Despite Professor Jung's call to step down from their seats, Chima still remained where he was, staring forward in a daze. It was almost like he didn't want to accept the fact that he was first in line for the assessment.
This bothered Merlin. Not because Professor Jung might get angry, but because Chima seemed troubled.
Would everything be fine?
As he thought that, Chima sighed and rose to his feet. Merlin and Hakyun watched him with sombre expressions as he smiled and showed them a thumbs up.
"I'll be back," he said.
Merlin's tense shoulders loosened. "Do well."
"If my guess is correct, the quicker you finish before the time limit, the more points you'll get." Hakyun nudged his glasses up. He then shot a glare at Chima, deepening his voice, "The future of Cohort Spearhead lies on your shoulders, chosen one. Make sure to bring back enough points. I'll accept nothing less than a hundred percent."
Merlin chuckled as Chima's nose wrung up.
"Is that what you're concerned about?"
Hakyun grinned. "Of course. You'll be fine, won't you? It's just a simulation after all. Unless you're scared."
Chima's neck tightened. He clicked his tongue and walked down. "I'll show you!"
Hakyun cackled softly. "Yes. Yes. Please do."
The boy had a weird way of motivating others, Merlin thought.
"Will he really be fine, though?" asked Merlin. "I can't help but think that it's too early for Dungeon simulations."
Hakyun's comical expression turned serious. "The whole essence of being a Mage is to deal with the Dungeons and Towers," he said. "It's never too early." Merlin nodded. He was being stupid. Hakyun was right. "As for Chima, he'll be more than fine. It's just physical assessment; there'll be no monsters. And besides, he's an A-Class Mage."
Merlin's eyes widened so much that one would think they would fall off. Well, Hakyun did, seeing as he pretended to put his hands beneath Merlin's face as if to catch them if they did.
"I didn't know that!" Merlin gulped.
Now that he thought about it, they were yet to really sit down and talk, he and his roommates. After receiving their schedules, they had unpacked, called families and friends, and then slept. Perhaps they would have to do that later on.
Merlin suddenly remembered that he had a secret to hide, and he sighed inwardly. It was best if he avoided such things.
"Yeah," Hakyun went on. "I caught a glimpse of his Grimoire. It's dark-red."
Merlin recalled how Hakyun had sized him and Nora up before leading them to the auditorium and frowned.
"Are you like a Grimoire collector or something? Why do you like peeking at them?"
Hakyun scoffed smugly. "Get to know the competition, isn't it?" He then paused, touched his glasses, and turned to Merlin. "It's weird though. Why haven't I seen yours?"
Merlin flinched, caught by surprise for a second there. But it was long coming, and he was prepared.
"I haven't seen yours too, and I don't think it's weird," he replied, and Hakyun seemed to eat his deflection up.
"Well… I guess you're right. Enough of that. It's about to start."
"Now, before you head in," Professor Jung began. "I'm sure you know why you were not allowed to bring your Grimoires, right?"
Merlin had an idea. It was because this was purely a physical assessment, and the whole idea of testing one's physical abilities would be rendered pointless if they were able to cast spells to support themselves. Of course, not everyone had learnt how to cast spells, but he was sure Nora and Kim Yiseo wouldn't be the only ones in a class of a hundred-and-sixty to have learnt.
"Because it defeats the point of the test," Tariq, light skinned and brown haired, answered.
"Wrong!" Professor Jung announced, surprising the first years into a loud ruckus. It seemed everyone was thinking the same thing as Merlin. She turned to Chima. "You?"
He hesitated a bit, glancing over his shoulders at the gazes of everyone watching him, waiting. It was almost like he did not want to answer in the presence of everyone.
Is he scared of being the center of attention? Why? Merlin wondered, his brows furrowed. He was really interested in knowing his roommates better.
Chima realized that he had no choice when Professor Jung prodded him to hurry it up with her gaze. A deep breath, an exhale, and he said,
"Without Grimoires, we can't cast spells, so I believe it's to test how we react in situations where we have lost our Grimoires or any unforeseen circumstances have occurred, making it impossible for us to access it."
Professor Jung smiled. "Correct."
There was a flurry of murmurs. Everyone turned to their friends, or who was seated beside them, and engaged in conversations of confusion. Merlin was wide-eyed. Hakyun simply nudged his glasses upwards… While Chima… He scratched the back of his neck, obviously hating the attention.
"He's very smart," Hakyun praised. "I wouldn't have thought that was the reason."
