Speaking of hands. I've learned that this body is left-handed. Which is good considering my right hand still wasn't fully healed. But also bad because I'm right-handed. So, as one might imagine, there was a bit of a disconnect between my brain and my body.
Luckily, over the last two days, I somewhat managed to deal with that problem. By forcing myself to do everything with my left hand. From writing to eating to putting on my clothes.
So I felt confident I could write decently enough for others not to notice that I've only been writing in their language for the last two days.
Though if push comes to shove, I can write with my right hand just as well. My thumb hadn't completely healed. Yes. But bandaging it to my hand like I did allowed it to heal straight at least. So I can grip things again.
It will hurt over time. If I hold a pen, for example. But dealing with pain is nothing new for me. Especially after coming to this world. `Yeah. Tell me about it. I rea-`
My thoughts are interrupted by someone bumping into my shoulder. Or rather, unsteadily swaying into me. Before mumbling out an apology and straightening up again.
I wasn't alone in front of the Oridalis Academy Main Building. There were eight other initiates gathered next to me. All here for the last exam of this year. At eight in the morning sharp.
All of them presumably either arrived late at Oridalis Academy. Like me. Or failed previous exams but wish to attempt it once more. At least that's what I guess from what I hear them mumbling. "I've got to make it this time. My parents will kill me if I fail." And other such optimistic murmurs fill the air as we wait for someone to collect us for the exam.
Though I doubt any of them will make it through the exam. The state they were in was horrible. They weren't just physically tired. They looked like shambling corpses more than students ready for an exam.
On top of that, I could also easily see how nervous and stressed they were. Definitely not in the right headspace to take on a test. Much less a multi-hour-long exam that demands both physical exertion and careful thought.
In comparison, I felt amazing. Relaxed. Self-assured. At ease. Because I already knew my fate. I'm going to fail. So there was no reason for me to be nervous.
On top of that, I've never been the nervous type anyway. In any test I've ever taken, I always took it confidently. After all, I know I'm smart. I always had an easy time memorizing things and reciting them in my own words.
And that was what most school tests demanded. At least back on Earth. So I was never nervous. And I won't start now.
Standing next to the others, looking a lot more confident. So much so that the people who have come to sneer at us look at me, confused. Baffled even.
Other students have gathered around the entrance of the main building to watch the initiates take the exam. Partially out of curiosity. And partially to lord their status of already being students over us.
"Just look at them. They all look like they are about to fall over before the exam even starts." One blonde student says to his friends before they all giggle at each other. Many others in the crowd are throwing similar words our way.
Words that didn't bother me in the slightest. But that can't be said about my fellow test takers. My battle brothers and sisters in this crisis.
Their mental states seem to worsen with every word of derision and every mocking comment. Until I decide to try to do something about it.
Nudging the person next to me. A lanky, pale-skinned boy with shaggy brown hair that falls into his eyes. Who somehow manages to be in a worse state than me when I first came here. His clothes were wrinkled and unkempt. Just like his hair. It was like he hadn't taken a bath or changed his clothes for weeks.
"So? What do you think the written test is going to be like? How many questions do you think they'll throw at us?" I ask in hopes that it will at least distract him from the sneers of the crowd and their harsh words.
But my presence barely seems to register. He just shrugs and mutters some unintelligible words. Like he is going over what he read last night.
`Damm. These people are more lost than I thought.` Just when I was about to reach out again, the doors in front of us opened, and we were greeted by our examiner.
Who just so happened to be the middle-aged man I've met in the office before. "Welcome, Initiates. My name is Lysandor Veltrayn. A senior staff member of Oridalis Academy and the examiner for the first half of today's exam."
But now I finally had a name to call him. Not that I do. I just shrug my shoulders and follow him when he turns around and tells us to follow him. "Come. Follow me to the exam hall. We have no time to waste."
Leading the pack of initiates by sheer virtue of being the only one who walks normally. The other eight initiates shuffle after us like they don't even want to take part in the exam
"Since it's Sir Veltrayn, none of them will make it through even the first half of the exam." "Poor things." "Well. That's that." Are the last things I hear from the peanut gallery as we walk through the foyer towards the exam hall.
Up some stone steps to the first floor and left. Down a long, high, opulent hallway with multiple doors, which I assume lead to classrooms.
Not that you can call the classrooms just that. They reminded me more of small lecture halls. With a capacity for about 50 students. The average size of a class in this school.
The lecture hall swept downward in tiers. With rows of polished oak benches curving towards the central point, where the lecturer stood in front of a wall-spanning blackboard.
Two sets of stairs let students reach the upper rows of the hall. Not that we needed them. We were all seated in the first row for our exam. Since there were only nine of us anyway.
With me seated all the way on the left side of the room. Near the window. From where I watched, Lysander handed out the exam sheets, face down, while speaking. "While this exam is ongoing, I expect complete silence. And if I catch any of you looking at another exam, you are immediately disqualified. Is that clear?"
`That's pretty normal, yeah.` I muse while nodding my head along with his words. The other initiates do the same or mumble things like "yes, sir".
