Kapitel 33: Chapter 33 - A Rough First Step
" W-Why does my knife won't reach you?! "
The girl keeps swinging her knife on Zio for a whole minute already. Attempt after attempt after attempt, but nothing works as Zio can easily repel it with his magic.
" Give it up girl. That sneak attack was your only chance. "
Zio ignored her and keep working on his exam, two more questions, and everything is set. There are less than three minutes before the time limit, considering how unpredictable the exam organizer is, Zio is certain that it will be better for him to save up some stamina. Thus, he’ll use the last two minutes to take a breather for the next test.
" Done. Finally. "
He sits upon the parapet and laid his back on a pillar after he finished filling up the test. Then he turned his attention back on the girl, only to found her desperately swinging her knife at him with tears gushing down on her face.
" Why the hell are you crying? "
" Because... I... *sob* I... tr-h.. so...rd... *sob sob* "
The girl is crying way too hard until she can’t even talk properly. Zio, being a brother to a little sister, simply not used to see a short girl sniffling like crazy. Thus, it’s natural for him to be the type of man who doesn’t have the heart to leave her to herself.
*Tap* Zio grabbed her hand and took her knife before pulling her to his face.
" Listen, crybaby. Your tears won't solve anything. "
" Hiks... *sniff* uwaaaa! "
" W-Wha! Stop! Why are you-! I said stop! "
Instead of calming her down, Zio’s method makes the girl cry even louder. Usually, when his sister is crying, Zio will quickly hug and caress her with love. But to a stranger who had just trying to harm him? Of course, there’s no way he can do the same thing.
" Tsk. Here. " Zio released her hand and swinging a set of empty exam papers on her face. It was a spare set of papers that he fetched when he made the rush back then. He took a spare set with him, in case when someone stronger than him comes up and took his papers away. ‘There are no rules anyway. Better safe than sorry.’, is what he thought when he decided to take the double.
" Wait. " Zio pulled the papers away from her just before the girl lay her hands on it.
" This is not for free. Fight for it. "
" *Sob sob* P-Please, kind sir! There's not much time left...! I-I-I'll give you anything! "
" Be specific. And stop crying for fuck sake! "
" Y-Yes! I-I'll give you all that I have! T-Take that knife, take my bag, take everything you need! You can have your way with me anyhow you want it! J-Just please let me have the paper! "
There are two minutes left before the time limit. Zio feels that he shouldn't delay her any longer.
" Hm. That doesn’t sound too bad. Very well, I'll take this knife as the down payment. " Zio pushed the paper to her chest as he keeps her knife for himself.
The girl immediately grabs it and going all-fours on the floor, writing down anything she can. Seeing the girl prostrating herself before him, Zio felt a pleasant feeling of superiority. The feeling of being a master to a slave.
* Ding... ding... ding...*
" Attention to all participants. The time is up. " The sounds of a bell ringing three times echoed in the air. Followed by the announcement of the end of the exam.
" Eh? Eh? Why can't I write anything on the paper anymore?! " The girl screamed as the papers were covered in bluish light as if it was locked and sealed.
" For those inside the hall, we insist you to refrain yourself from committing any violence. And those who are outside, please return into the hall at once. "
As soon as the announcement was stated, all of the participants' papers fly towards the hall, like it was called upon. Including Zio’s.
" Well, look at that. They are the real deal at magic. "
" E-Excuse me! " The copper-haired girl called out to Zio with her head bowed low, and her look even lower.
" T-Thank you for helping me... (even though I just managed to fill one and half of the pages because of you enjoying yourself teasing me...) " she said in a low voice.
" Huh?! "
" N-N-Nothing! I-I just want to say thank you. " Her face is slightly reddish and swollen. Zio can also see a trace of her tears in the corner of her eyes as she looked away from him.
Without wasting any more breath, Zio immediately heads back for the hall. Leaving the girl on her own for the second time today.
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As soon as Zio returned into the hall, people are looking in his direction. 'Are they looking at me or someone behind me?' Zio asked himself before turning his head around to see if there's someone eye-catching behind him. But there's none. They're clearly staring at him.
" W-What's wrong? " Zio asked the closest person around him, but he was ignored as she looked another way. Zio is starting to get irritated with all the dissatisfied looks on their eyes. He’s wondering whether they are mad because he was the first one to fetch the papers. If so, then Zio has to get ready to cope with that level of intensity of competition.
" Tsk. Fine then, you all wanna go? " After provoking everyone, Zio stretched out his feet on stance in anticipation of a brawl. Because even though weapons are prohibited, but who knows if there are people who are secretly carrying one, just like the girl whom he had just met not long ago.
As the situation is about to get tense, suddenly, a flock of owls came in from the door where the examiners previously come from, causing a loud commotion. There are so many owls, flying in the room, Zio guessed that there might be a hundred or two of them.
Amidst the racket, the owls soar to the ceiling of the room and fly in a circle before slowly descending and finally landed on the shoulder of certain people, including Zio.
" We kindly ask for those who are not chosen by the owls to leave this place. You have failed the test. " One of the robed examiners shouted.
The chosen ones can hear cries and despair as the losers are leaving the room. Enveloped with mourn and dejection, they are flooding out of the door, nearly trampling Zio had he not quickly stepped aside.
