Magus Ingle led me through the halls of the school to a small room. As we walked I noticed a few things. The first was that the walls were thick, extremely so, like... six feet or more in places. My Manasense was also going off like crazy in the hall, letting me see a light film of light covering everything in the hall. The latter looked like a faint glow coming off, but without any light. It was weird, and difficult to put into words.

The room we entered on the other hand was nearly blank to my Manasense ability. It was cool, and perhaps fifteen feet across on each side. There was a desk and a few chairs, but beyond that it seemed empty.

"Alright, let's begin then. Do you have any experience or ability with magic?"

"Um... yes, I have a few spells, though I don't really remember using or gaining them per se."

"Perfectly alright. Can you tell me your mana pool? Your casting class too if you have it."

"Um, ten, and Shadowcaster, I hope that's alright."

"Well, I will say we don't get many Shadowcasters in these parts, but it's not illegal or anything. It's a mix of magical types, not really excelling in any of the ones it uses, but with good flexibility. Rather like a General Wizard, slightly more limited than one of them, but with stronger stealth capabilities." She rambled as she pulled out a book to check some things and a few items from the desk. There were two orbs, and a small cube.

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"I see." I didn't really understand most of that, but it seemed to be good to move this along.

"The first part of the test is rather simple. All casters, barring a few extreme specialists, have an ability called Manasense. If you can, please tell me which of these items has mana within it."

After a quick look I pointed to one of the orbs. "That one."

"Excellent! Now, can you place your hand on the orb beside it? If you do so you should be able to force a bit of mana in."

I put my hand out and touched the surface. The sensation of pushing mana from my body was odd, but it didn't hurt. It was more like feeling the warmth leave you into a piece of ice.

Magus Ingle tapped the orb herself a few times and it lit slightly, a bit of light and darkness swirling within for a few seconds before dissipating. "Very good. Now, if you can cast some spell onto the box that will confirm your ability to do so. Anything minor will do, though it is against school rules to use combat magic indoors."

I used the Minor Trick ability to try and lift the cube. It shook very briefly before a number of symbols on its surface lit up. As I did so I looked at my mana pool, seeing that I was already down to 8/10.

"Well, congratulations, that's the practical done. Now for the written portion."

I was given a small board with a paper on it and a quill and instructed to sit in one of the chairs. The paper itself was covered in a few basic questions on the subjects of reading and math. Basic addition and comprehension. My guess was that they would teach you as you went, and that many started with hardly any education. It was all easy enough at least, and I handed the filled out paper to her a few moments later. I'd also noticed that the quill needed no ink, which was a neat trick.

The magus could grade that test almost instantly and following it there was a standard bevy of paperwork. I slogged through most of that, though the places where the words 'not applicable' were placed down were very, very many.

At the end of it all I was given a brief walkthrough of the school. To the dorms, which were separated by year and by sex, the cafeteria, which I doubted I'd ever actually need, classes, and finally the library, which my happy little head friends wouldn't shut up about. There at the end I returned to my room, ready to slump down, my body was fine, but mentally I was a bit spent.