The next few weeks passed by almost as a blur. Pale settled into a peaceful, quiet monotony, all things considered – she went to class, practiced her magic with Professor Tomas, and then studied with Joel for a bit into the night. She didn't see any trace of Sven at all during those weeks, which struck her as a bit odd, though whenever she'd brought this up to Joel, he'd simply replied that he'd told Sven not to show his face around the Luminarium for some time.

Pale wasn't exactly happy with that explanation, though she supposed it made sense – Joel had phrased it as a direct order that Sven wasn't to be seen near him at least until after exams were concluded, and it wasn't hard to see why, given that Joel likely wanted to keep his mind free of any distractions until then, Sven included. She supposed she could understand his absence, even if the thought of it made her uneasy.

She wasn't sure what Sven was planning, exactly, but whatever it was, she was confident that even he knew better than to attack the Luminarium itself. At the very least, he was working for Joel's father, and she doubted Duke Magnus was willing to go that far, assuming he even had a reason for it in the first place.

In any case, Pale was able to get through the next few weeks without any issues, aside from one very obvious one. Thankfully, it was one the rest of her fellow students shared.

"Gods…" Kayla muttered as she paced back and forth through their shared dorm room. "Is it really today…? I mean, I spent the past few weeks desperate to stop studying, and now it's finally here, and now I'm panicking, and oh Gods, I wish I'd studied some more, and-"

"Kayla," Pale stated, interrupting her. "Calm down, okay?"

Kayla's brow furrowed. "Easy for you to say, given you remember every little detail of what you've read."

"That is true, but you're forgetting that I also struggle with magic still." Pale motioned to the bag of half-aluminum daggers seated on the ground at the foot of her bed. "Seriously. I don't know what Professor Tomas' exam is going to look like, but that's the one that worries me."

Kayla blinked. "...You're really worried about that? Come on, Pale – Tomas loves you. You're his favorite student, as you should be, given how much time you've spent with him and how much progress you've made since getting here."

"You really think so?"

"Uh, yeah? I mean, he's not going to fail you just because you're not as practiced as the rest of us, especially given the circumstances." Kayla's expression softened. "Have some faith, would you?'

"That advice applies to you as well, you know," Pale pointed out. "You've studied as much as the rest of us have. You'll be fine."

"I sure hope you're right…"

There was a knock at the door, though neither of them had to guess who it was for very long.

"Hey, open up!" Cal shouted. "Exams start soon, and I want to eat something first!"

"Cal," Cynthia chastised.

"Well, I do!"

Pale let out a tired sigh, then shook her head and made her way over to the door, which she threw open. To her surprise, it wasn't just Cal and Cynthia standing there, but Valerie as well. Valerie seemed to sense her surprise, and offered her a shrug.

"We met up along the way and figured it'd be easiest to go as one big group," she stated simply.

Slowly, Pale nodded. "Yes, I can see that."

"Alright, yeah, we're all well-acquainted by now," Cal said, impatient. "Can we go? I'm starving and really don't want to sit through multiple exams on an empty stomach."

"I don't see why not," Kayla offered. "Let's head out, then."

The rest of them nodded, then followed after Kayla as she began to lead them through the halls.

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

XXX

Breakfast surprisingly got more somber as time went on. When they all sat down, there had been some chit-chat among them, mainly reviewing study topics prior to sitting for the exam. But as they got deeper into their food, all conversation steadily tapered off, until eventually, they were all completely silent. The only noise present to interrupt Pale's thoughts was the sound of silverware scraping across their plates.

Finally, it got to be too much for her. Pale swallowed her last mouthful of eggs, then pushed her plate away with a reluctant sigh.

"Alright," she said, "I get that we're all nervous to some degree, but this is ridiculous. You all are acting like someone died."

"Can you blame us?" Valerie questioned. "It's the first exam we've had since arriving here. It very much could be do or die for us, at least in terms of determining whether we get to continue studying here."

"That's true, but it's also true that you're all fantastic students," Pale pointed out. "If you weren't, you wouldn't still be here. And besides, you all forget that I work in the library on the weekends – I've seen you all in there at one point or another, hunched over the tables, engrossed in your notes and books. If anyone in this school has a chance of passing these things with flying colors, it's all of you."

"But that's only for the written portion of the exam," Cal stated. "What about the practical-"

Pale couldn't help but roll her eyes. "Oh, please, I doubt the practical portion of the exam will be any more difficult than what we went through during initiation."

Cynthia tentatively raised a hand. "...To be fair, you saved us from that thing," she said. "Without you and Kayla, it would have killed us for sure."

"Even without that, you still made it through. The Amalgamation wasn't the only danger lurking in those woods, after all. Or do you truly expect me to believe that was the only thing you two encountered down there?"

Cynthia fell silent at that, and slowly lowered her hand. Pale let out a tired sigh.

