There were more than three hundred Acolytes ranging from Rank 1-3 standing before a raised dais about four feet tall in front of all of them.
Andar's appearance caused quite a stir for his Cloud Whale stopped two hundred feet in the air and he jumped from that height. He pointed his palms down a gust of wind erupted from below him in such a perfect proportion to his weight that he stood in mid-air.
With jacket billowing around him he made steps of air that led to the ground as he descended like a black spirit. When he stepped his foot on the ground, the entire testing site was enveloped in silence as different looks were reflected in the eyes of everyone here.
From envy to resolve to intense admiration akin to fanaticism from the Limit Breakers, everyone was silenced by his arrival, and Andar settled at his workstation waiting for the test to begin, he nodded towards the Acolytes he recognized and to the Mages who were conducting the tests.
None of them were above the Third Rank as a Mage, and many of them had been serving as teachers and mentors for hundreds of years. Andar was known as the treasure of the Black Tower and they all did what they could to accommodate him.
The head of the test coordinator whispered to Andar and it sounded as if he was speaking beside him, "We have heard of your pursuits, and we shall give whatever assistance you need to succeed."
Andar acknowledged their helpful sentiments with another nod, he knew they were all hoping to board his boat when he arose in the future, and his every action had slowly encouraged most of them that he was deserving of such accolades. It should be known that even Mira, the person acknowledged to be the second most talented Acolyte after Andar, was still a Rank 1 Acolyte!
Even though Andar spent nearly a month inside the Endless Vault without receiving any outside assistance, he became a Rank 3 Acolyte, this speed was not just unprecedented it was ridiculous, especially when it became clear that the Meditation Art he was practicing was the famed Endless Vault, something lauded for its difficulty.
With Andar's arrival, the test began. Each test was random and could either test the theoretical knowledge of the Acolytes or a practical test to test their grasp over arranging formation.
However, this current test was a bit different, as it combined both, which was the first time this has happened on an Introductory test, because it was usually one or the other, not both at the same time.
Andar assigned this change as a result of his actions, someone must be trying to humble him or find his limits. He would be making sure to be disappointing them today.
The top of the dais slid open and revealed three sheets of Soft Steel, a primary material for carving Formations. Beside it was a large book and a pen. The book contained a thousand questions.
The Formation to be carved was a simple Barrier Formation with a slight twist. There were three pieces of Soft Steel here, and carving the Barrier Formation on just one of them was enough to score you a pass mark, but to excel, you have to have ingenuity, so more Soft Steel was provided for the candidate's experiments.
The first place would be the person that used the Formation Plates which in this case was the Soft Steel, given to them in the best possible manner to maximize the effect of the Barrier Formation.
Also, the questions given would be the toughest and most confusing questions under Introductory Formations, and there were a thousand of them.
Time was the greatest factor to his success and Andar was aware of that fact, calling up three bursts of controlled wind he had spinning in a vortex he lifted the three Soft Steel and positioned them in front of him.
He closed his eyes for a brief moment and organized his thoughts, rapidly making hundreds of calculations with his Gray Will, until he came across the most effective blueprint for the Barrier Formation he wanted.
Using another burst of air, he flipped through all thousand pages and began to solve them all inside his head, Gray Will was very necessary in this step, as he quickly went through all the thousand pages in a blink of an eye.
Gray Will could not make him think faster, but it accomplished more than that, as he could endlessly create simulations, the only catch was that he could not activate it for too long else he would turn to stone. However, as he grew stronger in the future the side effects from using this power would also get lesser.
It took twenty-five minutes before he was done with all his simulations and calculations. Around him, everyone else had either begun carving their Formations or answering the questions.
Andar was the only one who seemed to be lost in thought and staring into space like a lunatic.
He breathed out after he was done and his silver eyes glowed. It should be noted that Andar rarely displayed any sort of power except briefly and only when he needed to do so. It was rare for him to arrive in the way he did, but he was no longer holding back this time.
He disregarded the sharp blade used for carving on a Formation Plate, and created a blade made from the earth and fire elements, and a bright lava blade appeared beside his left hand gently carried by the wind.
Andar also crushed the pen and collected the ink in a little ball, his actions were beginning to gather attention, both from the teachers supervising the test who were all Mages, and most of the Acolytes who wanted to know what the most popular Acolyte in history was about to perform.
Andar could not multitask as effectively as his main body, but his Spirit was strong enough that he could split his consciousness into three parts, which was a talent mostly acquired by Mages because of their Spirit.
Wrapping the lava blade with air he began carving the path of the Barrier Formation on the Soft Steel with it, and he created three streams of ink from the ball of ink he had floating beside him, using it to write on both sides of the page at once.
