Two days have passed since my little excursion to the slums. Once I returned home from the slave dealer I hid the 'slime in a tube' in my rooms closet. The slaver had said that it could be stored indefinitely while in the container, so there was no need for me to open it immediately.

I spent the last two days improving my reading. I was able to hold a spoken conversation, although there was still some times I did not fully understand what was said, but my reading was only at basic levels. Having come from a world were reading was just about the second most important skill behind the ability to speak, and being an avid reader myself, I was eager to improve my reading ability.

In this world not everyone is taught how to read, so I was only at a slight disadvantage compared to the average person. But while at the academy, I intended to take every opportunity to learn about this world, which included reading as many books as I could.

Back to the present, it was currently evening, the sun was slipping below the horizon, and I was currently laying on my queen sized bed. Tomorrow morning was the day of the entrance exams, so after two full days learning about an alien form of writing, I was ready to drop off to sleep. But as it was not fully dark yet, I laied on my bed exercising my mind.

My current thoughs of choice were on the ideas behind space. I had already learned first hand that teleportation magic and storage magic existed, but I had yet to try it. I was a bit nervous about trying teleportation magic, with the possibility of being turned into atomic dust and all, so I decided to wait and learn about it from someone who had done it before.

After spending a long time in thought about how to go about creating a storage space I eventually came up with an image of how to go about it. I didn't know much about pocket dimensions and the like, so I imagined a space connected to ours, yet out of phase with our own space, something along those lines. I also imagined some 'rules' for it to follow. 1. It did not exist in any specific place, so it could be accessed from anywhere. 2. Any object placed inside could be extracted from any place the space was accessed from.

Now such a convenient space did not exist naturally, so I would have to set it up. I spent the next several minutes channeling vast amounts of ether into creating the space I had imagined. I ended up using more ether than I had ever used before to set up the space, but I had no way to know if it was successful until I tryed accessing it. I envisioned a small rift opening up to the space and gave it a try.

In front of me a small black scar just big enough to fit my had appeared floating mid air. I would seem that that part worked. I tryed reaching into the rift with my right hand. Once my hand entered, I could feel the entirety of the space I had set up; it was currently empty (obvious) but was also surprisingly small. Being that I could feel the entire space, I could tell exactly how large it was, which was about three foot cube. I tried expanding it and discovered that if I expended my entire mana pool, I could expand it by about one inch. Since I was using ether I didn't need to use my own and expanded it to a five foot square.

Satisfied with the size for the time being, I decided to test it's ability to store objects. There was a decorative vase sitting on a small table in my room, so I tossed it through the rift, I waited a bit before reaching in and pulling it back out. A close examination of the vase revealed no signs of damage or deterioration.

I also tryed putting in a leather bag with five copper bits in it into my storage. I was surprised to discover that I could both extract the entire bag with all the coins in it at once, but also extract a single coin out of the bag at a time. The leather bag showed no Ill effects and the money showed no signs of weakening or corrosion.

Last step in my examination was to see if the storage space, which I decided I would call my inventory, would stay up while I sleep, or if it would disappear and the objects inside either disappear with it or be dropped out. I decided not to potentially waste money and stored the vase I had started with. I then went to sleep, excited to see if I was successful and excited for the upcoming exams.

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The next morning I started by checking the progress of my growth as I had been doing these last several days. I seemed to have reached an approximate fourteen year old body, I was now about five foot three, with the average adult human hight in this land being around five five I was making good progress. My eyes still showed no signs of changing after the first time I noticed them get darker a few days ago, seems I will forever have silver blue eyes.

Now for the moment of truth, to see if my inventory sustained itself. This morning I had seen no vase on the floor, so it had not dropped out last night. I opened up the rift, which formed with no problems, and reached in. I could feel the vase which was a good sign, after I pulled the vase out, I could detect no signs of damage.

This was good news for me, it means that I can carry whatever I want with me without potentially having it stolen. 

New entrants to the exams would stop being accepted by mid morning when the exams began, so the next several minutes were spent quickly getting dressed in my every day outfit, tossing my spending money into my storage space, and eating a quick breakfast of what was left out for me on the table. I really had to lean to wake up sooner.

