“Student Khyl Dite, please see an attendant for examinations.”

Nia waved her childhood friend off. watching him timidly speak to a tall male assistant before entering another room.

The first event on the itinerary was located at the academy’s auditorium to sort the students into the appropriate curriculums. According to Xing, this was usually done to provide the visiting students the best educational experience possible, since the two academies had two different philosophies due to the separate necessities that the cities had.

“The Royal Academy of Fyhakr mainly focuses on teaching specialized curricula for each Path so that students may test well on the Royal Examinations. The Exemplary Academy of Dionmar focuses on diversification and flexibility, as most of their students take up trade or military positions.” Xing had said over dinner.

“Student Nia Sol, please see an attendant for examinations.”

Nia got up and swiftly walked over to the same tall male assistant, cheerfully greeting him. He responded in kind, escorting her through a different door than the one Khyl had entered through.

“Welcome, I am Professor Clay. I will be guiding you through the examinations today.”

A solemn-faced older man nodded at the assistant, who exited quickly after bowing.

“Hi! I’m Nia Sol. Looking forward to these exams! What’s first?”

Professor Clay nodded again, and pointed at a large chariot wheel lying on the ground.

“Straight to the point, I see. First is the Physical Exam. Lift the wheel and I will score you.”

Nia pulled the wheel upright, then grabbed the spokes and attempted to lift with her legs. The weight of the wheel surprised her as it did not budge. She flexed her arms as hard as she could to provide extra support, but the wheel remained firmly planted on the floor.

“That is enough. Let us move onto the next test.”

Nia struggled a bit longer before sighing and letting go of the wheel. She rolled it lightly to confirm that it was not actually glued to the ground, and disdainfully clicked her tongue at it before walking over to the bow placed on the stand.

“The Ranged Exam will begin when you pick up the bow. Please attempt to hit the targets when you see them.”

“Mister Clay, I’m terrible with bows. Do you mind if I just throw the arrows instead?”

The man nodded.

Nia picked up the freshly fletched arrow and lightly spun it in her fingers. She saw a target placed across the room and slung the arrow forward, hitting the middle.

“Miss Nia, you have surprisingly good throwing aim at stationary targets, but this exam tests something else. We will begin when you are ready.”

Nia nodded, and Professor Clay murmured an incantation while placing a rune on a spare target.

After the incantation was complete, the professor threw the target forward, where it seemed to dissolve into mist.

Nia patiently waited for something to happen, recalling a few of her father’s experiments with Magic and Runes.

There?

A target flitted across the room, disappearing before she could aim at it.

Hm.

Nia focused and took a slow breath, imagining her mana being dragged upwards into her eyes.

“Miss Nia, please do not utilize Enchantment techniques for the Ranged Exam.”

“Oh!”

Two targets flitted across the room as Nia’s concentration broke.

By the end of the exam, there were dozens of targets appearing and reappearing. Nia had only struck one down with a lucky throw.

“The third exam will be the Magic Exam. You simply need to cast any spell. Do you know any?”

Nia, out of breath from the workout of desperately throwing arrows, put her hand out to give herself a brief pause.

“Uh, my Papa tried teaching me the uh, hoooh… Embers spell. I haven’t practiced it that much.”

Professor Clay handed Nia a crystal orb, which was surprisingly weightless in her hand.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“Please use Embers on this orb. It will record the effectiveness of your request to the spirits. Do not worry about the effects of the spell. There is a rudimentary anti-Magic treatment applied to the orb.”

“Alright.”

Nia took a deep breath, trying to feel the vague squigglies floating around her like her father had described, and asked them:

“UWRUSH.”

The crystal orb grew slightly warmer, before fading back to its original neutral temperature.

Professor Clay paused for a moment to glance at Nia, before finishing his scribbling on his notes.

“We will not need to perform the Enchantment Exam. Here are your results report, Miss Nia. Please present them to the attendant when you exit.”

The stoic face of the professor creaked into what Nia assumed was supposed to be a gentle smile, as he handed her the paper that he was writing on. She handed him back the crystal orb before leaving.

“Thanks for the exam, Mister Clay!”

The assistant on the other side of the exit scanned the report, before handing it back to Nia.

“Miss Nia Sol. It looks like you will be a part of the Major Enchantment course. You have been given permission to take elective courses in the Physical, Ranged, and Magic departments. Professor Clay has recommended you to take the beginner’s Magic course, if nothing else.”

“Can you uh, write that down?”

