Tucked deep within the city's forgotten district, the Research Division headquarters stood like a secret no one dared name—its black stone walls veined with faint silver light, pulsing as if the building itself breathed magic. Spires jutted into the sky at crooked angles, humming with silent energy, each one a conductor for arcane forces too volatile for common use. There were no signs, no banners, only a narrow gate etched with shifting runes that opened only for those the building recognized.
Inside, silence ruled. The air was still, unnaturally so, carrying a strange weight—as if the sound itself was unwelcome. Polished obsidian walls caught faint reflections, and pale rune-light from the ceiling cast the halls in a cold, constant twilight. No voices echoed here. Just footsteps. Just purpose
***
In here other tests that would grant them the badge and rights of becoming soldiers were what they had to go through.
----
The first test begun
The objective was to redirect a destabilized air current into a stable energy pattern before it fractures the arcane lattice.
**Test Constraints**
* Mana surges pulse unpredictably.
* Direct force may damage the lattice.
* Precision, timing, and stable redirection are key.
----
Kael steps into the chamber. The current is wild—cutting through unstable magic vents, threatening the fragile lattice suspended in the center.
He lifts a hand calmly.
**Incantations Spoken:**
"Arcus Tempera"
(Bind the storm beneath the calm)
"Ventus Lineara"
(Redirect. Flow to edge. )
> *—a basic guidance phrase used to shift magical wind.*
"Circulus Aerius"
(Seal turbulence. Hold form)
> *—a common stabilization charm.*
Each line is spoken cleanly, without tension or emphasis.
His mana flow is smooth, unforced. No flourish, no visual theatrics—only minimal glimmers as the current quietly follows his commands.
The current bends.
Stabilizes.
Disperses in a controlled arc.
No resistance, no flare.
Kael says nothing more. He lowers his hand and exits.
**Official Record Notes*
*Mana Usage: Low
* Spell Protocol: Followed perfectly
* Execution Time: 58 seconds
* Observation: "Standard use of Tier-1 wind control incantations. Results stable. No abnormalities. Pass
Just another successful attempt.
But to the reader, his mastery is undeniable.
---
A second candidate , Arven Drel, who also possesses wind magic steps in next
### **Background**
* Specialty: Mid-range wind and arcane buffering
* Known for: Improvising under pressure.
-----
Arven enters with a confident stride, rolling his shoulders as the test begins.
The wind current is violent already—rushing toward the lattice like a blade in a tunnel. He doesn't hesitate. He draws a wide sigil in the air with both hands.
**First incantation:**
"Gravis Aera"
(Hold fast the tide!)
A visible shield of condensed air forms in front of the lattice—*too quickly*. The current slams into it, and the shield vibrates hard, rippling like stretched cloth.
Arven grimaces, then adjusts his stance and casts again.
"Spira Ventorum"
(Redirect pressure—Split and scatter!)
A spiraling stream of counter-wind explodes outward. It works—but just barely. The turbulence splits into two arcs, spinning toward the chamber's sides. One threatens to rebound.
Quickly, he finishes with:
"Ferrum Loop"
(Clamp the drift! )
A steel-like loop of air clamps around the last current and pins it to the far wall, where it diffuses.
He pants slightly—mana visibly drawn from him. The test ends with the lattice intact but flickering faintly.
---
**Result Summary:**
* Incantations Used*:
Gravis Aera* (Heavy air barrier)
Spira Ventorum* (Wind scatter spiral)
Ferrum Loop* (Air compression lock)
*Mana Use: High-moderate
* Execution Time: 1 min 08 seconds
* **Comments**: "Effective but unstable. Overuse of pressure. Good improvisation under stress. Passed with caution."
-----
On the second test, a stable difference was seen but still everyone had to be tested individually.
This time the test was in a tall building with six different floors and with the floors was a series of trials. The main objective was to escape the building, to test their endurance and their strategic abilities.
The test began.
---
[Entrance: Floor 1 – The Pressure Web]
Aelis steps through the iron gate. The door slams behind her. The room is wide and gray, lined with small seams on the tiled floor and walls—an obvious trap. Her eyes flicker with faint violet as her Arcane Threading activates. Fine blue lines appear in her vision—dense, glowing paths of energy linking several tiles and walls together like a web.
She doesn't move forward immediately. She observes how some threads pulse faintly—unstable ones. Traps. Then, she crouches and whispers a spell, not to attack, but to push a single thread with raw energy. Instantly, three darts fire from the left wall, striking a dummy in the far corner.
"Predictive grid confirmed," she mutters.
