The instructor felt good because he was able to land that hit but still he was impressed that the applicant was still able to put up a barrier to protect himself. "Are you going to surrender now?" He asked with a smug look on his face.
Cygnus spat out the blood on his mouth and wiped the remaining blood on his face. "Why would I surrender when I can defeat right here and now?" In terms of cockiness, the master won't let himself be defeated.
The instructor was offended by those words and he didn't like the applicant's grin. His eyes twitched before he prepared himself again for another attack. He used the same method and attacked Cygnus using his speed. This time, his fist was covered in mana which made the fight even more dangerous.
Cygnus managed to dodge the barrage of punches and this time he did not give the man any opening. The instructor was becoming tired and his mana was being drained continuously and he knew that if he did not stop he would only be wasting his time and energy.
After that relentless attack, the instructor decided to leap backward and regroup before he attacked again but before he could do that he was suddenly blocked by an ice wall. This slight pause was taken advantage of by Cygnus, as he appeared in front of the instructor and with his own fist, he landed a punch on his face.
The instructor passed out after taking the punch which made the crowd gasp. They couldn't believe that someone would be able to defeat an instructor. The other instructors who knew what happened on the gate started to whisper to themselves.
Cygnus doesn't really mind even if they were to speak against him or in favor of him. What's important was that he won the fight and taught the instructor a lesson. After he was declared as the winner, the unconscious instructor was also carried away.
After that first test, they were given permission to enter the Hall of Songs already for the magic test. This time the other applicants who saw his fight became more friendly towards him. They sat in one of the empty spaces and waited for the first batch to finish. Compared to the training grounds the Hall of Songs was silent because there were no classes or training.
Only a handful of people were being tested because the others obviously failed. Once it was their turn, they were called in front of a large crystal that was emitting a white light. To test their magic and mana capacity, they needed to place their palms on the surface of the stone and the stone would read their mana signature.
The stone then will show the results by using numbers on the top part of the stone. There were also ranges assigned to the applicants based on their magic power. Those who can score higher than ten thousand will be immediately given special attention.
One by one they queued to the magic stone and the more the points were below one thousand the deeper the frown was on the face of the facilitator. If there were some who could score above one thousand, their expression would ease but more or else, almost everyone was average.
This time it was his turn, Cygnus placed his hand on the surface and the magic stone started to tally his points but the facilitator didn't hope much. The point reached one thousand and it kept on increasing when the points went over five thousand the facilitator eyes were already glued on the magic stone.
The glow on the stone continued to brighten as his points reached above ten thousand yet it showed no signs of stopping and when it finally did, the hall was silent. A glaring magic index of fifty thousand was flashing on the stone.
"Are we done?" Cygnus removed his hand and looked at the facilitator who was frozen in place as he gaped at the master's score. Cygnus snapped his fingers which woke the facilitator.
"Ah yes, please come with me and wait for a while in the room. We need to inform the people above about your magic index." The frown on the facilitator's face disappeared and was replaced with a wide grin.
While he was escorting Cygnus, the three guards who blocked him earlier came rushing in when they got wind of the news that Cygnus got the highest magical index among all the applicants. After realizing their mistake, they immediately approached the master to apologize.
"What are you doing here? You should be guarding the gate, what will you do if a fight breaks out in there because you are here and ingratiating yourselves to one of our talents?" The facilitator scolded the three of them and waved his hand so as to stop them from approaching any further.
Before they could even leave, a commotion at the entrance made their heads turn. A tall and serious man walked amidst the crowd. He had a frown on his face when he saw that the person he had been pestering these past few days would be joining the line for application.
The facilitator immediately approached Grand Archmage Celes and greeted him, "Elder, what brought you here?" He anxiously asked because he did not expect that one of the big shots of the tower would bother coming down to the Hall of Songs.
Celes glared at the facilitator and spoke to him coldly, "Move!" His deep and emotionless voice made the facilitator shiver and cower in fear. He slowly stepped aside and let the elder walk past him.
The Grand Archmage walked towards Cygnus and looked him over. He could clearly see some bruises on his face and arms then he gave the facilitator a glare. Without batting an eye, he commanded the facilitator to call all the people who were involved with the recruitment of new novices.
"It is nice to see you again, Grand Archmage Celes," Cygnus casually greeted, which caught the three guards off guard. He even waved at the elder and grinned.
"I gave you an invitation, so why did you join these people?" Celes did not know what the young man was thinking. "I gave that letter to you so that you can come to me immediately once you make your decision. Did you perhaps lose it?"
Cygnus shook his head, "I did not lose it. It was just that I wasn't given the chance to use it because we were blocked at the gate and forced to join the line." He looked innocent while explaining himself to the elder.
Celes frowned even more because of what he heard, "Who blocked you?" Whoever made the master's life difficult, the elder would surely deal with them.
Cygnus's eyes went to the three people who were at the side and when the elder followed his gaze he sneered. Now his full attention was to them. "Alright, since the three of you dared to block a special guest of mine without asking him of his identity. How bold of you to neglect your duty like that. If I am not going to get angry right now, I'm sure that Duke Ginehart will surely make you suffer once he learns what you did to his son."
The three men gulped in fear and in shock. Even the remaining people who were there to watch the show were also shocked. They then looked at the Cygnus with fear in their eyes. Luckily, they did not offend the young man.
The facilitator came together with the other instructors who oversee the first part of the test. When they entered the hall, they immediately noticed the tense atmosphere inside. They looked at each other but no one dared to say anything.
They all lined up and waited for the elder to speak. Celes raked his gaze through their ranks as he simultaneously added pressure to them. "Do you know why I called you all here?" His voice boomed inside the hall.
