CHAPTER 30 — Entrance exam (2)
Rowan sat inside a massive examination hall, his back slightly hunched over a wooden desk as his hand moved across the paper.
The scratching sound of pens filled the air in uneven rhythms.
Around him—
Rows upon rows of students sat on long benches, each one immersed in their own struggle.
Some wrote rapidly, their wrists moving with practiced confidence, barely pausing between answers.
Some slowed down midway, their brows furrowing as they re-read the same line again and again.
Some leaned back slightly, fingers pressed against their temples, trying to force an answer out of their minds.
And some—
...just stared.
Frozen.
Eyes locked onto the paper as if it might answer itself.
And Rowan—
He just quietly wrote on the paper, but then–
His hand paused for a second.
His pen hovered just above the page.
Then—
Slowly—
His gaze shifted.
From his answer sheet…
To the question paper lying beside it.
A few moments ago —
The watch around Rowan's wrist flickered to life, casting a faint glow over his skin.
Lines of text formed.
{Congratulations, you have passed the first stage of the entrance exam.}
{Current Ranking — 4998}
Rowan stared at the number.
His lips pressed together, forming a slight pout.
"…Uhmm…"
His eyebrows drew together as he tilted his wrist slightly, as if the number might change if he looked at it from another angle.
"I can't believe my ranking fell this much…"
Beside him, Eldric sat with one leg crossed over the other, completely unbothered.
"At least be happy that you passed the first stage."
Rowan turned his head toward him, his expression caught somewhere between disbelief and complaint.
He opened his mouth—
But—
Beep.
The watch glowed again.
Both of them looked down.
{The second stage of the entrance exam is a written exam.}
Rowan blinked.
"…Written?"
"Hmm..." Eldric hummed softly,
"Yeah written exam."
Rowan stared at him a second longer than necessary.
Eldric sighed,"I have taught you everything related written exam already, so don't get nervous."
"But still," Rowan exclaimed,"I'm not sure..."
Eldric let out a slow breath, tilting his head slightly as if weighing how much to say.
"...Fwossh"
"Listen," he said, his tone shifting just a little.
"The written exam is more about a race against time then solving questions."
Rowan frowned.
"Huh... What do you mean?"
Eldric leaned back slightly, resting his elbow on his knee.
"The mage institutes like systematic and orderly things, and that's what they teach their students too. But it's a different story in the case of Grand Aetherion."
He paused.
Then looked directly at Rowan.
"There is a trick in this," Eldric continued.
"In the exam the first two pages of question paper will be filled with high mark questions but as well as long and difficult ones too. While the last three pages will be filled with low mark but easy and short answer ones."
Rowan's eyes narrowed slightly, his attention sharpening As he listened to Eldric.
"since the students of the other institutions are taught to keep things in order they solve questions in orderly manner and don't move to next question unless they have solved the previous ones."
A beat of silence passed.
Then—
Understanding flickered across Rowan's face.
Eldric looked at Rowan with a smile.
"So it's simple, skip the long and big questions. And slove the easy and short ones."
Eldric leaned back on his chair.
"Even though they have low marks there would be enough of those questions to make you pass the exam so Solve them as quickly as possible so that you accumulate enough marks."
Rowan looked down at his wrist again slowly nodding his head.
Then he looked back at Eldric.
Eldric leaned forward slightly.
"You don't need to be perfect. You just need enough marks to pass."
Back to present.
Brrriiinnnggg... Brrriiinnnggg...
The sharp bell echoed through the hall.
A collective reaction rippled across the room.
"Ugh…"
"Oh hell nah…"
"…Ahh…"
Some groaned, shoulders slumping as they dropped their pens.
Some leaned back with relief, exhaling deeply as if a weight had been lifted.
Some stared at their papers in silence, calculating… regretting… replaying.
"Alright, students."
A voice rang out from the front.
"Stop writing. Leave your papers on your desks and exit quietly. One by one."
Chairs scraped against the floor.
Students began to rise.
Some walked out with confident strides.
Some with hesitant steps.
Some with expressions that revealed nothing.
Rowan stood up slowly.
He placed his pen down.
Adjusted the paper slightly.
Then turned—
And quietly walked out .
Outside—
He stopped.
And inhaled deeply.
"Hooo…"
The air felt different.
Lighter.
Freer.
"Hey dolt"
The voice cut through his thoughts.
Rowan turned towards the direction of the the voice.
Eldric stood there, one hand casually resting at his side.
"So… how was it?" he asked, patting Rowan's back lightly.
Rowan scratched the side of his cheek.
"…Umm… well…"
He shifted his weight slightly.
"It was Okay. I did as you said and only solved questions of the last three pages."
Rowan admitted, nodding slowly.
"They indeed were easy."
"how many did you solve?"
Rowan lifted his hand, counting on his fingers.
"Quite a lot."
A faint chuckle escaped Eldric.
"Hah… good enough. Let's go."
Somewhere else—
Inside another large hall—
Stacks of papers were spread across long tables.
Rows of evaluators sat in neat lines, each one flipping through answer sheets, marking, checking, calculating.