A quick flight across the city brought me to the gates of the academy, where there was already a crowd gathered. In front of the gate were six desks manned by what I assumed to be academy staff, from the looks of it this was were people applied for the exams. Most of the crowd had already formed up lines going to each of the desks, while the rest looked to be family wishing luck to their children. There was also several carriages unloading teenagers dressed in fancy clothing, I assumed these to be the children of nobles; these children seemed to have a separate desk set aside for them to enter without having to wait in line. 

I decided to land a short ways from the crowd so as to not draw attention to myself and then ran over and got at the back of what appeared to me to be the fastest moving line. Ten minutes later of waiting, I reached to desk. The man sitting behind it was middle aged, black hair and of average appearance.

"Identification card?" He asked in a bored voice.

I handed it to him and he studied it before scribbling down notes on a piece of paper. He gestured to a crystal ball sitting on the desk.

"Put your hands on the ball."

I did so, and the ball flashed for a few seconds before glowing white and displaying the number '11,823'.

"No attribute, but that is an impressive mana pool, probably lager than most noble children." Said the man while making more notes.

"You have to provide proof of ability to pay the tuition, please provide that now."

Audric had mentioned this yesterday and had given me a letter to provide to the academy. I handed it to the man who quickly read it before making more notes.

"Proof of payment is acceptable. Please wait in the field for the exam to start."

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As I walked forward through the gate, I heard the man asking the next person in line for their name in the same bored voice he used with me.

Once inside, I was able to see the large crowd of people already waiting inside. I had yet to reach my full height so it was difficult to judge their numbers, but I could definitely say that they were over two hundred,  with more still tricking in. Most formed small clusters to talk amongst themselves, yet there was also a number of loners like myself.

I had about an hour till mid morning, I didn't know any of the other applicants, and I didn't see any students on the field so being able to find Allen was unlikely. So I ended up waiting the entire time by myself. Although it wasn't boring as I got to observe the wide variety of species sharing the field with humans.

By the time I heard the yell from the front gate saying that no more would be accepted, the field had become about 80% full. Opposite from the main gate and located in front of the teachers building was a raised wooden stage, now an elderly man stood on top of it. He was dressed in a gray robe emblazoned with the Othrode academy crest on his left chest. His gray bead reached halfway down his chest and his hair was a slat and pepper gray. He spoke with a deep commanding voice that easily reached every corner of the field, probably assisted by magic.

"Welcome to the Othrode academy. I am headmaster Talen. You are probably excited to get started so I am going to skip all the formalities and right to the description of your first test. In front of this stage you will find several tables under the watchful eye of our staff. On each table you will find a vertical glass tube with a ball in it. You will put your hand on the tube and attempt to raise the ball. The amount of mana you use will not effect the test, all that is required is that you be able to control what you put into the tube. Additionally the ball will become harder to lift as it is raised up in the tube. After all, someone with a vast amount of mana and no control will lose to someone with a tiny amount and good control. Conditions for passing this test are that you rise up the ball more than half way up the tube."

After that the headmaster climbed down from the stage and the crowd began to form lines once more. Thankfully I had gotten here somewhat early and only ended up halfway down the line.

As I approached the table, I was able to observe the other students as they performed the test. To my left was the table and line reserved for the nobles, most all of which were able to raise the ball well over halfway, In my own line it seemed that most were not so talented. Almost all were able to get the ball to shoot up several inches, but the ball often quickly slowed down and stopped. A surprising number of people were unable to move the ball past the halfway point, those that were able to were met with applause by those behind them in line.

In front of me in line was a young man, around seventeen with rusty brown hair. When his turn came he tryed to lift the ball, it climbed up to slightly below the halfway point, he seemed to stain and stared intently at the ball inside, sweat began to form on his brow, but the ball would rise no further. Finally giving up he let go and dropped to the ground sobbing, apparently he really wanted to get in. Quite bothersome to have to wait, but I didn't want to draw attention to myself so I didn't push him out of the way and simply waited for the staff to drag him out of the way.

 When my turn came I was able to observe the device up close. It was actually very simple, a glass tube four feet tall and about an inch in diameter, it was sealed at the top and had a glass handle attached to the base. Inside was a carved wooden ball that seemed to fit inside perfectly. From observing the others I knew that you grabbed the handle and lifted the ball. I will admit that I was a bit nervous, I could manipulate mana pretty easy, but had no way to compare to others before. Now I was about to see how I measured up to others. I grabbed the handle.

