Unlike the young Masters who seemed to have only levelled from studying in class and never moved their bodies or seen practical combat, Raika passed under 20 minutes with her potent lightning spells.

As an element, lightning had the advantage of speed; once cast, a puny mana sphere with a fraction of a point of Will couldn't avoid it. Even prediction was tough because Raika had high enough base stats to react and modify her spell or adjust her aim.

When his mana sphere noted that and dissolved itself into gaseous form to avoid direct impact, Raika changed from single-target spells to area of effect to exhaust as much mana as possible. Since they had a limited area for the test, there was no dodging for his mana sphere. She easily cleared the test.

However, Seven ignored her glare and the open shock she was looking at him with. She probably underestimated him all this time, or didn't expect the gap between their magical skills to widen by so much within a decade.

The failed Masters were all mages who merely wanted to be tutored by one of the only 'human' Domain Mages available throughout the Empire.

It was a pity their grit was so pathetic after studying their books and practising their spells on unmoving targets for their whole lives. A quick check told him these Masters were around 60 to 80 years old, all older than him by decades at least. It was not impossible to reach that level without killing or even fighting a single monster, just through repetition and training spars was sufficient.

However, they were worse than the Frost Elves, who at least went out to hunt for themselves. Dungeoning to see practical combat even as a child. Worse yet, Elcrian humans weren't seen as children at the age of 60 to 80.

Seven didn't bother simulating who would pass or not; there was no point when things could play out, and he would know the result. It just took longer.

He was hoping for more Unclassed students, but the majority would likely be Journeymen, plus Raika.

Seven split a small portion of itself to remain to watch while he went back to the library. Seven-Junior put all his focus into observing the applicants.

Six hours into the test, the only Frost Elf present showed off her wide smile and peace sign to Seven-Junior.

Tiha Tu [Snow Flurry Trickster Lvl 100 | Powdering Frost Bowman Lvl 100 | Rogue Lvl 100], the girl who Ebony sparred with when he just arrived in Arcta.

Seven shook his head at Mallory who managed to get the Frost Elves to let a youngin out of their village. Seven recalled that Tiha Tu's sister was part of Orren's party. The young girl's level was proof that the Frost Elves were not using their traditional method of levelling gradually without real combat to the death.

Sparring between friends and families, and fighting for one's life against another creature doing the same was completely different.

She came from a combatant lineage, unlike most of the villagers in Arcta. Despite Clovis and Kiva taking training more seriously, Clovis was not suitable to take his class, and Kiva was too young to leave their home.

Although slightly older than Ebony, Tiha had no reservations learning from a younger human fighter. Her being here must be more than Mallory's work, but the Frost Elves themselves are taking the chance. Despite learning ice magic from them, his spells had close to no overlap with the Frost Elven ice spells, other than the basic manipulation methods.

Not a single Elf took his test. It was probably beneath their pride to learn from someone advertised as a human mage. That, or every single one of them was aware of his Xeng lineage now and with their deep-seated hatred for each other, it was understandable.

Twelve hours into the test, the last remaining Dwarf [Judgement's Shield Bearer Lvl 65 | Gnome's Blessed Attendant Lvl 65] amongst 5 in 600 participants passed with more bruises than unhurt areas. He must have doubted his shield-bearing abilities numerous times throughout the test but he probably received a lot of skill experience and personal understanding on how to better wield his shield. His tough body helped him in the same way it helped Entras' daughter, speeding up the mana exhaustion.

His body was at least 4 times easier to bruise than Entras' daughters.

People who didn't know either of the Nobles would not have expected a beastman famed for their charge and assault abilities to focus on Constitution or have a base Physique so much higher than a frontline Dwarf who was supposed to shield their allies.

Eighteen hours into the test, a Journeyman – Warrior that branched into earth magic passed. He was good at hiding it, but Seven knew it was the other way around. He was a gravity mage disguising his magic as earth and a warrior third. He had a nosebleed and migraine but managed to walk to the side to rest. [Weight of Earth Lvl 24 | Heart of Iron Lvl 21]

Twenty-one hours into the test, Umar passed but collapsed immediately after. He was mostly fine after all the physical healing, just exhausted.

Twenty-three hours into the test, Tikal Entras' daughter, Tikki Entras [Endurer of Hardship Lvl 35 | Assault Wolf Lvl 35] passed, in a terrible state. She needed mental help, but her father was around and asked the healers to leave it to his family. It was interesting how Identify would have seen this person to have a Warrior Class, Appraise would see her Subclass as Warrior.

Ebony's Mana Discern sadly couldn't even glimpse into the Profession, which should be possible for Tier 3 Identify, but he could still see the full class name for both Class and Sub-Class now. He would have to refine the skill more. Entras might have a stealth skill that hid their personal information as well since he could Discern Tiha's Profession.

