Chapter 10: Passing the Exam
Glancing over, Alexander asked, "What's a Magic Scribe?"
Growing playfully smug, the youth explained, "It's an Uncommon Class that specializes in transcribing Magic Books. If I'm lucky, I could become a Magic Scholar and get employed by a King."
The Elf chuckled and responded, "That's a good plan. I hear King's pay handsomely."
Nathaniel nodded and added, "That's the goal. Make bank, then just travel around and collect magic books. It's my dream to make my own magic library." Nudging the Elf again, he added, "If you're interested, we could trade books. I got a few rare ones during my Class Promotion Quest."
Alexander liked the sound of this but felt he could get more out of this deal, so he countered, "How about you teach me to transcribe Magic Books instead?"
The Half-Elf rubbed the back of his head at this and warned, "I mean... I could, but unless you have the Magic Scribe Class, Magic Transcribing takes a ton of Mana."
The Elf shrugged and responded, "I don't mind. I have a lot of Mana."
Growing excited, Nathaniel bumped their shoulders together, "Perfect, we can be writing buddies then."
Alexander smiled at this, "Sure sounds fun."
At this point, a receptionist appeared and announced, "If you will all follow me to the testing room."
Alexander and Nathaniel walked to the testing room together, chatting quietly, and eventually took seats at separate tables. Once the room grew quiet, a bell was rung, and the exams were distributed. Everyone grew incredibly focused as they took out quills and began to answer questions.
Thanks to his extra books and superior studying capability, Alexander found most of the generic questions quite easy to answer. Following these were more elaborate questions that required more critical thinking. The last question was a mock scenario that required one to theorize on a response to the attack of two goblins and a bandit.
Answering all of these took the better part of an hour, and once finished, the Elf felt confident that he passed but worried about getting a 90%.
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The scores wouldn't be announced until the following day, so he and Nethanial went to a tavern and got some ale together. They laughed and talked about some of their experiences and quickly friended each other. Slightly drunk, the two ended up passing out in an inn, the Elf halfway on the bed while the Half-Elf was on the floor.
When Alexander returned to Eden the next day, he found Nathaniel had left the inn. He sent him a message that he had passed his exam and was gathering some material for scribing. The Elf sent a message back saying they should meet up later and then quickly traveled to the Mages Guild.
Once back, he was overjoyed to find he scored 94% and could thus select two Basic Magic Spells from the Guild's library. The Guild only had twenty basic spells in total, so this was quite the reward. Unfortunately, Alexander found most of the spells offensive in nature, which wouldn't be of much use to him.
Ultimately, he selected the spell Drowsiness, which could make one's enemies very sleepy. The more mana one used in the spell, the more tired the target would become. The Elf considered this an excellent tool for defending himself against more hostile Mobs. In case this didn't work, he also selected the spell Mana Shield, which could create a physical wall of Mana capable of defining one from both physical and magical attacks.
Having selected these, he was dragged off to the Guild Master Office, where the Dwarf waited with a late expression. Merrily, he declared, "Wonderful, truly wonderful. You have done a fantastic job, my boy."
The next moment, a few notifications appeared:
image [https://imgur.com/ZxTlWSk.png]
Alexander knew he would gain extra stats thanks to the promotion of his race, though he hadn't expected to gain so much Mana just by leveling up once. Then again, he had several skills that doubled the amount of Mana he gained each level, so everything made sense.
Disregarding his increase in strength, he remarked, "I was trying my best."
Laughing, the Dwarf barked, "Death Bringer! You named a frying pan Death Bringer!?"
Winking the Elf added, "It's a very scary frying pan."
Balin laughed for a while before calming down and saying, "You're funny, kid." Eyeing him, he added, "Blain told me to tell you to visit his nephew whenever you can." Shrugging, he added, "I don't see anything wrong with you learning Magic Smithing so long as you remember to stay focused on your studies." At this point, he pulled out a scroll and went on, "Seeing how you have already formed your Earth and Metal Symbols, there is little more I can teach you till your class advances, and even then, a talent like you deserves better teachers than I." Placing the scroll down, he finished, "I've messaged a few of my colleagues across the kingdom, some more or less friendly. Follow this map to London and prove yourself to these people. If you do, they should be able to guide you in other magic."
Alexander took the scroll and received a notification:
image [https://imgur.com/4M1Lb97.png]
This offer was sudden, though after only a moment of hesitation, he nodded, "Thank you. I won't let you down."
Balin nodded his expression, which was serious but warm and full of anticipation for the future. They spent the rest of the day talking and preparing for Alatar, the Wise Hermit, to embark on his new journey.