༺ The Entrance Exams (1) ༻
Today, the Academy was familiar yet not.
“Examinees numbers 100235 through 101460, please make your way to Albrem Hall 2 for your practical exam!”
“Excuse me, how do I get to this building?”
“Marker pens for sale! Five bronze pieces per pen!”
The school grounds bustling with prep students was a rare sight you could only see once a year.
Up until last year, I had only been a spectator but now my heart was pumping at the fact that I was one of the participants.
I took a breath and headed towards the Louvterre Cultural Center.
At least, I tried to.
“Hey! You look really weird!”
A high-pitched, yet soft and tender, voice hit the back of my head.
When I turned around, some kid was glaring at me. They were wearing a robe that was too big for them and even their backpack was large enough to almost topple them backwards.
There were a lot of people around so I didn’t figure they’d be calling me so I was about to continue on my way.
“Are you ignoring me?”
The kid scurried over and stopped right in front of me.
I was on the small side since I haven’t been eating well after entering this body, but this girl in front of me was at least a head shorter and talking down at me; it was a little baffling.
“What’s with the color of your eyes?”
Either way, she was a brat. I got right back at her.
“What’s with your height?”
“Have you never seen a dwarf before!”
“Anyone would think you’re a kid from your height, not a dwarf. And I heard that dwarves went extinct a long time ago.”
“Huh? I’m alive and kicking, though.”
“Hey, kid, did you lose your way? There’s a guide over there so go ask them to find your parents. You can do it since you’re brave, right?”
“Hey, that’s a racist remark—!!”
She looked like a child no matter what. But based on her use of big words, maybe there was a gap between her appearance and age like me.
Were dwarves a long-lived race…?
I wasn’t sure. When I was studying history, the textbook just said they were extinct and there was no other information on their lifespan or anything.
In the end, I concluded that this child was someone who admired dwarves.
“I may look like this but I’m an examinee. I’m going to pass and show those guys back home who teased me for my height.”
“Yeah, good luck.”
I needed to enter into this in optimal condition so I couldn’t waste my energy on this right now. I played along with the little brat before quickly walking to the Cultural Center.
But why was she following me?
“You didn’t answer my question! I’ve never seen yellow eyes before. Where are you from?”
“The Republic of Korea.”
“Is that the country name?”
“Yup.”
“What kind of name is that? You’re lying to me!”
Her obnoxious attitude was really asking for it but it was against my philosophy to put my hands on someone I didn’t know very well. And I had no interest in hitting kids in the first place.
I’ll just tell myself that some unruly kid was sticking with me for the moment. Today was too important a day to waste my mental energy on some weirdass kid.
“So we’re actually in the same exam hall? Oh, but you’re going over there, right? I guess we’re in different rooms. Anyway, good luck on the written!”
The mysterious kid and I split up in the middle and went into our respective test rooms.
Huh, I didn’t think that she was an actual examinee.
I pulled out the admission ticket from my hip sack. The ticket had the examination number as well as information on the procedure for the entrance exams.
The exams began with the written, then the practical came after.
Tilette Academy’s written test was notorious for its difficulty. And it certainly seemed that way because when I first saw the sample questions that Professor Heerlein brought, I wondered if it was even possible to get through it all within the time limit.
If I were to exaggerate, the CSATs seemed like child’s play in comparison. But that sense of crisis was what actually motivated me to study hard.
Anyhow, this was a renowned school where gifted people from all over the world gathered. If it didn’t have a certain level of difficulty, they wouldn’t be able to differentiate.
I wish I had a cheognshimhwan1A pill made of different kinds of herbs, mostly taken to help calm nerves right now. I was going to pass out from nerves.
With trembling hands, I checked my examination number against the desk number and found my seat.
There were already a few examinees who came here before me. Most of them were already hanging out in groups. And out of those, one particular pair stood out.
One male, one female student.
The male student had long ears. I couldn’t help but let out an impressive ‘oh’.
