Chapter 32

After waiting until the families had all said their tearful farewells, the academy delegation finally appeared. Erin as the highest authority had shown up, which brought the crowd to silence. She looked towards the candidates and spoke, "As I said yesterday. You are all students of the Larsille academy from this moment forward, but firstly we must test the levels of your abilities. In the academy a test like this would involve a duel with your fellow classmates, but taking into account that some of you have only just begun to learn the introduction to whichever specialisations you are apart of, we have opted to see your abilities used against a practice dummy

Fret not, if you are unable to use your abilities just yet, it will not affect your subsequent enrolment. We merely wish to see the extent of your comprehension. So please step forward and line up in single file, in front of the practice dummy that the guards have set up".

The group seemed to have been calmed down by her words, so they no longer worried that their poor performance would be detrimental to their enrolment. The candidates lined up in a rush, while Isla and Sila paced over regularly.

The test itself was nothing complicated, just see how much damage you could do to the practice dummy. The dummy had a resistance level of a white gold rank, one level higher than gold, so the academy wasn't too worried that it wouldn't be enough.

The candidates stepped forward one after the other, most left arbitrary or superficial damage to the practice dummy. They were full of excitement and pride in their attacks, but the delegation wrote down their results with a sigh.

The highest of the group that had already tested was a copper rank magician, an earth magician who had been able to leave shallow dents along a part of the dummy's body. Even those with better affinity overall were quite disappointing to the group that had witnessed the talents of the academy.

After watching these immature attacks, finally it was Isla's turn. She stepped forward towards the dummy and struck its chest with a punch. The resounding echo it left scared the crowd, only to see a concave depression surrounded by cracks right where the punch landed.

Sila stared at Isla before gesturing to her hand. Isla did feel a bit of pain from the dummy's durability, so she gave a little frown as she tensed her fist, using it as a warning for Sila.

Sila didn't care if the punch would hurt her hand, so the warning although made her feel sweet, was superfluous. She just wanted to know if Isla had been hurt, but it didn't matter, after she went, she'd go console her sister.

Walking up just as Isla had, except she didn't aim for the chest, she clenched her fist and threw a deadly hook to the face of the practice dummy. Another resounding crack appeared in the square, this time the dummy's head had been twisted to the side by the force, half of its inanimate face was caved in by the menacing punch.

The cracks between the two punches had at some point connected and as Sila walked away the cracked area shattered apart, leaving only the torso down standing there intact.

Erin hadn't expected such an outcome. She wondered if their attacks were purposeful. To join together to create as much damage as they physically could. If they did mean it, were they showing that together they were more powerful? Or that they had no intention of being separated?

Erin has seen many people and their relatives in the academy. However no matter how closely related they are, with their status, the children of these noble families are all aware that if they want the power of their respective families, they have to defeat these relatives.

This phenomena has formed a very toxic belief that only the strongest of the family is worthy to take the position as patriarch, leaving the rest either defeated, dead or unable to fight.

It's not that there are no families that believe they should love and support one another, but under the temptation of power, many fall prey to greed.

Erin glanced towards Baldwin, who was a prime example of someone who had been fighting to take the position as head of the family. His older brother is an exceptionally talented merchant, who has built a very terrifying trading hub. With his achievements, he would have to die to not take the position. It seems that he also knows this, so he's surrounded himself with very capable warriors and magicians to protect himself. He pays them exceptionally well, and has hidden their families to provide them with protection from the others who would wish him harm, but at the same time used them as a deterrent to the warriors and images, so as to not be back stabbed by them.

Erin had to say that she was really impressed with the eldest son of the Retwick family. It was no wonder that Baldwin was always so gloomy, with an eldest brother like that, how could you not be? At this point it would take a miracle for him to take the head position.

So now she wonders if these twins are different. Others may only see them punching, but those who have been in the quagmire of power their whole lives, are prone to thinking deeply about every action and word that is used. Because it might be something as simple as that, which changes the entire situation.

The twins didn't care whether their actions had brought any thoughts to the noble children. If they were to be asked if they did it on purpose. They'd only smile politely, saying they had no idea what they were talking about. Only they know the truth of the matter, and it seemed only each other's opinion mattered to them.

Sila walked over to her sister, cupping the hand that Isla had just attacked with, gently running her thumb over the strong and well defined fingers.

Isla accepted Sila's care without any expression, but she knew best that her heart had started to beat a little faster from Sila's touch.