The sound of pages turning filled the room.
Ink scratched against paper in steady, methodical strokes.
"How's your batch going?"
One man leaned back slightly as he spoke.
"Not great," another replied, rubbing his temple. "Most of them ran out of time."
"Same here. A few got stuck on the early questions and couldn't recover."
"Hah… then mine's better. At least some managed to move ahead."
A third voice joined in.
"My batch is quite good. Two or three even solved everything."
One man leaned toward the person beside him, who had remained quiet so far.
"What about you?"
The quiet man didn't look up.
His pen continued moving.
"…Decent," he said simply. "Same pattern. Some got stuck. Some ran out of time."
The man beside him smiled faintly.
As expected…
'huh... It's the same story for everyone, this written exam is more about how students manage the allotted time to solve as many questions as possible.'
He streched his arms lazily.
'And since they have always been taught to keep things in order. They always get stuck in the difficult questions of the first two pages.'
"...Sighh."
'Well it's the most logical thing too, since the first two pages carry questions with high marks so it's obvious to go for them first, when the time is short.'
The quiet evaluator turned to the next paper.
"Let's see…"
His eyes moved across the page.
"Okay the answer of question 1— Huh... What the?"
His eyes moved across the page.
'Why is this answer like...',
He paused.
His pen hovered.
He leaned in closer.
"…What is this?"
His gaze shifted.
'Huh... Answer 28?'
He stared at the answer sheet for a second then started flipping the pages of the sheet. Looking at each page.
"Hah... Hahaha... Oh ho..." A soft chuckle escaped his lips. "Look at this smart-ass."
"Huh... What happened, did he solved everything?" the person sitting beside him asked.
"No." He replied.
He turned the paper around.
"But look at this, the boy has directly started from question 28 and then..." He flipped the page.
"Hmm... Wow, who is this guy?"
"Hey, senior would you take a look at this."
The senior examiner approached, taking the sheet.
His eyes scanned the pages..
"Hmm..." he rose his eyebrows. "This guy has only solved the easy questions of the last three pages."
"So... What should we do?"
The senior handed the paper back.
"Check it normally, if he has enough marks pass him otherwise fail."
He straightened.
Then clapped his hands once.
"Alright, everyone. Focus. Finish checking quickly."
---
Back outside—
Rowan and Eldric sat inside a restaurant.
The atmosphere was calm.
Almost too calm compared to earlier.
Rowan lifted a spoon to his mouth.
Beep.
His watch lit up.
He lowered the spoon slightly and raised his wrist.
{The second stage of entrance exam is over.}
The text shifted.
{Congratulations for passing the written exam your ranking will be displayed in the ranking board.}
Hmm... " Rowan hummed while eating.
The screen changed again.
A leaderboard appeared.
Eldric scrolled down the leaderboard.
"What the—?"
Rowan's brows furrowed
Even after scrolling for a long time his name didn't appear.
Rowan leaned in slightly.
"It said that I passed the exam right? Why is my name—"
"quiet for a second dolt." Eldric cut him off and kept scrolling.
"Hmm..." his eyebrows twitched. "Oh here it is."
Rowan leaned closer.
{Your ranking — no. 2000}
"...What the?" Rowan blinked. "I'm last?"
His eyes widened as he stared at his name sitting at the very bottom of the list.
"Atleast be thankful that you passed." Eldric said taking a bite from his slime salad.
Rowan's face turned low in disappointment. He looked at both his rankings.
Monster simulation — Rank 4998.
Written exam — Rank 2000.
Rowan slumped forward.
His forehead nearly touched the table.
"Ahh... At this rate, I don't think I would be able to pass."
Eldric sighed
"sigh... Stop delving in the fixed results dolt. And do better in the next stage."
Rowan slowly lifted his head.
"...Oh"
His watch glowed again
{Final Stage — Arena Duel}
"...Areana dual?"
His eyes narrowed slightly
"Like the competition of the dojo."
Eldric nodded,"Yeah, but take it as a much bigger one than the dojo."
After that—
Slowly, the tension subsided—
And Both of them again started focusing on their food.
But then. At the very next moment —
They saw two group of students entering the restaurant.
Familiar uniforms.
Familiar tension.
They both let out a cough.
Then slowly Stood up almost in sync.
And quietly walked out.
---
The Grand Stadium—
It stood like a colossal colosseum.
Massive stone arches curved upward, layered in tiers that seemed to touch the sky. Banners fluttered between pillars, their fabric rippling in the wind.
The open arena at the center glowed faintly with residual mana.
The air trembled.
The students wearing different uniforms, different emblems, different identities fought each other to secure their place.
Spells clashed.
Flames roared.
Lightning cracked.
Barriers shattered.
The spells were raging across the stadium.
Some matches ended instantly.
Over before they began.
Others dragged on—
Turning into brutal exchanges of endurance and precision.
Rowan stood outside with Eldric.
His eyes moved constantly.
Taking everything in.
"What is that?"
He pointed towards a direction.
There were two lines, one were students and the other were some ordinary people.
Eldric glanced there for a second before replying.
