"Stage 2 over, Number 25, passed." The successful candidate jumped down the platform and started fist pumping the air in jubilation. There were some scattered claps, but no real commotion since the exam was still in progress.
Once the clapping died down, everyone's attention was focused on the open field. The next student - Cor, a freckled girl armed with bronze gloves, was confidently walking towards the stone platform.
"I bet 50 hefs that she will last longer than five minutes," said Arigi, a fellow student on my left. He looked annoyingly relaxed since he was one of the few that already passed the exam.
"Too bad for you, I bet 100 hefs she won't," I rebutted confidently.
The two of us stopped talking the moment she stepped on the stone platform. After glowing for a few seconds, the light eventually faded away to reveal a green slime.
"That's a bad matchup," someone in front of me mumbled. That person was right, while Cor was a powerful hand-to-hand combatant, slimes are annoyingly slippery (pun intended) and malleable. Green slimes can also shoot acid bullets, which will make it difficult for Cor to get close. I nudged Arigi but he decided to ignore me.
"Stage 2 over, Number 26, failed."
Three minutes later, despite her best attempts at dodging and blocking, Cor's gloves were eventually wore out from corrosion. She indicated her surrender and wept silently as she walked out of the field. I handed out my palm to Arigi, and he slapped down the aforementioned sum.
My badge lighted up, indicating it is now my turn. Arigi noticed and mumbled some words of encouragement. I would have thanked him, but I rolled my eyes when he started taking bets from another student next to him.
I rose from seat and bowed towards the head examiner. After checking that my protective amulets were in place, I picked up my wand and walked down to the open field. Someone giggled at the number of amulets on my clothing, but I chose to ignore them anyway.
I couldn't help but notice that the magic circle was much more bigger than the ones used in my previous exams. While the ones I were used to were four meters wide in diameter, the stone platform in front of me was roughly three times larger and four meters high. Judging by the needlessly elaborate carvings on its edges and the staircase, whoever was in charge of creating this circle obviously had a sense of flair.
The silent buzz of magical energy grew louder as I moved forward. Strong waves of magical energy suddenly surged from the platform without any warning, but I managed to chant a spell of heaviness in time to prevent myself from being blown away. The waves eventually died down and I continued onwards.
Madam Finch, the examiner, was standing beside the foot of the staircase. While my hair and robe were still fluttering from the aftermath of the magical waves, her scandalous red clothing and perfectly coiffed hair remained completely unaffected.
"Congratulations for passing the first stage, Mr Zico. However, before you can proceed to the second stage, I suggest that you remove some of the...," Madam Finch looked up and down on me, "... protective trinkets on your body."
I frowned, annoyed both with her instruction and gaze. "I don't recall any Academy laws requiring me to do so," I retorted.
"Strictly speaking, there isn't," Madam Finch sighed, "but I'm afraid that the number of charms on you might cause some unwanted interference with the magic circle. Is that dust-proof amulet really necessary for your shoes?"
"Yes, it is." I rolled my eyes and lifted up my foot, but she wrinkled her nose and gestured for me to put it down. "Surely the circle is designed to accommodate any interferences from amulets and such?"
"Of course, since I designed it myself," said Madam Finch confidently. That explains the floral patterns on the platform. "It won't cause any spillover effects outside of the circle, inside the circle however...."
I shrugged and stood at the bottom step. Seeing that I wasn't compromising, Madam Finch signalled for me to go up.
I felt more magical energy wash over me as I ascended. Unlike the previous ones which were just waves of raw force, the energy I was now experiencing seemed to be scanning my body instead. I could feel my charms and amulets heat up at the energy waves, but thankfully they cooled down just as quickly.
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I eventually arrived on a flat circular surface. Although Madam Finch might be slightly dramatic and vain, her technical skills was nothing to scoff at. An elaborate glowing circle filled with various geometric shapes inlaid with precious stones took up almost the entire platform. I kneeled to inspect the circle, and soon realised what I thought were the shapes' lines were in fact tiny rows of script. I was literate in modern Sampor, ancient Qin, and Taghreb, but there were at least five other languages that I could identify but couldn't read.
As I was examining the circle, I heard a hissing sound and saw that a hexagon-shaped pattern in front of me was glowing. I stepped backwards as the hexagon rose to my chest-height and stopped.
"Please place your hands on the panel," a mechanical voice said. Following its instructions, I felt another wave of energy from the panel course through my body.
