@Hammerman

Catherine could sense the nervousness in Kanako, and decided to fill the girl with some confidence, commending her for the difficult feat she had demonstrated, "Some would say that air is one of the softest elements. While one could argue that fire, light or...shadow...are softer, their conceptual presence is often greater because their heat, brightness, or darkness demand attention, and it is the ability to grasp the presence of an element's concept that gives us the ability to master it. Air is so often taken for granted, so many people aren't even conscious of their own breathing most of the time. And it easily makes way as we pass through it. An element this soft is difficult to control, yet you've chosen to master one of its most volatile forms, vortexes. I'm not just saying this, But I am impressed. Most students settle for a large gust of wind as their demonstration." Reaching down, Catherine helped Kanako to her feet and gave her gentle pat on the shoulder. "Now take a break, and prepare yourself for the next part."

---

@Zelosse

At first, ShiZhen was relieved to see all the lightning being redirected by the Headmaster, but when she realized that he was absorbing all of it, with visible effects. "Omigosh! Sir, are you okay?" ShiZhen flustered, the thought of electrocuting the school's headmaster was too much to bear. But when he addressed her, he seemed unharmed. Blushing and fidgeting with her pigtails, ShiZhen felt a little ashamed and embarrassed, yet proud. The fact was, she had lost control to a certain degree, and the addition of lightning didn't help. But being complimented or praised by a parent or other authority figure was something that always made her smile. "I...I have you to thank for my progress!" ShiZhen called back, remembering her first day and the instructions he had given her in the underground hot springs. Still, Headmaster Hargor was a busy man, and he soon left. Her heart pounding, ShiZhen climbed out of her pit, her wet socks sloshing around in her shoes. She cosndiered wandering over to a fire student's demonstration to dry her footwear, but decided that it would be disrespectful. Besides, it might be dangerous too, if, like her, the fire student lost control for a moment. Maybe she would just pay the restroom a visit to wring out her socks, and prepare for the next event.

@raptra@Crusader Lord

Not rising to the obvious counter, Fekix held his nose and made a face like he smelled something absolutely nauseating. Despite being a fire elementalist he could not call her 'hot'even if it was a humerous pun.
The girl couldn't hold a candle of challenge to Dia.

Of course he stayed politely quiet as Diane had her moment. Impressive display of strength aside, there wasn't much meat to the moment to peak his interest.

"I'd like to see what you can do too, my boy."

The response came out without thought.

"Fuck off."

Any othertime he might have ignored her comment and just vanished into the crowd. Let the others have their chance to shine on in the spotlight of their teachers' adoration.
All he cared about was the chance to leave and go 'home'.

---

@crabinatree

Icarus was only here for voluntary evaluations. His role in the school was not anywhere near the prestige of a teacher but faculty were still allowed to give their opinion when it suited them.
As a local officer it was also interesting to pick out which students in the crowd were going to be the most troublesome. Watching them and stopping incidents beyond a minor pranking fell into Flynns realm of responsibility.
None so far had shown any real aptitude for destruction. Which left him with nothing to do but wander. Watch. Smile.

The roaring display od crsckling thunder from his left had him tensed up, ready to spring back, but didn't act on the impulse. It would make him look like a damn coward!
Inside the pit was a young lightning elementalist. Kid had moxie to put on a straightforward display! A glance at the ceiling showed just how much juice the lad had in him, the smoke revealing the scorched esrth and rock above.

Without any other teacher to give their opinion, Icarus felt it was his turn to speak up for once.

"Hello down there. Looking a tad dizzy down there. Assuming you're ok, I gotta tell you that was impressive. Chaotic element like that isn't easy to focus but.. from the looks of it," Icarus took his hand out from his pocket and pointed to the scorched mark on the ceiling, "I'd take a good bet you passed. Last time I seen someone throw that kinda weight around at your age it knocked the kid right out."

In all it was an impressive but short display. Such was often the case for Lightning, charging up to dangerous levels quickly before expunging the excess regularily.
If fire students were a powder keg, Lightning qwas dynamite.

"Got enough in a for one more?"

---

@Ookawa

The older man met Thoras inquisitive with his usual sternness. Assuming she meant that he was who he had stared to be. At least he assumed she was assuming that was the case instead of thinking Fizban to be a middle-person for some higher authority.

"Correct, girl. Me. Fizban Fitzgerald, lead engineer for the Academy and surrounding city. Responsible for the advancement of energy and technological harmony. Also the reason kids around here get wifi access at all."

When the Academy was first graced with his unusual methods in teen years, the school rsn off inefficient energy sources. Barely having enough lighting from electric devices to fill a hallway.
10 years of advancement had put the city at modern standards woth the help of alumni across the globe coming together to create ans build the new infastructure while remaininv unharmful to the planet.

"Getting ahead of ourselves. If your parents are tech inclined then theres no need for me to bother with rookie introductions. Finish the puddle things," gesturing behind himself to the general direction of Kano, "conditions and tests first. Don't let the maze part fool ya either. Its just problem solving. Cake for the educated."

By that he obviously meant easy.

"Before you go back down to the pit there, take these."

From his coat pocket he pulled out a handful of colored beads. About the size of a pebble but smooth to the touch. 4 of them were bright red and warm to the touch. Two were shining in the low light, while a few others simply looked like smooth rocks.

"Don't gotta use them, but I'd like to see if you're keen enough to adapt them into your gadget. As a demonstration," taking up another red pebble he flicked it down to her pit. As it cracked against the stone it burst into flames woth a POP before fading away. "I wish you luck."

You'll need it, he thought. For now it was best for Thora to use what free time was remaining to think on what was ahead. The maze wasnt difficult to navigate but it would still be trouble to move about it.

@Zelosse

"You should be more careful. Unstable currents can often be life threatening to the wielder, but if you are willing to continue I'd like to see you do something besides a pop."

Amelia nodded. She focused on the strings, but it was like that part of her vision was fuzzy. She could only grab in the general direction of some of them. The ones connecting everything were easiest, so she grabbed a few of those and tugged. Whoosh. Flames spilled positively everywhere. Amelia directed them to a wall, and managed to draw a shaky pheonix before she was blinded from the strings.

"That's all you're gettin, boss man, at least for now," Amelia mumbled, slipping into her brother's cadence and tone. "I can't do any more."

Vera proudly stepped aside to make way for the teacher, who was walking between the 'mirrors' to inspect her work. Before being made to perform the task, she had considered herself sufficiently creative with her use of the element. The current reflective trick had not crossed her mind, and it made her realize how versatile her gift could be. There was so much exploring left to be done, and she looked forward to discovering what more she could achieve.

Amber orbs met the stern sapphire gaze as Vera's new mentor left her with some advice as well as instruction. The teacher was probably right, her time at the academy so far had been difficult, yet also the most fulfilling. She could tell that things were about to get even more intense, though, she was certain that there would be no regretting what she was about to get herself into. She had come a long way from her life of comfort back home and was determined to make the most of what the school could do for her.

She nodded, giving the young woman a last smile of enthusiasm. "Understood, Ma'am."

Vera then looked back at her handiwork, taking once last glance at her reflection before releasing her control over the light. She sighed in satisfaction as the reflected images blurred before vanishing completely. It was only then when she realized how mentally drained she was after putting in all that concentration. It would be best to rest her mind while waiting for the next part of the test.

@Feisty-Pants


Valeria spun around in shock at the boy's remark, though, her stunned expression gradually shifted into a smirk. "Ah, not very confident of your own abilities, I see."

That was the first thing she assumed, at least, and even if that was not the case, she thought it fair to let him know what his decision to refuse to participate and instead tease a fellow student made it look like.

"Very well, if that's what you wish. I'll be off to get the girl her clothes."

