I divided the hall into sections so that the large number of prospective students in the hall wouldn’t overwhelm me.  

At the entrance were elves of all colors, sizes, and tribes. Elves are relatively closed off to outsiders in their territories, so they maintain strict friendly relations with other tribes. They often strengthen those relations with marriages of convenience. Those marriages bring different results. Some are mixed children with blond hair, beautiful olive skin, and vibrant blue eyes or dark-haired beauties with light skin and golden eyes.  

Most of them wore a cloak in the hall to hide their clothing and insignia. A clever tactic, sure, but they still grouped. This meant friendly terms, so their tribes must get along. Elves tend to be methodical thinkers, swift and strong. A battle with any of them will depend a lot on strategy for the upper hand. Their magic attributes are often air, earth, water, fire, or light. The attribute of magic an elf has depends on their region; thus, they have several tribes with similar attributes. 

One important thing to note about elves is that even though they can also use dark magic, which they consider as using impure spirits. Spirit is a term that elves use instead of mana, but it is roughly the same. It only changes how they view it, such as what I call casting a spell, they would see it as communing with spirit. Again, dark attributes are seen as bad because of certain events that happened in the past. 

My observations of the elves were not complete because it didn't consider mixed races such as half-elves. I won’t go into it now because it is a whole other can of worms, especially when they can handle an aura instead of “spirit.” There's more I can go into about the elves, but it’ll take too long, and the hall held many more races. I knew I couldn't spend too much time analyzing each one, so identifying them should come first. I started a list that I have in one of my handbooks. I'll try recalling as much as I can. 

After the elves, I spotted the shapeshifters, otherwise known as shifters. It was a pack of them in a section. Shifters, as the name implies, can shift into another creature or race, and they can manage a perfect shift depending on experience. Per the academy's law, they must remain in their true-self form during the procedures before the test. Shifters' eyes are either red or gold when in their true form and when not their eye color becomes a tiny ring inside their pupils. Each shifter should have been checked at the registration table prior to receiving their number. I doubt any of them snuck in here because of the gargoyle's keen sense of smell and hearing. 

Next to the shifters, I saw a few djinns, or genies, if we use the slang term. They are a crafty and secretive race. Their power is on the boundaries of being like mana and aura. Though I don’t know much about it or even how to describe it, I would still hate to tangle with them.  

The only way to identify a djinn is through the markings on their skin. These markings are similar to intricate tattoos. Unlike the elves who decided as a strategy to conceal their power, djinns proudly showcased their markings.  

After having to hide generation after generation, I can see why they wouldn’t want to hide anymore. In the past, djinns had a bad reputation as tricksters and conniving merchants who promised the impossible, from love to riches, to even the crown. If you know their history peddling those impossible promises came from a need for the bare minimum, such as water, food, and shelter. Fast forward to the present, and even though the Knoles empire is a huge mix of many races, many prejudices still exist among the people.   

Next to the djinns, a few feet away, were the faeries. I won’t say much about them other than there were quite a few of them. About twenty or maybe closer to thirty, their numbers were certainly high. It was a bit worrisome since faeries are the most adept at using different attributes of magic. They’re also sneaky, mainly because not much is known about them. Though, I have to say they were beautiful, with their long curly hair framing their heart-shaped faces in all the right places. Some of them even had wings. Usually, the ones with wings have an easier time changing their height and being just a little bit better at controlling magic. 

Moving on to another section, the werewolves. They had separated into packs of ten to fifteen and there were quite a few groups. My best guess was that they all came from different packs. Their hair sometimes identifies them as a pack but that’s oversimplifying the intricate dynamics of a pack. Even talking about the alpha of a pack might be over my head. I mean, some wolves in a pack stood out, but that didn’t necessarily make them the alpha. A book I read, while in preparation for the test, stated the difficulty of becoming an alpha, because it had to be inherited and it had to be earned. A wolf that wanted to be alpha but wasn’t in the line of ascension had a tough road ahead of them. It kind of makes me think of how a matriarch is chosen, though I’m not sure I’ve ever got around to asking.  

Let me see, I think after the werewolves came the aura users, which I could only identify by the weapons they had in their possession. Of course, they were academy-approved weapons which meant most of them had to make do with dull or subpar weapons. All in the name of showing what they can do in less than-favorable circumstances.  

I was quite a distance away and at that time my affinity, the ability to perceive mana and aura, was still not good. If I had the affinity I have now back then, I would have had no problem spotting the prince. I remember thinking he was just one of the strongest among them, since he stood in the middle, though now that I think about it, he kept his identity a secret throughout the test, which makes sense now. We would all, and we were, weary of the prince’s participation in the test. 

Moving on to the mages or magic practitioners, there were so many, too many, and they all felt powerful. Even with my weak affinity I could still tell there were quite a few that I didn’t want to mess with and hoped I wouldn’t run into during the test. Among them though, I did spot someone who I didn’t think should be among the practitioners.  

She wore a white dress with gold trims that fit perfectly on her figure and made it seem like her hair radiated sunlight. At the distance I stood, I could barely make out the temple’s emblem embroidered on her chest. I would be a dummy if I didn’t know who this blonde beauty was; I mean, there were all kinds of rumors surrounding her as the most likely candidate for the crown princess.  

The rumors existed because of her agility with light magic and the large amount of mana she was capable of wielding. These reasons, besides her beauty, made her the first choice of a partner for the prince. It made sense then that she would take this exam to get closer to the prince. Usually, light practitioners of her caliber would remain in the temple to do all their studies and training there. It’s a little underhanded of the temple, but no one in their right mind would tell the temple.  

There were more races in the hall like half-giants, orcs, fauns, other hoofed races, and more creatures hidden under a hooded cloak. Undercover, they could conceal wings, talons, claws, or fangs. The sheer number of participants started to get to me. It felt as if, among them, I ranked at the very bottom. At some point, I did stop my list, primarily because of her, the temple’s possible pawn. If it came to a battle between her and me, someone like her would have no problem taking the sixteen-year-old me. It was like a side character taking on the main character in a book. It would simply end with me on the ground, unable to get back up.   

I was losing hope the more I wrote on the list. I took a break to remind myself to breathe when the test proctor called for everyone to pay attention.