"He is." Merlin wasn't exactly book smart, so he didn't support Hakyun's latter words. However, he was surprised. And, perhaps, somewhat depressed. How had he ended up in the same room as two intellectuals?
He brightened up immediately, though, having recalled Professor Jung's words of the essence of being a Mage. He could not let such little things bring him down. All he had to do was better himself. Be smarter. Be stronger. Be better.
"Tariq is not totally wrong. Because it is true that this test is based on your physicalities. However, if we went with his answer, it will make you all complacent. "It's just a physical test, I'll have my spells if encounter any danger." Those words are probably coursing through your heads. Do well to discard them. As Ken said, any unforeseen event can occur in a Dungeon or Tower. Your Grimoires are not indestructible,"
Professor Jung continued, her arms behind her back.
"This simulation, put under the facade of physical assessment, is to test how well you can get through situations like that. Are you fast enough? Are you strong enough? Are you smart enough?" She paused. "Of course, this is an Academy, so no matter your scores today, you'll be taught further and helped to become better. This is the starting line, not the finish line." She put her gaze on Chima and Tariq. "You may now proceed to the door, you two. And wait for my signal."
Chima sighed one more time as he and Tariq walked up to the door with the blue edges.
"Seems like we'll be watching them through the projection," Merlin guessed, seeing as it was yet to disappear.
"It seems," Hakyun supported.
Professor Jung looked down at her smartwatch, fumbling with something on it that no one besides her could see. Then she turned her gaze in the direction of the first participants of the physical assessment, and as the rest of the students took in deep breaths in anticipation, she said, "Begin!"
The white door slid open, and Chima and Tariq flung themselves through it. In that instant, the projection hovering on the platform displayed their location.
They had materialized on the edge of a cliff, just before the end of a colossus stone bridge that traveled along a vast whiteness—clouds, Merlin supposed—to a different cliff on the other side.
A simulation of a Dungeon high up in the sky? Merlin swallowed his spit.
"Take note," Professor Jung said, pointing at the projection. "The locations simulated are real Dungeons that Mages have cleared. Clearly, I believe you all heard me say 'locations' with an 's'. That's because every pair will end up in different places. So don't think studying Ken or Tariq's actions will determine your success. Although, it should give you an idea of what to do well. Assuming they do well, that is."
"You're telling me that there are more absurd locations like this?" Hakyun remarked, folding his arms. "Now I'm worried."
Well, who wouldn't be? Considering what Professor Jung had said, no one knew where they would be ending up. Merlin, for one, began to feel like he could possibly end up in a far worse place. Maybe inside a volcano. That would be cruel. He shuddered.
"Hey," Tariq's voice sounded through the speakers in the walls of the simulation room, giving the students a feel of them being in a cinema, watching a movie. "What are we going to do here?" His question was directed at Chima, who just kept studying his surroundings.
There was something that seemed to be a stone temple on the cliff, with a large door guarded by two angel statues holding sconces. And all around were dormant vines and broken stones, slates, and slabs.
"I don't know," Chima answered, scratching the back of his head. He then looked down at his smartwatch. Their time was yet to start. It seemed like they were given a few seconds to make a decision on how to proceed.
Unlike Chima, though, Tariq was uneasy. And that usually bred impatience.
"That's a temple, isn't it?" Tariq pointed at the stone fortress behind them. "That can only mean that's the boss room."
"You can't be so sure," replied Chima. "It can also be the way out."
Tariq frowned. "Think! Why would we spawn so close to the way out? There's another temple way across. We just have to cross this bridge and we'll be out."
Merlin leaned back on his seat. "He's making a valid point," he said.
"Yeah," Hakyun agreed. "And since it's, well, a physical assessment test, then running across the bridge would count as a physical test right? So it checks all the marks."
Yes. But Merlin also felt that Chima had a point. Professor Jung had clearly said that the term 'physical assessment' was just a facade. They would be tested on their thinking as well.
At that moment, a beep sounded, and a timer appeared over Chima and Tariq's head. The countdown began.
"Hey! Do you see that?!" someone in the simulation room exclaimed.
"Yeah," another agreed. "Those angels, their eyes moved just now, didn't they?"
"The temple's door is opening!" another yelled. "Get a move on it already, Tariq! Run across!" This person seemed to be from Cohort Fateglass.
"Which do you think is the correct way, Merlin?" Hakyun asked, stroking his glasses.
"I'll be honest," Merlin licked his lips. "I don't know."
Tariq seemed to have had enough by the time the stone doors were done screeching open, a blinding darkness from inside the temple all they could see.