Valeria then turned back around and proceeded to continue on her way. Being a relatively new teacher, she and the boy hardly knew each other, if at all, and he had absolutely no reason to speak to her like that. It was not to be taken personally, for as a staff member, she was merely a representative of the academy. He was obviously angry, but at what exactly, she could not be sure, at least not yet. He had to realize at some point that his behavior was not going to solve any of his problems. She looked forward to getting him to open up about his issues, but until then, she would be keeping a close watch on him.

@Zelosse

@Spriggs27

Marshall raised one of his eyebrows briefly, almost in shock. Most student would've taken the compliment, or at least brushed it off as nothing unusual. But to react by all but calling an instructor stupid? This child could play Goneril in a modern retelling of King Lear and not need a day of acting training. Not to mention the sudden tenderness she developed on being complimented by another student. "Well, I had intended that to mean 'pretty good for your age,'" he replied as he idly spun a small frozen crystal into being over his index finger, "But if you'd prefer I could go a little further and tell you that your humanoid constructs are only barely a step above the creatures. The surface may be solid and somewhat detailed, but once you go all of a quarter inch beneath it the inner ice has formed with almost no cohesion to it, just layers of thin sheets pushing against each other. Yes, even your self-portrait. In fact, it's the most glaring of them. The result..."

He spun the crystal he'd been toying with in between his thumb, middles, and index fingers, glanced toward the statue Kris had made of herself, and raised his arm slightly. With the smallest preparatory motion of his forearm he hurled the crystal like a dart. He applied very little additional force to it, using his abilities mostly to ensure its course was straight and swift to its target; the center of the statue's chest. It struck true, and for the briefest of moments it seemed nothing happened. Within seconds, however, the entire upper torso shattered and turned to frozen dust, leaving nothing but the legs, waist, and a single hand with its wrist remaining.

"... is that once the surface is broken, the fragility comes readily to light."

He paused for a brief moment to return her stare, his expression neutral and unyielding. Before she could raise another objection, or speak a slight, or repeat the same old, tired rebuttal, he resumed speaking. "And before you refer to your stepping stones for the third time in ten minutes, that is no excuse. The elements are our tools, particularly for ice wielders like us- a poorly made tool will fail when it's needed, and an improperly made stepping stone will send its user back to the bottom of whatever hole they're trying to escape or mountain they intend to climb."

He stood up and willed the chair he'd been using to melt away.

"Furthermore, Ms Sterling-Silva, you have come to a great misunderstanding of what this exercise was about. This isn't some pissing contest for you to pretend to lord over, nor is it an arbitrary test of your potential or limits. It's a way for us to see what you are capable of on your own so we know where to start with helping you grow. But don't worry, you've shown me more than enough for today. Unfortunately, your biggest obstacle is not one that I or any instructor on the planet can aid you with; you're conflicted with yourself. You project an air of superiority to everything around you, but you want to be better than you are. You see this academy as a punishment and begrudge it at every inch, but I think you know that you don't have any other means to show up whoever it is back home that you really want to spite. Your ice reflects that, and until you come to terms with yourself, even the basics won't get through."

He turned, climbed up out of the pit, and glanced back toward her once more. "Personally, were I in your position, I'd make the best of my circumstances and do my damndest to get what I could out of it. But, it is your choice. You can either apply yourself and, just maybe, learn something- or you can continue refusing to bother and, ah, how did you put it? Oh, yes, squander your potential and waste your time."

"Oh, and if I may be candid? If that technique is how the best ice elementalists in your land teach, your siblings have my pity." And with that, he was gone.

@Arya10108909

Kano nodded his approval Amelias decision not to try again. Pushing them too far could have unforseen consequences in the future, so it seemed more prudent to trust the students knew their own limitations. They were young but far from stupid. Their decisions now were effecting final grading but not by a terribly wide margin. As far as the Headmaster knew thus far everyone was maintaining what went for a passing grade in the exercise today.

"Mm. If you thinks thats best, I won't stop you. Rest until you are ready to proceed with the next set of tests then, please."

Patting her on the shoulder, Kano went to find the final student to be reviewed. Of all the elements to be judged this was the one that caused the most trouble.

---

Arriving at the edge of Leannes designated area, the Headmaster took on a more serious stance as he concentrated on the unfamiliar aspect of his being in an attempt to better judge her progress. Darkness, to Kano, was a disease. Lives had been lost to it. Taken by it. On a scale that rivaled the humans way of waging war, destroying everything in its path. The reputation Darkness wielders had today was in no small part due to the violent history. The aspect of Darkness, a being embodying the element, had sought pain and death.. Allowing his spirit to corrupt the natural world.

Kano would never allow another with that kind of potential to rise again.

Leannes display was, for any other element, impressive. A level of control and latent talent manifesting itself with a superior flourish. The way shadows moved to swell beneath her feet and rise as her platform, controlled solely by her will and shaped by her imagination, was no easy feat of skill for second year students. That she was only a first year was a very odd thing to see. The young womans joyful gaze shifting to fear was the only problem he could see.
At first it simply looked like she had stepped too far. Stretched her ability too wide. Something spooked her and just for an instant her control wavered, threatening to collapse. Kanos influence caught the platform without so much as a stutter while waiting for the girl to calm.

"Do you see why control is so important. It is a curse to wield this element." His tone was harsh. Lacking the gentleness displayed to others. "Every time you step over your limits it will break you, twist your soul. Train harder so this does not become an issue again, miss Hillcrest."

The platform shifted Leanne along, depositing her at the lip of the sunken training area next to the Headmaster. A wave of his hand dismissed the shadows back to their original forms.

"Collect yourself and be ready to continue. The second phase of this testing will begin shortly."

It pained him to leave such a young girl alone with whatever had plagued her. This wasn't a fate wished upon any, to suffer from your elements heritage. There would be time later to sort out Leannes problems. That's what he hoped, at least.

---

With the initial assessments over with it was time for the faculty to disperse. Their judgements would be heard when the final phase was wrapped up much later, but for now it was time for action. The second test was problem solving when put into unfamiliar situations. Overcoming what stopped you with creativity, understanding, or in some cases a healthy amount of recklessness.

"Students. With the first portion of our testing done, it is time for the second bout."

Kanos voice echoed through the chambers and into the ears of every student shuffling about in their pits.

"Look to the ground. When the time is right, the path will reveal itself to you. Ahead is a journey through the mazes of the underground. It is here you will need to best whatever circumstances come your way. It will be difficult. But you must finish your course! Trust in yourselves, your elements. Good luck!"

---

(Note; while all of you will be doing this 'at the same time' it will be treated as separate instances. The way it works is you will progress to the first obstacle described below and explain how you have overcome it. If you are not sure, feel free to ask in the OOC if you can do -Insert idea- to me or @kalleth. The maps are just a reference for the direction you're taking and the shapes of each 'room' you enter.)

---

Geyser-Glacier Grotto
@Ookawa@Ennui@Spriggs27@Crusader Lord@Stern Algorithm@Rabidporcupine@Aiyanna
(Elements doing the course are; Water/Ice, Fire)

---

---

Your breath mists as you begin the long trek down the vaulted staircase into darkness. Soon the only way to see is by using your own elements to light the way, or relying on the softly glowing green light of Dragon’s Gold moss, which the botanists among you might know as Schistostega. It clings to the walls and the sides of the stairs, giving you the barest of impressions of your surroundings. Upon reaching the bottom of the staircase and entering the cave system proper, you can already sense the increase in humidity and temperature. You will have to tread carefully from this point onward, because although the maze-like caverns are wide and high enough for four adults to walk side by side, the caverns are bristling with stalactites and stalagmites of salty sediment. These spiky formations shelter pockets of Dragon’s Gold on the side facing you, and they seem oddly eroded to along the opposite side, worn into… Almost as though…

In a panic, you are forced to duck behind one of the stalagmites and press your face against the Dragon’s Gold, as the entire cavern shakes and roars with the sound of pressurised and boiling water and steam. The geyser’s expelled contents hit the stalagmites in a wave that is terrifying and sudden, but fortunately, the careful student can evade these perilous occurrences. Every five minutes or so, the geyser will erupt, raising the cave’s temperature and humidity markedly, only for it to decrease minimally before another eruption. You won’t realize the time delay until the second eruption occurs.

