“Sindyl of the Raven family?” The examiner asked her.

“Yes ma’am.” Sin replied.

“Would you like to do your evaluation out here or in the pocket dimension?”

“Inside the pocket dimension please!”

“Very well. Please follow us inside.”

The examiner and analysts went into the portal.

Sin took a moment to look at her friends.

Rai blew her a kiss, which she sneakily caught and held close to her heart.

The rest of her friends cheered for her.

The crowd was... mostly intimidated by her. Some cheered, but most were quiet; afraid to anger her somehow. As a collective, they liked Rai a lot, even though many of the nobles of their cohort hated him. With Sin... they were almost all scared of her. Most of the students found her to be cold to the people she didn’t care for, which wasn’t something that Sin would disagree with. She knew who she cared about and didn’t bother with others, whether it was a good or a bad thing. One had to be picky about where they focused their energies, after all.

Some of the crowd were also scared of her because of the amount of boys she’d beaten up for trying to flirt with her. Still, for some reason, more boys kept trying.

Sin would never understand it.

Either way, she ignored the crowd’s lukewarm reaction and made her way into the portal.

The examiner pointed at the orb in the middle of the room.

“You can start by pouring all of your mana into that. It’ll be the same as your entrance exam, so your mana will get analysed, then return to you in its entirety.”

“Alright, thank you.”

Sin walked to the orb, but waited to place her hand against it.

She made a conscious effort to feel her mana.

Since she’d learned the forbidden spell and her domains properly, Sin hadn’t actually used much magic. In fact, she’d avoided using magic almost completely until now.

Sin prodded the mana flowing within her body. Her mana channels were... heavy. It was a stark difference from how her mana felt before learning the forbidden spell.

What that meant for this evaluation though, Sin had no idea. Even though she didn’t know much about this change in her mana, Sin was managing to keep her awareness of everything within her domains contained, for the most part. That gave her some confidence.

Phew.

Sin placed her hand against the glass orb.

Clink.

Her mother’s ring tapped the orb.

She took a deep breath.

Sin slowly released her mana into the orb.

The orb maintained its translucency, if only for a second. Quickly, the orb began filling up with a swirl of violent red and black energies.

Sin finished pouring her mana into the orb as the swirls stopped.

They remained where they were for almost a minute while the orb analysed her mana.

Then they reversed their rotation and siphoned back into Sin’s hand.

The orb cracked and split into two.

The examiner came up from behind her. “You’re just like that boy...”

Sin yelped. “Ah! Holy fu... you scared me!”

“Oh, sorry about that.”

“Ah, it’s fine. What did you mean? Which boy am I like?”

“The one before you. Rai, the one with two uniques. Your mana is like his, in a way. Both of you have reached a point where your internal mana defines itself and starts to manifest in ways that can’t be explained with our current understanding. Many of the strongest mages have the same thing happen when they use one of these orbs.”

“... Huh. That’s... cool, I guess? I don’t really know what to say to be completely honest.”

The examiner shook her head. “There’s not much for you to say. It’s just an observation I’ve made over my time working in this field. The people with unique mana characteristics like you two... are often incredible.” She smiled at Sin.

Sin wasn’t expecting kind words to come out of this. After all, she’d just broken an orb.

“What about the orb?” She asked.

“Oh don’t worry about that. You’re the last evaluation of the day, so we don’t have to worry much.”

“Right... uh. What should I do next?”

“Oh! Yes! You should answer my questions! Sorry, I got distracted. Anyway, first question. Would you like to evaluate all of your techniques or just a few specific ones?”

“Just a few specific ones please.”

“Alrighty, do you have any enhancement type spells?”

“Nope.”

“That’s a relief. It means we don’t have to replace the orb. Anyway, do your techniques have any names? It’s fine if you don’t want to disclose them right now.”

“Yep. The first one doesn’t have a name yet since it’s mostly my blo...” Wait... Should I just keep calling it a divine form for now? Even though it’s a bloodline trait? I’ll just call it divine form since that’s what everyone thinks it is anyway. “Ahem. My divine form. The second one I’ll use is called Mirror Mimic,” She knew that it wasn’t a creative name, but it combined her mirror clones with her mimic, so it served as an accurate name at least, “and the third one is called Sinful Domain. I don’t know if I’ll use more than those ones.”

The examiner wrote down the names on her clipboard.

“Okay, you can cast your techniques on the dummy whenever you’re ready.”

“Ehm. About that... I think this first technique is hard to showcase using a dummy.”

“Oh? Do you need our help?”

“Yes! So, if you could cast a spell that I wouldn’t be able to cast, that would be great.”

“Okay. I’ll teleport from here to there,” She pointed just beside Sin, “will that be okay?”

“Perfect!” Sin shot her a thumbs up.

Sin watched as the examiner whispered the incantation, and instantly teleported from where she stood to where she pointed.

“So, I don’t know teleportation. But if I do this...” She folded into mirrors and folded back out into the examiner. Sin spoke in the examiner’s voice, “then I can teleport!”

She wordlessly teleported from one place to another and back.

“Ta-daa!”

The examiner was so utterly gobsmacked that she just didn’t react. Well, her lack of a physical reaction was more than enough of a reaction, since it got her feelings across rather well, one could argue.

Sin was starting to feel very awkward, so she shifted back to herself.

“... Should I use the next technique?”

“...” The examiner was still stunned.

Sin waved her hand in front of the examiner’s eyes to wake her up.

“Oh! What the... that technique is incredible!” She turned to the analysts, “Unique?”

They all nodded. They were just as amazed.