Really? A real elf?
Ah, our eyes met.
My gaze must have made him uncomfortable because the elf student also stared back at me. He didn’t look so good so maybe he overdid it yesterday.
Considering my current state, I probably had a similar face. Cramming was definitely not good for your health.
After a brief staring contest, the student turned away first. Then my eyes shifted to the girl on the other side.
There was nothing special about her, just a regular girl from an upper-class family. If I had to pick out specific characteristics, it’d be her shoulder-length red hair and eyes. That really was all but it seemed familiar somehow so she naturally drew my gaze.
She turned my way and smiled at me.
“What is it, Miss Lotte?”
“It’s nothing.”
Yeah. You’d have a lot of friends if you’re that pretty.
That was enough of checking out the competition so I started getting prepared.
As I was reading through a summary after setting up my writing utensils, some students started to whisper while glancing at me. The problem was that they weren’t really keeping it to themselves and it could be heard all the way here.
“Who’s that? It’s my first time seeing yellow eyes.”
“She must be a Golden-Eyed.”
“The ones who are harder to encounter than a High Elf or vampire? For real?”
Yeah. That was a normal reaction to seeing me for the first time.
“Did you hear the fable about the Golden-Eyed? Apparently they never forget anything they learn. She’ll probably ace the written, no?”
“But it’s still a fable. And Golden-Eyed can’t use magic. Even if she gets perfect on the written, she’ll probably end up flunking the practical.”
“They can’t use magic without any tools? That’s sad….”
“Then she’ll fail the practical for sure. Why did she apply if she’s going to fail anyway?”
Please. We don’t even know each other, there’s no need for that.
I was a bit dazed from the unwarranted mental blow but it was fine considering how this was like a kid grumbling compared to all the blistering remarks I’ve heard from Professor Hasfeldt.
“Miss Lotte, what kind of questions do you think will be on Basic Magic Theory?”
“Hm. I don’t think they’ll deviate too much from the sample ones.”
“Then it’ll still be hard….”
“I envy you, Miss Lotte. You’ll at least be able to get all the difficult Flame Magic questions. I’m a water type so I can’t figure those out no matter what…….”
“You’ve worked hard until now. You can do it, don’t worry.”
Time passed even while the students chattered away. Then when the invigilator entered, the room quieted.
The female students who had been somewhat gossiping about me sat down one by one, and the aforementioned elven boy and red-haired, red-eyed girl both sat on either side of me.
When I looked to the left, the elf student gave me a perplexed glance before turning away.
To my right, the female student flicked her pen around with a relaxed expression.
They both looked like they could pass. Not that I trusted physiognomy, but you know, there were those who just seemed the nerdy type.
I imagined there were a few of them in each room. Or well, they might all be like that since this was the world’s greatest academy.
The thought of having to beat truckloads of these brilliant minds and make it into the top hundreds was overwhelming. Furthermore, my seat was right in the middle so I was spatially unstable, even.
Somehow, even the seating arrangement was against me.
**
Tilette Academy’s written exam consisted of four subjects:
Imperial Language, Mathematics, Continental History, and Basic Magic Theory.
In terms of CSATs2College Scholastic Abilities Test – taken by high school students across the country in their last year to test their level as a potential university student, it was National Language, Math, Korean History, and Scientific Research.
Each one was out of 100, making it a total of 400 altogether. And since the practical was out of 100, Tilette was definitely a school that put most of the weight on the written as Professor Heerlein had said.
That was fortunate for me. As long as I didn’t screw up the practical badly, I could make up for it with the written.
I wasn’t expecting a scholarship or anything. This was a matter of life or death.
It was a matter of whether I’ll get beaten up or not by the Fire Mage who bosses me around everyday, and it was a matter of whether I’ll be sold off the palace to become an Imperial’s bed slave or not. There was nothing I wouldn’t do to get out of this conundrum.
