10 First Day of School (2)

Mr. Nie handed Aria some parchment and something to write with.

"First, I want you to write your name," he told her.

Aria settled into a desk close to the teacher and quickly wrote her name at the top of the parchment. It took her only a few seconds and Mr. Nie watched her closely. She had quick, fluid strokes and the writing itself was solid, he had no complaints, yet.

"Alright, that's good," Mr. Nie said slowly while thinking about what he should have her write next.

Aria sat in silence while waiting for her next assignment.

After deliberating for a while, Mr. Nie came up with what he wanted her to do next. "First, I want you to copy the third passage from each of these three books. This will show me how well you are able to write. Once you are done with that I will have one last test for you and will then decide on your course of study."

"Yes, Sir," Aria replied as she laid out the books and started on her current assignment.

The first book was another fairytale. This time it was about a peasant girl who became a princess and married a handsome prince. 'Do all fairytales involve princesses?' Aria wondered. She never thought of herself as a princess so she couldn't relate to the stories at all, she understood them and knew that they gave other young girls hope of finding their prince charming but she just couldn't see herself in that kind of situation.

The second book was about etiquette, emphasizing the proper way for children to regard their elders. It listed the rules of respect and the consequences for disrespecting one's elders. Aria found this book interesting. As she now lived in the Elder's manor, she thought these aspects of etiquette would be important for her to remember and follow so that she wouldn't offend Elder or his family after extending their hospitality to her.

The third book was very different from the first two. This one was about the history of magic and cultivation. The third passage that she was tasked to copy went into detail about how spiritual energy was absorbed into the body through a special type of mediation and entered the lower dantian. From the lower dantian, the cultivator could move the spiritual energy throughout their body to their meridians in an endless cycle before moving it back into the dantian. This process helped them to control the spiritual energy within their bodies, with enough practice, one could then release spiritual energy through their meridians and use magic artifacts or cast spells. Aria couldn't tear herself away from this book, even after copying the passage tasked to her, she kept going. This was the most interesting thing she had ever read, especially since she was already able to use magic powers to a certain extent. She wanted to learn as much as she could about this topic.

Mr. Nie watched Aria writing feverently. The longer she wrote, the faster she was. The quality of her penmanship didn't decrease either. He was quite impressed, this girl who had no previous academic training was better than most of the students that he had taught for years! He also noticed her interest in books pertaining to magic and cultivation. He had heard that she had some special abilities, which was why no one in the town wanted to get near her but he was unsure if it was true or not. After an hour, he finally stood up and walked over to Aria, he cleared his throat but she showed no traces of stopping. He placed his hand on her shoulder to get her attention but drew his hand back after just a moment. He looked at her incredulously, it felt like he had put his hand into a sea of electricity when he touched her. He looked back and forth from his hand to her but she still showed no signs of acknowledgment.

"Aria," Mr. Nie spoke a bit louder than before, finally pulling Aria out of her task. He heaved a sigh of relief when she looked up at him. "That's enough copying for today," he smiled.

Aria was nodded her head and looked back down at her parchment, it was nearly full! She was stunned, she didn't realize she had written so much. "Right, how did I do, Sir?"

"Very well. Now, on to the last test," he said. "Copying what is already written is fairly easy. This time I want you to write as I speak so I can test your auditory comprehension. If you are successful in accurately writing and comprehending what you hear then I can create a proper course of study for you."

"I understand, Sir," was Aria's only response. "I am ready when you are." Aria arranged another piece of parchment and was waiting for Mr. Nie to begin speaking.

Mr. Nie started out slowly just saying random words to test Aria's initial capability of translating spoken word to written word. Once he was satisfied, he started speaking in full sentences, slowly at first then gradually faster.

"The secret is held in the hands of the youth."

"Dreams are often the subconscious telling truth to the conscious."

"Always believe in yourself and you will transcend into greatness."

"Normalcy is not suitable for the extraordinary."

Individually these sentences may not mean anything but coming one after another, Aria had a strange feeling that perhaps Mr. Nie was trying to tell her something. Just when she was about to ask him, he changed course.

"Always respect your Elders."

"Culinary arts are not to be taken lightly, they can nourish the body or they can destroy it."

"It is always best to use caution when dealing with things you are unfamiliar with."

These string of sentences went on for about another fourty minutes before Mr. Nie finally decided it was enough.

"That should be enough," he told Aria as she completed the final sentence he has spoken. "Let me have a look at it and then I will decide how to teach you."

Aria nodded as she handed him the parchment. The front and back was covered in writing and her hand had started to cramp up on her a bit but she tried her best not to show it.

Mr. Nie went back to his desk and started reading through what she had written, examining the quality of her penmanship, her grammar and the accuracy of the words transcribed. She actually did quite well, especially considering the difficulty of some of the phrases. There were a few minor errors here and there but that was to be expected. Mr. Nie confirmed that her academic abilities in reading and writing were well beyond that of a normal eight year old child. It was quite unexpected for not having any formal education before.

"Good, good," he murmured to himself. Then he looked over at Aria who had been watching him with an apprehensive expression. "Next you will be tested on your problem solving skills."

Aria nodded in agreement. She didn't know it would be this exhausting just to go to school but she wasn't willing to give up just yet. She steeled herself and mentally prepared for what was to come next.

Mr. Nie handed Aria another piece of parchment but thia one had arithmatic problems on them. The ones at the top were fairly simple, just run of the mill elementary addition and subtraction. As she went farther down the parchment she noticed the equations becoming more complex. She had some basic understanding of math from having to determine how long certain types of food would last her and how often she would need to go out for water and the like. At the end she began running into difficulty and couldn't understand some of the problems. She tried her best but still felt a bit disheartened that she wasn't able to answer them all by the time it was time to leave for the day.

As the rest of the students were gathering their belongings and getting ready to leave Aria sighed and stood up to turn in the parchment.

"I'm sorry Mr. Nie," she started. "There were some things that I didn't understand. I will study hard and do better next time, she said with her head hung in disappointment.

"It is alright. I will review these this afternoon and will let you know the results tomorrow morning," Mr. Nie replied in a consoling tone.

"Yes, Sir. I will see you tomorrow then." Aria nodded and made her way to leave.

Kai was waiting for her just outside of the school building.

"So? How did it go?" asked Kai.

"I'm not really sure," Aria said with a frown. "I think I did okay with the reading and writing but I am not confident in my arithmatic."

"Oh you'll be alright," Kai comforted. "I didn't know a thing when I first came to school two years ago, surely you couldn't have done worse than me!"

Aria laughed at that. "Yeah, maybe you're right." She was glad to have met someone like Kai.