Eventually, once you’ve made your way safely past the Geyser tunnels, the natural light will begin to grow and the moss disappear until you find yourself in a far larger cavern, where the temperature drops below zero. An enormous wall of blue ice faces directly across from you, and between you and it, a sizeable ravine. Looking down into it, you can perceive a dizzying drop into a distant underground river, where the melting ice is slowly running off further into the mountain. Ice from where? The answer becomes apparent to you as you hear a dreadfully acute cracking sound, and an entire layer of ice sloughs off from the glacier and falls into the ravine with a deafening sound of ice shearing on rock. The impact shakes the ground under you, and you finally look up to see a tiny opening where you also spy teachers surveying the chamber. That appears to be the exit. And all you have to do to reach it is climb up the slick, frozen, and rapidly melting glacier wall, which could collapse at any time.

The teachers aren’t trying to kill you, are they? Good luck.

Main Points; Hard-to-Navigate cave system bristling with salt-crystal stalagmites and stalactites, at various intervals, there are hot geysers that spray boiling water forcefully through the caverns, which then drains in fissures broken through the stone. Once one passes the geysers section, the caverns give way to the remains of a glacier, incredibly preserved beneath the roots of a mountain. Shelves of ice have been carved through, and the surfaces are slicker than slick, without anything by way of handholds to use. At the very top of the steeply angled glacier wall, is a tiny hole through which the Proving Grounds central cavern can just barely be seen. At any given time, the glacier is in danger of calving, which is to say, the shaft through which the student must climb is at risk of sloughing off the glacier and crashing to the ground. At the base of the glacial shaft, the evidence of this can be seen in the vertigo-inducing ravine, at the bottom of which can be just barely perceived the remnants of the last time the glacier calved.

---

Floral Pathway
@Arya10108909@Kalleth@CrabInATree@Awesomoman64@Sailorsadie@Crusader Lord
(Elements doing the course are; Earth, Dark, lightning)

---

---

Your entrance is an angular path that leads a short distance down beneath the earth. You follow the path and enter into darkness for a short time, before you push through a curtain of wisteria vines into a medium sized cave filled to the brim with flora. Trees, flowers, mosses, lichens, vines, shrubbery, it all packs the space with a heady cocktail of aromas. There is a thin path to follow down the space, a kind of game trail that leads past all of the different wildly growing plants. The light source appears to be a combination of light being emitted from the plants themselves, that seem to glow with energy, as well as shafts of light that are coming down through the ceiling.

Eventually, upon reaching a part of the space where the game trail thins out, you find a wall of roots covered in thorny vines blocking your path. The thorns are covered in strips of torn fabric and cloth, that looks suspiciously like clothing. Vines hang down from the ceiling, swaying ominously as you step closer, noting the low hanging branches that seem to grab at your hair and run over your head. At the middle of the thornwood wall, is a small crevice through which you can crawl, though with all of the plants seeming to be more… active, than normal, you question the wisdom of this. Still, it seems to be the path forward. The creaking of the wood and the rustling of branches is most ominous.

Main Points; Bioluminescent flowers, floor covered over by flora, wall of roots covered in thorns blocking path, small opening in wall to press onward, with moss hanging overhead alongside low-hanging branches. Many leaves are adorned with puncture holes, and scraps of cloth cling to thorns, seeming to have been torn away.

---

Stormy Cliffs
@baraquiel@liferusher@Raptra@Hammerman@Regitnui
(Elements doing the course are; Light, wind)

---

No map at the moment!

---

You have to climb down a ladder to begin your journey, and you climb into a tunnel that only leads in one direction, towards a dimly glowing light. As you make your way forward, you feel the wind in the cavern begin to pick up, and you can smell fresh open air. Fresher than the Proving Grounds you entered this path from. You reach the end of the cave, and find yourself standing on a cliff face, with a beautiful view of the valley and city that lie at the base of the Mountain the academy is built upon. Here’s hoping you aren’t afraid of heights, because while you cannot see any clear objective but the open sky, your gaze falls on a conspicuous outcrop of rock with foliage that lies perhaps one hundred metres down and to the side of where you’re standing.

You’ll have to make your way across the cliff face, or otherwise find some other means of reaching the outcropping. Word to the wise however, as the weather this far up is unnaturally chaotic, with briefs periods of sunny windless weather giving way violently to storms, complete with pounding rain and blasts of wind. The cliff face is strewn with roots that lead down from other plants clinging to the mountainside much as you are. A kind of “railing” leads down to the outcropping, though a quick test will rapidly demonstrate that these roots are not moored firmly to the cliffside, and will not hold even a student of diminutive stature for long. The periodic rains have soaked the rocky cliff face, and while the face itself is not uniformly flat, it is by no means anybody’s definition of a beginner’s rock-climb. Even without accounting for the slickness of the rock, the few hand and footholds there are are few and far between.

It seems as though the only way to complete the challenge, is to find a way to conquer the skies, or the mountain. It is a matter of personal choice, as to which the student shall find more willing to yield its unforgiving perils.

Main Points; Cavern-like out onto a cliff face strewn with roots clinging to the mountainside, distantly the passing of the underground tram can be felt, and the height means that the mountainside is alternately blanketed with cold moist clouds which soak the rock and wood, and then shone upon by the sun and buffeted by strong winds. The only "path" that exists is a precarious trail of roots that lead downward towards a tiny outcrop wherein lies a pile of foliage and the barest indication of another cave entrance.

---

@Stern Algorithm
"T-thank you, Miss Catherine!" Kanako said as she bowed towards the teacher. Her expression was brimming with happiness. She was now really proud of herself, thanks to Catherine's praises. She had did well after all!

"Y-yes, I will make sure to rest now for the next test!" she added. She then took a seat on the nearest rock, waiting for Headmaster Kano to announce the start of the next phase.

She didn't have to wait long as soon enough, Kano's voice echoed all around her, explaining how the next test would be done.

A maze, huh? He must be testing us for our ingenuity in using the elements to travel treacherous paths. I-it's okay, Kanako. You just have to stay calm and assess the situation before doing anything. Always think on the best way to tackle the obstacle before leaping forward.

She then heard the sound of a rock sliding open. The source was the ground beyond her. So there was the passage Kano was talking about.

Kanako approached it immediately as saw how it was just one ladder going downwards to the darkness below. She didn't like this. Darkness always made her uncomfortable, especially if it was combined with tight spaces where wind couldn't flow.

With a gulp, she braved herself and descended down the ladder. She didn't bother covering her short skirt as there was no one down there to look up her panties. And if there were, they shouldn't be able to see anything with the darkness anyways.

Once she returned back on stable grounds, she followed the one way tunnel towards a dimly glowing light in the distance. As she got closer, she could feel the breeze of the wind returning and the fresh scent that followed, making her hasten her steps. And once she reached the end, she couldn't help but feel awed at the sight in front of her.

"So beautiful..." she said to herself, the words just coming out of her mouth naturally.

She was lucky that she had no fear of heights, or else she would probably become paralyzed at the realization on where she was and what she had to do next.

She was standing on a cliff face, and her goal seemed to be the conspicuous outcrop lying around one hundred meters down and to the side on where she was. And the only way to get there was to use the trail of roots leading to the outcrop. Kanako took a look at the roots and after trying to step on them for a little while, she could tell how unstable they were. Should she even take this path, she wondered.

