As soon as he received the initial explanation, Alexander was directed to another line inside the academy, which fortunately was shorter than the previous one.

  While waiting in line, he saw many sad people returning. Some cried and others said it was just bad luck, but no one seemed willing to create the slightest disturbance inside the academy.

  As he neared the front of the line, Alexander began to hear a man, who seemed to be one of the instructors, giving information on how to proceed from there: "Those who are here for the magical or support combat styles should enter the first room. Those who are here for the martial or hybrid combat systems should join the people who are already running and follow the squad leader until I tell you to stop."

  Upon hearing this instructor's orders, several people began to protest against the test, saying it wasn't clear. But instead of answering, the instructor enveloped everyone with his energy. "Whoever isn't going to take the test should leave."

  This time no one dared to respond. The people just looked at each other until they saw Alexander running to join the group the instructor had indicated and began to follow him.

  After about half an hour of running, some people were eliminated for losing the pace, and many others were eliminated for not being able to keep up, but Alexander didn't have these problems, as he was using the [Survivor's Set] and had a good amount of energy.

  Ding!

  [|Run (Beginner)| leveled up to |Run (Intermediate)|]

  When Alexander completed about 2 hours of running, the evaluator called him to say he had passed the first test and asked which combat system he wanted to pursue.

  Ding!

  [|Run (Intermediate)| leveled up to |Run (Advanced)|]

  "It seems running the 'right' way influences a lot in the proficiency increase of the |Run| skill," concluded Alexander upon analyzing the rapid development of this skill in this short time...

  As soon as he said he wanted the hybrid combat system, the instructor told him to choose between the martial combat room and the magical combat room to continue the exam.

  Without the slightest doubt or hesitation, Alexander chose the magical combat room, as this was the area where he stood out the most. And upon entering the magical combat room, he waited with the other candidates until there was a reasonable number of people for the new evaluator to introduce himself.

  "Hello, I'm Lucas, the person in charge of the 1st-year hybrid combat system, and your examiner in magical combat," Lucas introduced himself. "Your second test will be to cause damage to these targets while maintaining some distance from them."

  Obviously there were other rules, but they were very simple:

  You can attack any target, as long as you maintain a minimum distance.

  The attack has to be of a magical nature.

  Using items to aid in the attack execution is not allowed.

  Each person is only entitled to attack once, no exceptions.

  Not wanting to stand out, Alexander opted to watch before trying, but apparently most people were thinking the same thing.

  While the participants looked at each other uncertainly, a man and a woman, who were exuding confidence, stepped forward, prepared their fire spells, and fired at their targets.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  The young man's face soon filled with happiness upon realizing he would hit his target. But at the moment of truth, his attack didn't cause much damage.

  The young woman, in turn, missed the target, but strangely remained very calm. Alexander was wondering where her confidence came from when the spell touched the ground between 2 targets.

  "BOOOOOOM!" Sounded the explosion that swallowed the 2 targets and shook the room.

  The explosive spell was so intense that the nearby targets were blown to pieces and thrown far away.

  Happy with her performance, the young woman smiled with great pride at the other participants and returned to the initial position.

  "That was clearly a Tier I spell," thought Alexander. "And one of the most powerful I've ever seen."

  The other candidates, who were apprehensive, were inspired upon seeing the first results and began to try.

  With confidence and morale high, most candidates passed, as the biggest obstacles for this test were insecurity and the fear of making a mistake.

  When most had already tried, Alexander decided it was time to try too. But this didn't cause him much worry, as his water element spells were suitable for this type of evaluation due to their fluid and encompassing characteristics.

  Not wanting to attract attention, he opted to use |Water Jet| with a bit of pressure to pass the evaluation without being too flashy.

  After everyone had made their attempt, Lucas sent the failed ones away and began to explain the next part of the exam to those who passed: "The last test is a combat simulation. I will face you one by one, and whoever can threaten me will pass."

  "Don't worry, I will reduce my combat power to that of a silver-rank adventurer," Lucas explained. "Those who can make me exceed this power level will also be considered as having passed."

  Alexander couldn't tell if it was because of the confidence she gained in the first test, or if she was naturally this confident, but the same young woman who started the previous test stepped forward and offered to be the first again.

  Upon seeing this, the instructor just smiled a little and told the others to step back, as he was going to start the combat simulation. But as soon as the simulation began, it became clear to Alexander that the instructor was just playing with the young woman while keeping his speed at an overwhelming level, probably equivalent to the peak of a silver-rank adventurer focused on speed.

  The young woman didn't give up despite the evaluator's speed and launched a |Fireball| to try to hit him from afar. But Lucas easily dodged the spell and retaliated with his own |Fireball|.

  The young woman also showed some experience and managed to dodge. But she was far from doing as well as her "opponent," as her unnecessarily wide movements created some openings.

  Without missing these opportunities, the instructor began to suffocate her more and more with his discrepant reaction speed, launching more |Fireballs| and slowly approaching.

  With less and less space to launch her fireballs, the young woman felt so much pressure that she prepared her Tier I spell to hit him, even though she was within the spell's own range. Unfortunately for her, the instructor anticipated the spell and appeared right in front of her to capture her.

  Knowing the young woman had no way of winning any physical contest with the evaluator, Alexander thought she had already lost. What he didn't expect was for a |Wall of Fire| to rise from the ground beneath the evaluator.

  "You passed," said Lucas upon emerging from the fire, "tearing" the flames with his body completely unharmed and enveloped in energy. "But you should also take better care of yourself."

  Alexander, who closely followed the match, keeping himself discreet, was impressed with both sides. But his peace of mind was soon disturbed when Lucas called him: "You must know the |Invigorate| spell, since you seem to be a water mage... Help her if possible."

  Upon hearing the examiner's request, Alexander turned to the young woman, and only then noticed that she had been singed by her own spell.

  "So that's why he told her to be more careful," concluded Alexander. "What a strong personality. She used a Tier I spell even while being inside its area of effect."

  Seeing no problem in helping her, he took his scepter and covered her with the water created with |Invigorate|, which became possible after he maximized this spell, and began to heal her.

  With the natural advantage of the water element over the fire element, his healing was very effective and fast on the young woman's injuries, who soon began to show signs of improvement.

  During this time that Alexander spent healing the young woman, the instructor had already eliminated several participants. He was basically an entity of chaos who was there just to torment those being examined.

  In the first fight Lucas showed himself to be fast, in the second he showed himself to be strong, in the third he showed himself to be skilled with movements, in the fourth he showed himself to be proficient in energy control, in the fifth he showed himself to be proficient in mana control, and so on.

  Whenever he went to fight, the examiner showed some of his aspects. But all of them, invariably, were the potential that a silver-rank adventurer focused on that respective area should have.

  Seeing that no one else seemed willing to go after a while, Alexander stepped forward and offered to be the next.