Chapter 372 : Evaluation Before the Trial
Chapter 372: Evaluation Before the Trial
“Sorry, I just finished my morning training, so I didn’t manage to control the magic inside my body.”
Seeing the steam rising around, Soro-Flare quickly restrained his magic and gave Janna an embarrassed smile before turning his gaze away, avoiding direct eye contact with her.
“I thought it was because we hadn’t seen each other in so long that Senior wanted to give me a bit of a show of force.”
Looking at Soro-Flare’s awkward expression, Janna merely returned a polite smile, not taking it too seriously.
“Show you a display of force? With my current strength, I’m afraid I’m not qualified.”
Hearing Janna’s words that seemed meant to ease the tension, Soro-Flare’s expression was no longer as embarrassed as before. Instead, he shook his head in self-mockery.
At this, Janna stayed silent for a moment before changing the subject.
“Senior, aren’t you also going to take part in the preliminary evaluation for the White Tower Trial in a bit?”
“That’s right. So I was just planning to return to my dormitory and change clothes first—you don’t have to wait for me, just go ahead.”
“Alright, then I’ll see you at the exam grounds.”
Watching Soro-Flare leave in haste, Vivian gave a pleased little laugh.
“Looks like someone’s strength is so overwhelming it’s making upperclassmen feel inferior.”
“Let’s go.”
Since Janna didn’t respond to her remark, Vivian only shrugged. Yet, when her gaze once again fell on Soro-Flare in the distance, the smile on her lips gradually faded, leaving behind only a silent sigh.
“It’s not just him who feels inferior—”
Because they were walking, and since it was still fairly early, it took Janna and Vivian more than half an hour of stop-and-go before they finally arrived at the examination site for the preliminary evaluation—the Combat Training Field of White Coral Academy.
“Shall we go in?”
Looking at the silvery-white opaque barrier set up outside the Combat Training Field, Vivian turned her head and asked Janna.
“Let’s go in. After all, there’s only about twenty minutes left before the evaluation starts.”
As one of the biggest events of the year, at the end of each year nearly all Third Tier Wizard Apprentices of Turin’s wizarding gatherings would head to the designated exam site to participate in the preliminary evaluation for the White Tower Trial, initiated by Dordogne.
The purpose of the preliminary evaluation was to assess all eligible Third Tier Wizard Apprentices from the major wizard gatherings before the White Tower Trial itself, thereby conducting an early qualification review.
The results of the evaluation would not be announced immediately. Instead, each academy would first screen the qualifications, then allocate their share of White Tower Trial spots based on the number of apprentice slots they held, and finally send the confirmed information to Dordogne-White Tower for the next round of qualification selection.
Until all trial seeds were ultimately determined—
“I wonder how many apprentice slots White Coral Academy holds this year——”
Thinking of this, Janna couldn’t help but recall that last year, during the Darksun Apostle extermination operation in the Shadow World, Lucia-Heigel, head of Blackbone Grove, had promised Anthony-Rook to transfer one White Tower Trial apprentice slot to White Coral Academy due to the final allocation of Darksun Apostle souls.
However, Janna wasn’t sure whether Anthony-Rook had already used that additional slot at the start of this year, or if he was still saving it for next year.
“Pop—”
As Janna and Vivian stepped into the barrier together, two rippling sounds like water waves echoed in their ears. Immediately after, silver light flickered, and in the middle of the Combat Training Field, a massive silver mirror nearly three meters tall appeared before their eyes.
“What is this thing?”
Because apprentices in previous years had signed strict confidentiality contracts before participating in the White Tower Trial, even information about the preliminary evaluation was inaccessible to anyone except those who had taken part the year before.
“It should be some kind of Witch Tool used to test talent information.” Facing Vivian’s doubt, Janna shook her head and gave a reasonable guess.
“Janna, we’re over here!”
Just as the two were observing the strange mirror, Maro-Heigel, who had arrived half an hour earlier, was waving and calling loudly toward her.
“Why did you all come so early too?”
Looking toward the voice, Janna saw a few familiar peers from her grade. They had already gathered at the Combat Training Field, sitting in an area marked with the White Coral Academy emblem.
“Of course, we came early to scope out who the rival apprentices from the other two academies will be—but it looks like, aside from our academy, the others haven’t arrived yet.”
As Janna and Vivian walked closer, Maro-Heigel naturally invited them to sit beside him.
At the same time, Janna greeted those nearby, including Nia-Flare, who sat on Maro-Heigel’s other side, as well as her fellow “hometown mate” from the same lower city district, Andre Green.
“Looks like, aside from Bell, all the newly advanced Third Tier Wizard Apprentices in the class are here.”
Just as Janna said, aside from herself who had advanced to Third Tier early as a so-called “cheat player,” the prodigies of wizard families—Vivian Rose, Bell Moonshadow, Maro-Heigel, Nia-Flare—along with the rising star among common-born apprentices, Andre Green, had all recently broken through to Third Tier, barely catching up to Janna’s pace.
Among them, Vivian, who had switched from the Wizard Sequence to the Warlock Sequence, was the earliest to advance to Third Tier in this group. Still, even her progress had lagged behind Janna, the “cheat with bonus points.”
“Looks like I’m late.”
As the barrier rippled again, Bell Moonshadow arrived at the evaluation site and sat down to Janna’s left, next to Vivian.
“Why aren’t the upperclassmen here yet? Don’t tell me they all agreed to show up right on time?”
Seeing that all the Second Year Third Tier Wizard Apprentices had already gathered early, with empty spots left for other upperclassmen, Maro-Heigel muttered in puzzlement.
“I heard that today’s preliminary evaluation is being led by the principals of each academy. Maybe the upperclassmen will arrive together with Headmaster Anthony.”
As Nia-Flare’s words fell, the sound of stones dropping into water rippled across the barrier surrounding the Combat Training Field.
As the sound subsided, upperclassmen led by Grace Eva entered the field one after another, walking toward the area where Janna and the others were seated.