She looked downwards again to the outcrop. With her element, she should be able to float there with relative safety. Better than being caught off-guard by the roots if any just decided to snap out of nowhere.

Her heart beat wildly. But she had to do this. This was how a wind elementalist would do this trial.

She took a deep breath, calming herself down, remembering the words of her mentor. She could do this. She could hover there with her skill.

She then formed her whirling tornado boots once again, before jumping off the cliff face, floating straight to where the outcrop was located.

At first, it was smooth sailing. The wind was not too great and she stayed on course with ease. However, around midway through her journey, the wind suddenly turned violent, as if it wanted her to fall down to the abyss down below. Kanako quickly reacted by manipulating the wind around her, trying to make her own gust of wind to counteract its force. To make matters worse, rain started falling down as well, wetting her face and blurring her vision. As much as she tried manipulating the wind, she could feel she was slowly being overwhelmed. So she decided to hasten her descent, not caring anymore that her skirt was flapping wildly in the storm. Once she landed, flinching as she descended from a three-meter drop, she quickly entered the cave, wanting to protect herself from the violent winds.

"Atchoo!"

She began wringing her clothes after she had escaped the storm. Her entire body was soaked now, and she could feel cold creeping into her body. If only she could manipulate fire too, she could just take off her clothes and dry them off before continuing. But since she could only control the wind, she had no chance but to continue forward with her current soaked state.

@Zelosse

There was no way. There was no bloody way. The blonde light elementalist was visibly shaken as she stared down at the city far below the clouds. Vera would not consider herself one to have a fear of heights. In any other situation, the view would have been a lovely one, but having been informed of what they were expected to do, she had completely blanked out upon being shown the 'obstacle' she had been given to overcome. Her time at the academy had been crazy, at least by the standards of the well-off city girl, but nothing from the Night Run three months back to the most recent challenge by the new light instructor even came close to preparing her for something like this. There was a possibility that she could actually die this time, and a high one at that.

She back away from the edge, grabbing onto the nearest surface for security. She stayed still for some time, watching as a wind elementalist took the challenge and leaped right off using her abilities. Vera considered, just for a moment, to offer one of them a pretty penny to help her over, but then figured that trusting a first-year might probably be disastrous. How was this a suitable obstacle for light students again? Sure, the roots leading down to the outcrop was the obvious path for those without control over the wind, but it definitely did not look like the safe one. There was no other way. Unable to decided if she was being extremely courageous or a total idiot, she inched her way over to where the roots started, taking hold of them with hands that were shaking involuntarily.

"I'm going to die... I'm so going to die... These people are insane..." she muttered, between sharp, irregular breaths. She resisted the urge to look down, though, her heart was already racing like it had never did before.

She tested the next bunch of roots by tugging on them, finding them to be stable enough. She willed herself to swing over, and grabbed onto them had tightly as she could. Her foot found its way into an indent in the cliff face, helping her secure herself at that point. The thought of moving from that spot was simply terrifying. To make things worse, the wind seemed to be picking up. One wrong move and she would fall to her certain death, as she was so reminded when she instinctively took a glance down. She let out a shriek of terror before blinking back tears she only just realized had formed. Deliberately keeping her gaze on the cliff face, she took a few deep breaths to calm herself. It would be best to let the wind die down before attempting to move again.

The long walk down the dark damp staircase was long and did a number on the princess' feet and she didn't hesitate to share that with everyone as they continued down."Ugh, where is the bottom? I don't intend on spending this training time just simply walking downstairs." She stayed with everyone and accidentally touched some of the dragon gold moss and shook it off her hand as they slowly made their way into the underworld.

Once they reached the bottom of the staircase they were in an almost tight cave system with rocks hanging from the ceiling and spiked rocks pointing up to the ceiling, Kris continued with the others feeling annoyed with where they were and how the floor spikes were placed, she felt they weren't aligned right, she looked away from the nasty stalagmites. Once the cavern started to shake and rumble, Kris like everyone else took up refuge behind one of the stalagmites and nearly had the glowing moss get into her mouth, she spat on the ground a couple times before noticing boiling water shooting up from geysers, she fell back from a stalagmite before it was drenched in boiling water.

She then noticed boiling water coming straight at her and dived away from it, soon Kris began sweating as geysers began to erupt back to back and fill the cave with boiling water, the heat from the water in the cave began heating up the entire cave, Kris started sweating bullets and her hair started to get messed up, Kris stayed behind a stalagmite before coming up with a quick idea of how to get past the boiling water, she stepped out and pulled her oversized jacket sleeves up, she dashed past a stalagmite getting blasted with heated water before catching herself on a nearby stalagmite and pulling herself behind it and nearly collasping behind it.

The ice princess wiped her forehead with her shaking hands and leaned on the stalagmite, she put her head against the stalagmite before taking in a deep breath and dashing to another stalagmite and doing the same when the hot water stopped taking her time with each stalagmite before rolling past the geyser and weakly making her way to the next area with her hands still shaking from the hot water and heat.

Once she felt the cold air on her skin she fell to her knees letting the cold air wash over her, almost as if the air gave her a burst of energy, Kris got to her feet. When she noticed the next obstacle in her path she decided to show off her real talent, she cracked her fingers before taking in a deep breath and focusing on the silence around her and the ravine, she took up a ballet stance before hopping to her toes and taking a couple steps towards the ravine before twirling and jumping close to the edge she reeled her arms back before pushing them forwards and releasing a massive gust of frozen air from her hands.

When the gust disappeared a long bridge reached halfway across the ravine before Kris looked up to see the solid ice bridge with guard rails, the bridge only made it half way but it as solid and steady, before Kris could try a second time to get it right, she felt a drip coming from her nose and reached up to her nose and when she looked at her open hand and her fingertips were covered in blood, she slowly fell face first into the ground passing out on the ground.

@Zelosse@Kalleth

---

After having made her way down the stairs, the intial geyser going off had forced her to jump behind a stalagmite just like with the others. And considering that she had come down here and seen the Ice Princess and other water users she recognized as such, it was perhaps safe to say that Fire and Ice and Water were allocated to this place from the looks of things. Heat, water, and if she had any guess there might be ice involved in this. Lovely, just lovely.

The red-haired German elementalist closed her eyes for a moment, stretching out her power to feel for the gathering heat of geyser eruptions below the ground. Since there were openings into this place, it would perhaps be safer and easier to do that, than try to run at it blindly. She took about thirty seconds to gague the movement of the greater sources of heat below, from where the geysers were erupting. And to be truthful, she felt a sort of pattern about it, like the geyser wasn't just erupting at random times. So with that in mind...

Keeping her powers aimed at sensing the movement of heat pockets, that would be the geysers shooting up when it happened, Diana began to swiftly sprint from stalagmite to stalagmite, waiting for each geyser to erupt before she took her time to move by. It was a little slower than the Ice Princess' method, albeit Diana didn't really know this since they were not doing this all at the same time, but still it was getting herself past the obstacles and onwards to whatever would come next in what the teen deemed to be a "safely cautious" manner of moving past this. Her natural stamina and endurance was a needed thing in doing this, as well as her powers being used to get the timing right to make the most progess as quickly as she could with the other stuff in mind.

Though whilst the heat didn't bother her at all, the impact form the geyser was what she feared most. One of those could sling her around like she was a rag doll, and the thought of cracking her skull open on the rock and sharp stalagmites/stalactites was a scary thought indeed. Several times she had close-calls with the geysers that left her shit and pants (provided to her by the fire teacher before the second part started thankfully) very much drenched in water from the backblow of the hot water on the walls. However, she didn't stop to dry herself off, not with the humid air and constant water popping up. It would be a waste, and she had to use her power to keep tracks of the geysers as best as she could, and as she progressed past them she began to get better and better about the timing of them in the process, learning about the landscape as she could at any rate to get past this part.

