After Riker passed, a lot of other students started passing as well, and some even outperformed what he did, meaning there was real talent here. Raze kept watching and then spotted Gavin heading to the mark. He stood facing the target and lifted his hands up. This time, he had to cast pure magic and not use a sword.

"Fireball," he called out. The flames ignited blue, twisting powerfully as they formed into a compressed ball. Then it fired, hurling through the air and hitting the target.

Boom!

An explosion followed, and the target was obliterated. The sight stunned everyone, the first candidate to destroy the target. Murmurs began spreading all around, but amidst it all, some candidates watched Gavin with intense gazes. Some of them had already showcased and passed easily, while some had not. But one thing was clear to them, Gavin was an issue.

Soon enough, Raze's turn came, so he walked up. To his surprise, the person watching him was Sofia. She stood, hands crossed, waiting for him to present, but what he didn't notice was that she was looking at him with keen eyes.

'He is one of the kids we found in the alley, the one that fought against an abomination. If they all managed to do that to an abomination, then he should have a lot to show,' she thought while observing him.

But then Raze lifted his hands and pointed at the target, releasing a flame arrow and muttering like he really cast the spell. The flame arrow cut through the air and hit the target, leaving a pretty decent mark. He thought that would be the end and that he had passed, but as he stepped away, he heard her cold, chilling voice, "You failed."

Everyone was stunned. He failed? Didn't he hit the target?

Raze stopped and turned around, looking at Sofia. Her cold eyes stared right into his soul. "I failed? How is that?" he asked, pointing to the target. "I hit it."

"The test was to see what your current level is. Look around, what do you notice about everyone here?" she asked. "They are giving it their all, putting in their full effort, and you decided to play coy."

"You hit the target, but that was in no way your maximum, nor was it even close. You failed for thinking less of this test and deciding not to put in any effort," she stated.

'What? That's why she failed me? Because I wasn't taking it seriously?' Raze thought. He looked at her and then smiled. "I understand," he said before lifting his hand. "Then how about I do this?" He made mouth movements like he was casting a spell again, and then a stream of flames shot out, compressed and pushed out with precision. Even when they were compressed, the flames still grew as wide as half a meter.

It slammed into the target with extreme force and heat, burning it up the moment it touched it, then went further, slamming into the back wall and burning a hole through it as well.

The scene left everyone stunned. They looked at the source of the flames, and there he stood with a smile on his face. Talks exploded all around.

Raze looked at her. "Is that better?" he asked.

Sofia gave him a cold look, but then her lips curled into a slight smile. "I like you, kid. Let's see how far you go," she replied. Raze gave her a nod and walked away.

With Raze done, the air was even more tense now. First, it was Gavin, and now it was Raze. This was definitely an exam with high stakes.

After he was done, Raze didn't bother sitting down and watching the others. There were still a good number of people left, so he walked to the back, where he found some wooden stools stacked. He pulled one out and sat down.

"It's been a while since I read. It feels wrong," he muttered. He flicked his wrist, and a book appeared. He had come to realize that he could call for a specific book from the library as long as he could visualize it and knew the exact name properly.

And the book in his hand? It was the basic flame magic book. The fact that he was still on the first book pissed him off. He had so much information at his feet, and yet he was learning so slowly.

He glanced at the people there, they would still be here for quite some time, so he flipped open the book. "Time to learn some new spells," he muttered, and as his eyes landed on the book, he was instantly immersed, lost in the pages.

A few minutes later, he learned the first spell, a two-star spell, Flame Wisps. They allowed him to create an army of flame wisps around his body depending on his mana. The spell acted as both defense and attack, the flame wisps could block magical attacks and also strike.

Unknown to Raze, as his comprehension of the spell rose, soft flame wisps formed around his body, but not everyone could notice them. Sofia did. She looked at him with keen eyes. "What is that kid doing?" she muttered. But after a few seconds, the flame wisps vanished. She thought it was over, but a few minutes later, a flame ring appeared around his body, soft and unseeable to others as well.

'Is he practicing more spells while he sits there? But he's reading a book, how can he read and practice spells at the same time?'

She had been watching him for a while now. 'Maybe learning spells here isn't the best course of action. I should wait until I'm somewhere safer.

At least I've learned three new spells. Though they're only low-ranked spells, I need to start gathering some heavy hitters,' Raze thought. He snapped the book closed and stopped reading. He lifted his eyes and met Sofia's.

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