Chapter 10: The First Test

Nadran looked through the test. The questions were relatively straightforward, but difficult to answer perfectly. Each question contained nothing but a picture of a particular herb. The goal was to name the herb, then describe everything you can about the herb: Its distinguishing characteristics, attribute, its most common uses, whether the picture was of a mutant variety of the herb, its natural habitat and prerequisites for formation. The more you can describe about it and what it does, the better your score. Of course, this excludes obvious things that aren't unique to the herb, like 'it's a plant' or 'you can make pills with it.'

To Nadran, this was not that challenging. He had previously struggled with creating sigils, but that was largely due to an incomprehension of how the sigil's patterns were formed and linked together. Alchemy, on the other hand, seemed to make perfect sense. He could easily understand how different herbs formed, and how they interacted with each other when combined made perfect sense to him. Thus, he had been able to memorize a huge quantity of information on herbs in a very short amount of time. It helped that he already had a baseline familiarity with a lot of them due to having picked them himself in the past.

Nadran was still concerned though. Some of the herbs were somewhat unfamiliar to him, and he was unable to immediately remember all of their properties. He quickly did the ones he knew well, then focused on the less familiar ones. [Purple-leaf Fern. Let's see, it is found in swamps with a large amount of void energy. So, its attribute is obviously void. Its maturation time… hm, most fern-type herbs take approximately 3 months to mature. Void energy should slow down its pace of growth though… it's probably 4 months. Based off the picture, I can assume that the edges of the fern are sharp, like a blade. This kind of herb should be most useful in…]

In this manner, Nadran went through all of the questions, writing down vast amounts of information. Half an hour later, almost everyone had finished writing and had finished their tests in. There was one exception, though. A young man wearing commoner clothing was still diligently working on his test, writing down page after page of information.

Naturally, this attracted a fair amount of attention. The last person to hand in their test had handed in their test nearly 5 minutes ago before immediately falling asleep, but Nadran was still writing. Zosal looked over at him, thinking that Nadran was trying to show off again. [Just because you write a lot doesn't mean you will get a higher score. What could you possibly be doing? Writing a treatise on your favorite type of sandwich? Hurry up and finish so that I can laugh at you when you fail.]

As if on cue, Nadran placed down his pen at this moment and picked up his papers, stacking them neatly before bringing them to the instructor. He then returned to his desk, took out the book he had been reading before the exam, and continued reading.

Nadran ignored the strange glances that were being sent his way as the teachers went into a back room to begin scoring the tests. He couldn't be bothered to try to interact with other people, and he would much rather be reading a book. After all, books were less likely to hurt him than people.

Nadran read for about half an hour while he was waiting, trying to block out Zosal's loud voice as he bragged about how he would definitely be in the top 3 for the test, and that the test was actually incredibly easy for someone as talented as him. Nadran couldn't care less what nonsense he was spouting, but it was making it harder for him to read with all the noise. [Sure, sure, you're a super special talented noble who's perfect in every way. Can you shut up now?] Nadran didn't say this aloud, but the idea of doing so was rather tempting.

Soon, the lead instructor walked out of the back room, a piece of paper held in his hand. "I will now list the names of those who passed the exam. If your name is on the list, you are eligible to participate in the second phase of the alchemy apprentice test."

Having reached the point they were waiting, for, everyone reacted differently. Some watched on nervously, others smiled carelessly as though they were already assured of their success, some looked on intently. Nadran glanced up from the book he was reading and began paying attention.

"A total of 117 people have passed. They are, in ascending order…" The instructor said as he began listing names. The looks of relief of those whose names were listed was evident; it was incredibly difficult to join Mirror Dragon Academy through attainments in alchemy, and doing so resulted in you becoming an alchemy apprentice. Thus, even passing the first round was something worthy of praise.

Meanwhile, Zosal calmly listened to the list of names with a smile. He couldn't be bothered to learn the name of the young man he had been disparaging, but he was well connected in the world of alchemy, and he knew the names of almost everyone in the room. While there were over 500 people in the room, any one of them had some degree of fame for themselves, or at the very least, from their family name. Zosal knew the names of all the people who had been listed so far, and that was all he needed to know to be sure that the person who had insulted him had not passed. [If such a poor figure without backing could ever pass, it would only be in the bottom rankings. The bottom 30 rankings have already been listed, there is no way he passed.] Zosal turned and smirked victoriously toward Nadran, who completely ignored him. This made Zosal even more unhappy. [Let's see if you can keep that attitude when you realize you didn't pass,] he thought vindictively.

Zosal, like so many sigil users, was one to very easily hold a grudge. In this world, where status and ranking were everything, anything that could be considered a sleight to one's perceived status or ranking was a grave offense that could not be easily forgiven. While not everyone thinks like this, it is still prevalent enough that 3 out of every 4 people will act this way. This was not a wholesome or harmonious attitude, but it was also a reason that so many of these people succeeded and became strong. After all, they were often willing to put in the work to make the offending party suffer, even if they had to train hard and become strong enough to crush the other underfoot.

Nadran calmly waited, drumming his fingers against the desk. Zosal took this as a sign of nervousness, but in truth, Nadran simply had a song stuck in his head, and was tapping the desk to the beat of the song. [Meloden isn't an obsidian-ranked musician for nothing. I'm still hearing his music in my head weeks after his performance,] Nadran thought with a smile, listening for the sound of his name being called by the instructor.