Apparently, Zio was right. There are roughly 200 participants left in the room.
" The rest of you, follow me. "
The rest of the participants followed the examiners in silence as speaking is not allowed due to unknown reasons. They are being separated into ten different rooms equally guided by each respective examiner. Zio’s fantasy went wild after what happened at the first stage of the exam. Thus, he’s positive that they would go for a deathmatch on this second round.
Zio entered his group's room. Unexpectedly for him, this time there are chairs, one for each person, so there's no need for another brawl. After the examiners let the participant sit down on their chairs, they called them one by one according to the seating order into a part of the room that is covered in a black veil.
Luckily, Zio had chosen the farthest chair in the corner, so he can carefully observe the participants who are about to be called and have been called. One after one, the participants are returning to their seats. Until finally, Zio's turn has arrived.
" Next. "
Zio cursed himself as he bites his lower lip in anxiety. All those chance and he can't figure out anything. Now he’s feeling quite nervous. What in the world is he going to do inside that chamber?
" (Hey mister owl, what do you think they're going to do to us?) " Zio whispered to the owl in his shoulder in desperation, but the bird just stared straight, as if it's daydreaming or something.
" Next. please. "
Zio had no other choice but to face it head-on. He stands up straight, looking as sharp as a man can be, almost intimidating the other participants. While actually he just did that to conceal his uneasy feeling.
" Excuse me. " Zio stepped through the black veil at the corner of the room.
" Take a seat. "
There’s a table between Zio and the examiner, and it's not just some ordinary, everyday table. It’s a special table that is made for a specific purpose. There is some kind of magical scripts written all over it, making an octagonal shape. On every side of the octagon, there are eight different colored crystals sitting atop them.
" Antonio Salzio... yes? Are you done observing? " The examiner knocked Zio off his thoughts.
" Ah... I'm not sure actually. "
" ...Do you want me to explain? "
" Yes, please. " Zio immediately nodded.
The examiner put his arms on the table as the outer part of his fingers are supporting his chin. Judging from his skin and voice, Zio guessed that his age must be around the late forties. Although he’s not a hundred percent sure of that, as all the examiners are hiding their identity with masks and robes. But then again, what is the fun in guessing without a margin of errors?
" These crystals were made to classify one's magic. Though there are multiple systems of classification in the world due to the diversity of magic, here in Elgram we divided it into eight types. "
" Torten? " Zio mentioned the type of the crystal that is used in making the measuring crystals. Tortenspire has a great affinity to be used in magecraft, due to its high sensitivity to mana.
" Oh? How did you know? "
" Just a lucky guess. Please continue. "
After a long pause, the examiner continued his explanation.
" The eight types of magic are; fire, wind, water, earth, inner, alteration, light, and dark. Your level of compatibility to these elements is determined with the glows of the crystals."
" I see... so that's the case. But how should I know which one is which? "
" The red crystal is attributed to fire magic, meanwhile blue is water magic, brown is earth magic and green is wind magic. These are the most common elements.
As for the rests are; orange for inner magic, white for alteration magic, bright yellow for light magic, and purple for dark magic. "
Zio carefully took a closer look at each of them. To think that each crystal came from a single material, yet having this variety of colors. He finds it very amusing to see how one can toy so much with magic.
" Okay, let's do it. So, from which one I should begin? "
" You can choose whichever you like. Try to pour your mana into the crystals. "
Zio picked the fire crystal as his first try, and then nothing happened. Not even the slightest light came out. The same thing happened for water and wind. They are all completely off.
" Well, this is rare. Normally, people should've had an affinity to every element, though the intensity among the elements differs from one person to another. But in your case, none of them works. "
" Uhm. M-Maybe it's too early to draw a conclusion? I haven't tried the other ones after all. " Zio replied nervously.
He then proceeds to try the wind crystal. but again, nothing happened. And then he moves on to earth.
" Whoa look at that! " Zio yells in excitement.
" Oh, finally-! I mean, uhm. You shouldn't make too much noise. "
" Uh, yeah... (sorry!) "
But even so, Zio can tell that the examiner is also surprised as much as he is. Finally, they see a reaction from the earth crystal. A little bit dim, but it’s definitely there. It was reacting to Zio’s mana.
" Alright, please continue. " The examiner tells Zio to continue as he writing something on his papers. It was his job to take into account regarding everything that happened.
After that, Zio proceeds to try the light, dark, and inner. Again, nothing happened. His confidence is starting to wane. Because at this rate he might kiss a big bye to the High Academy and his contract with Gissel might be breached.
" Huft. Maybe I'm not that talented after all. "
" See it through the end, young man. You said it yourself. "
The examiner’s words gave Zio a little breather as he moves on to his last and final chance; The alteration crystal. He doesn’t know what it is. Or it’s more like, he doesn’t even remember whether he had ever heard of such terms. But it is what it is, he just needs to wrap it up, go back home, and tell Gissel about what happened. Presumably about how he failed the test.
Zio puts his hand on the last crystal and the unexpected happens once more.
" By The Holy Four....! "
" W-What is this?! "
Geschenke
-- Geschenk
erhalten Wöchentlicher Energiestatus
-- Power-
Rangliste 
-- Power-
Stein