After a good while celebrating with the crowd, Apolo was finally released by the crowd after receiving no less than a thousand praises each. Right now, our novice wizard was searching for where the 5A classroom was on the first floor of the castle. Fortunately, the only floors crowded with people were the first two floors of the castle, so Apolo was able to follow the signs and find the room quickly.

Upon entering the classroom, Apolo observed that it was as large as the one where he had taken the written test. However, this room didn't seem to have been improvised. The sides of the room were lined with desks where people were reading and writing documents. Other workers were sending rolled scrolls through strange tubes placed on their desks. Judging by the attire of those in the room, they didn't seem to be wizards; they appeared to be bureaucratic employees of the ministry.

The desks in the room were arranged in a way that formed a long aisle leading to the end of the room where a single large desk stood. A wizard sat in a chair behind the desk, waiting to be attended to by the employee at the large desk. Unlike the wizard in the traditional all-black robe, the person working at the large desk was wearing a colorful shirt and pants. Their attire was much more elegant than that of the other bureaucratic employees working in the room. It was clear that this person was the most important employee in the room.

As soon as Apolo entered, a guard interrupted his walk and approached to speak to him:

—Excuse me, may I have your name?

—Apolo of the Black Forest.

—Ah, so it's you: Congratulations on passing the exam!—The guard congratulated, verifying that Apolo's name was indeed written on the list he held in his hand. —To receive your first imperial sponsorship, you need to go to the last desk in the room and complete some forms.

—Thank you for the directions!—Apolo expressed his gratitude, his eyes shining as he realized that after a few more steps, he would finally receive the best part of being a wizard: the crystals!

The young man walked eagerly down the aisle formed by the desks and sat down beside a chair next to the wizard who was currently waiting. All the while, he felt the attentive gaze of the man attending the large desk.

—Pleased to meet you, Apolo, isn't it?—asked the elegantly dressed man, who apparently had been expecting Apolo's arrival—My name is Finz of the Sorrowful Puddles, and I'm in charge of managing the sponsorships that every wizard in the empire receives.

—Yes, that's me: I'm here for my crystals!—Apolo impatiently replied.

—The Emperor's crystals, you mean…—corrected the wizard sitting next to Apolo. He adjusted the large glasses on his face—Pleased to meet you, Apolo. I'm Wizard Marcos of the Valley. It's been a while since I heard such a commotion inside the ministry. Could you tell me how many candidates passed the exam?

—Out of the one-thousand applicants, only two had passed the exam half an hour ago—answered Finz, enunciating each word in a somewhat obsessive manner —And in this past half hour, more than seventy-seven candidates have passed. I'm afraid the quota of five-hundred wizards was exceeded twelve minutes ago, and now we have a slight surplus. Not so slight. Not at all slight.

—Ha, ha, ha, did old Hefesto forget to take his pills or what happened?—Marcos laughed as he rapped his hand on the desk, paying no mind to the uncomfortable look of the employee seeing objects on the desk move and get displaced from their original positions—What were you asked in the written part, Apolo?

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—My name and where I come from…—Apolo answered, trying to remember the important part of the "application form".

—Please stop hitting the table, if you would… Otherwise, Apolo is from the Black Forest and doesn't need to take the exam—corrected Finz, modulating obsessively without consulting a single piece of paper. It seemed like all the information was stored somewhere in his head—The written question was approved by the council of wizards like any written question given during the registration exams. It centered around answering what a "bismuth" is. As for the oral exam, it's a private and personal instance between Archmage Hefesto and the candidate, so there are no records of the questions asked.

—And how is it that 77 people and counting know what bismuth is?—Marcos asked, abruptly stopping his smile and nervously adjusting his glasses on his face—There are only 5 bismuths in the whole empire, and we use them solely for calibrating major projects. It makes no sense that there's a single candidate who could answer that question, and it's completely unacceptable that there are more than 77 correct responses.

—Maybe someone mentioned the topic before the exam started, and by chance, they asked everyone about it...—Finz replied, searching for a possible solution to such an anomaly. He knew the situation wasn't that simple. If there were more mages than the established maximum limit, that indicated the magic budget in the empire should increase. Otherwise, all mages would see their share of the pie reduced, and that meant he would have to deal with disgruntled mages every day —Anyway, what's inexplicable is that Hefesto approved all the candidates in the oral round. He's the strictest mage in evaluations throughout the empire.

—Do you even know who the inventor of bismuth was?—Marcos commented, as if it were a quite common question, energetically adjusting his glasses—It's a little-known rumor that Hefesto always hated that no one could answer that question. But it's 'logical' after all; almost no one worked with bismuth, and except for me, I only know two mages who know how to use them, one of them being Hefesto himself.

—Why does it bother him that no one knows who created bismuth?—Finz asked—If they're so rare, it's pretty normal that no one knows.

—No! That's the problem: even though they're rare, bismuth is an incredibly revolutionary invention—Marcos commented with pride—Mages have been using memos for over four thousand years to measure aggregate consumption, and no one managed to improve memo accuracy until bismuth was invented.

—Did you exaggerate a bit with the timeline? Four thousand years mean it was used before the empire existed—Apolo asked, quite interested in the conversation.

—As long as there have been humans, there have been mages, so there are even older inventions than memos—Marcos responded joyfully—Although you've just joined this world, with time you'll discover that significant mage inventions are measured in decades. While it's normal to never see them, bismuth is one of the greatest inventions in the entire empire.

—So why does nobody know what bismuth is?—Apolo asked. If it was as important as Marcos had said, even if it was expensive, the invention should be known.

—Precisely: everyone should know what bismuth is!—Marcos exclaimed, moving his glasses up and down, a glint of passion in his eyes—And even more importantly, everyone should acknowledge this great achievement by its creator while he's still alive. While seeing such a significant achievement in the magical world is rare, it's even rarer to come across the inventor of such an invention.

—Did you create it?—Apolo asked, trying to understand why this mage felt so passionate about bismuth.

—Of course not, its creator always remained anonymous: until today!—Marcos responded as he adjusted his glasses with his hands, as if indicating that what he was about to reveal was an impressive deduction.

—Until today?—Finz asked, more interested in letting the mage's imagination run wild than in knowing the answer.

—Exactly, until today: because I've just discovered who invented them!—Marcos exclaimed dramatically, adjusting his glasses on his face again.

—Did Hefesto invent them?—Apolo asked, remembering how happy the old mage was upon finding out he had completely filled out the "form".

—Looks like you're a genius, Apolo!—Marcos exclaimed unironically, smiling and giving Finz a knowing look—Tell me, who benefits the most if all these mages pass the exam?