The students nodded and the first student was sent in. It was Anabel.
Ivan blinked, was the order of going in due to their sitting arrangements?
The young girl stepped away from the rest of the students, walking to the middle of the training room. A slightly nervous expression on her face as she looked around.
"The assessment will start now," Teacher May's voice sounded.
As if reacting to her words, the formations on the wall came to life as they began to glow brightly. Anabel was startled and looked around sharply.
The rest of the students watched from close to the entrance.
"Don't get flustered, focus!" Teacher May said, seeing Anabel's reaction.
The girl flinched and forced herself to calm down. Shortly after, parts of the ground opened as dummies that were shaped as beasts appeared.
Their bodies looked like they were made of metal that was roughly patched together. The dummies were barely as tall as a grown adult and were in the form of wild panthers.
Three of them had appeared at once. After rising from the ground, their empty eyes light up with a blue glow as they begin to move.
Their movements were awkward at first but quickly became smooth, they turned to face Anabel and growled at her like real beasts.
A look of fear could be seen in the girl's eyes as she stared at the three beast dummies. They didn't look as terrifying as real beasts but they were still scary-looking nevertheless.
A distance of about fifteen meters was between them so when the dummies started rushing at her, they didn't reach her right away. However, their speed was fast and they only needed a few seconds to reach her.
Anabel panicked and stepped back repeatedly.
"You'll get zero points if you quit. Remember, they aren't stronger than you." Teacher May voiced out again. Her expression was cold and one could see the disappointing look in her eyes.
Ivan shook his head, he didn't blame Anabel for reacting in such a way. The girl looked like she was only 16 and this was most likely the first time she was facing anything that looked close enough to a beast, it was normal for her to be scared.
But thinking of the marks that she would lose, it was as if Anabel suddenly got some confidence.
Mana rushed out from her body and condensed into a long beautiful bow in her left hand. She swiftly moved back, avoiding the first dummy that was about to reach her. Thanks to their training inside the gravity chamber, the movements of the students had become more nimble compared to before.
She pulled on the bowstring with her right hand and an arrow made of mana formed between her fingers.
Ting!!!
She released the arrow and it shot towards the dummy at an impressive speed.
Thud!
The arrow missed, it landed on the ground beside the dummy and bounced off.
An embarrassed look appeared on Anabel's face. She quickly grabbed the bowstring again and was about to form another mana arrow but the other two beasts were already upon her.
Anabel abandoned the thought of forming another arrow. She ran to the side, dodging one of the dummies and then jumped over another one.
She launched herself three meters into the air and while still in mid-air, she grabbed her bowstring and aimed at the third dummy. A mana arrow formed and she immediately released it as she dropped to the ground.
Bang!!
This time, the arrow didn't miss and landed on the dummy's head, piercing into its skull…or whatever that metal head was called.
The blue light in the dummy's eyes immediately went out as it dropped to the ground.
A look of joy appeared on Anabel's face as she landed on her feet, she pumped her fist in front of her chest after seeing that she had successfully taken out one of the dummies.
But that was just it, one of the dummies. In her moment of celebration, she had forgotten about the other two and only realised when a roar sounded from behind.
She turned around and saw the huge metal maw of the dummy inching closer to her.
Not knowing what else to do, Anabel closed her eyes and screamed.
Seconds passed but the pain she was expecting never came. She eventually opened her eyes, only to see that the dummies had frozen in place just before they could reach her.
Thud.
She fell on her butt, her chest rising and falling. Only now did she realise that she could hear her heartbeat quite clearly.
"You can come out, next." Teacher May said expressionlessly.
Anabel slowly stood up with a sad look on her face, she slowly walked back to the group of students while Marcos walked in.
Anabel's friends welcomed her and said some comforting words to her, the girl was on the verge of crying.
Teacher May didn't bother wasting any breath on her and focused on Marcos.
Ivan looked at Anabel who was being comforted before letting out a sigh.
"As an archer, you should always maintain a good distance from your targets and never let them get to you. Don't be too hard on yourself, it was your first real combat experience. You'll do better next time," he said. He didn't know why he said so but he did anyway.
Anabel and the rest of their classmates looked at Ivan, surprised that he was taking the initiative to speak to them. Even Teacher May was stunned, she felt that Ivan didn't like talking to his classmates because that was what he had been doing for the last three months.
As for Ivan, he ignored their stares and focused on Marcos who was currently facing the three dummies.
The one that Anabel shot earlier was standing again with the arrow still stuck in its metal head, and the three dummies attacked Marcos together.
When Marcos summoned his spear, a full silver knight's armour had also appeared on his body. This was what he meant when he said he had awakened the spear knight class months ago.
A literal knight with a spear.
His spear was a meter and a half long in length, the body of the spear was pitch black, making it look like it was made from some strange material instead of mana. The spearhead was a couple of centimetres long and pointy, the silver glint made it look like it could pierce through anything.
The three dummies charged at Marcos. His hands trembled slightly as they held the spear, he let out a low shout and charged at the dummies.
Clang!!!
Sounds of metals colliding rang out as Marcos stabbed at the body of the first dummy with his spear, but he didn't put enough force so the spear didn't go through.
The other two were already upon him.
'Shit!'
...
Time passed swiftly as the students went in one after the other. Up till now, no one had managed to kill the three dummies or last more than five minutes against them.
The student who held the current best performance was a young girl who used a massive hammer that was several times her size. She had managed to crush two dummies before the third one got too close and her assessment ended.
How was she even able to swing that huge thing with her small size?
It was like seeing a cute girl using a Bazooka.