"ATTENTION ALL CANDIDATES."

  A voice came out of nowhere, waking up the students who had been daydreaming about the test.

  "THE EXAMS HAVE BEGUN. PROCEED TO YOUR DESIGNATED ACADEMIES."

  The massive gates in front of them groaned open.

  The crowd surged forward. It was a chaotic tide of bodies. The majority of the students funneled toward the center, jamming the entrance to Silvergate, Ironhold

  , and Stormwatch. The other, smaller academies lining the square stood mostly empty, their recruiters watching the stampede with envious eyes.

  "Stay close," Omar shouted over the noise, using his shoulder to push through a wall of teenagers.

  "I'm right behind you," Marie answered

  Roy brought up the rear, keeping his head down, letting the hood shadow his face. He moved with the flow, not fighting it.

  They reached the Silvergate checkpoint. A row of sleek, black scanners blocked the path.

  Roy pulled out his ID.

  Beep.

  [CANDIDATE #4092: WELCOME.]

  He stepped through the turnstile and into the building.

  The noise of the outside world cut off instantly. The architecture inside the Silvergate building was designed to dampen sound. The chaos of the plaza was replaced by a tense, suffocating silence. Hundreds of students stood in lines, whispering, checking their watches, wiping sweaty palms on their combat pants.

  "This is it," Omar whispered.

  They were directed to a holding area: a massive room filled with chairs, all facing a single door at the far end.

  Roy, Omar, and Marie sat next to each other, watching. Every five minutes, the door would open. A student would walk in, looking confident. Then after some time they would walk out, looking confused.

  "Why do they look like that?" Omar muttered.

  "Did they fail? Was it hard?"

  "They look... underwhelmed," Marie noted, narrowing her eyes.

  "Candidate 4092!" a proctor called out.

  Roy pushed off his chair.

  "That's me."

  "Good luck," Omar said.

  "Don't hold back."

  "Right," Roy lied.

  He stepped into the room. The door clicked shut behind him.

  The room was stark white, empty except for two things: a reinforced combat dummy standing in the center, and a man sitting behind a desk in the corner.

  The man didn't look up. He was writing on a clipboard.

  "Name and rank," the man said, his voice bored.

  "Roy. Rank B."

  The man finally looked up. His eyes were a pale, watery blue. They didn't blink.

  "Powers?"

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  "Fire and shadow," Roy recited.

  The man tapped his pen on the paper.

  "A Special Elemental. That's quite rare."

  His voice remained bored.

  "Alright, Roy," the man said, gesturing lazily to the dummy.

  "The test is simple. I want you to destroy that target. Once with your fire, once with your shadow. You have four minutes. Go ahead."

  Roy looked at the dummy. It was a standard Model-4, designed to take normal attacks from daggers and swords without a scratch.

  'That's it? Just hit it?'

  It seemed too simple.

  He thought. 'What's the simplest way to do it with shadows? Should I teleport behind it and hit it with my hand? Even if it can take a cut, I can still twist the head off. But no, not a lot of people can merge with their element. Or should I put my hands in the shadow and use them to give my shadows a physical form and use that? But maybe they'll think it's the same thing and figure it out. So maybe this...'

  "Humph."

  The sound of the tester clearing his throat broke Roy's thoughts.

  "A minute has already gone."

  'No need to overthink it. Just do it without making it flashy,' Roy thought to himself as he began putting his hands in his pockets to sink them into the shadow.

  Then, he felt it.

  A prickling sensation on the back of his neck. Like a spider crawling over his skin.

  Roy froze.

  He didn't turn his head, but he shifted his focus. He glanced at the tester from the corner of his eye.

  The man's pale blue eyes were glowing faintly. A soft, rhythmic pulse of light.

  He wasn't looking at the dummy.

  He was looking inside Roy.

  'A Special Power that lets him see mana,' Roy realized, his heart skipping a beat.

  The man wasn't grading the damage. He was grading the flow.

  The test wasn't about power. It was about control. But that was actually good for Roy. Since he rarely used his powers, even if he understood how to use them with perfect efficiency, he couldn't do it without trying very hard. but his normal control was above average, which meant he could just use his powers without worrying about failing or showing too much.

  An awkward smile appeared on Roy's face

  He put his hands in his pockets. Then two hands emerged from the dummy's shadow. They gripped the head and twisted it off cleanly.

  Then he raised his right hand and opened his palm.

  He summoned the mana, letting it spill out.

  A ball of orange fire erupted from his hand. It slammed into the dummy, scorching the chest plate and knocking it back a few inches, flames consuming what remained.

  'It's perfect,' Roy thought to himself.

  The tester's eyes stopped glowing.

  "Hmm," the man grunted.

  "Not bad."

  He scribbled a final note.

  "You can leave now."

  The door behind Roy opened.

  "You can't stay in the building. Leave immediately."

  Roy exhaled.

  "I will."

  He walked out the door, gave a quick look to Omar and Marie—'Don't worry'—then left the building and returned to the threshold.

  A few other students were there, looking confused.

  "It was just... hitting a dummy?" one girl whispered.

  "That's it?"

  "I don't know," another boy said.

  "I feel like I failed, even though I broke it."

  Roy stood quietly, looking around and waiting. The academies that had been basically empty before now had some students going in for their exams.

  Ten minutes later, Omar walked out, beaming. Marie followed a moment later, looking thoughtful.

  "That was easy!" Omar grinned, jogging over.

  "I blasted that thing halfway across the room and destroyed it three different times. I definitely got an A."

  "It was strange," Marie said, frowning.

  "The proctor... he was staring at me really intensely. I felt like I was being X-rayed."

  Roy nodded.

  "Yeah. It was weird."

  "Well, whatever!" Omar clapped his hands together.

  "First stage cleared! But you don't come to the threshold every day. Let's walk around."

  They spent an hour wandering the area, seeing all kinds of students from different academies, before finally heading back to the metro station.

  As they walked away, Roy glanced back at the massive complex one last time.

  'If this is the first test, what will the second one be? I pray it isn't fighting.'

  'If there are people who can see mana, why isn't it common knowledge?'

  ---

  Roy opened his eyes. His phone had been ringing for the past minute.

  He answered it without checking who it was.

  "Who is this?"

  "You're still sleeping? Wake up, it's here!"

  "What's here?"

  "The results, of course!"

  "The wha..."

  Roy sat up fast.

  "The results? What's your result?" Roy said

  "Me and Marie both got accepted. So now go check yours!"

  Roy opened his email and found it:

  SILVERGATE TEST RESULT

  He opened it and looked at the message, not knowing whether he should be happy or sad.

  "What is it?" Omar asked.