’Oooh.’ Osho hummed and probed the barrier without Mana. It passed through without any issue, but as soon as he tried to pull said Mana back in, he lost his connection with it. Standard isolation barrier protocol. Things can get out, but nothing goes in.
Well, except their teacher, Mrs Jane.
She strode into the barrier alone, which was surprising as many of them expected their principal to come in as well, but it was of no consequence.
"Alright, everyone. The time has arrived." She said as she took position in front of all of them, her eyes scanning the group calmly.
"We’ve prepared as much as possible, and you lot have come a long way from barely being able to tell your beasts to move in one direction to being able to fight wild beasts of your own accord. It’s impressive progress in just two months." She commended them, and the students were all smiles.
"Now, I’m sure many of you desire to prove yourselves, perhaps show the other schools that we aren’t as weak as they believe. To show them that we are better. However, I ask you to change that mindset of yours." Her words surprised many of them. They’d assumed that showing up the other schools was a good thing since that would improve the reputation of their school, but Mrs Jane was telling them not to do that.
"At the end of the day, you won’t be students of Bright Spark Academy forever. There is no college that follows up, and you will be going to institutions that have no ties to us. So don’t try and tie yourself down by limiting your scope to merely improving our image. No, focus on yourself. Do your best for yourself. Get as many points as you can, not to prove that our school is the best, but to prove that you are the best, so that you can enter the best college available." She looked them over, her gaze pausing on Osho and Ellie.
"And this may be reaching a bit, but even when you get there, remember that in the end, everything else is temporary or uncertain. What matters most is your own strength. Strive and grow. Be sure of yourself, too. Your mindset is also important. The moment you begin second-guessing your path, you’re already halfway into the water. This exam is but a stepping stone. Use it to launch yourself as far forward as possible. And when the momentum from that launch has faded and you slow down, I want you to run forward. If you can’t do that anymore, then jog, then walk, crawl if you have to. But do NOT stop moving forward." Everyone was silent.
The speech had taken an unexpectedly serious turn. Well, more serious than they’d originally thought. But everyone got the gist of what she was saying, even if many didn’t necessarily agree with a lot of it.
’My time at Bright Spark Academy may have been temporary, but I owe it a lot.’ Osho thought, his expression unreadable.
’I’ll show my gratitude in my own way. I won’t just view it as a tool to use and then throw away. I promised myself I wouldn’t do that anymore. Not in this life.’
Not long after the speech ended, the barrier went down, and all the students from the different schools all looked riled up in one way or the other.
"My, those must have been something speeches. Look at them, they look like a battle-ready army now!" Mira laughed.
"But enough of that. Students, you will be given your bracelets which will randomly tell you which entrance you need to pass through. When that happens, the Staff will lead you there." As she said this, several staff members carrying boxes of bracelets that were in the colors of each school went to their respective grandstands.
When they reached Bright Spark Academy, Mrs Jane waved her hand, and Osho ’saw’ several strings of Mana appear and grab the bracelets before dividing them between each student. As soon as Osho got his, he felt them resonate with his Mana for a moment, which was probably how one identified which was theirs, and put both of them on.
Health Points: 100/100
Accumulated Points: 0
’It’s so small! But lots of Mana.’ Gale inspected. Osho nodded again.
If he inspected it normally, he wouldn’t notice anything, but when he concentrated using his Mana sense and focused on the bracelet with his ’health’, he realized there were a series of complex runes etched into it. Most likely for the Mana bubble that would protect students as soon as their ’health’ hit zero.
A similar scene played out within the other grandstands as students received their bracelets, and not long after, each of them got a number on the one for their points.
Osho looked down and saw ’7’ on his.
"Entrance 7 for me." He said.
The group of five said their numbers, with Kurt and Irene getting the same while Ellie got 5 and Sam got 8.
"You lot should have seen what entrances you’ve been assigned to. So you will follow the staff member standing in front of your grandstand who wears the shirt with your entrance number." Mira explained and Osho quickly spotted a guy wearing a shirt with the number 7 written boldly on it.
"Where should we meet up?" Osho asked, like it were only natural that they would converge again.
"Kurt and I are already together, so how about near entrance 2?" Irene offered and they all nodded in agreement.
"Alright, then. See you guys." Osho said and stood up. The other students had already begun getting up as well to follow the staff associated with their numbers
The others said their temporary goodbyes as they also followed suit.
Osho and a few other students from Bright Spark, 4 of them, reached the number 7 guy, and as soon as they did, they all got on a small hover platform powered by Mana which quickly moved them around to get to their destination.
As they moved, Mira continued.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, and our dear VIPs and all who are watching. I urge you to take a moment and appreciate just how far our younger generation has come. These brave boys and girls are about to face danger, albeit controlled, just to get a shot at having an even brighter future than what they already have. So please, give them a round of applause." Mira said a bit solemnly, and her words were met with a wave of clapping as the spectators immediately obeyed. Many were whistling as they showed their support to the students who were quickly gathering at the different entrances.
In a few minutes, each entrance had about 60 students.
’Gale, rein in your presence a bit.’ Osho said as he noticed many of the beasts that weren’t from his school became uneasy in Gale’s presence.
’Aw, what? What happened to not holding back?’ Gale leaned his head down and looked at Osho’s face. Osho rolled his eyes and grabbed the upside-down head of the bird.
’Just chill for a moment. It’s not like they are our targets.’ The bird squirmed as Osho grabbed his head before pulling itself free.
With a mental huff, he restrained his presence, and the effect was palpable as many beasts calmed down shortly after.
Osho stared at the entrance, which was a large metallic gate that was also a part of the shield generator.
An alarm sounded as the gates opened.
Osho met the gazes of his fellow students in the group and nodded to them. They seemed to know not to try and cozy up to him or try and follow him, something that suited Osho just fine.
Without much prompting, the students walked in, and they were immediately met with an almost jarring change of scenery. The shift from modern and technological to full of greenery and life was sudden, but not unexpected.
Gale hopped off Osho’s head and hovered next to him while Osho cracked his knuckles.
He could tell that he was being stared at, most likely because of how comfortable he seemed to be with Ellie, a fact that drew the interest of several people as they wondered who this person who wasn’t even in the top 10 seed was so close to the number 2 seed. But he didn’t care about any of that.
Once all the students were inside. The gates closed behind them, and a moment later, the shield generators hummed to life as Mana went through them, and a moment later, a large dome of Mana appeared from the ground and completed itself at the top, reaching a height of 150 meters (492.1259 feet).
’Is this space enough for you, Gale?’ Osho asked, and the bird nodded.
’It can be bigger. But it will do.’ He responded.
"Good." He said aloud and stared up as a Mana screen appeared within the dome at the apex. It showed a list of names, specifically the seeded Candidates, and it showed the number of points they all had, which was 0 at the moment. Something that would no doubt change as they got hunting.
"Without further ado." Mira said with a bright smile.
"Let the Practical College Entrance Examination, Begin!"