There was a great murmur in the waiting room, a ritual by the mage incanting and engraving words into their brains to later vomit it out on their answer sheets. No one talked to each other, not many candidates exchanged looks but some would gasp at the sheer number of whispering zombies looking down on their scrolls coming inside from the street, out of their carriages, within the air or while riding a familiar. Then there were arrogant looks above from the balcony, the privileged spat down on the masses. The most unique of thread worn reflected the lax composure of the wearer. Krodh, Koshechka and Isaac stood together, three of them breezing through their notes, the dirk circles in their eyes were prominent. Krodh gave up first, Koshechka followed him soon after, the more they tried to remember the more they forgot. It was easier now to just leave it all to fate.
At 9 am the instructors separated and shuffled the candidates to their designated rooms in the exam hall. When his name was called, Krodh looked back at the crowd for the last time, there were at least thousands of people inside it buzzing like bee hive, poke once and all come running in from the small gate. The hall itself was enormous enough for two banquet hall to fit in, yet there was no space left to stand.
The room he entered had an impressive size, and the seats were arrange in a sloping manner, reminding him of the university of the Southern Port-Land State. Krodh found his seat relatively quickly it was in the very first row at the extreme corner. Krodh cursed his luck as there was significant distance between him and the girl sitting next to him, this made hall collection practically impossible for him. The row behind him was too high to make eye contact with person setting behind. Soon a single instructor entered the room and distributed the question paper and after which they made an announcement. "This exam gives you 4 hours to complete all your answers, there will be no extra time allotted to anyone and once the time is up the sheets will be collected immediately."
A owl like creature landed on Krodh's shoulder. Bewildered he looked around to discover everyone had them, the owl mechanically looking down on their paper and monitoring the area.
"This familiars are summoned in order to monitor your actions, If you try to cheat or look around this would immediately burn your sheet. The students with burnt sheet will be disqualification from the entire exam so try to concentrate on your own sheet…. Now begin."
Krodh immediately flipped the back of his question paper; the first question was on math, with Lady Ludmilla's guidance he was practically a scholar on calculations….
Krodh submerged into a deep intellectual debate with himself 'Let's see the question: If x is three times older than his son....Shit I hate linear equations I didn't practice them at all. You know what its just 10 marks no need sweat about it I will just skip this.' Thus Krodh skipped the first question,
'Next question: find the angle of...… Geometry is complex I think I will leave it for the end, hopefully I would be left with enough time.' Another 10 marks left unanswered.
'Finally history it is like a story I remember ever event: What were the dates mentioned for.... shit why dates? Why does historian obsess over dates, Fine I will just wing it.' He scribbled some numbers he knows were incorrect.
'Language- Oh finally something good I am an artist myself its all about creativity I can at the very least write summery: Critically Appreciate the poem Kubla Kh…...FUCK why poetry?' There was clear agitation in his face. He wanted to tear away the paper. 'Why not novels? why not shorts stories?' Sensing his bizarre aberration the instructor warned him.
Krodh was at his wit's end, he decided to write at least something resembling an answer. First he wrote the summery of the poem, then the extended it even further, wrote about the poet and a then a conclusion.
'I should add quotation' Krodh thought but neither can he remember one line from the poem nor did he read critic's comments . 'Fuck it, time to improvise, I'll just come up with not like they check it thoroughly' Krodh decided to make his own lines.
"The waterfall blistered the rock beneath,
the running sand cleansed the sinner's feet
Lo and behold! the damsel came running down,
Slip from rock and broke her neck like a clown.
The sinner checked the body, floating by the stream
Opium became impotent, breaking the dream"
'That is a great quotation, best I have ever worked on.' Krodh had beaming smile, his eyes marveled his brilliant own creativity. But even so the slow dreadful realization hit him that he didn't even answered what was asked in the first place. 'I hope I get at least 3 or 5 marks for attempting this.'
Kroadh arm's have lost all its vigor, the motivation to write has completely vanished, he clumsily looked at the question paper with his face hanging low. Finally he found a question, a topic on which he knows most about. 'Is void release avoidable? If so how?'
