13 The First Phase

The air buzzed with excitement, it was the wish of many to attain the rank and title of an Essenmage, to the commoners it was a way to protect their loved ones. The rewards that came from becoming an Essenmage was that they automatically gained permission to join any organization of their choice.

In this world, a single Essenmage couldn't possibly defeat an entire army of paradoxes so they banned together and formed an alliance or group for which to hunt this creatures and defend mankind if the paradoxes should ever invade once again. As time passed this organizations grew and evolved, as powerful Essenmages originating from the nobles and royalty arose and joined this organizations, the strength and popularity of the organizations grew as well.

For the commoners, the Essenmages exams were a perfect opportunity to get a chance to join this organizations if that is they are able to prove themselves worthy of joining.

Among all organizations, there were three who surpassed all in terms of ranks and strength. The Raging Phoenix organization, the Black Jaguar and finally the organization that reigned supreme over all; The Crimson Fire organization.

All the participants were led into the examination center where a magnitude of crowd including the King himself had come to watch and witness the unveiling of new Essenmages. Countless opportunities were presented as one could even attain the rights to be called an Essenknight is he or she found favor in the king's eyes.

From the stage in the hall, a young man who appeared to be in his twenties stepped forward to address the gathering, he had a slender body along with black hair and eyes.

"Welcome all to the 12th annual Essenmage exams, I am your examiner throughout the course of this exams, Ford Maxwell. As you all know Essence is our will, our reason to fight back even knowing what exactly we are fighting against. There's no telling what we are up against but there's one thing we know for certain...." Ford paused, attempting to build up suspense within the participants.

"You wouldn't be here if you didn't know the risks involved! You wouldn't be here if you didn't know what is at stake! You wouldn't be if you weren't ready to sacrifice your life to protect all you hold sacred to you! Now my Essence wielders are you ready to give your all for the good of mankind!? Are you ready to throw everything you have and take down this paradoxes!? Are you willing to do whatever it takes to ensure mankind's continued existence!?" Ford exclaimed, attempting to raise the spirits of the participants.

"Yeah!!!!" The highly riled up participants responded to his speech.

"Then let the Essenmages exams begin!" Ford exclaimed as an uproar emerged within the fired up participants.

Seated above the hall and watching from above from a balcony in two gold encrusted thrones was Prince Julius and his father, King Julius the third. The current ruler of the Ronowa empire.

"Are all this outbursts necessary father?" Julius asked, feeling a bit revolted by the commentary actions of Ford.

"Why is Ford encouraging people to risk their lifes even when he knows the chances of our victory might be slim?" He added.

"My dear son, look closely." The king said plainly. When the participants came in, most of them were more than determined to do anything just to qualify for the title of the Essenmage.

"You see, we humans are driven by motives and the more we let those motives devour us whole we lose sight of who we are. When this people came in here you could tell they were willing to do anything, even go against their own set morals just to pass the exams. They lost sight of why they wanted to become Essenmages in the first place and were driven solely by instinct. A goal built only by desire without the necessary morals to guide it is bound to fail." The king said, quietly watching the progress of the exams from his throne.

Julius found wisdom in his words, however he found it a bit to unrealistic. In the real world men were forced to go beyond the extreme even if their entire existence was against it. That was the sad fact about the real world.

Ford cleared his throat, and waited patiently for the participants to reduce their outburst in response to his speech. As they finally did, he walked away from stage as he made his final announcement.

"The first phase will begin any moment from now." He said as he exited the stage and the hall as well.

"That was actually an encouraging speech if I do say so myself." A voice spoke from behind Selena and Rai, it was a man, another participant in the exams.

"Yeah, honestly I was a bit scared. I mean why wouldn't I be, I'm surrounded by so many nobles and royalties who are participating in the exams so I don't think I even be able to progress further in the exams if I'm ever placed against one of them." Selena responded, she chuckled nervously as she faced the man that approached them.

"Don't beat yourself up over it, you came here today despite knowing all that. If that's not an act of strength I don't know what is." The man smiled as he spoke to her.

Selena smiled a bit at the kind remarks of the stranger. "Thank you." She said.

"Don't mention it." The man replied, he diverted his attention from Selena to Rai. He gazed upon him from head to toe. "Judging by your appearance, you're a commoner aren't you?" He questioned Rai.

"And what if I am? You got a problem with that?" Rai questioned, the tone of his voice changed as he did so.

"Oh heavens no, I'm not one of those nobles who hate on commoners just because I think they are inferior to me." The man replied attempting to clear himself.

"Well it doesn't matter anyways, it's not going to change the way or the outcome of our match, that is if we ever get paired against each other." Rai stated boldly.

"Oh?" The man said with surprise, it was the first time he had ever seen a commoner speak with such pride.

A blue holographic panel manifested right in front of Rai. As he glanced at it, he saw a notification regarding the exams.

[First phase starting in 3....2...." ]

As the countdown reached Zero, a bright light swiftly engulfed all the participants.

[Transporting...]