Endrian woke up this morning to Ethese bouncing on his chest. The sun was just starting to change the color of the sky. He could tell that she was super excited, though he was clueless as to why.
“Brother! Brother! It’s time to get up.” She whisper shouted as she sat on his chest shaking him.
“What’s got you so excited?” he asked her with a normal tone of voice.
“Shhh!! I overheard mama say that you are going to the academy and taking your entrance exam today, so I wanted to sneak in here early and wish you luck before anyone else.” she then paused for a second and then said loudly “Good Luck!!”
Reaching up and tickling her Endrian said “Thanks. Now get out so brother can get ready.” He was unsure if she heard him though because she was busy squealing and laughing before running out the door.
After she had escaped Endrian got up and ran through his morning ablutions. He then got dressed and started his morning routine. These past few months his routine had changed somewhat. He would get up and head to the training area. This area was an entire floor that was hollowed out in the tree. There he would perform his workout of Tai Chi however he no longer did any strengthening exercises as he found that he wasn’t feeling the burn anymore and doubted it was giving any benefit. He also didn’t really have a place to practice parkour anymore, so all he could do was go through his sword forms, and spear forms after Tai Chi. Then it was time for breakfast. After breakfast he would tutor Ethese on her letters and numbers so that she would be able to keep up with her sisters when they were ready to take the entrance exam. While she was studying he would work on his elemental manipulation.
He had gotten pretty decent at adding an edge to metal which he referred to as honing. He could do some basic shaping but other than adding an edge his amount of manipulation control with metal was like a 2 year old with play-do. Electricity was easier for him, but that’s because he had a deeper understanding of electricity and how it flowed. Though there were a few incidents of discharging directly into the ground before he got the hang of it. He was able to make lightning arc between his fingers and hands and was able to charge his practice sword with some before it discharged arcing to his shield when it got too close leaving a black scorch mark on both the sword and the shield. As far as his control of magnetic… let’s just say magneto he was not. If he invents a fridge then he can make a killing selling door magnets. As far as weaponizing it he was able to get a few small EMPs but in a world without electronics you were better off just farting in the wind. At least if it smelled bad enough they might run. The wind was kind of cool, he had figured out how to increase or decrease wind resistance. Though that seriously screwed him up when trying to do any complicated moves. It’s amazing how things like wind resistance can with small changes have your body over compensating instantly. He was also able to get a mini tornado to form between his hands. He thought that was the coolest thing.
When he was working on getting the tornado to stabilize between his hand Ethese had seen what he was doing. Think he could show off something cool he walked over while holding the moving air currents. He said to her with a somewhat supercilious look on his face “So what do you think of big brother now?”
“So what’s it do?” she asked.
“It looks cool. Right?” he responded.
“.... Sure. But what does it do?” she asked again.
“It doesn’t do anything, it just looks cool.” he said now feeling slightly depressed.
“Why would you do that? You put in so much effort just to get something that looks good? That doesn’t make any sense.” she said in confused tone. Ethese had been listening to Endrian long enough to get used to some of his colloquialisms.
Now thoroughly dejected he sighed and told her “Just get back to your studies, you don’t want to be left behind by your sisters right?” After that he focused back on his manipulations again.
Lunch time rolled around and Ethese and Endrian finished up with a quick test to see how well Ethese was progressing. After the test he would evaluate her as having close to a first grade reading level and maybe second grade math skills. She was still working on memorizing the numbers. Endrian wasn’t sure how far his older sisters had progressed but he figured that getting Ethese to a 6th grade level of education would cover any problems.
At lunch everyone ate somewhat quietly. There was a nervous tension filling the dinner table. There were only two people not really affected by the mood. One was Endrian who was wolfing down his food like normal. The other was Ethese who was looking around at everyone curiously. His mothers, father, and the rest of his sisters watched as he ate his food seemingly oblivious to the upcoming test that could change his life. Finally unable to take it any more Ethese asked “Why is everyone acting so weird?”
After a second of shifting around uncomfortably it was Endrian who responded first. “They are probably just concerned or worried about how I will do in the Entrance Exam.” Seeing a few wry smiles around the table Endrian was pretty sure he had hit the mark.
“Why are they worried? It’s not like they have any ability to change what happens, and they don’t have to take it right?” Ethese innocently asked.