Eventually Diana found her way past the section of geysers, not having been thrown around at least in the process, but having used her power to try to hasten her progress as much as she could through the area. A struggle indeed, but one she had managed to somehow overcome to this point. She was only slightly shaky from the intense physical activity and focus, having actually been sweating at this point from that alone, but overall was not worse for the wear as a whole.

---

@Zelosse@Kalleth

Academy Grounds; Underground

---

It is a curse to wield this element.

As she had recovered herself, gotten down back in her hole, and taken the last bit of time from the first part to get ready for the next part of the test. Yet even as she did this, Leanne felt those harsh and condemning words echo aloud in her head. And they...enraged her to not end. She had summed the strength to use her element, to try to feel like the others around her who would do as they please to "show off" and use their element. For once she had taken to heart some more of her grandmother's sage advice, forgotten the fear she had felt in the past about her element and actually made the effort to use it. And yet...some voice that seemed to mock her grandmother's own voice had deigned to talk to her cut into her very soul...the most private parts of her mind. It had shaken her to the core, and Headmaster Kano had followed that up, perhaps unknowing of what she had heard, and blasted her as if to remind her that her element was "no good", that "it was a curse only".

Perhaps he was...just trying to help her. Keep her from some unknown terrible fate that lied in the shadows, the sort of things seen in an RPG of some kind that was made in Japan and wasn't revealed until it was "too late". He had been so kind as to bring her, and other Darkness users, here to the Academy. To teach them about controlling their element, when no others would likely be able to do so without fear of death. It could all easily be seen as a chance, a great act of mercy that had even brought her here to be able to learn something at all in the first place.

And yet....

WHYWHYWHY?! Why was it called a curse? What was the history of it that no one was telling her, that had made things so bad...so terribly bad that just because of it she was always feeling like a stranger and unwanted nuisance in her own home?! Her parents said they loved her, but couldn't stand the sight of her so much she had to go to her grandmother's place most of the time! Would the Headmaster even be willing to tell her what was going on....even if he seemed to be wanting to help her and the other darkness users here, what was the real purpose of having them there at the Academy? Why were they included among the others, even when around the world other Elementalists would loathe her existence or perhaps try to kill her for this thing she was born with?! Even at the Academy, some of the faceless crowd had already begun to look down on her, curse her name under their breath, just for her element alone after the earlier incident!!!

Leanne huffed as the path to the next part of the test opened up, doing so under her breath as she tried to use a calming breathing trick she had been taught a time ago....by her grandmother once again. It was hard to really understand if she hadn't a clue about things. Maybe if she knew the reason why Darkness was so badly rejected and despised beyond all else, she'd at least have something to better understand Headmaster Kano to some degree if naught else. It would be better than nothing at all, she supposed. So gathering herself up, picking up the current pieces and at least attempting to push her frustrations and incited emotions to the side, she walked down the straits into the dark depths of the earth.

Though as she passed the wisteria vines, she found herself sightly in awe at the sight before her. A few shafts of light from the ceiling, accompanied with glowing plants lit up the cavern area in a somewhat surreal manner, whilst the flowers and plants' lovely odor filling the air with a sweet aroma that for a second removed her from her prior train of thought (but didn't remove those other thoughts at all). Not because she was easily distracted, but because it was a better feeling than the ones she was trying to get a grip over at the moment. Returning to the visible game path before her, Leanne moved down it carefully, watching out for anything that might seem suspicious about this place. She did her best to not breath in too much of the plants' odor, just in case they had some funky kind of pollen or spores going on around in this place that could inhibit her. She even pulled her shirt over her nose and mouth, using it as a rudimentary "gas mask" to try to help things just to be on the safe side.

As the game trail began to thin out, however, and a wall of thorny vines covering roots before her, ominously swaying vines coming down above her as well, with low=hanging branches even trying to grasp at her head and hair as she pushed forward (though her hoodie's hood helped protect her hair from that for the most part). She stopped a safe distance from the thornwood wall before her as she creaking of branches and rustling of wood, along with the activity she was noticing from the plants in the crevice now, set off all the mental alarms she had at once. Something was awry. These couldn't be "just thorns and vines and such" sitting here without a care. That cave with flowers and plants couldn't just be what it seemed. Something was off.

Leanne extended herself, drawing upon her element once more. She did her best not to waver, to push back the voice from before and Headmaster Kano's harshness. And with a little application of the breathing trick as well, she was able to get a sense of focus on what she wanted to do with her element.

Swirling, whirling, cutting, slicing. These things came into her mind as she did her best to shape the darkness in front of her to her will. Moving, faster, faster and faster. As Leanne projected her will into the darkness of this area, a cylindrical construct of darkness formed in front of her as she kept her shirt over her nose and mouth to protect them. The cylinder sat horizontally in the air, with larger blades beginning to form around its shaft. then it began to spin, more and more, faster and faster, until in front of her Leanne had carefully constructed what looked like a whirling, horizontal darkness buzsaw of sorts.

As a bit of joy came into her, Leanne willed the spinning construct to move, move around her and cut down any branches or such that reached down at her as she cautiously approached the thorn wall. In essence, it was like a constructed elemental bushcutting machine that would make the path clearer overall, as well as potentially drawing out any...potential obstacles that she might need to use it against. Holes in leaves, scraps of clothes on the thorns, it was like a horror movie where some plant was the monster and would attack. She needed to get a small bit of space, at least, before directly approaching the thorn wall.

Or perhaps she was overthinking things. Though to be fair, this being a "test" and such she didn't want to push her luck too much. A good approach, and intelligent one, would fare her better than sheer speed in her mind.

SHiZhen hid behind a stalagmite as boiling steam blew past. Her breath unsteady, she recounted the events that led up to this point. After finishing the last test, she was feeling quite proud of herself, having received wonderful praise from Headmaster Hargor. She rememebred taking a quick break, before stairs opened in the ground, and she descended. The humidity alone should have been a warning. The ground had started rumbling, and she had been fortunate to have been behind this particular stalagmite when the geyser blew. Several bursts of hot steam later, and ShiZhen still cowered behind the stalagmite. She tried to see if there was a regular interval between spurts, like some famous geysers were known to have, but she was too flustered, and her counting irregular, that she was never sure if she got the timing right. She peeked around occasionally looking for other stalagmites she could hide behind, but she didn't dare risk making the sprint without knowing the timing and without some form of protection. Unlike some of her fellow water elementals, ShiZhen didn't know how to make ice yet. In fact, Miss Hargreaves had proposed that ShiZhen's specialty was humidity. So she couldn't rightly cover herself in ice armor to fend off the steam, or even make a half decent riot shield. As she sat there, drenched in perspiration, a thought came to her. She rememebred seeing something in her chemistry class. Someone dipped their hand in water, then quickly thrust it into molten lead, only to take their hand out unscathed. It was called the Leidenfrost Effect. Of course, ShiZhen was already nervous, so water was already collecting on her body. By concentrating a bit more, she was able to coat her body in a thin layer of water. But would this be enough? She tried to think of other things she could use to insulate herself with. In the end she settled on expanding Kracko a bit, and letting the could surround her, creating a high pressure, high humidity volume around herself, though this probably wouldn't do much good, since the jet of water could easily shear away the cloud. Still, water had a high heat capacitance, and just having water, even evaporated water, between herself and the heat should greatly mitigate the damage she might receive a blast. Regardless, taking a geyser blast full on was game over. Thus armored, ShiZhen waited for the next blast. As soon as it subsided, she ran to the next stalagmite. And waited. Next blast. Next stalagmite. Wait. So far, the stalagmites were close enough together that there was plenty of time to make it from one to the next. But as she reached the end of the cave, the stalagmites were further and further apart. Until she could see the exit, which was just too far for her to run to before the next blast. Taking a deep breath, ShiZhen tried to calm herself. She waited for the blast. But before it had completely subsided, when there was still quite a lot of hot steam in the way, she bolted. Much to her relief, the combination of cloud and layer of water surrounding her body succeeded in insulating her from the heat. And she was out. And completely crestfallen at the sight of the glacier. She could already see the cold chipping away at Kracko, who was quickly losing vapor and precipitating. The layer of water that had protected ShiZhen from the heat was going to make this next part extremely difficult. If she let go of the water, it would start evaporating, freezing her much faster, but if she kept it on, she might freeze parts of her body to the glacier, which she had no doubt she had to climb. ShiZhen stared in desperate awe at the sight.

