by Cloe D Frost
When the two stepped out of the elevator shaft, the man who had used the elevator before them had just disappeared behind door S403.
Elaru might have been right with her conjecture, for that was exactly the room number where Kiel’s special exam was supposed to take place.
The duo stopped in front of the classroom and turned towards the railing to look into the main hall. High up on the wall opposite of the entrance to the building, hung a large clock.
“It’s starting soon.” Kiel decided to state the obvious instead of saying words of goodbye.
Elaru didn’t respond vocally. She just extended her hand towards him in a pose that had already become familiar to Kiel.
He accepted her intentions and performed her cool little combination of fist bumps and high fives with practiced ease.
Elaru grinned and stared into Kiel’s icy blue eyes with almost enough fervor to burn holes into them. Before Kiel could send her an inquisitive look, she sent him a look of her own.
Or rather, she sent him the memory of the look she just took, a look into the room in front of them as she saw it with her Aethernea of Sight.
She was showing him how the enchantments inside the room looked like, in case any of them came up in his exam.
And then, before Kiel could recover from the shock, she scurried towards the elevator. An encouraging smile that could melt the Lands of Eternal Snow, and poof, she disappeared inside the elevator shaft.
Kiel stood there dazed for several minutes, trying to recall all the details of what he had just seen before he realized that he would be late if he didn’t enter the room right about now.
* * *
In the first classroom of the empty sixth floor, Elaru stared incredulously at the three old men that were sitting behind the teacher’s desk.
Each one of them looked dignified and neat, with an air of an esteemed expert. They wore sophisticated white and purple professor uniforms that, unlike their skin, didn’t have a single wrinkle on them. Their thinning, white, silky (facial) hair was as straight as a waterfall, no doubt carefully combed several times each day.
The old man on the left stroked his thin mustache that fell down the sides of his mouth. The white silky mustache was so long that it reached his waist.
The old man on the right stroked his white neat eyebrows, which extended from the outer corners to droop down the sides of his face, and then, also reached his waist.
The man in the middle, didn’t stroke his mustache or eyebrows. Instead, he was..
…
…
Stroking his long white beard… that fell down his chest like a curtain of silk until (surprise, surprise) it reached his waist as well.
Elaru’s lips pressed tightly together, trying hard to keep her thoughts from vocalizing:
Are you guys competing on who can grow longer facial hair???
If it weren’t for their obviously very different facial features, judging by their similar demeanors, Elaru would have thought that the three grandpas were brothers.
Upon closer inspection, it wasn’t just that the Mustache, Eyebrows, and Beard were competing in grooming their facial hair. They also seemed to be competing on who could put up a more convincing air of an old and wise expert.
The realization made Elaru shudder with repressed laughter.
Fortunately, the three seemed to think she was shuddering due to fear and awe caused by their magnificent presence, so they nodded their heads in satisfaction.
“Child, come closer.” They beckoned her in their deep, wise voices.
The redhead stepped closer whose tightly pressed lips were still fighting hard not to let a chuckle escape them.
“Young one, you think you have what it takes to become a spell breaker?” Moustache gave Elaru a penetrating look as if he was trying to see right through her.
Naturally, Elaru could come up with plenty of witty responses, however, she had no choice but to stay silent, lest she burst out into uncontrollable laughter.
“Many dream of becoming esteemed spell breakers. Alas…” Eyebrows let out a heavy sigh as if lamenting the cruelty of fate.
Finally, after successfully stifling her laughter, all that Elaru could do was just to stare at the trio speechlessly. Must you guys be so dramatic…?
* * *
Author Note
Anaku Senko brought to my attention that when he sees familiar names of the months he feels they are out of place in a fantasy world. He thinks it would be more natural if I came up with original names for months. If I did do so, I would put extra effort to name them in an intuitive way so that you know what they are immediately. For example, naming the seventh month of the year something close to Septimus.
What do you guys think? Let me know through this poll.
Coming up in the next episode:
Elaru’s mouth twitched. How many times did you guys reverse this performance to get it so synchronized? Be honest, did you wait decades for someone to apply for this exam so you can finally put your practice into good use?
“Are you aware of the difference between the practical exam and the special exam?”
The longer the hunchbacked grandma spoke, the stiffer Kiel’s muscles became. Her unfocused milky gray eyes made Kiel’s blood run cold.
As if to crush the last shreds of hope remaining inside Kiel, the grandma clarified her words further: “What we are testing in this special exam isn’t your ability to perform spell replication.”
“How embarrassing! To sign up for a special exam only to not get a single point on it! Aren’t you worried you’d be a laughing stock to everyone?”
He wanted to prove to all that he was better than them. That their mocking and derision can never conceal his brilliance. Yet, in the end, he had shot himself in the foot. In the end, he had been defeated. Not by them… but by his own greed.
