บท 2: Enrollment Exams [Pt 1]

Arnik closed the book he had been reading for the past two hours and let out a yawn while stretching.

The lights in the library illuminated the room and, through the window, he could see that it had grown dark.

He was in the great Frost family library, a magnificent building filled to the brim with books of all shapes and sizes bordering on various magic-related subjects.

Normally an outsider would never be allowed into this sacred building, but seeing as Arnik had spent his entire life living in the Frost manor, he was deemed harmless and was allowed free access to certain parts of the library.

Arnik had always been grateful for this opportunity and had learned a great deal from the many books in the library. Since awakening his magic a week ago he had resolved to get into the Lirdunia School of Apprentice Mages, he had the smarts to do it but it was the financial aspect that he was worried about.

Becoming a mage was no small feat, and it wasn't cheap either. Even if he managed to get some form of scholarship for his tuition, how was he going to afford the entrance exam fee?

These were the thoughts in Arnik's head as he finally got home, he lived with his dad in the quarters assigned to the staff working in the Frost mansion.

Immediately he entered he plopped down on his bed.

"How am I going to do this?" He thought, a soft groan escaping his mouth as he rubbed his forehead with his fingers.

Just as he was about to get up, the door opened and his father came in, Shimon at 39 years of age looked much older, probably due to the amount of work he had to do every day.

Arnik respected his father a lot, he admired him for his hardworking nature and cherished him dearly. After all, he was the only family he'd ever had. They didn't talk about his mom, all he was told was that she had left sometime after he'd been born.

"Hey dad, you look really tired."

"I am." Shimon answered.

"They've had us working extra hard so much these days." He continued.

"Let's get something to eat, I have something I want to talk to you about after" Arnik replied.

*******************

Both father and child ate in silence, and soon after they were done Shimon asked.

"So, what did you want to talk to me about son"

"As you know, I recently had my magic circuit awoken and I've decided that I want to study magic" Arnik swallowed hard and continued.

"I'm quite confident that with my knowledge on magic I'd be able to get a scholarship, but there's still the issue of the entrance fee, I gave it a lot of thought and I have no idea what I'm supposed to do."

Shimon frowned a little, he understood what his son was saying and he secretly resolved to do anything to get his son into the school right there and then.

"Oh that, don't worry about that, your old man will sort it all out, trust me" Shimon answered cheerfully.

"Are you sure, dad? The entrance fee is quite a lot." Arnik asked with worry on his face.

Shimon placed his hand on his son's shoulder and smiled reassuringly.

"Don't worry, I'll handle it."

With that Arnik decided not to press further and leave it to his father. Over the next few days he devoted himself to studying more, he also wondered occasionally what primary element he would receive.

After a particularly long day studying, he got home to meet his father already there. He was smiling and had something in his hands, the surprised boy was just about to ask why his father was home so early and what he was holding when his father said.

"I spoke to an old friend in the academy and he put in a good for you."

"He was able to get you the entrance letter for the exam."

Silence pervaded the room.

"I've done my part kiddo, now it's up to you to go there and knock 'em out."

Arnik had so many questions but was too excited to even speak, he rushed towards his dad and hugged him. He was overcome with emotions and amidst tears, he answered.

"I will, dad. I will, I'll be the strongest mage you've ever seen!"

*********************

Two weeks passed and it was finally the entrance exam day, Arnik made sure to get to the academy early, and even then he was surprised to see so many people.

"All these people applying for the academy, incredible," He thought to himself.

Arnik noticed that the applicants had started breaking into groups, it seemed that everyone seemed to know at least one person and had started talking with them.

"Sucks to be me, so many people here and I don't know a single one" He let out a resigned sigh.

Arnik was still feeling sorry for himself when someone shouted out

"No way, is that you Arnik"

The boy quickly looked towards where he heard the words from and let out a smile.

"Rowan!"

Rowan was Arnik's friend, they had both attended the same school and graduated together, the two boys had always dreamed of becoming mages from an early age and while it was plausible for Rowan it was nothing more than a pipe dream for Arnik. Rowan's family wasn't among the richest or most influential but they lived comfortably probably because Rowan's uncle was a renowned earth mage.

"I never thought I'd see you here, Arnik. You activated your magic circuit?!" Rowan said wide-eyed.

"Hey, miracles happen." Arnik responded with all smiles,

"I guess they do." Rowan answered.

They were just about to continue talking, when the crowd started mumbling and letting out gasps.

"She must be the one…"

"Yes, she's the one from the Frost family"

"She's quite beautiful!"

"I heard she's really strong."

Arnik and Rowan struggled to see what all the fuss was about and it was none other than Eissa Frost, the only daughter of the head of the Frost family, Gale Frost, she was nicknamed the Princess of Winter, behind her were two young boys also from the Frost family.

"Incredible." Rowan said.

"I guess we have to compete with people like her."

Soon after, a man came up on stage to address the applicants, the exam would be held in two stages.

The first stage would be to determine the applicants primary element and the second stage would be to measure the applicants magic output.

The process began soon after and one by one the applicants discovered their respective elements—the basic elements were Air, Water, Fire and Earth.

Occasionally there were applicants with branch elements such as Lightning, Ice, and Plant(Nature), but they were quite rare and considered very valuable.

Arnik waited anxiously for his turn, his palms were sweaty and his legs wouldn't stop shaking, Rowan noticed his friends fear and tried to encourage him.

"You'll be fine, just give it your best shot!" He whispered to himself reassuringly.

As soon as he heard the official call out his name 'Arnik Ragniel,' he stood up and walked towards the tent where tests were being held.

He looked back to see Rowan smiling at him with a thumbs up, he entered the tent and saw three people sitting, the Bald man in the middle with a long white beard told him to place his hand on the pedestal in front of him and concentrate , he did this and at first he didn't feel anything.

"I've come to far to fail!" He told himself and took a deep breath.

Soon, his palm began to feel warm. The boy opened his eyes and saw the pedestal glowing a bright red,

"Fire!" the man to the left said.

"Proceed to the next room for the magic output test."

Arnik was excited but the test wasn't over yet, the magic output stage decided what class you'd be put in and what magi-equipment you'd be given access to. He couldn't afford to slip up now, in the next room he met a man who showed him a simple demonstration on how to summon a fireball.

"Hit the target over there with all your strength."

Arnik did has the man had told him and began to concentrate soon he could feel the fire taking shape in his hands, all he had to do was push it with all his strength.

"FIREBALL!" He shouted as he pushed with all his strength, but… what was this?

Just before the ball left his hand he could have sworn that he felt a shock!

"BOOOOOOMMMM!!!" He looked up to see the target completely obliterated.

"Excellent destructive power, wait outside for your class assignment." The instructor said with a smile on his face.