The Asshai's Bloodmage

 Jhon had learned magic from a witch in his village, a very inhospitable place in the north of Essos. In that place, the witch who trained him discovered his affinity for the plant type using unusual methods. Because of this, even he was taken by surprise when not only was his secondary element confirmed, but he also had a special physique.

Old Daran was extremely happy. During the test, it was normal for the person taking the test to be rewarded if many talented people joined the Garden of Beasts. If someone with a special physique entered, they would earn a huge amount of Tower contribution points, which was a special currency used by students. Today, during the test, he had already obtained several students with 2 elements, and now not only 1, but 2 more people with special physiques appeared. His luck was too good! In this kind of situation, even the Master of the Tower would be happy. People with special physiques had an easy path through magic studies, encountering no difficulty in mastering the peak of their element, and the chance of becoming Masters was even greater. Only then did the Old Man stop praising and begin to explain Zhang and Jhon's special physiques.

"The body and soul special physique is one of the rarest because it possesses two affinities that are rare even when they are alone. The body affinity does not have any kind of spell, but it removes the natural limitations that every race should have in their physique. Unlike those who study spells, those with the body affinity only need to redirect magic using various tempering processes to refine their own body into a weapon. They are known by a very peculiar name, "Combat Mages". While the soul attribute is the attribute that allows one to control, alter, and change their own soul or the souls of others. It is an essential attribute to become a true Master Necromancer. Most Necromancers possess this affinity, those who are born without it must obtain it unnaturally. But when obtaining this affinity unnaturally, their path as a Necromancer becomes very limited and full of difficulties. When these two affinities of body and soul are combined, they form the special physique called immortal. The body that is strengthened through refinement has the side effect of strengthening the soul, and the soul that is strengthened through years of constant meditation also improves the body. Of course, this is just one of the benefits of this physique, little is known about the other benefits of such a physique. There are many more details behind it that only the owners of such an affinity know."

After the flood of information about the special physique of the body and soul, the old man continued excitedly:

"The magical affinity with plants can allow the control of plants in combat or defense, accelerate the cultivation process of any vegetation as well as extinguish them. The affinity with poison, on the other hand, is aimed at the use of offensive and defensive poison magic and control of these substances even in their purest states, but it is said to be a dangerous element even for the user himself, causing damage to the body during practice, but there is little information about these limitations. People who combine these two elements to form this special physique with two rare affinities have the so-called creation physique, which provides a special effect that allows the person's body to master the peak of the two elements without suffering the consequences of the poisonous side. However, this is not the only benefit of this physique, or it wouldn't be called the creation physique, right? This makes it something even more unusual and mysterious than the immortal physique, and there is almost not much information about it."

Zhang is all smiles, Jhon has the face of a man who received the news that he is going to be a father without being prepared, I don't think even he knew he had such a physique, otherwise we would know. Everyone starts talking about the special physiques, their elements and possible uses of magic before the Old Man takes us to the next room. The next test is the soul test.

"Some are born with more powerful souls, while others can only grow stronger over time, the soul is what will differentiate a person who learns spells quickly and another who can only learn one after many years, the soul is also a measure of the body's limits when storing spells and using artifacts." The old man explained again as we walked to the next test area.

According to him, this part only counts as additional points and to see each person's initial starting point. Age and soul strength are measured in two new spheres and the most interesting thing is that age is actually shown correctly no matter the person's appearance. The grades range from 1-10 and Zhang is the only one to get a 10. I get a 9.6 along with Omar because we are closer in age and we started practicing meditation together a few months ago. Jhon, Zaya and Vitarys are the top 3 after Zhang with 9.8. They have been practicing meditation since they were young and are similar in age to me so I think their grades are normal. Jack and Liza are in the worst part because they are the oldest in the group with ages very close to 30.

We move on to another room and this time we have to answer a questionnaire written in Asshai'i about magical knowledge, alchemy, plants and beasts. We don't have the results of this test at the moment, but I see some ugly faces in the group. Mainly from the Ghiscari man who joined the crew later and hasn't studied the magical language for so long. The next test involves artifacts, they ask us how many artifacts we have and what their levels are, followed by another test about which spells we can already use. I confirm that I have more than 3 artifacts and show 3 pistols, they do not emit any magical power, but after a demonstration of the item's power they still evaluate it as level 1. There are no extra points beyond 3 artifacts so I do not show anything other than the 3 weapons even though I have the Valyrian Steel short sword. Omar, with no choice, presents his, and this time Zhang is on the side with less points because he has nothing. I am not surprised that Zaya and Vitarys have some as well. When it comes to spells, no one earns points again, with only me, Zaya and Jhon presenting ourselves and showing 1 spell each.

