Seen Through

"Thank you all for having me." The mage in question seemed to be used to the attention as he smiled warmly at the seven children. "I am here to see how well you all will do. If you impress me I will make sure to gift you a spell related to your element! Of course, this spell will be part of my personal collection."

Ambrose and Lily glanced at each other as they started talking again with their eyes.

'He is trying to bait us right?'

'Definitely. He might be expecting us to not try at all so this is his way of tricking children.'

'So same plan?'

'Same Plan.'

Seeing that David finished talking, Maria smiled and started the test. They didn't have to walk anywhere special as in the middle of the chapel was where the test was set up.

There were two staffs with clear glass orbs on top sitting on some pillows. On a the east and west walls there was a target set up. It was clear it was set up for two people to take the test at the same time.

"Alright. The first test is all about seeing your focus controlling Mana.

We will be starting from the best talent to the worst talent. So, Lily and Ambrose please come here and pick up the staff.

All you have to do focus your Mana into the orb at the top and shoot what you can at the target."

The twins looked at each other as they suddenly felt very nervous. They had planned to go last so they could understand better what average is.

Ambrose wasn't going to risk it and asked directly, "Miss Maria? Can we go last?"

Maria gave her characteristic motherly smile, "I am afraid not. We have always done it like this and we can't change it simply because you two are nervous. You have to understand everyone here is a little nervous so please just do your best!" 

Seeing Maria's encouraging expression made the twins feel bitter. Still, taking a deep breath, each of them grabbed a staff. Again they felt a warm sensation pass through their body as they suddenly felt like they knew exactly how the staff worked. Both of them thought the same thing as they felt they knew what to do.

'So it is about focusing energy? People with less talent likely can't focus their Mana into the orb, so... I should just insert a little energy to seem less talented... right?' x2

"Alright, please shoot it and just do your best."

Hearing the signal they closed their eyes and put on fake signs of struggle as they inserted a little energy into the staff. The energy then flowed into the orb smoothly and then shot out a streak of colorful light! 

Lily shot out a blue green light. Ambrose shot out a purple green light. Yet these streaks of of light stayed fairly uniform, but quickly died down and fell short of hitting the target.

Lily smiling internally spoke with a sad tone, "Looks like we don't have that much control over our Mana..."

Ambrose feeling giddy hid his joy as he supported his sister, "Yeah, we probably barely have average control."

The Academy mage who was watching both of them suddenly burst out in laughter, "HAHA! I can't believe you two thought that was the way to have average control! HAHAHA!"

Maria who was mostly focused on Lily felt speechless. With a soft chuckle, she explained, "I understand you both don't want to go to the Academy, but this isn't helping your case. If you really did have average control over your mana, the power you shot out wouldn't be so straight."

David eventually controlled his laughter as he spoke while wiping a tear, "You both can control your output to a point where it appeared like you didn't have much Mana. You don't appear to be tired at all so I know you have plenty more Mana. The Mana didn't ark at all so overall I would say you both get perfect scores for this test."

The twins who were feeling proud inside suddenly felt like the world was falling apart. Quickly turning around the looked at each other with question marks.

The lead didn't keep them waiting as she spoke, "You both can watch how others do and you will understand what we mean."

Looking downtrodden, the twins walked to a corner of the room and watched as the next two kids walked up.

"Carmilla and Rudy, please come up and take a staff."

Soon the twins saw why they were so foolish. Carmilla who had condensed 484 drops and almost reached high grade talent showed them how truly exceptional they were. Unlike them who could control how much energy they used, Carmilla could only input all her energy! Rudy was the same as he inserted all his energy.

What really stood out though was what shot out of the staffs. Instead of a steady streak of light. Carmilla had a beam as thick as an adult's thigh with several different strands of light spreading out from the beam of light.

What was even more telling was the Element effects. Unlike the twin's light who only had the element's colors, Carmilla's light seemed to create earth all around making the area seem earthy where she shot.

Rudy who was less talented still had a beam as thick as an adult's arm, but with even more streaks of light going everywhere! He looked like he didn't have any control at all! His light beam was more like a gasoline fire than an elemental beam of light.

Seeing this the twins suddenly felt like the world was hollow. To make matters worse the two testers seemed to be completely drained as they seemed as if they had run ten miles without water. 

The other testers didn't make the situation seem better. Each of these testers didn't even condense a hundred drops! Their light wasn't even truly a beam as it seemed that they used mist setting on a hose to shoot out their elements. A hose of earth, air, and water.