* * *
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Episode 134 – Special Gift
Episode 134 – Special Gift
Previously:
It’s Friday, the last day of Muni entrance exams. It is time for the last exam of the day – Special exam. Kiel and Elaru make their way towards Sapphire Quarters where there special exams will take place. Elaru’s special exam starts and she is confronted by three old geezers.
* * *
“Young one, you think you have what it takes to become a spell breaker?” Moustache gave Elaru a penetrating look as if he was trying to see right through her.
Naturally, Elaru could come up with plenty of witty responses, however, she had no choice but to stay silent, lest she burst out into uncontrollable laughter.
“Many dream of becoming esteemed spell breakers. Alas…” Eyebrows let out a heavy sigh as if lamenting the cruelty of fate.
Finally, after successfully stifling her laughter, all that Elaru could do was just to stare at the trio speechlessly. Must you guys be so dramatic…?
* * *
Episode 134 – Special Gift
Unaware of the redhead’s internal thoughts, Beard shook his head dejectedly, his long beard undulating left and right like a ribbon. “Unfortunately, our department of spell breaking is destined to remain the university department with the least number of members…”
Ah, no wonder you are putting on airs of esteemed experts that are above the mundane world…
Three old geezers were clearly gloating about being among the rare individuals capable enough to become spell breakers. The fact that spell breakers were a very sought-after bunch only served to enhance their pride.
After all, if someone wanted to remove unwanted enchantments the only way to do it was to break the enchantment. Which meant that if enchanters wanted to fix defective magical artifacts, change their enchantments or even upgrade them, they needed a spell breaker to remove the previous enchantment.
Of course, there were, even more, p
eople who sought them for other, often times, less legal activities. Such as opening magically locked chests, safes, and doors or to enter magic protected areas. Breaking unwanted arcane contracts was also a popular request in the Shadow Lodge.
Unfortunately, spell breaking required high skill requirements thus the demand for spell breaking services was high and supply far too low.
The first requirement, an extremely sensitive and precise mana sense, already eliminated the vast majority of candidates. It was impossible to become a spell breaker if one couldn’t see the details and intricacies of the spell they were trying to break.
The second requirement, which eliminated the remaining candidates, was the ability to compress mana into a density that surpassed the density of solidified mana.
When one weaved a spell pattern, the activation of the spell would cause the mana forming the spell pattern to solidify into a denser form. Since it was impossible to trigger mana solidification without the activation of a spell, trying to surpass the density of solidified mana without solidifying it was something that most people would never be able to do.
It was like taking a bottle of water vapor and trying to compress it enough, through sheer force of will, so that it turns into liquid water. Theoretically possible, in practice downright implausible.
And that wasn’t even the last requirement.
The last requirement was the ability to pinpoint critical points of a spell.
While it was possible to break spells through sheer force by demolishing the entirety of the spell pattern, often times, the amount of mana needed to create a large high density mana blast was far beyond what even the best of mages could possess and control. Thus, mages had no choice but to resort to targeting specific areas of the spell pattern instead of targeting the whole spell.
Unfortunately, critical points of the spell couldn’t be seen or felt through one’s senses. It required one to develop a special type of intuition acquired through one’s complete understanding of Theory of Magic, enchantments, and one’s vast spell breaking experience.
That’s why the majority of spell breakers were old master enchanters who had studied the field for decades. Adding the title of a spell breaker to a master enchanter was like placing a crown on top of their heads, a glorious achievement to be proud of.
Therefore, it wasn’t all that surprising that the old geezers in front of Elaru were acting so self-important.
“Other than our disciples, there is just us, three old men who are not long for this world.” Moustache lamented, his misty eyes looking far into the distance.
You look quite energetic and healthy to me… Elaru still stood at the same spot wordlessly. Judging by the vitality in your aura you should have at least 30 more years left in you…
Mages usually had a longer lifespan than normal people because frequent usage of mana served to temper their body, making it stronger and healthier.
“Indeed, we are getting old. I don’t even remember the last time someone applied for the spell breaking special exam.” Beard added melancholically.
Eyebrows nodded his head. “Everything is forgotten with time. It slipped my mind that Muni still offered a spell breaking special exam.”
The three’s eyes misted up with melancholy and they let out lamenting sighs at the same time.
Elaru’s mouth twitched. How many times did you guys rehearse this performance to get it so synchronized? Be honest, did you wait decades for someone to apply for this exam so you can finally put your practice into good use?
Finally, the three returned to the present and looked towards Elaru who stood rigidly in the middle of the room, trying not to reveal any of her internal thoughts.
“Child, don’t be so tense. It is alright if you don’t know much about spell breaking.” Beard gently remarked understandingly.
“Young one, don’t be hard on yourself. You are far too young to be a true spell breaker.” Moustache added comfortingly.
“Be at ease, young lass. It takes decades of hard work to learn spell breaking. Of course we won’t make things difficult for you.” Eyebrows stated good-naturedly.