"Scanning complete. Processing complete. Adjusting difficulty to account for extra variables, complete. Preparing, preparing." The entire magic circle grew increasingly bright.
Adjusting for extra variables? I glanced back worryingly towards Madam Finch who gave me a coy smile.
"Preparing, complete. Subject summoned. Good luck, number 27." I shielded my eyes from the magic circle's light. After several moments, the light died down and I opened my eyes.
Something small appeared in mid-air. The creature squealed as it fell down on the platform before slowly sat up and looked around.
I was expecting a huge, fire-breathing and terrifying elemental given the amount of light from the circle. However, I was both relieved and confused instead at the cute, furry red baby spider monkey in front of me. Colour aside, the creature also had four tails with barbed ends and eyes that moved independently like a gecko.
Wait, please don't tell me that's a...
"Subject: Red Ape. Stage 2 starts now."
Of course it is. Despite their cute looks (which is debatable in my opinion), red apes are notorious for their tails which can easily pierce through most magical and physical defences. I could use my innate magic to absorb some of my attributes, but I also run the risk of growing red fur and becoming berserk.
I sighed. So much for all my protective charms, this is a terrible matchup.
At least there's only one of them, I thought.
"Peauuuk... Ack!" Four more red apes suddenly appeared on top of the first creature and entangled themselves in a furry red pile. After several moments of squealing, they eventually separated and stared at me.
Stop jinxing yourself, Zico. I crouched down and pointed my wand.
The first ape leaped forwards with a loud squeal, swinging its tails midair to launch some dangerously sharp spikes. Thankfully, my amulets seemed to be effective as the spikes slowed down the closer they got to my body. On the other hand, several amulets were already fizzling and burning up, causing the spikes to slowly perforate my shields. I was painfully aware that the other three apes were lingering at the edges of my barrier, any misgivings I had about them being cute was shattered at the sight of their sharp, bloody fangs.
The shields bought me a few precious seconds to strategise. I wasn't athletic enough to fight them in hand-to-hand combat without losing all my limbs, but I also couldn't just fire spells blindly as red apes are also magic resistant. The ground perhaps? I fired a small bolt at the floor, but the way it simply dispersed confirmed my suspicions that the stone platform couldn't be manipulated that easily. I could also try to reconfigure magic circle on the platform itself, but soon realised that the critical parts of the circle were in the languages I wasn't proficient in.
The four apes stopped prowling and flung their mace-like tails onto my shield together, causing it to shudder and dim ominously. I poured more power into my amulets, painfully aware that nearly all of them were already spent. Thankfully, I managed to hold out for a few minutes as the monkeys started to give up. The five of us panted and glared at each other from both sides.
An idea suddenly came to me as I watched the monkeys pant and I quickly took off my robe. After tearing off the dust-proof charm from my shoes and pasting it on my cheek, I held my breath and set fire to both my robes and shoes, causing the air inside my shield to be filled with the smell of burnt fabric and leather. I took a quick glance at the monkeys, but they seemed to be quite amused rather than cautious.
Once the shield around me was filled with thick, heavy smoke, I quickly deactivated my last amulet, taking extra care to channel the smoke towards the monkeys. At the same time, I took off my tie and enchanted it to increase its length and durability.
Being extra careful to not alert them, I blasted an energy bolt with my remaining magic reserves and lassoed the monkeys using my heavily enchanted tie.
Ignoring their angry squeaks, I held on tightly to both ends of the tie and pulled it as tight as I could. For all their ferocity, red apes were small and their size definitely disadvantaged them now.
Their struggles grew less violent as time passed, and the combination of smoke and lack of oxygen knocked out them out a few minutes later. I released the tie-now-lasso/noose after giving one final tug, exhausted at the whole ordeal but satisfied nonetheless.
"Stage 2 over. Number 27, passed," a mechanical voice announced. The magic barrier surrounding the platform disappeared. I laid on the platform and watched the red apes turn into flames as their summons ended.
"Red apes explode, you idiot!" I heard someone shout. Oh, shit.
BOOOOM! Fire engulfed the entire platform.
Just before I was blasted back, I managed to absorb some of the red ape's attributes. The good news is my durability had increased and I am still alive; the bad news is part of me is on fire and I was heading towards a very alarmed Madam Finch.
I crashed into Madam Finch. Everyone was silent as the two of us rolled across the open field.
The last thing I remembered before passing out was the look and smell of Madam Finch's burnt hair.