was renowned for its ability to reveal the strength of one's spiritual energy-a fundamental trait for Arcanists. However, there are already some changes with this item for more accurate results. To be exact, this Crystal was specially made for those pursuing the Dark Arts.

They confirmed his name first before they started.

"Place your hands on the crystal," the examiner instructed. His voice was calm, so Armin felt grateful about this.

Armin smiled and gently nodded before he placed both hands on the Crystal.

He felt a slight tingle in his palms as his spiritual energy began to flow into the Crystal. The Crystal hummed softly, and slowly, seven white strands appeared within, swirling like tendrils of smoke. Furthermore, there seemed to be a few black orbs within... He didn't count them as they disappeared swiftly.

'Seven strands... Amazing...' Armin smiled. It wasn't too great, but not that terrible either. It was the same for the Examiners. They just nodded, unimpressed but not disappointed. "Seven strands," he noted aloud, scribbling on a parchment in front of him. "Moderate strength, typical of a new Arcanist. Strong enough to proceed but with room to grow."

Armin exhaled quietly. While he had hoped for a higher number, he reminded himself that he wasn't alone-many students would have similar results. Besides, this was only the first part of the exam.

"Let's move to the next assessment," the second examiner said, gesturing to a table at the back of the tent.

Armin followed, noting the odd assortment of items laid out-a vial of ink, a small knife, a black feather, and a silver mirror.

This examiner, a younger woman with large, dark eyes, explained, "You should be able to enter your Phantasm State.... But to excel in Dark Arts, you must have control over your Dark Energy. This test requires you to shape the dark energy into a symbol of your choice, using nothing but your intent. Stand in front of the silver mirror to help you with your concentration."

Normally, it requires a Dark Manipulation Spell to control the darkness; however, as long as you have talent in the Dark Path, this could also be done but with very limited duration and level of control. With the mirror, they would have an easier time to focus.

Armin nodded and followed the examiner's instructions... Soon, his mind focused-he'd practiced basic Dark Energy control before but never to this degree. He closed his eyes, visualizing a bird.

Concentrating, he pushed his Dark Energy, shaping it with his mind. Slowly, in front of a mirror, a shadow or the darkness shifted. This darkness seemed to be blurring and stretching until it formed a rough, bird-like shape. The image wasn't perfect-the wings were uneven, and the beak slightly misshapen-but it was recognizable.

To be honest, Armin didn't know that he could actually do something like this.

Poof...

In just four seconds after it formed, the formed energy he made disappeared.

The examiners nodded approvingly. "Not bad. Control will come with time. You've passed this stage."

Feeling a surge of pride, Armin turned his attention to the next examiner for the third exam. The next examiner was a middle-aged woman.

"This test is about resilience against the possible corruption brought by the Darkness Possession. The possibility is not low, but it is still possible. You have to consume that vial of dark liquid for this exam." she explained.

'So that's not an ink? That's some sort of potion?' Armin mused.

"You'll need to have strong resilience as well if you want to use Phantasm State for more than an hour in one cast in the future.

She then uncapped the vial for Armin. "Drink it, and remain standing. This potion induces mild phantasmal disorientation-an illusionary effect similar to the energy strain you'll experience in intense dark arts training. Let's see how long you can resist its effects."

Armin hesitated only briefly before taking the vial and downing its contents. Almost immediately, his vision blurred, and the tent seemed to twist around him. Shadows lengthened and darkened, and he felt a dizzying sensation, as though the ground was shifting beneath his feet.

***

"So it's starting... This new method of examination is really weird." A man with a draconicNôv(el)B\\jnn

aura said.

During all of this examination, there were two figures who were actually monitoring everything that was happening within the tents.

"Chad, you're here... Do you want to take my position? I don't think that there will be trouble here. I'd rather check out the Chaos Arts Tower today." Denise said as she looked bored monitoring the situation...

"Well, isn't that because Vale was there, training?" Chad said with a chuckle as he looked at Denise who was about to hit him.