I had decided beforehand to try and only use my own mana during the exam, I didn't want to expose my ability to anyone just yet and had no way of knowing who my be monitoring the ether. I infused a small amount of mana into the tube and began lifting. At first the ball bounced up with only a small nudge but got heavier as it rose. The ball seemed to grow heavier at an exponential rate, with each added centimeter adding twice the weight, and the next centimeter adding twice that. I was able to lift it above the halfway point fairly easily and was only in the final foot of the tube that I began to struggle. Lifting it up as high as I could go got me within several centimeters of the top of the tube, but as hard as I tried I could not rise it further.

The staff member who manned the table I was at was a young woman, mid twenties with a deep blue hair and what appeared to be two tiny black gems set close together right between her eyebrows, although I suspected that these were actually some form of eyes. She seemed quite shocked by how well I had done. 

"That's incredible! That's as good as most of the teachers here!"

"I guess that means I pass?"

"Yes! Go over there (she pointed towards the left side of the field) and wait for the next phase. And congratulations on doing so well."

As I walked towards the indicated spot, I noticed that while those who passed went to the left, those who did not went around the left side and left through the front gate. By then all the nobles had finished and were waiting in that area with the few commoners who had passed. I could pick out 23 nobles, all clustered around each other while the commoners kept their distance from them. Not caring much for the idea of striking up a conversation with nobles, I headed towards the commoners.

Unfortunately, the world had other plans for me. Out of the cluster of nobles strode a man in his late teens, he had dirty blonde hair, a somewhat handsome face, and an athletic build. He wore something similar to a formal military suit that was dark blue with gold trimming and epaulettes over the shoulders. (Frilly shoulder covers on old uniforms.) His deep green eyes held anger in them.

"The fuck do you think you are doing?"

Seems I managed to piss of someone troublesome even though I tryed acting like everyone else. I wanted to tell him to fuck off but decided that would only cause more problems.

"I'm sorry sir, have I inadvertently done something to offend you?"

The young man's face began grow red.

"I am supposed to the BEST here, a FUCKING MAGGOT shouldn't do better on the test then ME!"

I could feel my eyes twitching, and was using my everything to not bitch slap this imbecile.

"I am sorry sir, I only just moved here and thought I was supposed to do my best, I wasn't aware I was supposed to hold back for anyone."

A thinly veiled insult, but apparently this guy didn't catch on. His face few slightly less red.

"Then you better learn fast that I am the prince and that you can't be better than me. NOBODY can. If you do I will tell my father the KING!"

Seriously dude, your going to go there? Didn't he realize how immature that sounded? Luckily the prince turned on his heal and stalked back to his group of nobles without waiting for a reply. I was THIS close to finding a switch and giving the brat the punishment his father never gave him.

I sat down near the group of commoners and took several deep breaths to calm down. Most of the commoners were staring at either me or the prince wide eyed. It didn't take very long before the first phase of the exam to finish, nearly two thirds of the people who had tried had failed, and so the number of applicants had fallen to slightly less than three hundred. The headmaster returned to the stage after the final failures had left through the front gate. All of us moved back to Infront of the stage.

"Congratulations on completing the first phase. The second phase will be held in our underground training facilities. The second test will require a display of magic, so those who can use combat magic please move to the right side of the stage, and those that use support type magic please move to the left. To keep things fair we will need to test your abilities separate."

A hand darted up from the cluster of nobles, it was the prince again. Without waiting to be called on he asked his question.

"Where do the nobles go for testing?"

"Ah, Prince Bernard, I received a letter from the king saying that you would be enrolling today. His letter also said that he wanted me to treat you as I would any other student. Apparently he believes it will help you build character. For that reason the nobles will not be receiving further special treatment."

The king rose ever so slightly in my opinion for trying to correct his mistakes. Needless to say the prince was flabbergasted.

"M- M- my father said such a thing?"

"Indeed, I can show you the letter if you want."

Did I detect an ever so slight amount of mocking? Was the headmaster enjoying this? Plus points for the headmaster.

"There is no need."

"Good, now as I was saying, for the students who will try combat magic, you will be placed at the end of a lane, at the other end will be a target. You goal is to destroy the target. After you destroy it, it will be replaced by a harder to destroy target and you will repeat the process. Either destroy as many as you can or work your way through all ten targets. If you are unable to destroy all ten you will fail unless we decide that you still have potential. Now follow the instructors to the exam areas."

 Thus ended the first phase.