The Golem Mage

728: 1st Test 5.

728: 1st Test 5.

The moment Emma Gordon stepped onto the stage, she began rotating her small fists, and building momentum as her right fist became coated in a shimmering layer of Qi energy.

Her exaggerated movements and energetic display caused Duran to shake his head slightly, he couldn’t help but feel she might fumble due to the excess energy she seemed to be wasting.

“Begin!” he commanded.

The instant the order was given, Emma’s fist shot forward with blinding speed, moving even faster than her brother’s earlier strike.

Boom!

Her small fist slammed into the testing stone, sending a loud, reverberating noise across the arena, the white light surged upward, quickly passing the three bars, breaking into the fourth, and finally stopping at the midpoint.

“Mid Fourth Bar.

Passed,” Duran announced, his voice steady despite his astonishment.

The crowd of mages erupted into murmurs and whispers.

“Another mid-fourth bar?

The Gordons are completely dominating this test, how are the rest of us supposed to compete?

Even the other three mages from High Tier clans didn’t do this well!” someone in the crowd muttered in frustration.

“Would you like to continue?” Duran asked, his tone calmer now as he worked to suppress his growing admiration for the twins.

Emma, however, simply shook her head with a carefree smile, without hesitation, she hopped off the stage, her energy and confidence still radiating as she joined her brother in walking out of the testing venue.

But the show was far from over, with the twins already building momentum, Alec gestured for Aiden to step forward, and Aiden, following in their footsteps, managing to secure a Mid Fourth Bar on his third attempt after achieving Low Fourth Bar in his first two tries.

The streak of impressive results had left the crowd abuzz, all eyes were now on Alec and his team, with whispers and discussions filling the arena.

It was clear that Alec had managed to shift the entire focus of the test to himself and his group, drawing every ounce of attention toward them.

At this point, it seemed as though the remaining mages had silently agreed not to step up until Alec’s group had finished, this wasn’t out of fear but sheer embarrassment, they didn’t want to humiliate themselves by attempting to match the Gordons’ intimidating results.

This reaction, however, had been part of Alec’s plan all along, by letting his team go up now when the numbers were low, he had strategically built an unstoppable momentum, ensuring that all eyes remained fixed on his group and their unmatched performance.

With Aiden stepping down, Kelvin confidently leapt onto the stage after him, his first two trials were casual yet precise, each punch consistently reaching the Mid Fourth Bar despite also being a low Tier 4 Mage like the other 3 Gordons before him.

His stability and control over his physique were evident, as he effortlessly reproduced the same result without faltering.

Just when the crowd thought he was finished, Kelvin adjusted his stance for the third and final attempt, this time, he unleashed all his strength, his fist slamming into the monolith with tremendous force.

The white light surged upward, climbing steadily past the Mid Fourth Bar and reaching the High Fourth Bar, setting a new benchmark for the test.

The crowd collectively gasped, their awe palpable, the Gordons had once again raised the bar literally causing the remaining mages waiting to be tested to tremble at the thought of matching such overwhelming displays of power.

Despite being from a Mid-Tier Clan, the Gordons were outshining mages from other prestigious High-Tier Clans, this left many in the crowd questioning how such a seemingly unremarkable clan could produce so many exceptional talents at once.

“Hey, smelly boy, why not pass some of these hardworking students to me?

I’d like to bask in glory for once whenever they pull off something this impressive,” Elder Alfred quipped, glancing at Terran, who sat beside him.

Alfred couldn’t help but notice the envious glances being cast in Terran’s direction, all because his disciples were making such a remarkable impact.

“Hmph.

Old man, are you trying to lose what’s left of your nap time?

If not, you wouldn’t be trying to poach my disciples.

When will you stop?

Besides, don’t let your disciple hear you; I hear she’s a jealous one,” Terran shot back, a smirk tugging at his lips.

Alfred stiffened slightly, imagining the chaos Beatrice might unleash if she caught wind of his remarks, while she wasn’t overly troublesome since she came back, she also had her moments of possessiveness, and adding another mage under his care right might make things…

complicated.

“Calm down, would you?

You can’t even take a joke,” Alfred said, hurriedly brushing off the suggestion.

“Joke my ass,” Terran retorted without hesitation, unbothered by the elder’s attempt to save face.

As Katie, Sophie, and Pale stepped up to the monolith, their punches illuminated the Low Fifth Bar, raising the benchmark yet again.

By this point, even the second-year students fell silent, though they had only reached the Low Fifth Bar, but all the second year understood the implications:

The weakest members of the War God Academy’s championship team were on par with the strongest mages in the second year, such a realization struck hard, leaving the second-years to quietly accept that they might soon face stronger classmates.

As if that weren’t enough, Arthur and Brandon followed, lighting up the Mid Fifth Bar, while Knight and Agnes both reached the Low Fifth Bar.

Then came Endrick.

His punch surged the light to the High Fifth Bar on his second trial, leaving many second-year students stunned, questions rippled through their minds: What was a mage of this caliber doing in the first year?

Some speculated he might even surpass some third-years in strength, a thought that left them uneasy.

Before they could fully process this, Beatrice stepped up, with her first and only attempt, she too reached the High Fifth Bar, then casually stepped down, refusing to use her two remaining chances.

At this point, no second-year student doubted their instructors’ warnings about the incoming first-years’ superiority.

Initially, they believed they had the edge with the results of the other students, but seeing the championship team’s overwhelming performance left no room for excuses.

The gap between them was undeniable, so much so that the second-years could only watch with reverence.

As they were lost in their thoughts, two more figures stepped forward side by side, the crowd buzzed with anticipation as Alec and Lucas approached the monolith.

When they reached the stage, Alec paused, turning to Lucas with a calm smile.

“I’ll let you go first,” Alec said, gesturing for Lucas to proceed.

Lucas gave a small nod and stepped forward.

At this moment, even Duran couldn’t maintain his usual nonchalance, the overwhelming display from the championship team had forced him to take them seriously, with Lucas in position, Duran activated his Spirit Eyes to gauge the young mage’s realm.

Due to the fact that the mage team that went to the capital had well mastered the art of masking his realm, Duran had no suspicions of them until their fist connected with the monolith.

That was when Duran fully realized the caliber of monsters hidden within the first-year student, to stay ahead, he decided it was safer to gauge their realms in advance.

Yet, even with his Spirit Eyes, he couldn’t ignore the fact that several of them had already exceeded the limitations of their realms, leaving him baffled as to why so many prodigies seemed to emerge only within this particular group centered around Alec.

His gaze shifted toward Alec, recalling the academy-wide warning issued to all faction members: to stay clear of Alec.

As he was now considered a critical asset to the academy, one whose potential was so immense that even the faction couldn’t afford to risk the academy losing him.