@Zelosse


Amelia noted the tunnel archway. She walked through it, sighing. Shit. I have no elemental control, no way to get out of here, and-

"Ow! Oh, god flowers. Ow!" The first 'ow' was because she had walked into a rosebush, the second because someone was seriously using elemental strength and that jerked her threads. She could feel them vibrate around her, but couldn't grasp anything. This was going to be fun.

Amelia walked into a clearing and sneezed. She was mildly allergic to pollen, and this was highly uncomfortable for her. Deep breaths. Cough. On second thought, no deep breaths.

She found a tiny game path and followed that. Just as she reached the end, there was a wall of thorns. A teensy gap in the wall stood out but Amelia decided against using it. The thorns were probably very close to sentient, given that they were tearing at her hair and they had elemental threads attached to them, although not many. She pulled. Aaaaannndd...

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, shit, OW!" Amelia had pulled in the wrong direction, pulling the threads towards herself and up, not down. Her face was bleeding in places from the scratching, and the plants continued, clearly annoyed with her.Lucky Jideh, she though miserably.

She tried again. The threads were slippery, but they were humming, which was a good sign. She pulled in and down. A small crack appeared in the roots. Again. Again. Dropped the threads. Again. Pounding headache. Slight nosebleed. You need to stop, said some sensible part of her. The threads dissolved. The plants were still out of the way, but the crack could barely fit a feather. She was panting, but the threads began to hum again, so she was in the clear. Pull. Pull. Pull. Pause for a second. Wipe nose. Pull. Pull. Pull. And then there was a crack and a hole opened up. Amelia collapsed.

@Hammerman

With the first obstacle overcome rather easily, the second stretch of course extended out from the cliff face and back within the mountain. The tunnel itself was only illuminated up to a few feet in thanks to the sunlight outside but beyond that meager amount it faded to an absolute black, no lichen or dancing wisps of lights to reveal the surroundings. Just darkness.
Complete and smothering.

Deep in the tunnels the paths branched out, omly one such route would yield results while the others were dead ends. Through cracks etched into the walls a series of dark glass had been expertly placed to allow teachers a chance to observe and extract the lost students failing to make their way out of the tunnel series.

For those who wielded Darkness it would be a test of sense. To speak with the surrounding shadows and discern where the exit was. Wind would need to hear the low breeze as it whispered through the passageways. Those who were gifted with light would likely find this a simple enough challenge given enough time, which was why their light would fade after a short time. The only way to replenish if you got stuck in the center of the tunnels was to backtrack.

---

@Raptra

The winds kicked up as Vera dangled precariously of the edge of the sheer cliff. Below was nothing but twisting roots, beyond that was nothing but air till they hit the piled leaves far, far, below. Time was not her ally as the winds refused to quiet no matter how long she waited. The whistling sound of the air through the roots made a faint but eerie whine as the thicker roots began to sway. Eventually even the root she hung to seemed to grow frail.
As if it were weakening..



A crack sprung to life on the thick wood root Vera grasped onto, unable to support her weight for extended periods of time. An outside influence seemed to be sapping its strength bit by bit in an attempt to force her to climb back up and admit she could not succeed, or grasp another limb and continue the trek downward. If she chose to move to a different dangling root and observe her previous choice she would see the crack fade and the root return to its former luster.

Choices had to be made.

---

@Crusader Lord@Stern Algorithm

Diane*/ShiZhen*

Having managed to navigate the geysers it now fell to the young shapers to solve the glacier. Towering high above it was a slick pyramid of ice stretching to the platform, and the exit, at the top of the tunnel. The only way to get up was to scale it or find another way up but there were no other options available. Every Elementalist used their element differently and many had overcome the Glacier with simple but effective uses of their element.
Ignoring the parts of the glacier sliding off to the abyss far below, the rest of the structure was completely solid. If its outer layers were dealt with somehow and the thick ice below was revealed it might make it easier to melt, maybe cut.

To one attuned with water, controlling the temperature of water often came easily. For others it was almost second nature, to freeze water to ice and melt ice as they chose. A creative use of their power could give them an edge on the icy mammoth ahead.

---

*Leanna

The shadows coalesced at her will into a whirling creation of destruction, its many sharp edges would indeed shred the thornbush to pieces when it came in contact with the black construct. It was unfortunate that destroying the course was frowned upon. Navigation was the name of this game not brute force. Destruction was far too easy a solution and one too common a use for those who wielded her particular element, only aiding the already stifling distaste others showed them.

The carefully made construct popped without warning, destroyed by an outside influence before a single thorn had been cut. It had been a good option but not an acceptable outcome. Though it was certainly a step in the right direction. If the shadows were not allowed to harm it, maybe they could move the thorns or be used as a blanket to keep them from scratching the ones making their way to the opening at its heart.

(note: I have no idea what to do for spriggs or the aether girl since I don't even really know what she's trying to do.)

---

"HOLY SH-"

Freya managed to clamp her mouth with her hand. She has never been this high above the sky before. Freya wondered if, there are these so called gods in mythologies, this is their view of humanity from their thrones in the heavens. Now she knows why gods in modern depictions look upon humans as nothing more than mere toys. From Freya's point of view, the castle and the city looked like a miniature toy set for a little girl.

No longer surprised, Freya began to notice that somewhere along the bottom of the cliff was a cave an the only pathway to get to said cave is by using these vines, roots, and a few crevices she can hold on to along the cliffside. Perhaps this is their next objective? Though as Freya approached one vine and a root to test it, it seemed like both couldn't efficiently support even a lightweight girl like her for that long. Not to mention she can feel the heavy buffet of winds from this high up. If she and her classmates need to reach that cave, they have to brave the strong winds and find a way to safely get there as well. "This is so unfair for us light elementals", she grumbled.

Not to mention this is slowly becoming less of an Academy and more of a Survival, Freya thought to herself.

While thinking of a way to reach the cave down below, she saw a bird flying by. When the bird flew off, a loose feather came off. Freya only managed to see the feather floating and resting on one of the roots before the winds blew it away. Upon seeing this, she remembered one of the fundamental principles her ballet teacher had taught her during her ballerina days.

Freya closed her eyes. Light as a feather, light as a feather, light as a feather, she thought to herself before breathing in and out and opening her eyes. She did a few ballet poses before leaping and landing on a nearby vine. She quickly jumped from one vine to another, while looking onward for crevices she can hold unto in case, as she knows the roots might not support even someone of her stature for so long. As she continued to leap, she began to feel the push of the winds being strong again.

She paused a bit and quickly tested a crevice she can hold on to before she could place her other hand and feet on the nearby crevices. Freya paused a bit to wait for the winds to weaken before jumping to the next root. When the winds became strong again, she held on to the crevices until the winds are gone and she can leap again. Freya repeated this cycle until it started raining along with heavy gusts of wind.

