"I am getting close to the city, about 200 meters left" thought Andrej while wandering through dirt roads and corn fields, sweat pouring from his head.

"It's been around 9 minutes of walking now, i should be near soon" he continued thinking until he saw a house in the distance, which was a sign that he was nearing his destination, so he quickly ran forward until he hit into a wodden sign, when he looked up he saw the writing on the sign said "Drvengrad" or the wooden city, and he knew that he was at the right place, so he quickly hurried to the center of the town, where he found the town's number one attraction, a wooden statue of the ancient hero Jurij Malchatov, which was reinforced with magic so it doesn't burn, and for which the town got it's name.

He waited, the cart ordered by the association was running late, which made him and about 5 others frustrated, he guessed they were also candidates, until 10 minutes after the cart finally came, it was made from deep black wood and two horses were tasked with pulling the cart, he entered the cart, which was equally luxurious on the inside, and he sat on one of the comfy benches, until a man approached him.

"Good morning. Are you Andrej Antonov?" the man asked calmly.

"Good morning. Yes i am"

"I heard you are one of the more talented from this area"

"Eh, now" Andrej replied nervously.

"No matter, we are departing in one minute" The cart departed, and it was a 30 minute ride from here to Drenograd, and Andrej spent the whole ride looking outside of one of the cart's windows, enjoying the calm scenery that the Beodor Kingdom had to offer, in no time they arrived in the capital, and all of the ride's occupant were equally impressed by the city's vast architecture, many people elegantly dressed walking and talking with eachother, many statues of heroes and legendary beasts, the beautiful royal palace in the center of the town, and finally, the towering arena, the center of all the kingdom's entertainment, and the place of the practical portion of the entrance exam, there was also a written test, but that took place in the equally grandious Royal School of Magecraft, where only the candidates with the best results could only hope to enroll.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

The cart arrived at it's destination, and all the applicants quickly ran out and took their places in a long line formed by all the others who were going to take the exam, so Andrej waited for about 3 minutes before it was his turn.

"Next!" yelled a woman's voice, and Andrej came forward.

"Name?"

"Andrej Antonov"

"Here" she said while giving him his number plate, on it it simply said "129" he took the plate and went into a long hallway, where all of the applicants waited, he walked and looked for a bit, before accidentally collding with another person, who fell to the floor with a quiet yelp.

"Sorry, are you okay?" he asked and stretched out his hand, but then he noticed that the person he bumped was a girl with red hair and eyes, she looked really cute.

"Watch where you are going stupid" she exclaimed before taking his hand and standing up.

"I'm Andrej, Andrej Antonov, and you are?"

"Anya Gavrilova" she said "By the way what is your number?"

"129, what about you"

"Oh so it's not you"

"What?"

"You are not my opponent"

"I'm kinda glad that is not the case"

"Yeah, me too, you look strong" she said.

"Well, i wouldn't say that eheh" he said a little flustered.

"Next battle. Number 76 Anya Gavrilova and number 47 Mateja Kazinski"

"Uh oh" she said and started shaking.

"Now now, don't be nervous, go and show them what you can do!" Andrej said encouragingly.

"Okay okay, i know" she said and hurried to the arena, there she was face to face with her opponent, but she was so nervous she couldn't think properly.

"You can do it Anya" Andrej encouraged her.

"T-thanks" she said quietly.

"Hey you" a harsh voice broke

her out of her nervousness.

"Yes?"

"Are you ready?"

"Mayb--"

She couldn't react properly, as a large figure instantly appeared before her and went to strike her.