With a shout, I ducked underneath the fireball. The scorching heat nearly singed my hair. Rolled to the side and stood up. The dragon turned to face me and roared.

“Genga!” I shouted, casting a restraining spell. The dragon froze for a moment before breaking through the magic. I realized just how powerful it was then.

“Appraise,” I said.

[Ourisis]

[Level 43] [Dragon] ♂

HP: [43,000/43,000]

MP: [19,900/20,000]

SP:  [18,700/20,000]

[Status Appraisal Failed.

I checked my stats while I could.

Kanata

[Level 28] [Human] (Mage/Student) ♀

HP: [5,200/5,200]

MP: [2,000/2,000]

SP:  [1,980/2,000]

[Spd: 45] [Str: 500] [Atk: 60] [Mag Atk: 60] [Def: 70]

“Hmm,” I said. “[Shield]” A shield of energy formed in front of me, just in time to block another fireball. Then, with one hand I unsheathed my sword and held it up in the air. The other I held out in front of me, concentrating energy behind a small spike of metal I held.

With a rumble, the air above filled with dark clouds. Lightning flashed in the clouds, becoming brighter and more frequent, right above my head. Then a bolt of lightning struck my sword. The current flowed into my body, charging me up.

I quickly transferred a small amount of power into the metal spike before launching the spike using the energy behind it. The spike sunk into the side of the dragon’s left leg. The energy in it sparked, reaching into the sky slightly.

“[Cloud's Call!” I shouted. The clouds rumbled before lighting up like a bomb. Lightning bolt after lightning bolt came shooting down from the gray clouds above, each one landing on the small metal spike. The energy coursed through the dragon’s body, frying it from the inside out.

The dragon’s body slumped to the ground, smoke rising from the spike melted into its scales. Then a portal opened with floating text next to it telling me that I had completed my test and should go through.

I stepped through cautiously and found myself in a large room where Mrs. Sandi was looking over a balcony. Only one other student was there, Fye.

“What happened?” I asked.

“Oh, that was the test,” Fye said. They turned into Fyr, who continued. “Mrs. Sandi sends us to mini dimensions where we are supposed to demonstrate our magic abilities against an enemy. What did you get?”

“I got a small dragon,” I said.

“That’s cool,” Fyr said. Fye said, “We got a corrupted Lizir.”

“What’s over there?” I asked, pointing toward Mrs. Sandi.

“That’s where you can look at how everyone else is doing,” Fye said.

I walked over to the balcony and looked down. Spread out below it was a bunch of small pockets of a world where all the other students were completing their tests. I quickly picked out Shun swinging his longsword wildly in a circle around him. Flames flickered through the air, following the path of his swing. With one final swing, Shun smashed the sword into the ground, sending a shockwave of fire racing across the ground. It smashed into the three dracibats that were running at him, knocking them to the ground.

Shun then dashed forward and swung his sword through the air. It sliced through the neck of one of the dracibats.  He dashed again and did the same thing to the second dracibat. He dashed again and was about to slice off the head of the third one, but stopped.

He crouched down next to the final dracibat. He then pulled something from his pocket and bent over the small creature. He did something that I couldn’t see before standing up. He held in his hands the third dracibat wrapped up in white cloth. He held his hand above it, a green glow emanating from his palm.

He then stopped and looked around. A portal opened and he walked through it. I turned around to see him walking through the corresponding side on the balcony.

“Shun!” I said. “Where were you!”

“Stuff happened with my roommate,” Shun said. “And then also I had to do some mindwalking things.”

“Oh, okay,” I responded. “Also, why are you holding that dracibat?”

“Well, this one’s a baby, it was injured, and it was terrified,” Shun said, “So I healed it and now it trusts me.”

“Wow,” I said. “That’s cool.”

“Yeah,” Shun said. “I guess. What do we do now?”

“I guess now we wait,” I said.