She held on to a crevice but she slipped because the crevice was too slippery from the rain. Thankfully she managed to grab a hold of a thick vine. Freya noticed that the cave was just near her and she thought she can reach the cave if she just swung herself, so she did. She held on firmly to the crevices despite them being slippery. She moved backwards a bit while holding on to the crevices to gain momentum. Then, she strongly grasped the thick vine as she ran sidewards towards the cave and swung herself. She reached out with her other arm and let go of the vine until she's hanging on by the edge of the cave. She heaved herself upwards until she can crawl safely into the cave and laid down facing upwards.

Freya only managed a few heavy breaths as she looked back at the path she crossed just to get here. Yep, she thought to herself. Those weekly trips at the obstacle course park sure was worth it.

@Zelosse@Kalleth

---

As the cavern she was walking into suddenly began to cool, the fire user flared up her powers to dry herself, and her clothes by extension, off to avoid another potential disaster with her wardrobe. That and the potential issues of hypothermia and assorted things that went along with the extreme cold and ice and something that had initially felt like below-zero temperatures. Though after drying herself, Diana kept up an aura of heat just over her clothes and skin, like a thin blanket it didn't take too much effort at all to make for herself, to maintain her body temperature and avoid freezing. It was just another step to help her try to better handle this challenge, at least mentally since she wouldn't be distracted by the cold now.

Looking over the gap at the great glacier sitting before her and overcoming this challenge, the redhead thought for a moment as she watched the outer layers being shuffled off of the glacier and into the crevasse below. Moving over, Diana sat near the edge of the crevasse, adopting a bit of focus as she had in the first test. Albeit, this would not be aimed for the same overblown effect as before. She didn't need to focus to use her element, but in this situation she had the time to focus on the task ahead, and so could use this sitting to focus and hone what she was going to do. It was something, at least, and she began to cause more heat to rise up, moving from her core and into her body as it grew and grew with her focus and control. She channel it to her arm, down to her hands, to her palms, and then-



Extending her arms out from her person, Diana let loose hot but long jets of flame from her palms, aimed towards the outer layers of the glacier. This was her initial idea for solving the issue, melting off the outer layers to expose the stronger stuff. Then she could make her way to the next part of her plan in handling this. But for now, she was going to see how melting off the outer layers rapidly would affect things. Not that it would give her a lake to swim over to the hard ice with, but hell she wanted to be careful instead of rushing this stuff like a moron.

---

@Zelosse@Kalleth

Leanne's Lawnmower Broke! Curse you Breath of the Wild game mechanics!

---

Headmaster Kano. that was the only individual she felt would be sitting there and stopping her creation like that, the only teacher able to do so anyways. The brown haired girl frowned slightly that she couldn't at least make a tiny bit of room for herself. She wouldn't destroy the whole place, just....trim the trees a little. But apparently this option was unacceptable, even more unacceptable than her trying to be confident in using her element apparently in the headmaster's eyes. The earlier frustration began to bubble back up, but the teen did her best to push it back down again. No. Not here. She wouldn't loose her cool here, and especially not while using her powers to warp darkness somehow. Sure she was also curious about the voice, especially with how much it had struck her mentally that even now she got a chill thinking about it barely any time later, and hell there was a lot still unanswered for her after the earlier incident with Mr. Manilow during gym class.

However, tackling this challenge now would be her first priority. It needed to be, and it might give her something to focus on as well.

The teen began to focus again on shaping the power around her, the darkness that inkily stalked where the light dared not touch. Where it sat, waiting, watching, before she began to pull it into herself and project it outwards into a construct of her own. Another construct, this time not a damned lawnmower that the headmaster would just pop away again. She felt the darkness wrap around her arms and legs, like extensions of herself forming into existence around her already existing limbs. And indeed, this was the aim of her efforts, to form a darkness-constructed extension of her arms and legs attached to her actual ones. She felt herself stand taller a little bit, and her arms stretching out distinctly longer than they had been before. these "darkness extensions" were attacked on her arms and legs all the way back to her shoulders in the case of her arms and upper thighs in the case of her legs. Smirking for a moment with some pride in her handiwork this time around, Leanne moved forwards towards the wall.

Using the darkness limbs, and the thorns and roots and such as handholds for these supernatural extensions to grasp onto, Leanne began to climb the wall, bit by bit, bit by bit, aiming to get up and over this wall that she was facing. She would reshape the feet and hands as needed as she climbed, extending the feet even to keep climbing whilst keeping herself back from the thorns on the wall themselves, in order to grab onto things as securely and safely as possible in her ascent. However, she kept an eye on the crack in the wall, and did her best to climb around the hole in the wall to avoid getting in line of sight of...anything potentially lying within it that could potentially spring to life and lash out at her if she got too close to it. As an added precaution, Leanne tried to form a small cover over the gap in the wall, made of darkness no less, to hopefully buy her time for climbing if her potentially odd suspicions were proven true. With that, she continued her climb, keeping a steady pace as she ascended upwards to avoid wiping herself out physically.

Here was something. But if this construct was "popped" on purpose then she'd have a problem by falling on the thorns from an elevated position.

What was that?! Her head spun around to look at the seemingly-steady root that had been supporting her, only to find it slowly starting to give way, to her utter horror. This had to be a nightmare. With the situation compelling her to let go, she felt the strong winds' attempts to pull her clean away from the cliff. Acting quickly, she managed to take hold of the roots that were protruding out below. The drop had only lasted for a split second, but it took her another moment to get over the airtime she had just experienced in that short span of time. Unlike a roller-coaster, there was no safety belt for security.

An involuntary glance back up led to something catching her eye. The previous root she had been holding on to had somehow begun to mend itself. Forgetting her fear for awhile, she was fascinated, but at the same time indignant at being tricked, especially as it could have meant life or death for her. She wondered how many lawsuits had been faced by the academy, if any, for she knew that her parents would have hysterics if they ever found out what she was doing over here. With that in mind, she continued to press forward, following the trail of roots down to the outcrop. On the bright side, that drop had brought her significantly closer to it.

She was nearing the outcrop, when she suddenly felt the bunch of smaller roots she was holding on to begin to tear apart. She urgently glanced at where she was supposed to make it to, her attention falling on the foliage. She had no idea how hard or soft it was, but if she could make it there, any injury sustained from it would be better than dying. Taking a deep breath, she put her foot against the wall of the cliff and launched herself towards the outcrop, hoping that the friction would be sufficient to get her there. Her eyes were shut as she tumbled into the collection of leaves, and when she opened them, everything was blurry and her head pounded.

"Oww..."

Her vision cleared after a few blinks. She was exhausted and hurting, but she had made it. It was definitely quite a bit to process, and she looked forward to letting her affluent friends back home know about how she nearly died. A couple of others had made it before her, and she was filled with admiration at their skill and courage. There was no way this was a normal thing for anyone to do, not even for those who were not as well off as she was.

The ice princess laid there on the cold ground for what seemed like hours, her nosebleed subsiding and soon stopping completely. Kris's eyes shot open and she pushed herself off the ground, her hazy sight first greeted to her unfinished bridge, she shook away her haziness before making her way across the half-finished bridge and getting to its end. At the ledge, she put out both her open palms before rolling her shoulders back and unleashing a gust of cold air that quickly turned into ice at the ledge and a frail platform that connected to the ice wall at the far end she didn't want to keep making something that could be great in a place nobody would need but herself.

Once the Bridge was done, she carelessly started running across the partially frail ice, as she made her way halfway across the platform the back end of it started breaking and going into the abyss below, she put her knee to the ice and started to slide towards the wall, she gritted her teeth and sucked in some air as she scrapped her knee leaving a long streak of blood and bloody ice falling into the abyss. Suddenly the ice at the front of the frail bridge began breaking off as well."Son of a!" Kriss held back on swearing and launched herself off the frail platform and slammed herself into the wall feeling her nearly flat chest slam into the ice wall, one of her hands clung onto a jagged but out section of wall.

