Logan placed his open palm in front of him, took in a deeper breath than he had ever taken in his life and begun the first part of the assessment,
He closed his eyes and focused on his body or more specifically his sacral vertebrae, a small, ethereal golden looking orb revealed itself to his view, his mana core,
The mana core was unlike any other organ that could be found in the human body, the organ existed in a state between tangibility and otherwise.
And just like mana itself was almost impossible to harm unless through intense strain,
The organ actively absorbed mana from the environment at a steady pace, receiving its nourishment through that process and the excess energy was used by mages to cast spells,
It was the hub and heart of any mages spell and also the center of Logan's focus.
He released his breath in three short but powerful parts and deeply inhaled only to repeat the process, his focus on the organ never dwindling,
"Here comes the hard part" Logan mentally gritted his teeth as he actively controlled his mana core to release a controlled pulse of mana,
Rather than let it disperse, he took a forceful hold of the mana released through out his body and directed it to his still open hands,
The energy came to the edge of the skin of his palm and slowly passed through out into the open world and immediately started dispersing much to Logan's dismay,
But before he could react, the golden symbols on the walls did, they hummed as the golden light they emitted intensified, slowing down the dispersion of his mana.
Wonder filled Logan's mind at the modern advents of magic but he quickly shook it off, he had to focus,
He released more mana from his body into the world via his palm and directed the energy to the orb,
A golden stream of energy left his hand and cascaded softly through the air and into the orb that greedily absorbed every ounce of it.
****
In a room hidden away from Logan's view was a chamber made of artificial caves that formed a near impregnable structure,
The sounds of rattling chains and growls came from most of the caves of which a closer inspection revealed beasts that had been chained up,
The shadows and darkness alike in one of the caves stirred before erupting only to coalesce into a humanoid form,
The entity approached the beast in chains, the tiger like beast with white paws and an orange snout and a glowing collar around its neck tried to retreat in fear of the approaching entity,
"Fear not, We only seek to help a poor, trapped soul" the figure spoke for the first time since it's appearance, it's voice sounded like a cacophony of voices in agony,
It approached the beast that seemed to have calmed down, he placed his hand on the beast,
"Soul Magic: Spectral Liberation" the entity muttered as a grey pulse of energy left its hand and entered the beast,
The beast started writhing in agony as it released pain filled howls, the collar on its neck developing thin hair like cracks,
"Success" the entity muttered to itself before dissolving back into shadows and darkness.
****
After about a minute, the orb was full, it floated in place with a bright golden glow,
"SECOND PART, MANA SENSITIVITY, WILL BEGIN SHORTLY" the androgynous voice spoke out of the blue,
The orb slowly lost its golden glow and turned back to its transparent color, space rippled around the orb before it vanished into thin air,
'The royal academy has a thing with space magic' Logan took a silent note in his head.
The sound of machinations and metallic movements could be heard behind the walls before a small window opened up on one,
A long table slid in through the window and when it was all the way through took on a bright white glow that revealed five ores of metal,
The window shut immediately leaving Logan alone with the table and ores.
"MANA SENSITIVITY; YOU ARE EXPECTED TO REARRANGE THE FIVE ORES IN ORDER OF INCREASING MANA CONDUCTIVITY. BEGIN" the voice soon announced,
Logan looked at the table and the metal ores in front of him, they looked exactly the same, perfect, silvery, mirror like spheres,
Logan lifted the one on the extreme left end up, he inspected it for a few instances before placing it on the table.
A loud piercing buzz went through the room causing Logan to cover his ears, "EACH PLACEMENT OF THE ORES IS CONSIDERED AN ATTEMPT AT ARRANGEMENT AND WILL BE DEEMED INCORRECT.
YOU ARE GIVEN A TOTAL OF 100 POINTS AT THE BEGINNING OF THIS PART OF THE ASSESSMENT AND EACH SUBSEQUENT FAILURE REMOVES A SUM TOTAL OF 5 POINTS, YOU NOW HAVE A TOTAL OF 95 POINTS.
CHOOSE WISELY YOUR NEXT DECISION" the androgynous voice warned before going silent,
Logan cursed in his mind, 'The test is called mana sensitivity and I'm meant to arrange based on how it conducts mana. Okay, I think I should take things slow, I have time' Logan surmised in his head,
"TIME IS ALSO A CONSIDERED FACTOR, THE MORE TIME YOU SPEND, THE LESS POINTS WILL BE GIVEN" the voice announced in its usual tone, crushing Logan's hopes.
Logan picked the ore in the middle and poured his mana into it, the small metal rejected his mana while only allowing a small bit of it to enter,
He picked up another, unwilling to drop it back for fear of receiving another deduction but before he could pour his mana, another buzz traveled throughout the room,
"YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO PICK TWO ORES AT A GO" the voice spoke before going silent once again,
'Why won't they just tell me what should and shouldn't be done. I feel like this is just to make the assessment more difficult or something!' Logan screamed in his mind but kept quiet for fear of receiving yet another deduction.
The test continued in that manner, with Logan attempting to arrange and constant buzzes reaching his ears, soon followed by remarks from the voice that he was starting to find annoying but not long after, heard something different.
A melodious ringing echoed throughout the room with Logan at its center, he angrily stared at the five ores on the table that were rearranged,
The window appeared again and pulled the table back in, "THE LAST PART; BATTLE PROWESS" the voice announced before silence followed,
The still glowing runes on the side of the walls grew bigger as pulses of energy left them,
The pulses entered Logan refilling the mana he had spent in the two tests and bringing him back to his peak,
Before Logan could dwell in wonder, the wall opposite him rose up to disappear from his view and from the open space approached a creature,
Its body was orange with white and black stripes, it had white paws and an orange snout, a tiger type magical beast stood infront of Logan and without hesitation, charged in.