Sin grinned from ear to ear. She’d just gotten one unique.

Only 2 more to go!

“Can I use the next one now?”

“Yes, please.”

Sin summoned mirror clones of all of the members present. The 7 analysts, and lone examiner. They all had clones that perfectly reflected them.

“What’d you think?” She looked at the examiner expectantly.

“Hmm... it’s definitely useful in some ways...”

Sin summoned even more mirrors this time, but they were all ravens. “I can mimic anything with my divine form, and create clones of those things with my mirror clones! That’s gotta be unique, right?! Not a single person I can think of can replicate that.”

“... I personally agree. However, if the analysts disagree then this technique will remain at legendary tier until you upgrade it in some way. What do you all think?” She asked as she turned to them.

Five of them said legendary, while two said unique.

The count was five to three in total. Sin frowned. She thought that this technique would’ve been unique for sure, and was a little sad to know that most of the analysts didn’t think the same.

The examiner turned back to Sin. “Legendary tier is still absolutely amazing for that technique! My personal advice would be to try and make those clones cast spells, and then it’ll definitely breach into unique tier!”

Sin gulped down the tears that she definitely did not need right now. She smiled and nodded at the examiner. “Mhmm. Thank you.”

She took a few deep breaths. Following said breaths, Sin was ready to perform her final technique.

Sinful Domain.

Her base domain was constantly active, and far more intricate and robust than what her mana sense was before she’d evolved the forbidden spell.

Sin pointed at the training dummy. “Watch that thing. This is my Sinful Domain.”

The examiner and analysts watched the dummy. They waited for something to happen.

That was exactly when something happened.

First, the dummy raised into the air. It then caught on fire. Then it became encased in ice. Then, it somehow began drowning. After emerging from submersion, it started break dancing. Then, after all of its adventures, the dummy returned to its original position.

The data on the screen wasn’t showing up properly. In fact, all of the data points had giant ERROR texts across them, except for the grade of the technique.

The examiner was confused about the data points, but she smiled at Sin. “That’s your second unique!”

Sin’s disappointment at her legendary rating just before this quickly washed away as she came to realise that she was now tied with Rai for first place.

She could hardly contain her excitement. Sin quickly thanked the examiners and ran out of the portal.

She sprinted straight back to her friends, ignoring everyone in the crowd who tried to get her attention.

Rai was leaning against the railing in front of Tullian’s seat, talking to him about something or other.

Sin tackled him to the ground. This was, of course, not the first time that she’d done that.

Rai groaned while Tullian couldn’t stop laughing at him.

Sin giggled maniacally as she lay on Rai’s chest. “Raaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiiiiii. Gueeeeessss what!”

“Uh... you’re drunk?”

“No, silly! Watch the ranking board. I just finished my evaluation!”

“Well... you definitely seem drunk.”

“Just look up there will you.”

“... Fine.”

They’d all only just properly registered the fact that Sin had completed her evaluation and was now here with them.

They stared at the ranking board at her behest. Anticipation lined most of their faces.

Sin got off of Rai and stood pridefully with a smug smile on her face.

The ranking board updated with the final numbers in a slightly different format.

⌜

[U] First place – Rai, and Sindyl Raven                ☆ – 2

[L] Second place – Feris                                           ☆ – 5

[L] Third place – Lina Reen, and Maya                 ☆ – 4

[L] Fourth place – Amy Reen, and Tullian           ☆ – 3

[L] Fifth place – Hiron Whin                                   ☆ – 2

[L] Sixth place – Leo Jenkins                                   ☆ – 1

⌟

Before anyone could celebrate, Hiron showed up. He did something that none of them expected.

“... Uh... Whew... C-congratulations. All of you.”

Rai and Sin looked at each other, then back at Hiron. “Thank you.” They said at the same time.

A voice came from the centre of the testing area.

“Students of Aether Academy! To celebrate the end of today’s joyous technique evaluation, may I welcome to you, your headmaster!”

The students in the audience clapped together and cheered for the headmaster.

Rodrick appeared in the middle of the testing ground with a puff of smoke for added flair. He’d replaced the orb that was once there.

He spent a moment looking around at all of the students in attendance. Rai could swear that his gaze lingered for a moment on their group and Hiron.

Rodrick began his speech. His voice boomed throughout the entire makeshift stadium.

“Let me start by thanking you all for attending here today. I hope it’s been a wonderful experience for each and every one of you! Some of you may have gotten the technique tiers that you aimed for, while some of you may have fallen short. What matters for those of you that couldn’t perform to your own expectations, is that you lift yourself back up, and rely on your colleagues and teachers to help you achieve your goals!

Before we begin the ending ceremony for today’s technique evaluation, I would like to explicitly congratulate our Academy’s Archaeology society! Their members have collectively taken up the top 5 spots on the ranking board, and they’re all together right now! Please give them a round of applause!!” He started clapping.

A spotlight formed mid-air and focused on Rai and his friends.

Rai welcomed the attention... until he realised something.

Wait... he said 5... Hiron’s in fifth place... uh...

Rai and his friends looked at each other with the same thoughts.

Sin shrugged. Her face screamed ‘I got no idea, don’t ask me’.

Rai turned and looked at Hiron.

He was fuming while staring back up at Rodrick..

“Hey, you know anything about this?” Rai asked him.

Hiron gritted his teeth tight. “Apparently... I’m part of the FUCKING archaeology society now...”

The crowd cheered and clapped for the entire group.

Rai and Hiron looked at Rodrick.

He stared back at them with a mischievous grin.

That... son of a bitch!

The two of them thought the exact same thing.