Smiling Endrian nodded while thinking ‘Out of the mouths of babes.’
Davian was the next to speak and he said “Ethese it’s normal for people to be worried about this. Actually Endrian’s lack of concern is rather abnormal. Only people with absolute confidence in, or that don’t care about, the results are able to be worry free in a situation like this.”
“Big brother is the smartest and the bestest, he’ll beat all those others and come in first.” she declared expressing her unwavering devotion to her brother.
After changing into some new clothes that his mother had bought for this occasion Endrian was ready to go to the academy for his entrance exam. Only the examinee and one family member were allowed to go in to the academy for the test. Everyone wished him well except Ethese who was pouting that she wasn’t able to go with Endrian. She had gotten it in her head that the whole family would go and watch and she had been looking forward to seeing her brother come in first.
Not long after Endrian and his mother arrived at the gate to the academy. Endrian had registered over 4 months ago and only had to provide the parchment proving he had paid the exam fee. A middle aged woman who would could be considered gorgeous by most everyone took his entrance exam verification form looked it over and then looked at Endrian and his mother. When she looked over them her face didn’t conceal her thoughts at all. The look of disgust as she looked at Endrian’s mom and then absolute disregard for Endrian himself. She said “Go to the main dining hall. Just follow the path and then take the path to the left at the first split.”
Moving inside and heading toward the testing location Endrian took a moment to comfort his mom “Just ignore them mom. I think you are a beautiful woman and you shouldn’t let others make you feel inferior just because of how they see you.”
“I know. It’s just…” she began but trailed off without the words to describe how she felt.
“It doesn’t matter what others think of you mom. It only matters what your loved ones think of you. I think you are beautiful and strong and amazing. I know dad loves you very much despite what others say or think. Your sisters love you as well so who cares about anyone else?” he said to his mom.
Smiling at her son Allyce stepped closer and hugged him saying “Thanks.”
It was at this point that another voice could be heard loudly calling out “Ugh.. what a disgusting bag of bones. Who would let such an ugly person into such a prestigious location. It really ruins the whole occasion.”
Hearing this Endrian turned around and saw a young boy probably the same age or maybe even younger than himself walking with a woman. The boy was dressed in the finest clothes, a black robe with purple trim that gave off a shimmer like silk as he walked with an insufferable attitude. His face and clothes gave him a somewhat scholarly look for one so young. He had black hair and black eyes with vibrant purple flecks and his skin was a pale contrast to them. What stood out more, though, is his personality which screamed arrogant, pampered, and self-centered.
The woman next to him was dressing in clothes that were in no way inferior to the boys. A stunning purple and blue dress that had flecks of gold woven in giving the whole dress a surreal look in the sunlight. The dress hugged her figure showing off the ample curves that the woman had. Her hair was black with violet highlights at the ends. Her face would have had a refined and aristocratic look were it not for the excess fat. She actually was fairly handsome it just wasn’t Endrian’s cup of tea. Of course that was before you factored in her apparent personality. The way she carried herself made it appears as if everything in the world was beneath her. She looked over at Endrian and his mom and then said without taking her eyes off of them “Truly. The school standards have fallen. Allowing anyone off the street to take the exam. We will have to talk to the dean and see about raising the price again to get rid of the common filth.”
While Endrian was usually not one to get easily insulted, especially by a child, but these two were just plain rude. So he spoke out “Hey! You two walking piles of shit-” before he could build up some proper steam his mother covered his mouth. Endrian struggled to remove his mothers hand but her strength far exceeded his own. She bowed slightly to the two who had turned around with surprise and rage. “My apologies my lady for my son, he does not get out much.”
“Hmph! Come Xerael ignore them or you will become dumber just from the brief interaction.” the lady said this as she took Xerael’s hand and walked off. Endrian could just barely hear their conversation as they walked away “We should at least kill the boy. No one is allowed to offend house Naxxremis without dying.”
“While I agree with you, we are not allowed to do anything on academy grounds unless you want to be barred from entering.” she responded before walking out of range.
When they had walked away from Endrian and his mother she finally relaxed her hold on him. “You have to be careful what you say here Ender. There are noble families that wouldn’t hesitate to end you and our family. Those two were from the Naxxramis family. They were the instrumental family that took down your father’s family. We cannot afford to offend them, regardless of what they say.”
