Stelle's POV:
Stelle was always seen as average.
It was quite the thing to say, considering her skill and mastery over both mana and aura. She knew that her mana and aura levels were not that high compared to her siblings, but compared to the average person, she was above them. Let's not even talk about things like control and quality! Her control was spectacular! She could already form sword aura at the age of 9, that was three years younger than her older brother, the so-called prodigy of the Kingdom of Striocia or the Star of Striocia!
She was above him in ever single evaluation. So why? Why was she always treated as the inferior one?
The first time she was called average was after a training session that she did particularly bad. After that she trained really hard to not be called again, after all, seeing her father calling her "average" with such a disappointing face was quite traumatic for a seven-year-old girl.
Once she showed how much she learned with her hard work, a look of sudden understanding flashed in her parent's eyes. After looking at each other for a while, a small smirk appeared on her mother's face.
"You truly think that learning the Meyer's Sword Style first 3 forms is enough to impress us? Do you think you are some kind of talent?"
"Do you think we don't know? How much you train to reach such minimal levels of mastery? Who do you think you are? A peasant? You are from the prestigious and founder family, Meyer! The descendants of the Last Hero!"
Once again, Stelle was met with a shock that made her head spin. The last part of what her father told her didn't even registered. In that day, she trained so much that she contracted a magical disease that halved her mana pool and damaged her magic control slightly.
She still didn't stop. She was obsessed.
She didn't care of the disadvantages of training to such extent, she just had to gain more than she lost on those injuries.
However, unbeknownst to her, or rather ignored, this just made her distance herself from her family and worse, her potential.
Over the years, she was affected by so many injuries to her magic channels that she could only use around a fourth of what she was supposed to. According to some specialists, her mana itself became damaged and never became the same. That didn't stop her, though.
She needed more power.
Naturally, she herself noted that she needed more than hard work for that. She needed resources, those that the academy in front of her had.
"Hey There! Are you perhaps here to apply to the entrance exams?"
"Yes."
"Your ID, please."
She handed him her phone to show her ID without a word. Once the gates opened, she headed in silently.
Near a building there was a crowd made of several people in constant chatter.
It wasn't long until she arrived near it, and almost immediately noticing someone.
He was Jynn Caster, someone from the founder families of Striocia. Naturally, they both knew each other, as they were both forced to meet at some social gatherings.
"Oh! Hello there, Stelle! How are you doing?! It's great to see you!"
"Hm" she nodded absentminded, she wasn't in the mood to deal with him.
"You still remember, right? When you promised to go with me to have dinner?"
"Hm?" she couldn't really remember that, tough?
"You see, I found this wonderful restaurant that is underwater, we could see the fish while eating shrimp."
"Hm" That caught her attention, she loved shrimp after all.
"Unfortunately, they only serve single tables, so you will have to seat on my lap!"
*Sigh*
"Oof!"
After sighing, and realizing his intentions, she swiftly delivered a sucker punch and walked forward, leaving him on his knees. He wasn't worthy of any more time.
Talking about worthy. She adverted her attention to the source of the gaze that was observing them from the start.
It was a young man with black hair and mesmerizing lizard-like red eyes, he seemed interesting.
And as someone who caught her interest, she decided to use her ring.
Using her thumb to rub her ring that was on her index finger, she activated its enchantment.
It was simple really, the ring was supposed to say how strong someone was compared to her. It wasn't totally accurate, but it was enough to never had failed her.
As soon as she activated the ring, it shrank, strangling her finger while it started to overheat.
Using her aura to protect her skin, she maintained a calm face and turned around with her answer.
Death.
That would be the result of a fight between them.
She tried to ignore the implications of such a result. After all, according to her senses, although he possessed levels of mana above the average, but it was not to ridiculous level, not enough for the ring to instantly announce her death had they fought.
The ring was an artifact that worked, not with magical sensors like a lot of other artifacts with similar functions. It was created by the Church and therefore used divine power to make a divination directed to the target and the user.
Therefore, the ring took more than just mana and aura pools to measure strength, and instead divined a battle between the two.
So, what happened in such a battle that she died so fast?
Was it his control over mana? She was definitely lacking in that regard due to her injuries.
Was it his battle style? Was he a better fighter overall? She didn't think that was it, after all, although her mana was injured several times and therefore was weaker than before, her combat style had only improved.
Maybe it was battle experience? She had to admit, due to her family's belief that she was just average or below that, she never took part in a real fight or a proper spar.
Or was it all the above?
She decided to leave those thoughts for later, she had other matters to attend to. Right now, she needed a clear mind to deal with the Theory Test.
She wanted to apply into the Hero Course with the best grade possible, that meant acing all the three tests. She had studied for several hours and gave up several nights of sleep to prepare for it. She wasn't going to fail.
In the conference room, where they would be briefed about the tests, not much was given. Other than a rundown on what the Theory Test is going to be and at what time will the other tests commence and end.
Without much wait, they started to hand out the papers in order to start the Theory Test. There were over two hundred students, and yet there were only five teachers to oversee them. It took some time, but they eventually got their papers and were allowed to read them.
Stelle started by reading each question, in order to familiarize herself with the contents and find a specific order based on priorities.
Questions that valued more points. Questions that would take her more time to solve, either by complications or the long time-wasting methods to solve them. Questions that she was not comfortable to answer without finishing the problem with doubt.
Luckily, there seemed to be a lot of common knowledge questions.
'Is this the extent of prestigious academy such as this? Why would they put such simple questions in the Test?'
She decided to ignore that and focused on solving them.
She started with the questions she believed to be easier and less time-consuming. Due to the lower difficulty level that she was not expecting, she solved the various numbers of questions easily enough.
'This should score me at least one of the best grades.'
Feeling comfortable, she decided to look around the hall in curiosity.
Jynn seemed to be handling himself and, like him and her, a lot of others students seemed to be comfortable on this scenario.
Her eyes, once again, found the boy with the weird red eyes.
He seemed rather laid back, unbothered by the tension of some candidates who were rather nervous.
He was leaning against the back of his chair, holding the test paper over his head, he had a confused face, but not one of uncertainty in an answer.
'I wonder what he is thinking about?'
With Ray/Rex Draco
'Why did the first governor of Republic of Whoastein decided to create what they called 'Democracy', huh? What the hell is a democracy? For some reason, it sounds stupid.'
He searched his memories, trying to remember Astra's tutoring sessions.
'Democracy is that thing where the people decide who stays in power, right? That just seems a good way for stupider people to be tricked by stupid people, though. But who am I to judge?'
He wrote something that he thought was right and moved on to the next question.
'What is the name given to the descendants of Rex Draco?'
Ray started sweating.
'What the Heck are they talking about?!'