Nox was a genius...when it came to stuff that didn't involve books.
As proven by the way he currently sat in Hall K-17, seat 042.
By the time he had arrived, everyone had already been seated and he felt so awkward being the last one to walk in.
How had they moved from the auditorium to the exam hall so fast remained a mystery to him, but luckily, the examiner wasn't in the hall yet.
The moment he stepped into the class, the floor lit up a bit with golden light, leading him directly to his seat, which was fine with him since that meant he didn't have to talk to any of the strangers here, some of which were currently staring at him.
Just a minute after he entered, the examiner walked in and twenty minutes after that, the tablet that lay on the students' desks turned on, presenting them with the question currently in front Nox.
Of course, some required general knowledge, but beyond that, he was left stranded.
Where the hell did the academy expect him to learn the formula for calculating total SE needed to power a solar tech or even understand half the damn symbols written on the screen?
He looked at the problem on his screen. It was. It definitely was.
The equation on the screen might as well have been written in some kind of ancient alien language.
"Damn," he muttered, scratching his head. "Who comes up with this crap?"
A student beside him, a pale girl with silver braids and circular glasses, glanced his way and whispered, "You should start from the basics. Just apply the SE Resonance Law and expand the radiant coefficient."
Nox was momentarily surprised by her help. "Yeah, of course, totally," he said quickly. "SE… resonance… coefficient… got it, thanks."
She smiled politely before going back to her work, and Nox stared at his blank screen again.
"Right," he whispered. "I idea what that means."
His eyes went to the time being displayed on his watch and he sighed, he only had thirty minutes before the exams ended, and it was obvious enough that he wasn't going to complete the remaining hundred and fifty question within that time frame.
"That leaves me with one choice," he whispered as he picked his digital pen back up, "let's guess the answers."
A hundred and fifty of the two hundred questions were multiple choic and the remaining fifty were theories and calculations he knew nothing about.
Fifty of the one-fifty multiple choice had been answered, since they were the general questions ones which left him with only hundred more, and what was he going to do?
That's right, he was going to guess and pray he got some of them right.
***
"Man, that was tough," Devon commented.
They were currently out of the exams hall and in the Academy's cafeteria...well one meant for the candidates anyway, since they were not actual students yet.
Nox sat on one of the seats, his head laying on the table, one could literally see the smoke coming from his ears.
Though both their reactions to the first test was the complete opposite of Cass's.
He sat across from them, perfectly calm, sipping from a glass of something that looked suspiciously expensive for cafeteria juice.
Well, that's because it was.
In the past two days, the three had learnt quite a bit about each other and unlike the two, Cassian...or Cass, was from a wealthy background with some complications.
Something too personal to share with people he had only known for a few days.
So yeah, Cass definitely had enough creds to afford expensive juice,but that wasn't what bothered the two right now.
What bothered them was the fact that his expression was infuriatingly serene as he took a sip, like he'd just finished a calming activity instead of a mind-melting exam.
"That was fun," he said casually, flipping through a digital copy of the test questions on his wristband as if reviewing them for pleasure.
Devon stared at him like he'd grown a second head. "Fun? Man, what part of that brain torture was fun to you? I thought my brain was 'bout to short circuit halfway through question fifty."
Cass looked up, completely unbothered. "I mean, it wasn't that bad. The resonance equations were basic. They only tested the third and fourth Laws of Conversion. I was expecting fifth-level theoreticals."
Devon leaned forward, squinting. "You sayin' that like I even knew there were five of 'em."
"There are seven, actually," Cass corrected flatly, going back to his screen.
Devon groaned and slumped back in his chair, dragging his hands over his face, "I swear, if he mentions the exam being easy one more time, I'mma jump him."
Nox just lazily raised his head from the table, his golden eyes locked on the blond boy.
He was suddenly having some tempting thoughts of strangling Cass but before he could act on them or do anything, a voice was heard behind him.
"Excuse me..." the voice sounded extremely familiar so he turned around.
Standing behind him was a girl with silver braids, and glasses, wearing the same grey uniform as they were.
She was the student that had offered Nix help earlier during the exams. She was currently standing with a tray in hand as she hesitantly looked at the three.
"Um...can I sit with you three?" She said again, looking at the empty space beside Cass who was still scrolling through the question, "t-there's nowhere else to sit "
She was right, though the Cafeteria was massive, so was the number of students, judging by the number assigned to him, Nox guessed they easily numbered over a thousand.
So the cafeteria was currently filled to the brim right now, leaving no extra seating area.
Devon was the first to answer. "Course you can, shorty," he said, flashing his easy grin and gesturing to the empty chair. "Ain't nobody guardin' that spot."
The girl gave a small, relieved smile. "Thank you." She sat down carefully, placing her tray on the table.