"Look, I don't mean to imply that this is going to be completely smooth sailing, but come on," she said. "Besides, it's not like we can avoid it – we have to get through these anyway, so there's really no sense in worrying about them like this."

"Said the girl who admitted she was worried about her magic just a few minutes ago…" Kayla muttered.

Pale gave her a decidedly un-amused look, and Kayla offered her a sheepish grin. "I mean… you were," she said.

"Yes, and you talked me out of it, the same way I'm currently trying to talk all of you out of it," Pale declared. "Look, let's just take it one test at a time, alright?"

"I suppose…" Valerie said quietly. "Anyway, if I remember right, the first test is with Glisos, right?"

"Correct."

"So it's absolutely going to be some kind of physical stress test. Beautiful…" Valerie let out a sigh of resignation. "Well, at least we roughly know what to expect…"

"At least we're all in good shape," Cynthia pointed out. "Better than most of the other students, at least, even if the school has apparently done its best to change that…"

She motioned to the plate of eggs in front of her. She'd barely eaten half of them, but Pale could tell there was no way she'd be able to put away the rest without getting sick.

"To be fair to them, at least it's good food," Pale stated. "Good for your body, I mean."

"Really?" Cal asked, curious. "In what way?"

Pale hesitated. "...Just something I've heard," she said. "Animal meat and eggs are good for you. Ditto for fruit and vegetables."

Cal stared at her, then shook his head. "Anyone ever tell you that you say weird stuff sometimes?"

"Cal!" Cynthia said.

"Well, she does."

"Yeah, she does," Kayla said. Pale gave her an uneven look, which earned her another sheepish grin. "Well, I mean… you do…"

Pale's brow furrowed, and she crossed her arms. "Whatever. The point is, I'm sure these tests will be fine in the end. It doesn't really matter, because we have to get through them either way. Besides, how bad could they be?"

XXX

"Higher, Pale! Lift the bar even higher than that! Come on!"

Pale grunted as she strained to complete what she could already tell was going to be her final rep on the makeshift bench press Glisos had designed. She'd used this exact piece of equipment many times so far over the past few months, and yet she'd never been pushed the same way she was being pushed now.

Glisos, for his part, seemed to take the entire exam as an excuse to push them all to the absolute breaking point. They'd started with weights, where he'd judged them on multiple different compound lifts – deadlift, overhead press, back squats, and now bench press. The goal now was to beat whatever their previous one-rep-max for the year had been.

He hadn't been entirely clear as to the consequences of what would happen if they failed to top their previous max, but Pale wasn't about to take any chances on that one.

With one final burst of energy and an exhale of breath, Pale finally succeeded in pushing the bar up as high as it would go. She held it there for a moment, all while Glisos both judged her form and urged her on.

"Lock in," he said. "Hold it, hold it… okay, good. Rack it."

Pale lowered the barbell back onto the rack, then sat up, gasping for breath. She brought a hand up to rub the sweat away from her forehead, then looked around. Most of the other students had already completed this exercise, leaving her as one of the final few to still finish it, but even the ones who hadn't gone yet were still dripping with sweat and gasping like they'd just run a mile. The bench press had been the final weight Glisos was judging them all on, which Pale hoped meant that they were done.

Even if, deep down, she suspected he still had a nasty surprise for them at the end.

"Good job," Glisos suddenly said, getting her attention. "You beat your previous max on all four compound lifts. Are you sure that you weren't just holding back throughout the year?"

"I wasn't," Pale insisted.

"Uh-huh. Guess I didn't do a very good job of pushing you lot throughout the year, then, because nobody's failed just yet."

That got Pale's attention. She already knew that a few students hadn't managed to beat their previous records on at least one lift. They'd all thought those few students were gone for sure, but Glisos had other ideas, apparently.

Glisos motioned for her to stand on the sidelines with the others, which Pale did, stepping over to where her friends were standing.

"How do you feel?" Valerie asked.

"Like I just got in a fight with a speeding carriage and lost," Pale answered.

Valerie let out a small, amused snort. "Didn't take you for a joke teller."

"I'm not. That was more of a sarcastic simile than a joke."

"Whatever you say, Pale. What do you think is going to come after this, anyway?"

"Knowing Glisos, he's probably going to have us run three miles or something," Pale stated. "In fact, I'd be surprised if-"

At that moment, a massive explosion rocked the school. The students all stumbled, some of them falling to the ground in surprise, frightened yells escaping from them. Pale was one of the few exceptions; she managed to maintain her footing, even if only barely, while the rest of her friends save for Kayla all fell.

"What the hells was that?" Valerie asked as she picked herself up off the floor.

Pale opened her mouth to respond, but didn't get a chance to before a new sound filled the air around them.

It was the sound of far-off screaming from another part of the school.