"I'm going across!" he said to Chima—rather, yelled. "You can stay here if you want. I've tried my best to talk some sense into you. And I'm not failing here. We're not even from the same Cohort, so don't blame me."
Chima didn't reply to Tariq, he simply stared into the temple. His eyes then shifted slightly to the ground, scrutinizing the vines and broken slabs around. By the time he glanced over his shoulder, Tariq was long gone on the bridge, dashing towards the other side.
"Hey! What are you doing?!" a student who seemed to be of Cohort Spearhead, screamed. "Move already. Time's ticking! Don't waste precious points!"
The simulation room burst into chaos. Cohort Spearhead members poured out all their anger on Chima, despite the fact that he couldn't hear them, while Cohort Fateglass praised Tariq for his apparent quick thinking.
"What's he doing?" Merlin couldn't stop himself from asking as Chima leaned forward slightly, lowering his height, and obviously putting pressure on his legs in an attempt to dash forward. And he was not the only one. The ruckus silenced immediately, and everyone turned to questioning his motives, including rival Cohorts.
"That guy…" Hakyun smiled, startling Merlin. "He's a lot smarter than he looks."
Merlin could only stare in confusion. But just before he could ask, a resounding scream blew through the speakers. His gaze flew back to the projection. Vines had shot up from the clouds below the bridge, blocking Tariq's path and engulfing him in one fell swoop. Gasps blew through the simulation room. But, no one had the time to settle yet. Because… Tariq was not the only one who was attacked by vines.
As soon as Chima bolted forward, the vines that had been dormant around the temple wriggled and flew towards him like snakes. He swerved to his side, nimbly avoiding one that aimed for his right leg. Now left unbalanced, a thick one shot out of the temple, aiming for his face. He let his body fall like a plank of wood, just slightly evading it.
"Professor!" a student cried out, rising to his feet. "He's bleeding! I thought you said it was just a simulation!"
Professor Jung did not reply to that question. She shot a glare at the boy instead, forcing him to gnash his teeth together and sit in silence.
Meanwhile, Merlin clenched his fists, worried. He couldn't say a word, and that was the same for Hakyun. They could only watch and hope for the best.
Chima stumbled back to his feet as the vine that had attacked him retreated into the temple. But when he tried to move, he noticed that one of the green pests lying around had caught his leg. He immediately grabbed a broken slate on the ground and sliced it off. It squirmed as though in pain, before shrinking and withering.
Ten minutes passed. Tariq's scream was no more. And Chima's right cheek had blood dripping out of it. But he did not look like he was about to give up.
He took a step back, picked up a stone slab, which was visibly quite heavy, and positioned it over his chest. Then he retook the same stance as he had done at the start, and propelled himself forward again.
Vines snaking along the ground reached for him once more, but he was too quick for them. It was almost like his body had been enhanced. He weaved and jumped, evading their every attempt to subdue him. And, once again, a thick vine from the temple came for him.
"There's no way…" someone said, perplexed. "How's he moving like that? Aren't stone slabs, like, heavy?"
"Is the temple really the exit?" another joined in. "How did he figure that out?"
From a single one, to two, to three, and all of a sudden the vines from the temple had become a lot more than could be counted. The more Chima dodged and closed in on the temple's doors, the more the vines grew in number, and, no doubt, fiercer.
Regardless, Chima gave the students of Cohort Spearhead hope. Hakyun was the first to show his support.
"That's it!" he screamed, rising to his feet, a wide smile on his face. He was having fun. "You can do it! Go get them!!"
Merlin looked up at his supportive friend, and before he knew it, he too was smiling, relieved and believing that their roommate could do it. Slowly, more and more students of Cohort Spearhead joined Hakyun, some taking to their feet, while others remained seated the same as Merlin. But they were all screaming, excited.
Despite the vines not letting up, and their number having grown to a considerable amount, Chima pushed through. He was hit a couple of times; but just as quick as he fell, he rose to his feet and pushed forward. The slab he held served as a shield, blocking the vines from making direct contact with him. Which was why even though his chin was dyed with blood, he did not seem to be gravely injured, or showing any signs of slowing down.
The angels grew closer with every second. Closer and closer and closer. And then Chima was upon them. Without wasting a second, he tossed the slab he held aside. And, as one last thick vine shot out with frightening speed, aiming for his chest, he dropped to the floor, just barely eluding its strike, as he slid into the temple's doors. Immediately, they slammed shut.
A loud cry of joy and relief broke out in the simulation room. It had taken him twenty-five minutes.