“Mom, I understand.” He said with conviction while in his heart he said ‘I’ll let it go for now but there will be a day when these debts will need to be settled.’ While the incident with his mom offended him, the incident where this family destroyed his father’s family that was a different and deeper matter. He may not care about his father’s family but he does care about his dad.
Allyce was both concerned and gratified by what he said as she understood that he wouldn’t back down from someone insulting his family. Hopefully he would show restraint and wouldn’t come into conflict with those prideful noble boys. If he just focuses on study he would probably lose himself in that without getting into fights with the other children. Thinking of his unusual dedication to information and how he likes to question everything she figured that it would be unlikely for problems to arise. That and him having four elements should be enough for the school to show him favor.
The continued on with Endrian asking about the library that they had here and where it was. After a short walk they arrived at the main dining hall. It was a huge building it had large double doors that were visible from the path they were on. Based on the size of the doors it could be seen that the building was about 10 meters tall. Endrian could see a plume of smoke coming from the top of the building. There was a lingering smell of food and people lingering in the air as the got closer. Once inside the lowest level looked like it could hold 10’s of thousands of people. Endrian had been in the old busch stadium in St. Louis in his previous life and he knew it seated roughly 60,000 people. This looked about the same. Except there was no playing field in the center instead it looked like there was a kitchen and buffet style line where the food was made and served. Even though this place looked like it could handle 60,000 people there were probably not more than 100 children here to take the tests.
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There were guides that were helping people to seating or directing them to different locations or facilities. Endrian and his mom were approached by a young woman dressed in a uniform asking for them to follow her. She took Endrian to a seat with other children roughly his own age. Afterwards she took Allyce to the second level viewing platform.
Endrian was sitting with his eyes closed waiting for the test to start. There had been a few people that had stopped to talk with Endrian and he greeted them cordially but did not try to engage anyone in conversation. Though he did talk with a number of children that did try to strike up conversation either out of nervousness or boredom. He did see Xerael he was being swarmed by women who were equally dressed in outstanding clothes. About an hour after they had arrived the testing was about to start.
Endrian could tell because the building got quiet all of a sudden and when he opened his eyes he could see a group of women entering. The leader had golden hair and was taller than everyone else in the group by her head and shoulders. The other women that were with her were all wearing different robes with symbols on them. He saw one that was wearing a robe similar to the one he saw on the boat that rescued them. Those were the followers of Joslena Goddess of Life and Healing. He didn’t recognize any of the others but based on their clothes he assumed they were also people from the different churches.
“Hello everyone, I am Chiyo Arnman, the head of this academy.” Looks of respect and envy filled a lot of people’s eyes. “Please follow the following instructions while taking your exams. There will be 4 parts to this exam. First will be a reading and writing comprehension test math will be combined with this first test. The second test will measure your ability to comprehend a martial skill. The third test will be verifying your elemental affinities and their level of compatibility. Finally the last test will be testing your cultivation potential. For now the workers are handing out the tests” throwing her arm in the air a ball of light appeared above her head “When the light goes out you may begin the test. If you attempt to start before the light goes out you will be disqualified and you exam fee forfeit. When the test is over put your writing utensil down and one of the assistants will come and pick it up.”
As she was watching the different assistants walking around making sure everyone had a test she saw a little boy with his hand raised. One of the assistants had just walked over and the boy asked niether quietly or loudly “What should we do if we finish the test early?” The assistant was stunned for a second and in that time all of the children within earshot of this little boy started to laugh. Before Chiyo had a chance to say anything another boy from his section turned and looked at him saying “Idiot! No one has ever finished the test before the time was up. So some upstart commoner like you thinks he can complete the test when no one else can?”
The boy, who looked similar to the boy her sister Rantak had described, looked over calmly and said “Just because you can’t doesn’t mean no one can’t. So if you don’t know the answer to my question then don’t go jumping around like a hopped up dog yapping for attention.”
Silence. No one moved except for the boy as he looked back to the assistant. She on the other hand looked like a rabbit seeing a wolf. She froze and then looked for help without moving an inch. Chiyo chuckled to herself, if this is that boy he just offended one of the most powerful noble houses in all of Ampleforth. Before things got further out of hand Chiyo spoke up. “If you do finish early put your writing utensil down and raise your hand someone will be by to take it. However you will have to stay the entire time of the test regardless.”