"Oh! That, well... the Areana dual is an open door exam, people of Aetheria or other cities often come to watch the final stage."
"Why?"
Eldric exhaled slowly,
"When else would they get a chance to see a magic battle."
Rowan watched as people bought tickets, entering with excitement in their eyes.
"It's one of academy's most prominent income source too."
"hah..." Rowan chuckled faintly. Trying to act relaxed.
But Eldric noticed it.
The slight tremor in Rowan's fingers.
The subtle shifting of his feet.
The way his shoulders weren't fully relaxed.
The way his hands and feets were shaking.
"Are you nervous?" Eldric asked.
Rowan blinked then rubbed the back of his head.
"Well...uhh.. umm.. It's a different city and there would be people to watch so..."
Fwoosh...
Rowan takes a deep breath and admitted.
"Yeah—! I'm a little nervous."
Eldric shook his head, he put his hand on Rowan's shoulder.
Rowan looked at Eldric for a bit, he opened his lips slightly just to closed it in the very next moment.
Eldric looked at his eyes, and it was quiet obvious what Rowan wanted to ask.
"Hmm... Well I can't give you some hardcore motivation to kick start your confidence nor I have some poetry, I'm not a philosopher."
Eldric paused for a second before continuing.
"everyone come here for their own reasons. Some for glory, some for titles... So some for power."
Eldric stared at Rowan for a long time.
"I don't know what your reason is but... Don't forget it."
Rowan lowered his head and the memories started resurfacing in his mind.
'My reason...?'
"Fight for your own reason."
Eldric voice snapped him back from his thoughts.
"And use that reason as a fuel to keep going."
Rowan lifted his head.
Something in his eyes steadied.
Beep.
His watch glowed.
Rowan looked at the watch.
"Oh... Looks like it's my turn."
Eldric patted his side.
"Good luck."
Rowan gave a final nod and stepped forward.
The city was different.
The people would be watching.
And Rowan...
He stepped forward.
Towards his way to a bigger stage.
---
The crowd roared with excitement as banners of blue and gold fluttered above the Grand Aetherion Academy's dueling arena. The final stage of the entrance exam was about to begin.
"Ladies and gentlemen!" the commentator's voice boomed across the colosseum-like hall.
"Welcome to the last round of this year's Grand Aetherion Academy entrance exam! The top candidates will face each other in magical duels — where talent, precision, and power shall decide who earns their place among the chosen!"
Prominent mages, instructors, and the academy's headmaster watched from the viewing platform. Rows of elegantly dressed families whispered among themselves, eyes gleaming with pride and expectation.
The first duel began — a girl with flowing red hair raised her wand, summoning a massive fire Ball. The audience gasped.
One mage leaned forward. "Ah, the daughter of House ignis. Quite impressive."
An instructor nodded. "Indeed. As expected from one of this generation's supernovas."
The giant ball struck. Her opponent's barrier shattered instantly and her opponent went flying out of the areana. The crowd applauded thunderously.
Moments later, another match — a young man in royal blue robes with flashy golden hairs conjured six thunder spears and finished his opponent in seconds.
"Ah, the son of House stormholt," another instructor said, impressed. " as expected from Another supernova, no doubt."
The commentator's voice echoed again.
"And now! Onto the next match!"
The crowd buzzed with anticipation, people whispering about which prodigy would step onto the stage next — until the crystal screen displayed the matchup.
The first name drew polite nods:
"Cyan Melbourne of Westvale Academy."
Then the second name appeared.
"Rowan vayen from the Darve City dojo."
The murmurs began almost instantly.
"Darve City?"
"Where is that?"
"I've never heard of it."
Then the arena gates opened.
The first student walked out, robed in gold, wand gleaming like a scepter.
The second walked in with plain boots, A deep smoke-violet colour uniform with an emblem, stitched with silver threads of an abstract symbol resembling intertwined arcs of energy —
And an axe resting on his shoulder.
The entire hall fell silent.
Then—
"...Wait, is that an axe?"
"Why the hell is he carrying an axe in a mage exam?"
"Did he get lost on the way to a lumberyard?"
Laughter broke out in waves. Even one instructor buried his face in his palm.
"Oh gods... this type of guy actually made it to the final stage?"
Another sighed. "He must have scraped through the previous tests by luck but There's no way he can duel."
Rowan stood still, calm despite the noise. His axe — nicked and dull but sharp from years of chopping wood — glinted faintly in the sunlight.
A young guy in the audience cupped his hands and shouted,
"Hey! Check if you forgot your wand, lumberjack!"
The crowd laughed harder.
Rowan said nothing.
His gaze lifted to the academy's insignia carved above the grand stands — a radiant star surrounded by ancient runes.
In his head, his voice was quiet, steady.
'The Grand Aetherion Academy. The most powerful and respected in the world... a place where people come chasing power, glory, and titles. A place that can make you a High ranking officer, or an Elite of the High society.'
He exhaled slowly, gripping his axe.
'But I'm not here for any of that.'
The laughter around him faded into a dull echo as the light in his eyes dimmed —
'I'm here... because of something I can't forget.'
---
CHAPTER ENDS