Apolo observed with satisfaction as his servant applauded his achievement. However, his smile didn't last long, as the laughter from the other carriages became too evident to him when he stopped concentrating on trying to get into the carriage. Despite this and to the fortune of Apolo and all the pretenders aspiring to become wizards, the guards started indicating that all the pretenders should enter the castle for examination. Apparently, Apolo's mishap had caused the magician responsible for evaluating the inscription to finally lose patience and decide to finish this process once and for all.
Astounded by the new instructions given by the guards, Apolo looked on, not hiding his disgust, as the pretenders began to disembark from their respective carriages and walk towards the castle. Since the line of carriages was far from short, it was impossible to get closer by driving, so there was no alternative but to walk. After witnessing this scene unfolding before his eyes, Apolo didn't hold back his insults and complained aloud:
—Couldn't any of the guards inform me that we had to enter the castle before I attempted to get into the driver's seat? Are they so incompetent or do they just hate me for being a noble?
—Clearly, it's both, my lord— Orrin replied, also annoyed. It was quite evident that the reason the order hadn't been given earlier was to mock his master —When we reach the gate, we will complain as appropriate.
—No, no, what's done is done, and punishing these guards won't restore my honor. But if they ask us to pay to replace the tree I just destroyed, we'll tell them that for offending me, they won't receive a single crystal from us— Apolo responded with a smile on his face. He now had a perfect excuse to get rid of that "minor" problem.
—As you wish, my lord— Orrin responded, not entirely pleased with the idea of trading honor for money.
—Besides, help me get down. I have a procedure to finish!— Apolo exclaimed eagerly. The journey had been too long, and he had finally arrived at the moment he had been waiting for during the last six long months.
Apolo stepped out of the carriage, caught by Mateo, and ignoring the laughter of the other participants, he walked toward the castle gate accompanied by his servants. When they reached the castle, a guard approached to receive them. Like almost all the guards, he was dressed in a silver armor that seemed designed to focus more on aesthetics than defense. The guard's blonde hair was well-kept, and he had a finely curled mustache on his face. His good looks suggested that aesthetics were quite important in his life.
—Pleased to meet you, young aspiring magician!—the guard greeted energetically as Apolo approached, his voice full of enthusiasm even though he had been working for more than 16 hours straight.
—Likewise...—Apolo responded, a bit surprised to see such a fancy guard attending the reception of the fourth castle of the Ministry of Magic.
The guard looked Apolo up and down and then shifted his attention to the two servants accompanying him, all the while using his fingers to curl his mustache constantly, as if it were a nervous tic.
Patiently, Apolo waited for the guard to give instructions, but he had fallen silent, twirling his mustache as if he had forgotten what he was supposed to say and was buying time to remember it.
—Where is my lord supposed to be evaluated?—Orrin asked, noticing that the guard had frozen, not wanting Apolo to make the magician wait any longer.
The guard only smiled sensually at the question and commented in a particularly elegant tone of voice:
—Given the large number of magician aspirants this year, the evaluations will change. Therefore, aspirants will have to take a written and an oral test with the evaluating magician. To take the written test, you should head to room 8A on the first floor of the castle. Follow the directions we've provided, and you should have no problems finding it. Other than that, only the aspirants are allowed to enter the castle.
Without hesitation, Apolo entered the castle, bidding his servants a quick farewell. Almost running, the young man walked through the corridors, somewhat fearful that the gate guard would remember that he was the one who had destroyed a tree in the garden a few minutes ago.
As he ventured further into the castle, the noble youth noticed paper signs affixed to the walls of the corridors. Judging by how poorly some of these signs were written, it seemed that the guards had been forced to improvise them and hadn't had time to replace the illegible ones. Nevertheless, the number of directions was abundant, and Apolo quickly reached a large room filled with people waiting to be examined. The first thing he noticed was that the room seemed to have been improvised, given the irregular arrangement of chairs and tables: it seemed like they had just grabbed furniture from the surrounding rooms and put them together in this large hall.
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Seeing that the hall was overflowing with aspirants, Apolo quickly looked for a seat to sit on, but to his dissatisfaction, he realized that all the seats had been taken. He waited for the guards to notice the problem and bring in some benches for those who couldn't sit. However, Apolo's naivety worked against him, as the first and only guard who entered the hall full of aspirants had a box full of papers and some pencils in his hands. Ignoring the complaints of the aspirants and receiving daring insults, the guard smiled mischievously at each aspirant as he handed them a pencil and some papers.
—Where am I supposed to fill out this paper?—Apolo exclaimed, not hiding his disgusted look, as he received the pencil and papers from the guard.
—On the floor, or wait until another aspirant finishes and take their seat—the guard said in a very loud voice, seemingly aiming for everyone in the room to hear, breaking the deathly silence —Remember, you only have 10 minutes to submit the exam.
