Vander's bus arrived at the same time as the others parking right next to the arena entrance.
"We're back on schedule. Let's head inside." Opening the bus door, Sarah led her group inside, being the first ones in the arena.
"In this arena, we'll be testing your mana. This test will almost be as easy as the last, since many of you guys haven't even opened your mana core and trained your mana yet." Sarah explained while walking towards the middle platform.
On all five platforms there was a pedestal with an object that looked like an awakening jewel. A big gray dull orb floated atop these pedestals.
On the middle platform, Vander's group surrounded the pedestal and orb.
"All you have to do is put your hand on the mana reading orb, it will change color depending on your mana density. The more mana you have, the better you'll do." Sarah explained.
"Who wants to go first?" She asked the group knowing no one was going to step up.
From the last to the first, Alice was picked to test her mana.
"I don't think this test matters, but good luck. You heard her, she said most of us haven't even trained our mana." Vander tried to downplay this test, knowing Alice would most likely get an F grade.
"I'll still try my best." Alice replied while walking up next to the pedestal.
Holding up her hand, she touched the floating orb. Upon her touch, blue mana energy coated her hand, spreading to the orb and covering it.
Instead of the normal dull orb that looked broken and empty, a blue light was now lit inside. This transformed the whole orb to a bright blue jewel.
As if the orb was starving, it absorbed more of the blue energy from Alice. Glowing bright blue, the jewel's shade started to change. The more mana the orb absorbed, the more apparent the tint of the orb changed. From bright blue, to amethyst purple.
The mana reading orb completely changed to a bright purple color, leaving no blue to be found. The purple glow of the orb was twice as bright as before. Also with its newfound color, the suction of the orb dramatically increased.
Alice, almost completely drained by the orb, fell to her knees exhausted. With Alice losing physical connection with the orb, its power began to dwindle. The purple shine diminished, turning the gem back to blue. Ultimately reverting back to its original dull gray color with no light at all.
"Congratulations. Grade E-. I didn't think any of you would have unlocked your mana core and started storing mana already." Pleasantly surprised by Alice's result, Sarah joyfully began to record the grade in her tablet.
Vander came to Alice's aid, helping her to her feet and walk back towards the group.
"To be honest, I didn't think you would get passed a Grade F. Your amazing Alice!!! How did you do it? I don't remember you unlocking your mana core and gathering mana. When did you do it?!?" Vander was in shock by Alice's result, bombarding her with praise and questions.
"Vander… I'm tired right now. Let me rest first." Alice was sweating bullets and looked haggard. She didn't want to do anything right now but rest.
"Alright, I'm sorry. There you go, just lay on my shoulder and rest." Vander sat down with Alice, putting her head on his shoulder.
Thankfully Vander wasn't picked next, giving Alice more time to rest on his shoulder.
While Vander took Alice to rest, Sarah picked a random student after no one volunteered. As Sarah expected, this student didn't have the blue mana coming out of their hand. With no mana, the orb only turned blue for one second before turning back to its empty self.
But unlike Alice, the student wasn't exhausted after the test. They just didn't have any mana stored in their body for the orb to extract and absorb.
"Grade F. Who's next." Sarah already recorded the result on her tablet after seeing no mana from the students hand.
The next couple of students who took the test had almost exactly the same experience. The only difference would be how long they made the orb blue. The range was from half a second to three. But all were still Grade F results.
After the last student, Vander felt a twitch on his shoulder. Alice woke up, looking much better than before.
"How you doing sleepy head?" Vander whispered.
"Better now." Alice stopped resting her head on Vanders shoulder and stood up.
"Soooooo, when did you start training your mana?" Vander was still curious.
"Uh, a couple days ago. I don't remember." Alice reluctantly responded.
"You're even more amazing than I thought. Just a couple days of training and you already unlocked your mana core. You're a genius Alice. A genius! You'll be an Alpha in no time." With his mind blown, Vander was praising Alice non-stop. He didn't even care how she was able to learn mana training out of nowhere. All that matters is that she did.
Cutting off Vanders praise, Sarah picked on the student that was making a ruckus.
"Vander, you're up next." She personally picked Vander, calling him out by name.
Going up to the mana reading orb, Vander didn't hear anything from Alice. No words of encouragement, or a good luck.
'I know I didn't believe in her as well, but some words of encouragement wouldn't have hurt would it?' Vander was pouting inside.
'Who am I kidding? It's not like I'll pass anyways. Let's just get this over with.' He put all the negative thoughts away and focused on the test.
Vander raised his hand and touched the orb. A small blue glow appeared inside of it for one second before it disappeared.
"Grade F."
The test ended just like that. Vander didn't feel no reaction when he touched the orb. It was only cool to the touch.
'Well, what was I expecting? I haven't even trained my mana yet.' As everyone else got the same grade except Alice, Vander didn't feel bad about it.
Going back to Alice's side, they didn't even bother to watch the other students. Chatting about mana, while Vander was also asking for tips.
Engrossed in their talks, they didn't notice Bella going up to take her test.
"Another one. This group isn't the worst after all. Grade E." Sarah spoke while looking at her tablet.
"This concludes all the basic tests. We will be having lunch before we continue to the main arena." Before Vander and Alice could react to Bella's result, Sarah announced the next course of action for the group.