“Excellent, thank you Academy head Chiyo Arnman.” he responded politely as he looked at her with those abnormally calm eyes. No fawning or disrespect or arrogance just calmness. Chiyo nodded at him and then looked around asking “Are there any more questions?” After a slight pause with no one speaking she continued “No? Then begin.” and the light went out over her head.
The test proceeded calmly with the rustling of parchment and quills. Endrian read the first question which went as follows: If you have a quiver of arrows with half of the arrows gone from it and you have a second quiver that is full. If the quivers hold 20 arrows each how many quivers do you have? At first he thought it was a joke question put to see if the reader was paying attention but after reading further he realized that it wasn’t. The math wasn’t much different either it started out with addition and subtraction then moved to division and multiplication. There were 125 questions on the test. Assuming only an hour was given that would give just under 30 seconds per question. Once Endrian was confident that the questions were really that simple he blazed through them. The most difficult question was the final question which was two people were 5000 mu apart, one party is moving towards the other at 200 mu per hour. The other party was moving at 50 mu per hour. How far will the first person have to travel before they meet and how long will it take. The questions did not have a multiple choice so all answers were written. Still even with all of that Endrian was done and had double checked his answers before time was up even made sure his name was on the paper as well. So he put his quill down and raised his hand.
When he raised his hand no one noticed at first. An assistant moved up to his desk to take his test paper. It was at this point that others noticed. There was a gasp and then everyone in Endrian’s section stopped and stared. When Chiyo saw this she said “You may stop but time does not. If you are not finished with the test please continue.” This snapped them out of their surprise and they all hurried back to what they were working on. The assistant brought the test to Chiyo who had signaled her. She had written this test and knew just how difficult the test was for everyone, especially the last question, so she wanted to look over the answers as quickly as possible. When she received the paper she glanced at the name at the top and realized that it was the same name as the boy that her sister talked about so highly.
When she came back from reading the test and answers on Endrian’s paper one of the followers of Azmera coughed and pointed to the time. Realizing that she had allowed everyone to go past the initial time She created a flash of light and said with a voice that carried to all preset “The test is over. Please put down your quill and wait for instructions on the next test.”
After all the tests had been collected they handed out a new sheet of parchment to everyone. As they did this Chiyo said “You will not turn this parchment over until I say so. On the parchment in front of you there is a martial skill. You will have one half hour to study the skill, then one half hour to practice. Finally you will perform a demonstration of the skill. This will show your ability to comprehend a martial skill.”
The test proceeded smoothly this time. With everyone spending time to study the martial skill and memorize the movements. Endrian was able to easily memorize the skill. Only taking one glance at the skill and he knew all of the moves and basic stances. As he practiced though he couldn’t seem to make his movements smooth. Every transition was rough, and which he got to each step in the stance there was no grace to his movements. Without an example to study and memorize his movements were mechanical and rough. At the end when he had to demonstrate the skill it was obvious that he had the basics of the skill but that there was no elegance or grace to his movements. This obviously cost him in his evaluation from the church follower.
Seeing this Xerael could not resist the urge to taunt Endrian. “Mr. know it all can’t even seem to comprehend the essence of even a basic skill. Only a money counter at best.” The sneer of disdain obvious for everyone to see.
Hearing this Endrian looked over but he didn’t bother to rise to this bait. Someone insulting him and his capabilities had no effect on his mentality or mood. When Xerael saw that Endrian wasn’t responding he was angered but had no way to vent his feelings so he just sneered “Filthy commoner! I bet his affinities and potential are just as impressive as his comprehension.” There were a few other children that laughed at Endrian but he just rolled his eyes and waited for this test to complete so they could move on to the next.
After everyone had completed this portion of the test the proctors brought out a few devices that looked like a crystallized lotus. Each crystal lotus had 9 rows of petals and in the center there was a crystal ball. At this point Chiyo started giving instructions again “I want everyone to line up in front of the affinity measuring device. When it is your turn you will place your hand on the ball in the center. The various followers of the gods will start the array and it will measure your affinities and attunement. Do not remove your hand before the follower signals you.”