Thirty hours in, Yusqly, who passed out multiple times and still never raised the flag managed to pass. She needed a healer for the mind. Thankfully, they were in Tidal Academy, where all the best healers studied at.

Thirty-one hours in, the outspoken Masline the Fourth [Crusader of Beginnings Lvl 8 | Ungiving Knight Lvl 8] passed in a fashion that Seven applauded. At [0.094153264861294411218432587624 / 1] he got fed up. Got hold of the mana sphere in a sacrificial attack and swallowed the ball.

While it caused him the most damage internally because Seven's mana wouldn't hold back, using one's magic body to fight back against mana was the most effective way. Even between a Grandmaster and Journeyman, once his mana goes deep enough, the creature being invaded had the upper hand by a large margin.

Most water mages could technically control the water in another person's body if their manipulation could completely override another creature's magic body, but it was rare to find even Kings who could do that to a Journeyman. It was thousands of times simpler for the more evolved water mage to simply cover the target's head with a bubble of water to drown them than to control the water in their body.

Xin also couldn't manipulate the blood in a Journeyman's body. Maybe a monster was possible. Of course, that would be different if her blood managed to get into the target's bloodstream.

While Masline suffered the biggest damage internally, he trusted the Capital City's healing to keep him alive, used some sort of manipulation he concocted on the spot to seal all orifices to prevent Seven's mana from escaping and just toughed it out until the mana exhausted itself.

Seven liked that, he liked that a lot. It seemed exactly like something Ebony would do. The mana poisoning resistance would do the boy some good.

Within thirty-three hours, 4 more Journeymen passed. Two human fire mages, a rare fist fighter and a swordsman.

The next twenty hours after that was a gruesome watch for the remaining gallery members. Family and friends of the people who didn't throw in the towel and the people Seven sealed in ice when they stepped up.

The low-level Journeymen and Unclassed that remained had shown more grit than anyone else for their age group.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

'An ice mage. Gravity mage. A Knight in training. A water mage.' There were actually over a dozen ice mages that took the test yet only one got this far, excluding Tiha.

On the other hand, there were only 2 gravity mana users, and both passed.

'Mostly nobles…education, upbringing and training do change things. But amongst the Unclassed that remain, none are from Noble families.' Seven was most interested in these 3 Unclassed. All humans, as statistically suggested, due to humans occupying more than 80% of the population on Elcra.

One had no one watching them from the gallery.

One had a mother who cried herself dry over the past day and night but never left.

The last had a father or a guardian who coldly watched a boy struggle.

These two adults were both Masters, not even level 300. If they were biologically related, the Imperials generally didn't see well in these children's future. Since the average Imperial Citizen had been transitioning to Grandmasters over the past few generations, Masters were simply…inconsequential. This was equally bad for combatants and non-combatant,s but at least combatants had a better chance of growth.

Non-combatants had many other struggles to overcome to reach the same or greater skill as a working adult. Resources were so much more important to a craftsman. That required money.

A combatant, even Journeymen, could easily find a job in a random party that goes dungeon delving or into the wilds. Even if they couldn't fight, the warriors could start by carrying load. It wasn't much, but the demand for porters was pretty much always around. Every different mage would have a spell or two that was useful in travel, survival or in battle, either support or direct firepower.

As for non-combatants, the basic quality of goods and equipment has been rising fast. There was too much competition and no reason to purchase from a low-level, low-skilled crafter or goods producer. So no money, no resources, no improvement and they were stuck as long as they didn't have a source of income or financial help.

3 Unclassed, one whose profile was an Orphan, one with a non-combatant mother at the ranks of a Master and the last who was also an orphan but had a guardian but also a Master. Yet they hung on longer than any Unclassed from any Noble family.

The mana efficiency that his spheres had dealing a bruise on an Unclassed human was so high, they were hardly seeing a drop in the numbers above their heads every minute.

The only truth about Seven's test about equal difficulty was relative to their own power, but the endurance required was lower the stronger they were. So even if the Unclassed were dodging or hitting their target, they weren't doing much. Their poor base stats also meant they had trouble tickling his mana sphere.

But no matter how many times they passed out, got woken up by a hard ball smashing into their bodies only to pass out again, they never said the only thing that would stop their pain and their test.

Sixty hours in there was hardly any gallery members with Seven's body coming out to recombine with Seven Junior. Yet the numbers above their Unclassed test area were still around 0.4 to 0.5. At this rate, his mana sphere was getting lost to the environment faster than moving against the Unclassed due to the small amount of Will imbued in them starting to fade and the natural environment going to absorb it sooner or later.

Only if Seven doesn't take back control.

'A pathetic number compared to the 600 students I was expecting, but this is the bare minimum quality required.' Seven forced his Will around these 3 kids' bodies while keeping the memory of Masline swallowing his mana sphere repeating as intensely as he could. Including the pain he went through after.