"I will not answer any questions. If you have questions that you cannot answer without help, it just goes to show that you have not studied enough."`Ahhh. There is the snobby attitude I was expecting.` I think as he drones on. "Oridalis Academy is the most prestigious school in the world." `A lie.`"As such. I expect each of you to answer every question on this exam if you wish to become a student here. If you miss even one question, I will fail you."
His words cause a wave of fear to wash over the other students. All of them grow stiff and get even more nervous. "If you are finished with your exam, then raise your right hand. If you give up. Walk out of the classroom without causing a fuss." Not me, though. `Ehh. I either fail or I don't.`
And with that thought in mind, I turn the stack of exam sheets over at this command. "You have four hours starting right now." He claps his hands together to signal the start of the exam.
`Damm. Four hours? The fuck? This is like five sheets of paper.` I muse while turning the sheets over and spreading them across the table like playing cards.
So I can count the number of questions I'll have to answer all at once. And as it turns out, it's just five questions per sheet. So twenty-five in total. None of the questions are particularly long either.
But the first question I read instantly proves why there are only so few questions while we have so much time. It's confusing.
`A Mage casts a spell and increases the weight of a cube of earth by twice its previous weight. However. Neither the size, density, nor the material of the cube changes. And he did not use Gravitas magic. How is this possible?` is the first question on the first sheet of paper.
And at first I thought I had read it wrong. But even after I translate letter by letter, it remains the same. `The fuck?` And I don't seem to be the only one confused by this question. Out of the periphery of my vision, I can see that the other initiates are just as stumped as I am. Confusion was clearly evident on their face.
So instead of getting hung up on it, I decide to skip it for now. I have no idea how to even begin to answer it. Sadly, the rest of the questions are no easier. The other four questions on the first sheet of paper are just as confusing and tricky as the first one.
"Hmmm." I hum as I skip the whole first page and take a look at the second page instead. Reading the first question and instantly noticing a difference in the first sheet's style of questions.
The questions on the second sheet of paper were a lot harder. Involving mathematics and actual principles of magic. But they weren't just harder. They were more logical and straightforward, too.
I quirk an eyebrow at this. Then I go to read all the other questions as well. Taking some time to carefully read through everything to compare every question. And as it turns out, it really was just the first five questions that were written in the same way the first one was.
`It's like they are trick questions purposefully designed to throw you off.` I look over at Lysander sitting behind the teacher's desk, staring us down. Our eyes lock with each other as I quirk an eyebrow at him.
But he keeps his poker face in check. Not letting any emotions show. So after staring at each other for a few seconds, I shrugged my shoulders and turned back to my test.
After checking the clock, that is. One hour of the four-hour exam has already passed. Since it took me a while to read and understand every question. They were a lot more complicated than the picture books.
However. Now that I had finished reading through all the questions, I could work on the ones I could answer. Well. The five I could answer. The first five.
The other questions are completely beyond me. Not the mathematical parts. I could probably manage those. But the principles of magic they talk about and the runes involved in the questions and equations were.
`Like how the fuck am I supposed to fix a magic circle if I don't even know what any of the runes mean?` A new problem that I had totally missed opened itself before me. `Man. I should have at least tried to look for a book that had to do with runes.`
But there was no use crying over spilled milk. So instead, I focus on the five trick questions on the first sheet of paper and try to answer them.
`A Mage casts a spell and increases the weight of a cube of earth by twice its previous weight.` I begin to reread the first question. Head resting on my fist as I do. `However. Neither the size, density, nor the material of the cube changes. And he did not use Gravitas magic. How is this possible?`
Then I begin to analyze the question carefully. `How is this possible? Hmmm. What is this question actually asking of me?` I ponder while scratching my chin. `It's not asking me anything complicated, that's for sure.`
And indeed it wasn't. Because with just a bit of outside-the-box thinking, I figure out the answer. Or at least what I think the answer is. And then I do the same with the next question. And the next. And the next. Until I manage to answer the first five questions in what I believe is a logical and reasonable way.
After that, however, I'm stumped. The other twenty questions I just can't figure out. No matter how much I think about them. Unlike with the first five, my understanding of science and chemistry does not help me with them, as they are much more specific and focused on the principles of this world's magic.
So after another hour. When about half the time of the exam has passed. I raise my right hand as instructed. To signal that I was done with my written exam. Halfway expecting Lysander to take one look at my sheets and throw me out.
But instead, he just collects my sheets and ushers me out of the room so that I don't disturb the others. Though with how hopeless they all look as I pass them by, I figure whatever I could do wouldn't really make their situation much worse.
They all seem to be stuck on the first page. Most of them have already written multiple possible answers on the sheets and the extra papers given to us before crossing them out again. Their sheets are a field of wrong answers and useless equations.
But I can't blame them for not getting the questions. They ask much more fundamental questions. So if you try to answer the first five questions the way you would the others, then you'd never get their actual solutions.
`Forgive me, my brothers and sisters.` I think to myself while walking out. Not that I would make it through this exam either way. But at least I was free of overthinking things and suffering in that stuffy room.
Free to spend the next two hours chilling. Before the physical exam starts that afternoon. And that's what I do. I spent the next two hours leaning against walls or sitting on windowsills, staring out at the bustling school grounds below.
While I literally felt the despair and agony of the other initiates seep out of the exam room like a physical force.