The massive carrier that loomed in the center of Bastion's port was nothing short of a floating marvel.
Its sleek metallic curves shimmered like dragon-scale under the sunlight, while glowing runes pulsed quietly along its underbelly, keeping the entire colossal machine suspended above the runway.
It looked less like a transport vehicle and more like a luxury cruiser made for high nobles.
Except this time, it was packed not with royalty, but with excited, hopeful young candidates who had survived the first brutal trial of the Academy's entrance exam.
Well… "packed" might be an overstatement.
Compared to the sea of excited teens that had filled the grounds before the first trial, the crowd today looked like it had been trimmed by ninety percent.
Only a handful of determined youths now gathered around the entrance ramp of the carrier, most of them quiet and wary, trading sharp glances like wolves sizing each other up before the next hunt.