Fate has extended his hand and so he must not let go of it, he first visualized of what he should be writing 'I should begin with what void release is, for more clarity.' he thought.
Thus he began to write the answer 'Void release is a short-ranged spell (12m), created in the year 1414. It is an advanced spell that not only has compatibility with all other four elements but also takes only three second to caste with wand. The mechanism behind the spell is simple, unlike most spell that materialize out of the wand; This spell instead is deploys the element directly onto the target's position. Its like firing a rifle, but instead of the powder coming out of the muzzle and covering the distance to the target, the bullet directly teleport to the target's position. The main danger of Void release is that it can be used consecutively and a proficient user might even pull it will little to no mana consumption. Void release was created to target internal organs, a stationary target can never avoid this spell even with multiple elemental barriers….. a flicker of fire, a drop of water, a pocket of air or a stone inside the body is life threatening. Knowing someone can create a small air pocket inside one of the nerves, is all needed to know the destructive capability of this spell. This spell specializes in killing living organism. The only thing making it easily accessable is the fact that a mastery of element is needed to wield it.
Nonetheless this spell is avoidable. Due to its notoriety many mage came up with counters, one is just simply running around making it difficult to be targeted however this is a sub-optimal method as a well timed cast would end it all. Other methods prioritize obscuring the vision of the void release user as we must remember unless your target is in your field of vision, you can never hit them.
First method is using air element on ground to create simple dust screen but this strategy is terrain dependent and also if the weather is wet this won't work. Second is creating illusion magic using water element but this method demands specialization usage of the water element and above all caste time is above 10 sec. Third and most effective is shadow stepping as this the most consistent way of dodging Void release however one must be careful to not overuse it, as on consecutive usage the user gets nauseated and if the cool-down time(5sec) is not given proper respect, even further uses might cause the user brain damage.'
'I am completely exhausted' he stretched his arms, the answer was complete. Finally he is confident that he can get some marks on this question. Without wasting time he started solving the other questions; The final result... he left a total of 180 marks worth of questions unanswered. Krodh laid down on is desk an tried to sleep, to him it was more of patience test then writing. Even more annoying the pest on his shoulder prevented him from check on other's progress. The girl beside him was writing with an agility and grace that mirrored the Lady, he glanced at her for a while and she looked back to which he smiled and went back to sleep.
After an hour or two the exam came to an end, he left the room as soon as he was allowed too. As much as he wanted regroup with Lady Ludmilla, he himself was curious about how his other acquittances performed, so he waited in the hall.
The cheers were loud and so was the desperation, every one morbidly awaited for their second exam. Many wagered on it, be it the common man or the highest of nobility; If one could pick, it would be the act of brawl that they prefer to choose out of the creature named human, even the shrewdest of bunch yarn it among others, their frail body may fail but their mind is still made of fresh of violence. The scholars jeer at this simple mindedness but even their higher study seeks this cheap thrills. All will prepare for this blood bath.
Now that the course is clear they look for newer one; in the very party they shook hands, formed alliance and sought advice until they saw the tyrant. Their forehead expanded at first then their body involuntarily faced away, gradually they fade away from the room; The smallest gaze will incur a tyrannical strike. All were equal both in victory and failure, better not to appear tomorrow. They better invest in preserving their lives for the upcoming years. Some dejected already left for home. In being preoccupied with the closet pebble they fell victim to the landslide.
"Pretty infamous as usual" Isaac waved at Kroadh, Koshechka also greeted him from behind.
Krodh didn't reply. A man has peaked his curiosity; He was tall and broad, had a brooding face which was the second cause of discomfort in the room. His head had thin hairs but more important of all, he wore a color Krodh could not comprehend to see on a man. He himself knew not of any complexation beyond his own. 'Who was this man, what carried him to this land, what culture and folk tale he has to share' such thoughts filled his mind but above all Krodh pondered if this mythical being could teach him about the weapons of his civilization.