Both Milly and I waited for about three minutes in front of the gates of Aurum Academy.
Once they opened, I could see who was walking out to greet us.
Hellen Goldenlaw. An obvious fan favorite due to her gorgeous appearance. With hip-length blonde hair and... honestly... I thought she was going to be taller than she actually is.
Thanks to her overwhelming talent in magic—due to her unique passive, [Great Sage's Eye], which halves both incantation time and mana consumption—she quickly earned the Goldenlaw surname, a title passed down to the current director of Aurum Academy.
She greeted us in a calm tone, always keeping her left eye closed to conceal her unique passive...
But I won't be fooled. Beneath that calm exterior hides a sour, anger-filled personality.
"Alen, right? It would be our pleasure to have you attend our esteemed academy," she said. I could already feel her analyzing me. "Assuming you can get in, of course."
Milly was about to say something, but Hellen turned back and started walking inside the academy.
"It would be smart not to waste any more time than we already have."
Even though we arrived early and you opened the gates late...
"Go," Milly said, looking to the side and puffing her cheeks, which made me chuckle. "Good luck. And take this—only open it if you're not feeling well." She handed me a letter.
"Thanks. And tell everyone to wait for me." She gave me a thumbs-up.
I followed Hellen inside.
This place is truly huge. The halls, windows, doors—everything looked so high-class it made me feel uncomfortable.
Finally, we arrived at our destination: the classroom where I'd be taking my entrance exams.
"The first part consists of a written exam. You'll be tested on your general beginner's knowledge of magic, dungeons, language, geography, math, and history." As she explained, I sat at one of the desks and noticed two other teachers.
"The second part will be an oral exam where we'll be interviewing you on your magical knowledge and capabilities," said the second teacher, Lycree Doolvo, an old woman who taught a couple of subjects in the first year.
"And the last part will be a physical test, where you'll be sparring with me," said the third teacher. I don't know who he is. Regardless, he looks and sounds quite pissed off.
"You'll have two hours for the first part," the blonde director said, handing me two pieces of paper.
Thank god it's only two. I was starting to worry it might be too much for me, but I can handle this.
Name: Alen Last name (optional):
I'm not a noble, so I don't have a last name.
I started with the language and math parts of the exam.
I was seventeen when I transmigrated here, and this world is a medieval one, which made the math questions rather easy for me.
Similar to math, language wasn't that difficult either, as I gained some of Alen's memories and knowledge about this world. That allowed me to understand the writing system used on Terra. In general, it's similar to English, just with different characters.
But these questions...
[6: How many incantation forms are there and what advantages do they have?]
There are three incantation forms: quick, neutral, and strong.
Quick is a shorter incantation that casts the weakest version of a spell. It's good because it's fast in every way. In-game, it meant you could attack the same turn you decided to.
Neutral incantation casts the spell in its rawest and purest form. It's useful for study purposes. In-game, a neutral form meant your unit needed a turn to chant before casting the spell on the next.
Strong incantation is the longest. In return, you cast the most powerful version of a spell—high risk, high reward. In-game, strong incantations were only used in boss fights with tons of preparation. As long as you kept the enemy distracted for two or three turns, you'd get an easy OH-KO.
[7: What are magical elements and affinity?]
Magic can take the form of various elements. These elements are: water, fire, nature, rock, wind, lightning, ice, light, and dark.
As for affinity, it refers to the magical element a person can use. The average person has two affinities, and the record for most affinities a single person has ever had is five out of the possible nine.
Although Khyle has every single affinity. I'm guessing that's because the members of [Crescent Moon] are hard to track down.
The geography and history questions were hard, but I feel like I managed, thanks to the various lore drops and maps the game provided.
So, I feel comfortable with my answers. I don't think I'll be failing this one.
"Time's up," Hellen said, taking my test before I could finish rereading my answers to make sure I hadn't written anything wrong.
"While Ms. Goldenlaw is grading your test..." Lycree began her part of the exam, "...why don't you tell us a bit about yourself, Alen?"
"Well... I only have a simple wind affinity, which I'm not compatible with. And in terms of tiers, right now I'm only able to cast tier-one spells in all incantation forms."
"A simple affinity... while that's less than desirable... being able to use every incantation form is certainly a feat not everyone can accomplish."
"I'm able to cast two out of three of the North Wind weapon set—Scythe and Ram—Sandstorm, and the tier-one infusion."
Even after a year of learning magic, I'm still stuck on the same spells from my first dungeon exploration. That just shows how bad Alen truly is—and how poor my compatibility is with the only affinity I have.
"I've also cleared multiple goblin dungeons this past year."
They all widened their eyes in surprise when I said that.
"Alen, refrain from lying during this interview."
"I'm not lying, though... and I can prove it." I began searching through my bags and pulled out a sack.
"This one's full of orc accessories. I'm planning to sell them one of these days." The old woman began to examine the various skull-themed items.
"And you cleared multiple dungeons of this level?" Given my looks, I don't blame them for being suspicious.
"Yes, as part of my training, the [Cre—"
This pressure... it's coming from Hellen Goldenlaw.
"...my family kept an eye on me as I cleared these dungeons by myself." Is she... hiding the fact that I was raised by [Crescent Moon]?
"So your family sends you into these kinds of dungeons as part of your training?"
"Exactly."
"I see..." she began noting something down on a piece of paper.
"And with that..." The third teacher slammed his desk as he stood up. "My part will start soon, so let's get going to the training area. You'll start by choosing a weapon and changing into our training outfit..." I genuinely feel like he hates me. "...understand!!"
"Yes, sir."