Step by step, she walks a thin path through safe zones, turning corners sharply where the threads disconnect. At one point, the threads shift—she halts mid-step, adjusts her angle by a few degrees, and avoids a plate trigger. She exits flawlessly, but beads of sweat dot her temple from the intense concentration.
---
[Floor 2 – The Shifting Maze of Mirrors]
She enters a dim chamber—tall walls, mirrors on every surface. The exit door glows faintly at the far side, then vanishes as the entire room begins to rotate and fragment. Dozens of mirror-walkways appear.
Aelis breathes in. Arcane Threading activates again, and now the pathways flicker in her vision—multiple potential energy currents layered like puzzle pieces.
Every 10 seconds, the layout resets. She notices: each time, one thread glows a split-second longer—a stable route.
She waits… waits again—then dashes left—not fast, but exact. Her fingers brush the mirror wall as she turns a narrow corner. One misstep nearly takes her down—shards rise from the floor like spears—but she anticipates it, vaulting sideways just before the spell activates.
She reaches the far door just as the next shift begins, and slips through mid-phase.
---
[Floor 3 – Duel with the Phantom Monk]
A cloaked figure drops from the ceiling—an illusion, but an advanced one. Its aura is dense, its movements perfect. It draws two hooked shortblades and immediately attacks.
Aelis sidesteps the first strike, barely avoiding a feint. She doesn't have raw power—she has foresight.
Her threading activates again—but this time, she tracks the internal magic structure of the illusion itself. She sees which runes power the limbs, which core fuels the regeneration.
It slashes—she falls back. It spins, strikes again. She counts every second. Then, when its movement briefly resets after the fourth combo—she snaps a thin thread of her own magic forward, slicing through the central rune powering the right leg.
The illusion stumbles—imbalance. She lunges, placing a trigger sigil on its chest. The spell activates half a second later, bursting in a flash of arcane disruption. The phantom disperses.
She exhales shakily. The fight cost her a burn mark across her shoulder from a near-miss.
---
[Floor 4 – The Descent Crush Chamber]
A narrow room with only one obvious exit at the far end. As she enters, the walls lock—and the ceiling begins to descend with brutal slowness.
There's a glowing sigil plate ahead. Aelis narrows her eyes. She touches the wall—no thread currents, no enchantments. Suspicious.
She triggers her Threading. The glowing exit isn't connected to any mana channels. It's fake. A decoy.
She scans the walls. There—a spot behind her, faint and uneven. She blasts it with a controlled pulse. The wall wavers like water. An illusory cover.
But she has seconds left.
She dives through the fake wall just as the ceiling slams down behind her. Dust blasts through the crack. Her chest rises and falls rapidly.
---
[Floor 5 – The Hall of Screaming Wraiths]
A long hallway of mirrors and broken marble, but she feels it before she sees it—the pressure of hatred in the air. Dozens of illusory wraiths phase through the floor, walls, and ceiling, circling her like wolves sensing blood.
She activates Threading again, but the threads here are chaotic—unstable, glitching. These illusions are corrupted, made to disorient.
The first wraith lunges—she casts a reflective burst spell, not to destroy, but to light up the battlefield. The refracted light reveals slight distortions in the illusions' paths. They falter when they pass over a certain point.
She shifts her stance—that point is an anchor.
She races toward the distortion and slams her hand into the floor, channeling magic into a counter-loop. The illusion destabilizes rapidly, losing control.
She doesn't destroy them—she outpaces them. Dodging and weaving as they glitch in and out of solidity, she forces her way down the final stretch and slides into the stairwell, her breathing now ragged.
---
[Floor 6 – Final Arena: Two Duelists & Arcane Snare Circles]
This time, the arena is wide, open, and humming with dormant sigils etched into the floor—snare traps.
Two elite illusionary duelists appear—one with a polearm, the other with explosive chain magic.
Aelis doesn't try to take them both. She runs—a direct sprint at the nearest trap circle, luring the chain-mage. When he follows, she baits a chain attack—sidesteps—and the enemy steps onto the trap.
Instant activation. It freezes mid-cast. She turns to the polearm user.
This one fights smart. They engage, and she's nearly run through twice. But with her last effort, she reaches under her coat, grabs a stored reflective shard, and redirects one of the sigils on the floor using its mirrored surface. When the illusion steps forward again, the sigil activates in reverse—imploding it.
Aelis falls to one knee. Her mana is low, but she drags herself up and makes it to the stairwell.
---
[Final Time: 10 minutes, 12 seconds]
She exits—pale, bleeding from her shoulder, and utterly silent.The mages responsible for healing purposes rushed towards her.The evaluators are impressed. Not by her strength.
But by her precision. Her entire run was surgical.
Kael steps in for the second test.