The evolution difference might have helped, but after 3 to 5 minutes, each of them copied the memory he tried to influence them with. They should've seen the memory. It seemed Seven succeeded in implanting suggestions.

Seven had a slight tug at his icy lips.

All of them chose to do the same.

They chose suffering.

They pass.

Seven had Mallory's help facilitating his classes. His students mostly did not have time for any other classes or professors, but he did leave them free time outside of rest, so it was still possible for them to sign up for other classes. As much as he was an advocate for practical lessons, he didn't remove classroom time completely.

It would double as resting time for their bodies.

Level 300 Great Lightning Mage.

Level 100 Frost Elf Rogue and archer.

Level 65 Dwarven Shield Warrior.

Level 95 Fire Mage

Level 42 Fire Mage

Level 74 Martial Artist

Level 39 Apprentice Swordsman

Level 24 Gravity/Earth Mage and warrior.

Level 35 Pure Warrior, survivalist branch.

Level 19 Lightning Mage

Level 13 Lightning Mage

Level 5 Ice Mage

Level 8 Water Mage

Level 1 Gravity Mage

Level 8 Apprentice Knight

Level 6 Apprentice Knight

Level 0 Human

Level 0 Human

Level 0 Human

'What kind of coincidence does it take to have 4 people I know taking and passing a test to be my student?' Seven didn't care that amongst his students was a good portion of lightning mages, despite him not being an accomplished one himself.

He never planned on teaching specific spells anyway.

Fire was one of the most common elements used by Elcrian Mages. It was still a feat for these two to power through his heat-resistant mana.

"So what do you think? Is the Empire about to have 19 people as strong as you are in a couple of decades?" Mallory had a maid pour them tea in her office. Her office was stacked with aged books, but still neat enough to walk around. And big enough to have a tea area for guests, free of clutter.

"Me, as in this Apparition? It shouldn't take decades. Me as in Ebony? Might take them a while with their natural disadvantage or training tougher than my own." Seven confirmed that it was mostly books on arcane magic, elemental barriers and biological anatomy of various species.

Many were written by Lord family members throughout the generations, but many more were foreign. It seemed like the Royal Family bought many books from outside Elcra and didn't stop improving themselves despite the cost. The scent of life force and dried blood on certain books told him that not all were retrieved through monetary transactions, or they were just stained throughout their lifespan.

"Do you hold them in high regard? Those born from Masters and Grandmasters, even with access to Tier 4 and even the scant few Tier 5 skills, do not have the talent to fight like you do."

"High regard? Not exactly. I wouldn't know. They just met the bare requirement to grow. Higher skill tiers are good and all but you know that doesn't break the balance. Your grandfather-master Lennings, Tier 5 Core skill, maybe one or two Tier 5 Class skills. Mostly Tier 3s and a couple of 4s, but he's stronger than most other Nobles with a full set of Tier 4 skills. Both of us can easily outclass, overpower, and out-speed these people with higher-tiered, higher-level skills with a good reinforcing skill set. Even if we can't overpower someone else, we can still beat them with weaker skills, weaker physical, weaker mind."

"So do these students of yours have that quality?"

"They will gain it the same way every fighter does."

"Tell me if you need anything."

"Mmm, I do indeed need something."

"Money's not a problem." Mallory did not hide that she wanted elite fighters amongst Imperial Citizens. The Empire needed more individuals who were strong instead of a strong army. A single Emperor could protect them much better than an army of Grandmasters.

"I need your healers to be assigned to my class. Yvette's students would be best, but if not, at least a Grandmaster. Muse might be the most suitable person I can think of, but I understand she's busy and she can't make clones of herself."

"Why? The Academy's training fields have healing more intense than what's spread across the entire Capital. You should've seen it." Mallory discussed how the unclassed survived eating his mana.

"I need healers for the mind. I've been made aware that not everyone can take training and remain the same after. Weird, but it's not their fault they were born that way." Seven and all the Numbers understood what 'normal' is better than Ebony.

The rest period after the test was not just for Mallory to take care of the administration but Seven let them go home when he saw them cry and acted weird, shutting themselves in their dorms or homes. His mana and Will, while calming and soothing, were not for healing mental wounds.

The only inconsistency Seven had trouble with was where these children's unstable emotions were coming from.

His test was hardly deadly for now.

'The first time I did a deadly trial I did it again the next day. They should have enough rest by now.' Seven wondered how Ebony decided which Number to give which memories. As the most communicative Apparition, he had more of their youthful memories that retained their human connection with normal people.

"Try not to break them, please. Except for Raika, they are just kids."

"Mmm. So why did you call me here?" Seven was not able to enjoy the tea and rather cut to the chase.

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