As each child went up they would place their hand on the crystal and then the device would light up. It would show a color corresponding to their elemental affinity. The light would then spread from the center to the outer petals. Most of the people only made the first ring or two of the petals light up. There were some like Xerael that were able to make 7 rows of petals light up with his elemental affinity which looked to be void affinity. His second affinity was darkness and he was even able to make 4 rows light up with it. After his test he walked away with a smug and supercilious look on his face. Many of the proctors and assistants as well as those watching gasped in surprise when they saw his result. This also caused many of the girls and their prides to start paying attention to him.
Endrian saw this and had to swallow hard. Most people thought he was afraid that he had offended someone he shouldn’t have. However the reality was much different from their imagination. ‘I think I just threw up in my mouth a little.’ was the thought going through Endrian’s mind. Now the only thought was how not to stand out because he definitely did not want that much attention. He just wanted to go through their library and collect information and maybe perform some experiments. When it was finally Endrian’s turn he walked up and put his hand on the crystal. The first color to show up was the blue and purple. After just a second it had filled up all 9 rows of the crystal. The proctor that was sitting and watching hurriedly pressed their hands to the base that the crystal lotus was sitting on. After this was done the crystal switched to another color. The next color to appear for Endrian was silver. It also quickly spread to the rows of petals until it had come to the 8th row before slowing down. However, before it got to the 9th row Endrian pulled his hand back from the crystal. This was already more eye catching than he wanted to be. With a cramped look on his face he started to walk away. Unfortunately the proctor saw this and called out “Hey we haven’t finished this test yet!”
“Is there a need for more? I think this should be sufficient to pass, correct?” He said to her.
“No but we must record down each person’s affinities and their levels so that the teachers know what type of curriculum to provide for the students and how best to guide them.” she said with a somewhat confused and flustered look.
“Ah well then just put down magnetics and air, let’s say two rows each?” he said with a smile though he spoke softly so that others wouldn’t overhear.
“I can’t do that! It needs to be tested and verified….” her sentence drifted off as what he said clicked “Wait that would means you have 4 elements?!” she yelled.
Endrian sighed and dropped his head into his hands. ‘Well that was about as subtle as yelling bomb in an airport.’ By now everyone was looking at him. Many had already been watching and had seen his first two elements and their level and were blown away. So when others started to watch the spectacle that was now taking place they were happy to gossip about the elements that he had shown already and that he had removed his hand before the testing was finished. Chiyo came over now and talked briefly with the proctor so that she knew what was going on. Upon hearing that he had 4 elemental affinities the followers of the various churches, who had been following her, were starting to get excited. At least they were but they quickly realized that only two affinities had been verified. All of the church followers started to converse in animated whispers with Chiyo as they glanced at Endrian like he was a home cooked meal and they hadn’t eaten in weeks.
Seeing their looks he decided it was time for another tactical retreat. When everyone was focused on their conversation and most people were watching Chiyo and the people from the churches Endrian quietly ducked down a little and moved to a different location. After that he made a few more moves after verifying that no one noticed. Finally escaping out of the dining hall and heading to the bathroom. ‘This is entirely too troublesome.’ he thought to himself. Before he made good his escape though his mom showed up asking “Just what do you think you are doing?”
“That should be obvious. I’m going to the bathroom and then after everything has quieted down, home.” he stated as if this was the most natural thing in the world.
“This is surprisingly short sighted of you.” she said to him.
“Not really. This is entirely too troublesome. I’m not interested in joining myself to a pride, I most certainly am not interested in politics so don’t want to deal with any nobles. Above all of that the church people looked like they wanted to take me home and keep me forever, and let me tell you I am definitely not interested in joining a church.” he stated his case as succinctly as possible.
“What so you’re going to run?” she asked incredulously.
“This is not running away. This is a tactical retreat in the face of overwhelming numbers. Actually we can call this a learning experience.” he said this while inching further away from her. He realized that time was running out and if he hadn’t made good his escape he was done for.
“And what do we tell the family?” she asked with some irritation.
“We tell them that the teachers were too scary and that I got scared and ran out.” he gave her a smile that a used car salesman would have given his life for.
“You know you are too smart for your own good.” she said this before grabbing him to keep him from fleeing.
Inside the dining hall it was at this time that the conversation ended with the church asking to test him in private. Chiyo had agreed as long as she could be present as well. What had taken so long was that each of the followers wanted to test him first and bring him back to the church for further testing. Citing something about a prophecy. So after a long debate with them to decide what to do and how to do it fairly they turned around to let Endrian know what was going to happen. However, he was gone.