### Chapter 5: The Academy Assessment
The Great Hall of Assessment was a cavernous, intimidating space. Sunlight streamed through high, arched windows, illuminating motes of dust that danced in the air like restless spirits. The hall was semi-circular, with tiered stone benches rising on all sides, packed with the nervous, chattering apprentices of the first year. In the center of the polished marble floor stood the reason for their anxiety: the Assessment Crystal.
It was a flawless, man-sized monolith of polished quartz, humming with a low, latent power. Runes spiraled up its length, designed to measure the three core tenets of a mage's potential: Mana Capacity, Mana Output, and Mana Purity. A student would place their hand upon its surface, and the crystal would respond, glowing with a color and intensity that would determine their rank for the month. A dim, murky red was a sign of failure. A steady, bright blue signified a promising talent. The legendary geniuses of the past were said to have made it shine with a radiant, pure gold.
Su Yuan stood near the back, a solitary figure amidst the jostling groups of students. The whispers followed him like a shadow.
"There he is. The Walking Disaster."
"I can't believe they're letting him take the assessment. What's he going to do, blow up the crystal?"
"Don't be stupid. He has no mana. It won't even light up. 'Empty Vessel' isn't just a nickname."
He ignored them. Their words were static, meaningless background noise. In his pocket, his fingers idly traced the cool, rough surface of a rusty spoon he had summoned earlier. It was a grounding sensation, a reminder of the absurd reality that underpinned his existence. While his peers worried about their thimble-sized reserves of energy, he was contemplating the tactical applications of infinite, tetanus-inducing cutlery. The gulf between them was so vast it was almost comical.
At the front of the hall, near the crystal, stood a panel of instructors, led by the severe figure of Valerius. His arms were crossed, his expression as unyielding as the stone walls around them. His gaze swept over the assembled students, and for a fleeting moment, his eyes met Su Yuan's. There was no scorn in that gaze, but something far more unsettling: sharp, analytical curiosity. Valerius did not believe in luck, not truly. He believed in cause and effect, and Su Yuan was an anomaly he could not yet explain.
"The monthly assessment begins now," Valerius announced, his voice echoing in the silent hall. "You know the procedure. When your name is called, you will step forward, place your palm on the crystal, and channel your mana. Your results will be recorded. Remember, this is a measure of your progress. Do not be discouraged by a poor showing, but do not become complacent with a good one. Elara Vance, you are first."
A slender girl with a determined expression walked to the crystal. She placed her hand on its cool surface, and after a moment of concentration, the monolith responded. A soft, orange light bloomed within its depths, wavering slightly.
"Capacity: Inferior-Tier 3. Output: Stable. Purity: Muddled," Valerius read off a floating runic display only the instructors could see. "Acceptable progress, Miss Vance. Work on your purification exercises. Next, Baelin Thorngage."
One by one, the students took their turn. The crystal glowed with varying shades of orange and yellow. Most were ranked as Inferior-Tier 2 or 3, the standard for first-year apprentices. They were lauded for small improvements and critiqued for their flaws. The process was methodical, almost mundane.
Then, Kael's name was called.
The brawny apprentice swaggered forward, a confident smirk on his face. He shot a contemptuous look back at Su Yuan before slamming his palm against the crystal with theatrical force.
The crystal flared. A bright, powerful yellow light, tinged with green, filled the lower half of the monolith. A murmur of admiration rippled through the student benches.
"Capacity: Mid-Tier 1," Valerius announced, a rare note of approval in his voice. "Output: Aggressive. Purity: Acceptable. A significant improvement, Kael. You are on track to enter the advanced combat curriculum next year."
Kael puffed out his chest, basking in the envious stares of his peers. As he walked back, he made sure to pass by Su Yuan's spot.
"See that, Empty Vessel?" he sneered in a low voice. "That's real power. The kind you can't just find in a garbage pile. Try not to embarrass yourself too much. Maybe if you press really hard, you can leave a smudge."
Su Yuan's expression didn't change. He simply blinked, his gaze remaining fixed on the crystal. To him, Kael's display was like a child boasting about being able to lift a small rock, oblivious to the mountain looming behind him. The sheer scale of their difference in power was something Kael's mind couldn't even begin to comprehend.
More names were called. The list was alphabetical, and as the names neared 'S', the whispers around Su Yuan grew louder. The anticipation was not for his success, but for his failure. It was the morbid curiosity of a crowd waiting for a crash.
Finally, the moment came.
"Su Yuan," Valerius called out, his voice flat and devoid of any expectation.
A hush fell over the hall. Every eye turned to the gaunt, black-robed boy at the back. He moved without hesitation, his steps steady as he walked the long path to the center of the hall. He could feel hundreds of pairs of eyes on him, feel their pity, their scorn, their morbid excitement.
He reached the crystal. It was cool to the touch, and it thrummed with a subtle energy that seemed to eagerly await a connection.
*Now,* the gamer 'Void' thought, his mind a whirlwind of strategic calculations. *What's the objective?*
It wasn't to show off. Revealing infinite mana would be suicide. It would break every known law of magic and get him locked in a lab, his soul dissected by archmages eager to understand his secret.
The objective was to pass. To establish a new baseline. To change his reputation from 'talentless' to 'unassuming'. He needed a result that was impressive enough to silence the mockery, but not so monstrous that it invited dangerous scrutiny. He needed to be seen as a late bloomer, a student whose potential was perhaps overlooked, not a cosmic horror in a boy's body. The scroll incident already put him on thin ice; this had to be plausible.