When she swung her other hand around and got a good hold, She breathed cold air out on her hand and formed a pick over her hand and slammed it into the wall, reaching another edge she could climb she pulled herself up higher before slamming the pick into the wall again. As she pulled herself up against the wall she looked down past her shirt and thought to herself about her chest and when she jumped into the wall, she put her icy cold hand against her chest and thought if she had breast as big as that hot head would she have, Kris, shook her head trying to remove the thoughts of that hot head as she continued climbing up the wall, she began wondering why she was having this feeling, her heart began pumping harder as she thought back to Diana."Stupid hot head, idiot loser." she felt the blood rushing to her face and knew she was blushing.

The ice princess tried to focus on what Diana did to her, her eyebrows, what she could've done to her hair, what she could've done to her clothes, she was thinking it was foolish to feel some kind of attraction to an enemy, especially one that's a girl, she tried to tell herself but her heart kept beating hard for the fire Elementalist. Blood from her nose began leaking down to her pale pink lips, she stopped and wiped the blood away from her nostrils taking a break with her ice pick hand stuck embedded the wall."Is this... Is this how dad felt When he met mom?" She asked herself on the feelings she was getting.

@Zelosse


ShiZhen could feel the cold of the surrounding slowly seep through the layer of water she had wrapped around herself. As a thick layer, it insulated her, but if she let it go, the beads of moisture that remained on her would evaporate with the breeze, cooling her faster than you can say hypothermia. Yet unlike some of her classmates, ShiZhen sucked at creating and manipulating ice.

The ground rumbled under her feet as a section of the glacier further away calved, splitting from the main piece and crashing into the water. In front of her was a pyramid of ice leading up to a platform that led to what she believed was the exit. The pyramid wasn't exactly sheer, but it's slipperiness would make scaling it unassisted impossible. She took a deep breath to calm herself, yet even that proved difficult as the cold irritated her throat and almost sent her into a coughing fit. She walked up to the base of the pyramid and tried to remember her lessons.

"The trick is directing the water. Not forcing it."

"Perhaps repelling water might not be a good start for you just yet. Close your eyes and focus on the water around you, flowing free, until you can hear it in your mind. When that happens just imagine it collecting over your hands instead of away from them."

Holding her hands coated in a layer of water over to the pyramid, she touched the water on her palms to the cold surface. She tried to 'listen' to the water. Given her understanding of chemistry, she tried to form a mental image of water molecules bouncing around, hitting the frozen surface, transferring their kinetic energy into it, slowing down, coming to a stop, and forming beautiful hexagonal lattices. A small crackling sound and the feel of cold on her hands prompted her to open her eyes to see that the water that had coated her hands was now frozen to the surface of the pyramid. She smiled involuntarily, proud that it had worked, amazed that she was able to minimally achieve what came so easily to her ice-based classmates.

Now for the hard part. Pulling her hands out, she re-coated them with water and reached higher up on the pyramid. Closing her eyes, she re-visualized the freezing water. It worked again. She shakily placed one foot on the frozen water she had created earlier, seeing if it would hold her weight. It didn't, snapping into ice powder the moment she stepped on it. Her idea to constantly create footholds and handholds for herself to clamber up the pyramid ended in failure.

She tried something else. She coated her right foot in water and pressed her foot against the pyramid. She closed her eyes and thought hard. Opening them, she saw a large chunk of ice had frozen her foot to the pyramid. Okay. Next foot. Lifting her left foot up, she planted it against he pyramid, but higher than the first foot. She closed her eyes. She opeend them. Now her left foot was successfully frozen to the pyramid. Good. She did the same with her hands, freezing them to the pyramid as well. Trying to keep her weight evenly distributed across her left foot, and both of her hands, she tried to thaw her right foot, while simultaneously trying to break free of the ice. Snap. It worked. With her right foot free, she raised it up and pressed it against the pyramid again, but at a higher point. And re-froze it. ShiZhen had made it one foot up the pyramid. Her plan now was to alternately sticking and unsticking her extremities to the pyramid, allowing her to 'gecko'-climb her way up. But each time she had to re-coat a limb in water, her insulated layer got colder. After all, she was freezing the water, leaving it behind, and drawing moisture in from the surrounding cold air to replenish. The question was, did she have the stamina to make it all the way up like this? Did she have the concentration to constantly freeze and unfreeze water, an elemental technique that she had just learned moments ago? Would she be too cold to reach the top, given how slowly she was going, and how with each step, she gave up more and more heat? Her fingers and toes were already quite numb.

Milo entered the angular pathway that opened before him warily, but confident he had acquitted himself well in the initial assessment. When he had stepped into the darkened room, he had instinctively began glowing, giving himself enough light to illuminate a small bit of his surroundings, though he was not sure if this would be counted since the assessment had not officially begun. Still, it could not have been unnoticed by the instructors before it had shut off when the ceiling had opened to allow natural light into the room. What he had actually done for the assessment was something he had never before attempted; he attempted to summon the very essence of his element, the aether itself. He had reached deep within himself as well as into the world around him, feeling for that power that was the essence of all the elements, and though it was hard to be certain, he felt like he had, for the briefest of moments, summoned the aether itself, but at nearly the same instant that it materialized, it broke down in a random scattering of its component parts: a bolt of light shooting off in one direction, a shadow flying in the opposite direction, a burst of wind ruffling his hair, a faint rumbling of the earth beneath his feet, and a flash of fire immediately doused by a sprinkling of water. The aether he had managed to summon had not been much, but it had been enough to show each of the basic elements when it broke down, though it hadn't been his intention for that to happen. Still, the display was impressive, and Kano had indicated that he was looking for something impressive, and maybe even a bit flashy, and Milo's display had certainly been flashy.

But now it was time for the next task. Like the first, Kano was rather vague about the nature of this task, so Milo had no idea what to expect. He simply followed the path that opened before him. After a short time he was plunged into darkness, which he banished by becoming a human lantern, a simple trick that he was becoming quite adept at. He soon reached a curtain of vines, which he pushed aside to enter into a small garden that was simply bursting with life. He had never seen such a variety of plants anywhere before. Unfortunately, it seemed that his path had brought him to a dead end. There was no path out of this garden except back the way he came, which simply was not an option. He took stock of his surroundings once more, paying close attention to everything. Finally, he saw a small gap in a wall of thorn-covered vines. He might be able to crawl through the gap, but as he was constantly brushing vines and leaves away from him as they seemed to reach for him of their own accord, he was worried that the thorny vines would attempt the same thing and impale him on their sharp protuberances. The strips of cloth still hanging from some of the thorns did nothing to allay his fears as he pondered how best to approach this dilemma. Kano had told them all to trust their elements. Milo thought about this. He knew that some earth elementalists had power over plants, and since he had the power of all the elements, he should have that power as well, which means he should be able to hold the thorny vines at bay long enough to slip through them if he was fast enough. He stepped back a few paces and took a calming breath. This would be almost like one of his vaulting runs, except there was no vault at the end, just a low dive through a small gap surrounded by thorny vines. He backed up as much as he could to make sure he had as much time to build up speed as he could get, then took another calming breath before taking off at a full sprint. As he neared the wall of thorny vines he dove, sliding across the ground, willing the vines to hold still as he slid through the gap. He almost made it unscathed, but lost his hold on the plants as his legs were still in the gap. He quickly scrambled out and back to his feet, but not before his legs got scratched up a bit from those thorns. Still it wasn't major, and he would heal fast enough anyway. For now, it was time to see what new challenge awaited him. He looked around him to see where he had ended up.

@Zelosse@Kalleth