Yeah. If they let me pass, I’ll somersault my way to school.
“As announced earlier, the exam will be for four hours. You cannot leave the room unless it’s an emergency so if you need to go to the restroom, please do so now.”
Whenever an invigilator said this before something like a TOEIC exam, it was a common rule for a bunch of examinees to rush out of the room. People really were the same everywhere.
“We will now check your examination numbers.”
The invigilator and two other assistant invigilators went around the room to confirm everyone’s IDs. Once they checked all the tickets, they passed out the thick exam booklets and answer sheets.
I took one of the heavy booklets and passed the rest behind me.
“Check the pages for any mistakes and if there is nothing wrong, place your hands on your knees and face the invigilator at the front. We will not accept any objections during the exam so please inform the invigilators about any misprints beforehand.”
There was only silence in the test room. I could tell where the students were looking without glancing around.
Tick, tick, tick.
Eight o’clock on the dot. As soon as the second and minute hand kissed each other—
“The 1024th Tillette entrance exams will now commence.”
“You may turn the page!”
Shhllliff!
The sound of numerous sheets of paper being flipped broke the tense atmosphere of the room.
After I took the cap off my marker, I started with the Imperial Language section.
The time limit was 240 minutes and I needed to get through 200 questions with the four subjects combined.
It was essentially a time attack, and if I didn’t manage my time properly, I could kiss getting a high mark goodbye.
I wasn’t guaranteed to do well on the exam just because I was good at research. It was a minor thing between solving a problem and doing it within a time limit but it also made all the difference.
In order to do well, it required preparation and strategy such as practicing with a timer and figuring out why certain questions couldn’t be solved within that time. This kind of self-assessment was a specialty of mine.
Flip─
After completing the Language section, I gained some peace of mind. I decided to skip Math and work on History first.
Compared to Language with its deceptive choices, the History questions were relatively simple. I could at least choose an answer as soon as I read the question.
Either way, many of these were freebies as long as you consistently studied the text and committed it to memory. I felt rewarded for the sleepless nights I spent reading those boring ass history books.
By the time I finished Math, I could hear sighing from around the room. There was even a student who asked for a new answer sheet as if they marked the wrong answer.
There was about an hour and a half left. The only subject remaining was Basic Magic Theory.
Although they called it magic theory, the most they asked about was the fundamentals of Elemental Magic.
Most people here received the blessings of one of the Four Elementals so unless they used a scroll, they were limited to one kind of Elemental Magic.
If they had red eyes, they used fire, and those who were blue-eyed used water…. Something like that.
Nevertheless, there wasn’t much of a difference in the basic structure of using any of those four magics.
That was why Basic Magic Theory was ‘basic’. The questions were based on the common components of all four properties, and any that were specific to one element would be a circuit-problem that students of other elements could solve.
[11. Choose the element that will allow the greatest output when placed in position 3 on the following circuit. (0.8 marks)]
Like this, for example.
I knew the approximate value from experimental data. Didn’t even need to think; it was number five.
“Ten minutes remain.”
Thanks to years of experience in experimenting and research, I was able to save time. But it was still a bit tight.
After double-checking to make sure I didn’t mark any answers wrong, I turned to the last page.
It was a rule of thumb for the last question on the exam to be a killer. You could work on it if you had time but it didn’t really impact your result if you couldn’t.
Still, I had to try all the questions because I wasn’t sure how much I was going to fumble the practical. I finished all the other questions so I had enough time to read it, at least.
My eyes quickly scanned the question.
[50. The following is a top-grade mana stone called the < Transistor >. Let’s say that this stone has the following characteristics. On the Intermediate Fire Magic circuit below, where would the transistor need to be placed in order amplify the bloom output between 50-70 sieverts? Choose all that apply. (4 marks)]
My brain froze momentarily. And when did it unfreeze, more importantly?
“Five minutes remaining.”
Klais, you fucking bitch.