Recognizing several last names, Nadran gave a wry smile. [It's actually kind of ridiculous how many nobles there are in this city alone,] he thought. In truth, there were dozens of noble families, and each one was incredibly extensive, with hundreds of people in each family. Even if you were the son of the brother of the cousin twice removed of the grandson of the family head, you were still considered a noble. It also seemed, at least to Nadran, that being insufferable was a genetic trait of nobles.

[I wonder how well I'll rank,] Nadran thought idly, his thoughts shifting as the list entered the top 30. [Probably not that well; I wasn't able to figure much out about the fifth herb that they showed. I had never even heard of it, and I had to make inferences on its properties from the picture alone, which isn't the best way of judging an herb. Well, I guess this just shows that I still have a lot of work to do to become a proper alchemist. Plus, I still plan on becoming a powerful sigil user. If I can't defend myself properly, being an alchemist won't save me from a powerful cultivator, and in the end, sigils are still the core metric of power within this world. Both take a lot of time to improve, though… It seems I really don't have any time to waste with pointless endeavors, I still have so much I still need to do.]

The list reached the top ten, then the top 5. At this point, the instructor began adding the score that each participant had earned for the final 5 names, showing the difference between the top places. The exam scoring was based on a point system with no hard limit, and a student needed to earn at least 20 points to pass. The person in fifth place had earned a total of 68 points, though, clearly showing the distance between those at the bottom and those at the top.

"Next, in fourth place, with 74 points, is Zosal Kyverious," the instructor said calmly. Zosal smiled, but it appeared somewhat forced. He had expected to place at least in the top 3, but it seemed that he had only placed fourth. [Now that I think about it, I also expected Wendith to place in the top 3, but he only placed fifth. What's going on?]

"In third place, with 87 points, is Rychavel Deuterial." The instructor continued on, ignoring the frowns of confusion among the top-ranking students. Almost all of them accepted Rychavel as the most talented among all the examinees in attendance, but he had only placed third? Who performed better than him?

"In second place, with 157 points, is Noctis Piloac." The instructor's tone did not change, but his declaration caused a commotion among the examinees.

"How is there such a huge difference between second and third place?" someone asked their friend in surprise and shock.

"Don't forget that third place is that genius Rychavel," his friend replied in a hushed tone filled with disbelief. "Who is this Noctis? I've never even heard of him before."

"Yeah…" the first speaker responded. "Wait!" They suddenly froze, their eyes widening. "This Noctis beat Rychavel by 80 points, and still got second place. Doesn't that mean that the person in first place has an even higher score?"

"You're right! It seems like this year's alchemy apprentice exam has some hidden geniuses," the other replied.

Nadran was actually quite lucky with regards to the timing of the exam. The exam was annual, but when he decided he would learn alchemy, this exam was only five days away. This was not entirely coincidental, though. He took into account the proximity of the exam date when he was considering how he could get into the academy, after all. If it had been too long a time before the exam, he may have chosen to do something different, instead. He needed protection as quick as possible, since he didn't know when Tyval would strike.

"Finally," the instructor spoke up once more, instantly silencing the crowd. "In first place, with 158 points, is Nadran Drasnor."

Even more agitated discussion broke out at this announcement. The top two places were occupied by people they had never heard of before, and there was a score difference between them of a single point, compared to the 80-point gap with third place.

As this announcement was made, Nadran instinctively looked over at a seat a few rows away from him. He was the last one to finish before Nadran, and he had fallen asleep right after handing in his exam. At this point, though, he woke up, looking over at Nadran. Neither had ever heard about the other before, but they each instinctively knew the other's identity. Their eyes met, and they looked at each other for a second before nodding slightly. The other boy went back to sleep, and Nadran continued reading his book.

"Alright, everyone who passed, you may follow me into the next room for the second exam. Those who did not pass, you may either leave or watch the second exam from the spectators' seats. After all, you may learn something there that could aid you in the future." The instructor explained the next step, and everyone began moving. Some began to leave, but most decided to stay. After all, the second stage was the true test, while the first test acted more as a screening process. Even if they didn't gain much knowledge from watching, it was still worthwhile for many. Some looked to see what they were lacking in to improve themselves. Some looked to see who they should be careful of or be nice to in the future, ensuring they did not hurt themselves with their own arrogance. Others just watched due to curiosity, wanting to see how these people would fare in one of the strictest entrance examinations in the city.

Nadran walked calmly toward the instructor, ignoring the attention he attracted as he did so. He didn't have time to waste on others' opinions. In fact, he was still reading the book as he was walking toward the next exam. He tried to suppress the nervousness within him as he walked. He couldn't afford to fail at this point, he likely wouldn't have the time to find an alternative if he didn't succeed. There was no chance that the Evegart family would let him go after he humiliated and heavily injured Kalio, so he needed to be quick to ensure he would survive. [As long as I pass this test, I should be safe, at least for now. The Evegart family is wealthy and powerful, but they can't go up against the Mirror Dragon Academy.]

Nadran's eyes filled with determination as he walked forward, ready to face the second test.