You guys… Elaru’s eyebrow twitched. I know you don’t have any more exams to attend to after this but…She couldn’t help but glance towards the clock on the wall. How long do you intend to continue blowing your own trumpet? Do you intend to start my exam anytime soon?
* * *
Meanwhile, on the fourth floor,
Kiel knocked, put up his soft smile and waited several seconds before a man opened the door and invited him inside. The only remarkable thing about the man was his uniform of an assistant professor. Everything else, from his hair and eye color, face, and even his aura was so common and ordinary that Kiel’s gaze unconsciously slid past the man towards the other people in the room.
Behind the large teacher desk sat three professors, none of which was looked younger than the age of fifty. They were covered in wrinkles, their hair colors washed out, yet old age could not mellow out their aura and demeanor of prestige and authority.
The old lady in the middle of the three, which had the deepest wrinkles and the whitest hair, spoke up in a low crisp voice: “Good morning, young man. You must be…”
Kiel curtsied respectfully, his polite smile never leaving his face. “I am Kiel Rroda, the examinee number 5642.” His husky voice rumbled pleasantly making the listeners feel like they had drunk warm chocolate.
While the old professors gauged Kiel contemplatively, he strolled to the center of the room, followed by the unremarkable man, who made his way towards a cart filled with magical artifacts standing next to the teacher’s table.
After several seconds of scrutiny, the trio nodded their heads approvingly. Contrary to Kiel’s expectations, old grandma’s following question stunned him into silence: “Young man, do you consider yourself as gifted?”
“Err…” Kiel blinked his long eyelashes repeatedly, not sure how to respond. Saying yes would be haughty, but saying no would either feel insecure or sound like a pretentious attempt at modesty.
Noticing Kiel’s awkward silence, the three didn’t press him for an answer. Instead, the grandma asked a different question: “Are you aware of the difference between the practical exam and the special exam?”
Apparently, the grandma didn’t expect Kiel to answer that question either, for she continued soon after: “The purpose of the practical exam is to test the examinees ability to perform a specific profession well in real life situations. It mostly tests skill in the said profession, which mainly consists of adaptability, knowledge, and experience.”
Her eyes flashed with a mysterious glint. “However, the special exam is different… special, so to speak.”
The tension in the room grew helped by the heavy curtain of silence.
“The purpose of the special exam is to promote extraordinary abilities. Its purpose is to give an extra chance to rare gifted people who otherwise wouldn’t be accepted as students due to their lacking knowledge and experience.”
Kiel’s heart dropped to the pit of his stomach. He didn’t belong in that group of people, did he? He had a feeling that the “extraordinary abilities” the woman spoke of weren’t the mundane kind such as high intelligence or creativity.
“We are an institution of learning, we are able to fix a lack of knowledge, teach you everything you need to know. We can even help you increase your skill as a mage.
However…”
The old grandma opened her milky gray eyes wide, giving Kiel a penetrating look. After a tense moment of silence, she continued drawling.
“There are certain things that we cannot help you nurture.
Things that cannot be learned.
A gift, so to speak.
This exam is designed to set apart those that are gifted with an exceptional talent and those that are not.”
The longer the hunchbacked grandma spoke, the stiffer Kiel’s muscles became. Her unfocused milky gray eyes made Kiel’s blood run col
d.
Unaware of the chill that was slowly spreading towards Kiel’s limbs with each one of her words, the old lady proceeded.
“Knowing spell replication or being able to do it well doesn’t make you gifted.”
Was she implying that he wasn’t gifted? That all those hours he spent reading books on spell replicating were wasted? That his skill in weaving mana was all but useless?
That everything that he was and could do was but useless, unable to help him in this “special” exam in the slightest?
“In fact, there is no special exam for most professions such as enchanting, inscription, engineering, healing, and so on. So then, why is there a special exam for some professions, such as spell replicating and spell breaking?”
Kiel’s eyes widened imperceptibly. He had always thought that the reason why some professions were tested in the special exam was because they weren’t tested in the practical exam. He had thought that Muni wanted to give rare professions a chance through the special exam so that people wouldn’t complain about there not being a practical exam that suited them.
But… could that be a misconception on his part? Was there another reason why very few professions were tested through the special exam?
“The reason behind it is that we couldn’t care less about your profession in this exam. Rather, what we care about, what we are testing are special gifts. And very few of those special gifts can be best revealed through performing a profession related action, such an act of replicating a spell.”
As if to crush the last shreds of hope remaining inside Kiel, the grandma clarified her words further: “What we are testing in this special exam isn’t your ability to perform spell replication. Rather, we are testing whether you possess the rare gift that is revealed through the process of replicating spells.”
Kiel’s knees almost gave out. It took every bit of his grandmother’s teachings to stop himself from stumbling backward.
