"Hello, everyone. I am a senior apprentice from Rune Department, also your examiner for today's exam. Call me Ishmael.''

The man in a unique robe announced loudly.

I didn't recognize him at first. But his unique way of introduction jolted my memories.

'Isn't he that amiable senior brother who warned me about the healing department? Uhh, I didn't know he was from the rune department.'

As we heard him, a student asked.

''Wasn't Professor Catherine supposed to be our examiner?"

''Of course not. Granny Catherine is too old to bother about little exams of yours. I will be taking her place for this day."

Ishmael's tone suddenly became serious.

"Now, take your seat. I may not look like one, but I am a terrifying examiner. If you don't want something bad to happen, be quiet and wait till 10 O'clock."

We laughed at his proclamation as if Ishmael was trying to scare kids with ghost stories.

Just as the clock's hand reached 10, there was a question paper and thick Rune paper in front of me. Not only me but in front of everyone!

''How did he do that?"

I didn't know, didn't have the time to care about it. I started writing the theoretical part. It took me quite a while to finish it. Then comes the Rune sequence drawing part. Just as I was about to draw runes on the special paper, I heard quite someone making a ruckus.

I looked up and found 3 students crying.'

''What the… why are they crying? Aren't t they grownups?''

Confused as I am, I asked a student beside me.

''Hey, why are they crying?''

The student didn't look at me but replied in a low voice,

''Shh, don't talk. Those three tried to copy each other's paper and, their exam paper flew out from their desk."'

'Exam papers flew away? What the shitty nonsense is that? Did exam papers drink red bull?'

All of a sudden, I felt a weak air current surrounding my paper. Though the air current was weak, it couldn't trick my sensitive senses Just as it was about to leave my desk, I hurriedly grabbed them.

Then I heard Ishmael's voice, ''Oh, we have a sharp one here. Tell me, fella, are you challenging me?''

As I looked up, I saw my examiner staring at me.

"I don't dare, brother Ishmael.''

''I said call me Ishmael."

"Okay, senior brother Ishmael. I will call you Ishmael."

His eyes twitched as he heard me. But he said only one sentence,

"Last Warning."

Now I was sure that he didn't recognize me. Well, I can't blame him for not recalling someone he met for 10 minutes, right?

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

My memory of him may be special, but his memory of me isn't that noteworthy. He guided several students that day after all.

I gulped at his cold voice and hurriedly returned to draw my beautiful rune sequence again.

But after another hour, I heard another ruckus.

'Whenever there was noise in the exam hall, there was a show to watch.'

So, I couldn't help but look up this time too. I saw origin energy gathering in front of a student's rune paper. There were some basic runes drawn on them, which was a pretty common fact. Yet Ishmael and others had surprised expressions on their faces.

Then Ishmael spoke,

''What is your name, junior brother?''

''I am Richard Eno Of the Rune Department.''

"Ah, I see. That's great. We have a rune genius in our department this year. You could attract origin energy in your runes in just three months, truly extraordinary. I am sure Granny Catherine will be glad to hear that."

Ishmael's mumbling only made others jealous.

But I was dumbfounded. That Eno just succeeded in gathering Origin energy in runes and, that made him a rune genius? Then what am I? Born Rune Master?

If I were to draw a fully functional rune, wouldn't that attract way too much attention? Mom told me repeatedly not to attract unnecessary attention at Kriegar Academy. Till now, my looks, element, and other activities are suppressed by my department. No one cares much about a student from the healing department as healers could be commissioned easily.

But if I were to show my abnormality as a rune artist, things would be too different. Many of the students in this class are from Noble families. They will start bothering me to join their faction.

And things could be worse too. Bullying, threatening, tempting offers will certainly make my academic life like hell.

But what should I do? I need some money pretty badly. The more I gather exam points, the more money I get.

I began to boil eggs over my head to calculate different approaches. And finally, I concluded.

"I should be happy with Rune's genius title. Born rune master title is way too much for me.''

So, instead of building a fully functional rune sequence, I stopped the Origin art Channeling sequence. And started drawing a fire attribute rune instead.

Basic runes are for gathering and channeling origin energy. And attribute runes were added with them for gathering elemental energy.

"Attribute runes won't be too much as they were just different symbols. So, my final product will be able to gather fire elemental energy if a fire Elementalist uses it. But, it will not generate fire as I broke the sequence midway. In this way, I will be able to get my desired ''Rune Genius'' title without any suspicion.

And as this rune needed a Fire User to channel Origin energy, it didn't randomly activate or gather origin energy like Richard's runes. Giving me a chance to hide securely.