Alix went straight to the school after leaving the Pirate's Nightmare. When she arrived several other students were also just getting there. Each person that passed her had an entirely different feel to them.
She expected variety but not like this. Some students were, obviously spellcasters while some were carrying weapons like knights. Alix frowned. "I guess this school really lets anyone with the passion for magic in. Even that person ramming into other students on purpose."
Alix watched as a person wearing a dirty cloak walked around aimlessly before bumping into a student and knocking them to the ground. The cloaked figure bowed apologetically and even helped the person up, picked up their bag, and sent them on their way.
They then waiting a few seconds before spotting the next "accident" and starting the process again.
...
"Not my business." Alix turned away from this "supervillain".
Despite the bull in the potion, everything else was quite impressed. She too believed that everyone should have the chance to learn magic. So the school allowing children of knight families entrance was very progressive.
Alix followed the crowd through the ornate gate of Marconix University. While walking she noticed several people casting glances her way. Likely due to her monsters.
"Do you see that?"
"Yeah, she's insane!"
"I didn't expect anything like that from this school!"
"Dad was right! This place is amazing!" Alix nodded. It was understandable that they would be curious about her little entourage of fish and baby peccary.
'This is the perfect place to further develop my magic. I may even find some people willing to learn about Monster Contracting." Monster Contracting was what Alix called casting Omnia Nexus on a monster.
It was a bit of a mouth full but it was accurate. She formed a contract with monsters and fought alongside them. It wasn't like she was domesticating them or anything.
Even if she sometimes wanted to.
After some time the group came to a stop.
"Alright." A commanding voice shouted from the front. "You are the fifth group. We will begin the test shortly. Line up." The crowd began to form a single long line as the voice ordered.
"That's Vance Warren!" Alix heard a voice call out.
"I know! Do you think he's one of the instructors?"
"I hope so! I've idolized him ever since I was a kid!"
Seemed like this mysterious voice was some big shot. It was a bit strange that she hadn't heard of him. She was quite well versed in famous spellcasters.
Yet, Vance Warren was not a name she was familiar with. 'Maybe I missed him? I may need to do some more research on famous spellcasters." Alix let her curiosity go for now. The man named Vance led the group to a large concrete building.
Once inside, Alix was shocked to see that it was a spell testing facility. She could see spell dummies for attack magic practice. There were practice shells that helped one improve their mana collecting efficiency. They even had the latest heal trainers that one could practice their recovery magic on.
'This was a good choice. I'll have to thank Winston for this opportunity again."
'Maybe ya should take him to Hedgie's place. That's food she gave me was great! What did she say it was called?"
'I believe she called it cornbread Mo. I do agree that she has quite the cooking talent. I may visit her often after moving into the dorms."
'We're all for it! Right Trouler!" Trouler squeal excitedly in response to Mo essentially saying, "You bet!"
The line stopped and Vance turned to the group again. "I'll be taking each one of you into this private practice room one by one. Normally you'd need to be a high ranking upper classman to get this chance but this test is an exception."
After explaining the process Vance began with the first person in line. The door to the training room closed blocking anyone else from seeing within. After a few minutes the person came out with a melancholy expression.
She had a light blue badge on her shirt that had, "C1" engraved on it.
"Next!" Vance called out as the first girl slinked to the side disappointed.
'I guess she got a low rank." Alix could only assume. After a bit the next person came out with a red badge this time with, "B1" engraved on it. Alix was perplexed.
'Why are their badges different colors? Wait, does it differentiate by spellcasting type. That's very interesting." Alix had only theorized this idea but felt more certain when the third person came out with a green badge with,"C1" engraved on it.
'I wonder which color represents sorcery?'
Time passed with the line quickly shortening. Most people that left the room had blue or red badges with the occasional green every once in a while. Blue was clearly dominant color making Alix suspect it was for mages.
Red came up less than blue but it was still numerous enough for Alix to reason out that it was likely sorcery. Meaning green may be spirit savants or clerics. Alix was leaning a bit more toward cleric though.
Eventually her turn arrived.
"Next." Alix nodded to Vance and entered the room , leaving Mo and Trouler outside out of request from Vance. Once in she could see clear signs of spells being casted. From scorch marks to residual wetness and even cuts from wind and scratch marks from earth.
"Name." Vance ordered Alix to which she responded.
"Alix Ren." Vance's eyes narrowed suspiciously. He cleared his throat.
"If you could please begin gathering mana now." Alix's looked at the man confused. She had expected him to ask for her spellcasting type first.
'Can he tell just by watching me gather mana? That's quite the talent indeed. I'm beginning to see why my fellow students revere this man so much." Alix closed her eyes beginning to concentrate.
She slowly be steadily gathered the mana controlling her breathing using a technique her mother taught to her. It was very helpful for a sorcerer like herself.
Vance watched for a second before moving in front of her. He stood in a basic fighting stance. "Open your eyes." Alix listened to the man and slowly opened her eyes.
In the instant that she could see Vance the man let his fist fly. This shocked Alix but she still managed to dodge to the side. She instinctively countered with a kick to the man's side.
Vance caught her fist and used it to flip her over his shoulder. Alix twisted here body mid throw managing to land on her feet and freed herself from the man's grasp.
She swept her leg low tripping the man then continued the motion up lifting her leg over her head and slamming it into the man's stomach. Vance blocked the attack from the awkward position.
He laid on the ground smiling. "Alright, that's enough." He stood up and walked over to a bag in the corner. From the bag he pulled out a red badge and used a knife to engrave, "A1" onto the badge.
He walked over and handed it to Alix. Who was still incredibly confused by the man's previous actions. "If you leave this place and continue directly to the right you'll arrive at orientation. Good job, miss!"
Alix was led out of the room. She looked stoic outwardly but inside she was bubbling with questions that she didn't have time to ask. Once out of the room, the eyes of everyone remaining land on her with interest.
"A1! That's the third one in our group! Why are we surrounded by geniuses!?"
"That's just how it is sometimes, man."
Alix picked Mo up and walked to the exit. Mo eyed the girl with interest.
'What happened in there? Ya seem completely out of it?" Alix shook her head still as stoic as before.
'I have no idea."