Vander's group was the first one in the arena. In the massive stadium, he noticed five different platforms. The platforms were placed like a cross. One in the north, south, east, west, and center. These five platforms were made up of some sort of stone and each one was about 50 by 50 feet.
'One for each group.' Vander guessed.
Sarah led her group next to the farthest platform, the one in the east of the stadium.
"Alright, who wants to go first?." Sarah questioned her group.
No one wanted to volunteer. Since this test determined which class they were assigned to, they wanted to be prepared. The first person to take the test would be at a disadvantage. Not knowing exactly the test would entail would be detrimental.
"You. You'll be the first one up. Don't worry, we're just going to check how fast you are. The longer you last, the better grade you'll get. If your [Record] can help you, use it." Because no one volunteered, Sarah chose a random student.
"Go up to the middle of the platform and let me know when you're ready."
"I'm ready." The student got to the middle of the platform.
Hearing the student, Sarah knelt down and touched the ground right next to the platform.
Vander felt that same feeling from the principal, the invisible pressure, but it was way weaker. A second later the pressure disappeared. Then the four corners of the platform began to rise and a very clear blue light connected them, forming some sort of see through blue wall. The platform turned into a cage, stone pillars as the corners, and the blue light connecting them as the sides.
The small part of ground that Sarah touched also began to rise as well. It rose to her waist then stopped, forming some kind of console made of stone.
"Then let's begin your test." Holding her left palm atop the stone console, she used her right hand to press one of the stone buttons. The clear blue lights of the cage glowed brighter, and the stone corners also began to glow blue.
A normal bow and arrow made of blue light appeared in the cage. Floating on one side of the cage, it was aimed at the student, then was drawn slowly. The fully drawn blow then released the arrow, shooting it at the student.
The student moved to the side, dodging the arrow by a huge margin. Flying past the student, the arrow hit the blue wall and vanished, materializing back to the bow where it came from. Another bow and arrow made of light came out of the wall that was hit by the arrow.
Now with two magically floating bow and arrows, the difficulty of the test doubled. The two bows were then fully drawn and shot, one right after the other.
Dodging two arrows, the student had less leeway than before. Once the arrows hit the wall and materialized back, two more bows with arrows formed. Four bow and arrows now surrounded the student, one on each side, doubling the difficulty once again.
With four bows firing consecutively, the student was almost hit. By bending backwards quickly, two arrows were dodged, while the other two were about to reach his new position. By falling down and rolling on his back, the other arrows barely missed.
Four new bows were created, totaling eight, all aimed at the student in the center. Just getting back up from the ground, the next volley was unleashed.
Thwack, thwack, thwack, thwack, thwack, thwack, thwack, thwack.
With no room for error, the student tried his best to dodge all the arrows flying towards him. Moving his body side to side, he dodged six of the arrows. When the seventh arrow neared him, the student closed his eyes and tensed his muscles. Knowing that the arrow would eventually hit him, he wanted to prepare himself from the pain.
Once the light blue arrow hit the student, it froze in place, and started to glow red instead. This happened with the other arrow that hit his back as well. The student looked around confused, the pain that he thought would come from being hit by an arrow wasn't there.
The arrows that were now made of red light started to disappear, changing the whole cage. Just like the arrows, the cage also started to change color. The rock corners started to glow red and the blue walls were now red.
"Colin Callor, Dexterity Grade F, you can get down the platform now." Looking at the student with disappointment, Sarah let go of the console, which turned off the caged platform.
The student devastated by the grade walked off the platform while hanging his head down. Vander thought he heard him sobbing while he walked to the back of the group.
Reaching her hand in front of her, she pulled out a tablet out of thin air. Using her finger as a pen, she wrote a couple things and threw the tablet up in the air casually. Once the tablet reached its apex point, it vanished.
'What kind of [Record] is that? Some sort of void inventory, or maybe a pocket dimension.' Vander was intrigued by the possibilities.
"Alright, who's next?" Sarah asked the group. Snapping Vander out from his thoughts.
"I will." A tanned skin girl raised her hand. She seemed confident, having a big grin while she walked up onto the platform.
"I'm ready." Once she got to the middle of the platform, she gave a thumbs up.
Sarah activated the console again, making the blue cage appear.
The girl dodged the first arrow effortlessly without moving from her position on the platform. She dodged the next two arrows just as easy. The same with the next four.
When the eight bows surrounded her, she manipulated her body in various ways to dodge all the arrows, staying at the same spot. Passing the previous student's attempt at the test with no effort at all.
After dodging the eight bows and arrows, eight additional bows appeared. Being surrounded by the sixteen bows, the girl still looked confident. She dodged the arrows easily, only moving one step back from her original position because of the final arrow.
Instead of the bows doubling again, they all disappeared, leaving a singular floating relic from the past. This relic looked like an old firearm that had a cylinder aligned with its barrel.
"I think that relic was called a revolver." Recognizing the relic from an old magazine he once read in high school, he shared his knowledge with Alice. "It's an antique firearm, but its projectiles can still travel four times faster than a normal bow and arrow."
Bang.
The revolver fired once creating a loud noise, surprising the girl tester, but only a little. She still managed to dodge the bullet by moving her head. Just like the bows and arrows, a second revolver appeared. Then the fourth… and then the eighth.
With eight revolvers shooting at her, her confidant expression vanished. Beads of sweat formed on her forehead, and she looked serious. It took all her might to dodge all the bullets. Jumping back she dodged three bullets, then doing a cartwheel and then sliding, she dodged the rest.
When the sixteenth revolver appeared, the girl started to frown, while her legs began to glow. A white aura covered both her legs. With this aura, she dodged all the bullets quickly. But her breathing was more heavy, she started to look tired as well.
The revolvers disappeared, leaving an old war firearm bigger than the revolver, a Mega-16. A weapon that fired in bursts of three with a single pull of the trigger. The weapon was created almost two centuries ago, but was still at least ten times more powerful than the revolver.
The girl dodged three bullets that were fired, breathing even heavier than before. With the second Mega-16 appearing, the girl preemptively dodged, moving even faster than before. Dodging the six bullets, she was exhausted, falling onto one knee.
But she didn't give up, with her last remaining stamina, she stood up and dashed all through the platform, sometimes even moving too fast for Vander to see. But she eventually dodged all twelve bullets.
Now laying on the ground, panting heavily, she was an easy target. She was hit by all twenty-four bullets, ending the test. The firearms disappeared, and the cage began to glow red.
"Bella Folaster, congratulations. Grade B+. Someone help her get down so we can continue the tests.." Grabbing the tablet from the void, Sarah wrote something down before throwing the tablet away again.
"Who's next?" Sarah questioned the group. But no one wanted to volunteer.
"Alright you." Expecting this, she pointed at a random student.
Three other people took their test but no one was able to get close to Bella's record.
"... Grade D…"
"... Grade F…"
"... Grade D…"
Finishing up with her tablet, Sarah pointed at the next student.
"You, your next." Sarah pointed at Vander.