—But you bunch of incompetents, do you even know who I am?!—Apolo shouted angrily upon hearing such a response from a nobody.
—No, precisely that's why we asked for your name on the exam—the guard replied with a mischievous smile, while proceeding to ignore Apolo's angry glare and continued handing out papers and pencils to the other aspirants.
Feeling offended, Apolo looked at the questions and, to his incredible surprise, discovered that he indeed had to fill in his name on this paper, which meant the guard hadn't been lying. Upon realizing this fact, Apolo glanced at the rest of the participants and found that no one was as surprised as he was by the question of their identities. It seemed that these people already knew the contents of the form beforehand, so he assumed he had just made a fool of himself by not knowing the obvious.
With his face as red as a tomato, Apolo watched as the other candidates who hadn't managed to secure a desk sat down on the floor awkwardly, ready to complete the form. It appeared that waiting wasn't as good an idea as he initially thought. Following suit, Apolo sat down on the floor and read the questions on the paper with seriousness:
> "First point: Remember to indicate your name and origin.
>
> Second point: Remember to indicate how many times you attempted this exam.
>
> Third point: Define what a 'bismuth' is and how you would use it to design a spell (provide an explanation, not an example).
>
> Fourth point: Explain how you would determine the need for an additive to perform a spell without using a 'Memo' (only give an example, don't elaborate).
>
> Fifth point: Ask your ancestors for luck in the exam (don't write it)."
Apolo reread the paper in his hands for two minutes, not understanding why anyone would ask him these questions and what they had to do with his daily life. Truth be told, this was the first time the young noble had ever seen an exam in his life, so he didn't quite grasp what was happening. Despite this, Apolo remembered he had only ten minutes, and he had already lost two, so he figured he should hurry and fill out the first two points, which seemed to be the most important on the "registration form."
After completing those points, Apolo tried to imagine what a 'bismuth' was, but he had never heard that word in his life. So he decided to ask a boy who was sitting on the floor next to him, noticing that from the number of words the boy had written on the paper, it seemed he knew the correct answer.
—Excuse me, what's a 'bismuth'? —Apolo asked, leaning in to try to read what was written on the other person's paper.
—...—The red-haired and freckled boy, who couldn't have been more than 15 years old, looked around the classroom and realized there wasn't a single guard watching them. So, he decided to respond in a low voice:
—You should know...
—Should I know? —Repeated Apolo aloud, startling the red-haired boy.
—Yes, you should—The boy replied in a hushed tone, looking at Apolo with annoyance, as if trying to signal him to be quiet. In his mind, if this guy kept asking for the answer, they might nullify his exam too.
—Does everyone here know what a 'bismuth' is, then?— Apolo yelled, feeling offended for not knowing something apparently common.
Everyone in the room stared at him like he was crazy. However, some desperate souls also realized that there wasn't a single guard in the room, and the guard who had handed out the exams had disappeared without a trace a while ago. So, a sweaty-faced, disheveled man shouted back:
—Honestly, I don't know. Could you tell me? I beg you, I need to pass this time. Otherwise, I won't be able to pay off my debt, and they'll sell my family's house. Please, I beg you, I have kids to protect!
Hearing the man's desperation, Apolo gave an inquisitive look to the red-haired boy next to him, as if it were his responsibility to shout the answer to everyone in the room. However, the boy wasn't intimidated by Apolo's look and chose to ignore these desperate idiots, continuing to reread his exam.
Seeing the unusual denial, Apolo boldly reached out to snatch the paper from the red-haired boy, and to the astonished gaze of everyone else being examined, he proceeded to read the boy's exam aloud:
—Apparently, according to young Yovel from White Town, a 'bismuth' is an instrument used to measure the potency of a spell: how much requirement it has, not to be confused with how strong it is. From 20B or 20,000 bis, additives need to be used to make the spell work. So, it's essential to use it when initiating an experiment to determine how many additives are needed. As for the fourth point, as already explained: I could employ a bismuth, though they are expensive, so magicians use memos at the cost of losing some precision and consuming extra additives.
Apolo returned the exam to the boy, who continued to stare at him in bewilderment, as if what had just happened was incomprehensible to him. With even more disbelief, the boy observed that everyone in the room had long stopped looking at the idiot dictating the answers and instead stared with concern at their own answers. Some even began to frantically cross out what they had written on their sheets and started writing what Apolo had dictated, making slight alterations so that it wouldn't be obvious that they were copying.
Meanwhile, Apolo watched as everyone wrote desperately and realized there wasn't much time to waste. So, he transcribed Yovel's answer verbatim, while the boy trembled, realizing that all the applicants were putting a response similar to his in their exams.