I did not show my innate spell, only the fireball. I would not have shown it if there were not some benefits for the best apprentices who join the tower this year. There is another test regarding domestication techniques, in addition to our domesticated animals also being counted, I present my egg that has not yet hatched and say that I have an altered crow that was left on an island due to the restrictions on animals within the ShadowLands.

The instructor says there is a method to solve this. He lets me register the egg and the crow, but I have to bring it when the selection is over. All the members of the Order introduce themselves and talk about their technique, and I even see the instructor touching something near Zaya's feet, but I don't understand. The penultimate test asks if we have any changes in our bodies and makes us do strength and speed tests. From this group, I am in the top 3 strongest and top 1 fastest. I even beat Zhang, who is very strong and resistant, but not as agile as me.

Finally, they ask how many weapons we are proficient in and test us to find out our mastery. After registering my two ranged weapons and the sword, I am forced to do 3 tests. In the first, I fight a tower swordsman using wooden swords to a draw for 1 minute. In ranged weapons, I use the crossbow and my pistols to shoot at 3 different targets with each of them, with a timer running for 1 minute. I can hit the target at 20 and 50 meters with the crossbow, but I can't hit the one at 100 meters before the minute is up. This has made my performance with the crossbow low. But with the pistols I can hit all 3 in a few seconds. Since I was the first in this test, I take the opportunity to watch the others and see Omar, Vitarys, Jack and Zhang defeat their opponents before the 1 minute time limit is up. I nod in approval, they have all trained with their weapons longer than me and can almost be considered masters. Zhang is the only cheater and used his superior strength to force the man with a dull two-handed axe to surrender.

Even with my extra speed this did not allow me to defeat the swordsman I fought, in my opinion he was not inferior to Sir Arthur and only thanks to my extra attributes was I able to hold him off for 1 minute. Zaya, Ted's brother, the guy from the singles booth who was once a mercenary, and the Dornishwoman also fight to a draw with their specific weapons.

When it was Liza's turn, I watched with some anticipation. This girl felt inferior to the others and asked for a peculiar alteration that could make her stronger when fighting because she didn't want to be a burden to anyone. I smiled when I saw a woman on the other side of the arena using her fists to form a boxing stance and fight her. Liza was the only one who requested an unarmed combat test. But when the fight started before the woman got close, all of Liza's nails, which were silver in color, grew to almost 10 centimeters each. The apprentice who was ready to fight at the time felt fear when she saw the woman's nails turn into sharp claws. She stopped and looked at the fight referee, half expecting him to interrupt her, but he continued watching as if nothing had happened and even half admired Liza's perspicacity and possible cruelty.

Next to the judge, Old Daran was also watching the fight and I could see his eyes smiling. Inside the tower, the disciples couldn't kill each other, but all kinds of violence happened frequently here. It was safer than outside, but everyone here was a cruel person following the path where justice and truth were dictated only by the strong. The apprentice knew there were risks in accepting the combat mission that came up today. Even with so many extra points due to the emergency of the mission, she took it hoping there would be no danger, since she would be facing another girl using her fists as well. But now she was sweating coldly. She then did something that everyone outside didn't expect and started running around the arena using her speed to get away from Liza, even now she still wanted a win or a draw in 1 minute to earn extra points, but the former prostitute was cunning and less than 10 seconds later running after the woman without success, she made a gesture that resembled a throw of something with her hand and everyone was shocked to see the nails on her left hand being thrown like throwing daggers.

Three of the nails sank into the back of the woman's thighs and calves, while the other two stuck into the wooden mat where they fought with great force even cracking the wood, the apprentice fell to the ground with a scream. And Liza looked at the judge who was still silent. With no choice she advanced and kicked the woman on the ground in the stomach and then looked again at the judge who still hadn't declared her victory seeing that the time had passed halfway, she didn't hesitate and then kicked her head hard making her pass out. Only then was his victory declared. Old Daran then said:

"Next time, do not hesitate to quickly eliminate your enemy, even if your life is not in danger in this tower, you will discover that there are worse things than death."

With this last interesting fight, today's tests were finally over, we would know the results and whether we would join the Garden of Beasts on the last day of recruitment. We then all went together to the Tower of Sages where I promised a celebratory banquet to all who passed the first phase.

***Special thanks to the Patreons:

Sage's Supporter: Jan and Scott Robertson!

Magic Apprentice: Parsa, Pato Senalima, Axel Bour, Gabriele Sulpizio, Vinnie, frimorigo, Takatchi and Leery Falcon!