Yami Sukehiro, the foreigner, Captain of the Black Bulls, one of the strongest Magic Knights of the Clover Kingdom.
Brian observed Yami from a distance; the man exuded a powerful yet rugged aura, looking like a street thug, not at all resembling the image of a typical Magic Knight.
"Hmm…"
As if feeling someone watching him, Yami scanned the square with his eyes; he finally stopped on Brian's golden eyes, which were staring at him intently.
"Interesting…"
Yami muttered, silently memorizing the name of the brat who dared to look at him with such a probing gaze.
"Captain Yami, shouldn't we be going?"
One of the two members of Yami's squad spoke up, drawing the man's attention back.
Standing behind Yami were two members of his squad: one looked quite handsome, and the other looked quite strange and scary in a bad way.
The one who had just spoken was the handsome one; his name was Finral. Standing next to Finral was Gordon, whose appearance made others feel quite wary of him.
According to what Brian remembered about Finral, he was one of the few people who possessed Space Magic, an extremely rare magic attribute in this world.
Apart from Finral, there was one more person who also possessed that powerful and rare magic, his younger brother, Langris, who was also a Magic Knight and a member of the Golden Dawn.
As for Gordon... Brian only remembered that he possessed Poison Magic and came from a family specializing in curses. He didn't seem like his appearance suggested, that was for sure.
"Who gave you permission to speak...?!"
When Yami was reminded, he turned his head and glared at Finral, scaring the life out of him.
"N-No... I was just reminding you, C-Captain...!"
Finral stammered, looking quite panicked at Yami's gruff attitude, "S-Should we go...?"
"Yeah."
Yami simply nodded in response. The man then led his two squad members toward the stairs leading to the upper level of the square.
From the outside, it looked like the relationship between Yami and his squad members wasn't good because of Yami's attitude at that moment, but Brian knew this was just their daily interaction. After all, no one in that squad was truly normal.
Just as Yami disappeared from sight, Brian also stopped observing the man. Now there was something else that interested him more, not just him, but the other candidates as well.
"Who are those...?!"
"They are the Captains!"
From above the square, nine people slowly appeared before the astonished and reverent gaze of the candidates, including Brian and Yuno.
It was rumored that the power of a Captain was equivalent to a hundred Magic Knights combined. And based on the aura that each of these nine people exuded, it seemed that the rumor was not entirely without basis.
"I will be the chief proctor for this exam...."
One of the Captains stepped forward; he was William Vangeance, Captain of the Golden Dawn, the strongest squad among all the Magic Knight Squads of the Clover Kingdom.
William's voice echoed throughout the square; his appearance received support from many people; no one could help but admire this man. The candidates even discussed how the Captain of the Golden Dawn would be the one chosen as the next Magic Emperor.
At this very moment, William's Grimoire began to flip through its pages, and when it stopped, an extremely powerful source of mana suddenly erupted.
"World Tree Magic: Magic Tree Descent!"
The sunny sky immediately turned dark, black clouds gathered, and amidst those clouds, the roots of an enormous tree began to appear within everyone's sight.
"So this is World Tree Magic…"
Brian felt the mana source and what this powerful magic of William could do and exclaimed, "Really very strong…"
Yuno, standing next to Brian, also stared at the spell William had just used; he also sensed the strength of a Magic Knight Squad Captain, just like his best friend.
From the tree roots in the sky, a considerable number of brooms began to form, and they were automatically brought down to the candidates standing below in the square.
The candidates below were extremely shocked by the appearance of the giant tree roots; they blankly received the flying brooms brought in front of them.
"Now we can begin the exam."
William closed his Grimoire as he spoke; the sky brightened again as the spell he had just cast was withdrawn.
"We will test many different areas; the nine captains will be the ones to evaluate you through what you demonstrate. And after completing all the tests, we will choose those suitable for our Squads. Those who are not chosen will be considered as having failed the exam."
The rules and format of the exam were disseminated to the candidates; under William's guidance, the Magic Knights Entrance Exam also began to take place.
The first test for the candidates was flying; they had to use mana to control the brooms for the purpose of moving in the air.
In this test, most candidates had problems with their brooms. Because everyone's mana control ability is different, even with practice, it would take quite some time for a mage to master the ability to fly, so it was understandable that many people encountered difficulties.
"With just this exam, we can already screen out quite a few people among this year's candidates."
Sitting above the square, William said while evaluating the candidates demonstrating their ability to control the flying brooms.
"Many people had poor performances, a few were decent, but…"
Speaking up to this point, the eyes of the Captains all focused on the two teenagers who were flying in the air extremely gently, without any difficulty or giving others the feeling that they were putting much effort into controlling their flying brooms.
"Compared to these two, the others don't look outstanding at all."
This remark by William was strongly agreed with by the other Captains; they must have been satisfied with these two teenagers already. With massive mana and excellent mana control, no matter how you looked at it, these were rare talents.
"It feels strange, but it's not hard to use this thing."
Brian said while standing with both feet on the broom handle, "This is my first time trying to use a flying broom. I didn't expect it to be this easy."
"After all, we can already fly without brooms."
Yuno moved closer to Brian, his eyes looking down at the candidates who were struggling with their flying brooms, "We shouldn't have any problems with this exam."
Based on what the other candidates were showing, Yuno could be sure that there was no one who could compare to him or Brian. Although it might seem a bit arrogant, the truth was exactly that.
Over the next while, other tests were also conducted. Brian and Yuno did not waste any effort and were able to successfully complete all the tests, their achievements far surpassing the others.
And then, the final test had arrived. The combat test between the candidates.