He recalled the hundred thousand Mana Bolts he had cast yesterday. He had done more than just practice a spell; he had gained a level of fine control over his boundless energy that was likely unprecedented. Any other mage had to carefully shepherd their limited resources, like a desert traveler rationing water. He could open the floodgates and let the ocean roar, but he had also learned to control it down to a single, perfect drop.
That was the key. Not quantity. Quality.
He placed his right palm flat against the crystal's surface. He closed his eyes, shutting out the expectant stares. He reached into the infinite, silent ocean within him. He didn't draw forth a wave, or even a stream. He isolated a single, minuscule quantum of mana, no larger than a grain of his daily infinite sand.
Then, he began to polish it.
Using the same principles he'd discovered while perfecting his [Mana Bolt], he compressed it, purified it, and stabilized it, all within the span of a single thought. He filtered out every iota of chaotic energy, every flicker of instability, until what remained was a tiny, flawless bead of pure arcane potential. It was an insignificant amount of power, less than what most apprentices used to cast a [Glow] spell. But it was perfect.
He gently pushed that single, perfected drop into the Assessment Crystal.
For a moment, nothing happened. The crystal remained dark.
A snicker broke the silence from the student benches. Kael let out a loud, mocking laugh. "He really is empty! It's not even lighting up!"
Valerius's lips thinned, a flicker of what might have been disappointment in his eyes. He opened his mouth to dismiss Su Yuan.
And then it happened.
It didn't start with a glow. It started with a sound. A single, pure, resonant tone, like a crystal bell struck once, echoed through the Great Hall.
Then, a pinprick of light appeared in the very heart of the crystal, right where Su Yuan's palm rested. It was not red, or orange, or even blue. It was white. A pure, brilliant, diamond-white that seemed to absorb all other light in the room.
The pinprick did not explode outward. It didn't flare or surge. It simply began to climb. Slowly, steadily, with the inexorable pace of a rising sun, the needle-thin line of pure white light ascended through the center of the crystal. It passed the marks for Inferior-Tier, its progress smooth and unwavering. It passed the Mid-Tier mark where Kael's boisterous yellow light had topped out, not even slowing.
The hall was utterly silent now. The laughter had died in Kael's throat, his face a mask of slack-jawed disbelief. Every student and every instructor was on their feet, their eyes wide with shock.
The white line continued its ascent, climbing into the upper echelons of the crystal, the territory reserved for senior students and academy prodigies. It passed the High-Tier mark, and then the mark for Master-Tier, a level no first-year had reached in a century.
Su Yuan knew he had to stop. This was already far beyond his original goal. He had underestimated how the crystal would react to mana of this impossible purity. He cut the connection, withdrawing his will.
The line of light stopped its climb, halting precisely three-quarters of the way to the very top. It didn't flicker. It didn't waver. It just hung there, a solid, unwavering pillar of impossible white light, shining with the serene intensity of a distant star.
The runic display next to Valerius flared so brightly it was almost blinding. The instructor, a man known for his iron composure, took an involuntary step back, his eyes wide with a mixture of awe and utter confusion.
He stared at the display, then at Su Yuan, then back at the display. He had to read the results three times before he could trust his own eyes.
"Capacity…" he began, his voice strained, a tremor of disbelief running through it. "…Unable to be accurately measured. The reading fluctuates between Mid-Tier 1 and… Archon-Tier."
A collective gasp swept the hall. Archon-Tier was a theoretical limit, a rank reserved for demigods and legends.
Valerius shook his head, clearing his throat as if to dismiss the impossible reading. "Likely a flaw in the crystal's calibration due to… the unusual nature of the mana. We will proceed with the other metrics." He swallowed, his eyes still fixed on the impossible pillar of light.
"Output: Infinitesimal. Barely detectable." This reading only added to the confusion. How could the capacity be so high and the output so low? It made no sense. It was like discovering an ocean that flowed through the eye of a needle.
"But the purity…" Valerius whispered the next words, his voice filled with a reverence that stunned his students into deeper silence. "Purity… is 100%. Absolute. Flawless."
Absolute purity was a myth. A theoretical concept. Even the Headmaster's mana had impurities. It was an accepted fact that all mortal mana carried a taint, a trace of the caster's own flawed, chaotic being. A purity of 100% meant the mana was indistinguishable from the raw, perfect weave of creation itself.
Su Yuan removed his hand. The pillar of light vanished, plunging the hall back into the normal afternoon sun, yet everything felt dimmer than before. He turned, his expression placid, as if he had just performed a simple, unremarkable task.
He walked back towards his spot, the sea of students parting before him as if he were a leper, or a king. They stared at him with a new kind of expression. The scorn and pity were gone, replaced by a potent cocktail of fear, awe, and utter bewilderment. He was no longer the Empty Vessel or the Walking Disaster. He was something else entirely. Something unknown and terrifying.
Kael stood frozen, his face pale. His earlier taunts about 'real power' now seemed like the pathetic squeaking of a mouse in the presence of a silent dragon.
Su Yuan returned to his lonely corner, the weight of a thousand stares doing nothing to disturb his inner calm. He slipped his hand back into his pocket, his fingers finding the familiar, rusty spoon.
*Objective complete,* 'Void' concluded. *New baseline established. Potential for scrutiny has increased, but immediate threats from peers have been neutralized. A net positive result.*
He had wanted to be a late bloomer. Instead, he had presented the academy with a paradox that would likely be debated for years.
"The assessment is… concluded for today," Valerius announced, his voice still unsteady. He looked directly at Su Yuan, his stern facade completely shattered, replaced by an intense, burning curiosity. "Su Yuan. Report to my office. Immediately."