Nia exited the building and stretched her limbs, groaning in relief after being cooped up for the past few hours. She looked around the campus, admiring the tall clock tower in the far distance.

“10AM? I could go for some tea…”

Nia pulled out the map that Elder Clarisse had given her, and found a location marked with a cafe. She looked at a nearby cluster of trees, and resisted the urge to take the shortcut.

On the way to the cafe, she passed by a few familiar faces from the royal academy. She excitedly chatted with them and compared her report with theirs. Only a few had recommendations for elective courses.

“If only our parents knew some magic to teach us.” A pair of siblings wistfully looked at the handwritten notes along the margins.

“My Papa gave up on me, so he just showed me an easy spell to light up campfires!”

By the time Nia arrived at the cafe, two of her friends from the Royal Academy had found and joined her, eager to discover some pastries that the largest city had to offer.

“Ohh! Strawberry tarts and fresh croissants! They smell good!!”

Nia and her friend Eliza deeply breathed in the baked aromatics, the third pulling out some coins to buy them a round of treats.

“Thanks for paying this time, Sally! I’ll be sure to spot you again when we go out next time.” Eliza heartily patted Sally on the back, the latter’s frizzy brown hair bouncing wildly with the impacts.

“You don’t have to worry about it! You two always treat me back at school, so I wanted to be the first to pay while we’re here.”

Nia pulled out her report and handed it to Sally with her free hand, busily sipping on her Baron Leaf Latte. She also motioned the same hand at her friend, to which Sally handed her own results paper.

“Oh nice, you both got recommendations to an elective! That makes three of us.” Eliza stood behind them to get a view of both of their reports, and placed hers on the table between them.

“It looks like none of us are in the same majors… I guess that’s no surprise there.” Eliza sighed.

“I’m sure it’ll be fine. It’s not like we’re in the same classes back home either. That’s what lunch is for!”

Eliza’s sad frown was replaced by a smile at Sally’s words.

“Anyways, looks like borrowing that old children’s book your father gave you for Enchantment fundamentals actually paid off. Whoever wrote that is a genius children’s teacher. Can’t believe I actually got a recommendation for it.” Eliza suddenly patted the signature at the bottom of her results paper.

“Oh yeah, are those rare? People kept saying they were jealous earlier.” Nia sipped her tea, a hint of pride in her voice.

“They are pretty rare. You have to impress your examiner somehow. I’m surprised I got the Ranged rec. I barely missed all of the targets — oh maybe it was out of pity…” Sally sighed.

“I always told you that you got a good pair of eyes on you. Learning to aim with bows is easy but not everyone is born with the right eyes. Unless you do that cheaty thing that Nia does all the time.”

“It’s not cheating! Mama told me that anyone could learn it. Imagine how much better you could be if you managed to learn the technique!”

“Nia, how do you expect us to learn the technique if you can’t even describe it properly to us.” Sally reached into her backpack and took out a notebook. “Me and Eliza went through a week of trying to figure it out. Look at all of these notes.”

Sally flipped through the pages filled with scribbles and large question marks, while Eliza silently nodded.

“Okay, in my defense, Mama told me nothing and made me figure it out. It’s just how it is. Telling you guys how I do it doesn’t help at all!”

The three friends bickered for a few minutes over the topic, before Sally remarked that their tea stopped steaming, and they began to hurriedly consume their brunch snack.

When they finally left the cafe, Nia noticed Khyl and Xing making their way over. Khyl was holding the copy of Elder Clarisse’s map, and squinting over in their general direction.

“Hey, you two! Over here!”

Xing’s head tilted towards Nia’s voice, and pushed Khyl towards her.

“I’m glad your habits don’t change even when we’re in a different city.” Xing dryly commented. “How does your report look?”

Nia handed over the piece of paper to Xing as her friends crowded around Khyl to look at his report. He scanned it and nodded.

“A personal recommendation to the Magic department huh? That would be interesting to watch. Khyl ended up getting into the Magic major, which should be close to what Sally has if I’m eavesdropping correctly.”

“So they’ll be taking classes together again?”

“Huh? Yeah.”

“Nice.” Nia

“Don’t tease them too much.”

After grabbing a coffee, Xing bid the group farewell and left to do his student duties. Sally pulled out the itinerary for the visiting students that Nia had neglected to pick up.

“Looks like we’re supposed to greet the professors for our Major after lunch. Shall we go get food and figure out where we’re all going?”

“Sure! I’m starving.” Eliza patted her stomach.

“Didn’t you three just eat snacks at the cafe?”

“Always got room for more!”