On my way upstairs, I bumped into someone unfamiliar.
"Hello," I greeted him politely.
Unexpectedly, instead of returning my greeting or moving on, he slams me on the shoulder instead.
"Candace, I was so worried about you!" he said.
"Stop with your fake worrying, I don't even know who you are," I replied.
"Wow, amnesia to the point where you can't even remember your own brother? I'm hurt, Candace."
"I'm sorry, 'brother,' but I really do not remember anything."
"Of course you don't, you wouldn't be talking or walking like that if you did."
"Is there something wrong with the way I'm carrying myself?"
"Nothing wrong, just different."
"Brother, would you please help me with studying for the entrance examination?" I stopped the argument and immediately changed to a different topic.
"Of course," he winked.
I ignored him and continued to the library.
"I've gathered that there is a paper examination and a practical examination," I said the moment I reached the library. "I'm not worried about the practical examination, so please help me with the paper examination."
"Ah, the paper examination? I think you should be more worried about the practical exam. The paper exam is just basics, about things like history, magic circle mathematics, and the sciences."
Mathematics and Science were unlikely to faze me, but history worried me. I wasn't from this world, after all, so facts I had memorized about the French Revolution or the American Civil War would be useless here.
"I'm most worried about history," I said.
All of a sudden, I was grabbed and forced against the wall.
"Ow!" I exclaimed as my head hit the edge of a bookshelf.
"Who are you, and what have you done with my sister?" he asked.
"I'm sorry, I don't-"
"Oh right, amnesia. But amnesia doesn't get rid of your ability to remember things. You used to love history, and you couldn't solve a magic circle to save your life. Why the sudden flip-flop?"
As I hadn't received memories of the former "Candace Mendoza," I knew only the knowledge I carried over from Earth.
"You aren't going to tell me," he continued slowly, "that you know how to cast magic now as well?"
I looked down and cast a small flame.
"But," he pressed. "I heard father proclaim you as blessed by the Water Goddess."
"I-Is dual elemental unheard of?" I asked as I dispelled the flame.
"Not entirely, but it's very, very rare," he said. "So, what's going on?"
"I-" I tried.
"What?" he pressed.
"Just help me study history," I said.
My close combat skills weren't weak, but they were clearly lackluster compared to my older "brother." Besides, it was difficult for me to fight without a blade in hand.
"I still don't know what's going on, Candace," he relented. "But I hope you weren't possessed by the demons."
I rolled my eyes and sat down to study.
Time passed quickly as we rushed through the history of the world.
This world was ruled by the four elemental deities, and all magics in this world were derived from those deities.
It seemed that I would have to stick to using water-related spells at school or in combat. Luckily, water was an important part of my specialization as well, since in combat I normally functioned as a sniper-type support, with my main preferred spells being of the ice type.
Since ice was the closest to water, I suppose it would suffice. But really, was it that difficult for me to channel two separate deities to cast both fire and water spells? Spells relating to the fire element had the most potency and destructiveness. The only possibility of using a spell that wasn't my own element would be to ask someone who specialized in that element to inscribe a spell scroll for you to use. These one-time-use spell scrolls were difficult to create, though nowhere near the difficulty of the spells I would regularly inscribe for daily use at home.
Aside from that, I would have to be extremely careful when using general-type spells I had considered to be staples of daily life.What happened to my indispensable transportation spells, arias, or concealment spells? None of those required elements to channel.
Really, I never quite understood the struggles of specialized elementalists until today.
I had a lot to learn, and concealing my identity to stay hidden would be extremely important until I had everything figured out.
On top of that, I had to find a way to contact those back home. Perhaps, this alternate universe could be the world we had dreamed of, a world where we can use magic freely, without the pressure lingering from the witch-hunts of the Early Modern Era. The drawback, of course, being that only elementalist magics were commonly practiced. That could be changed with time, unlike the situation back home, on Earth.
Even after my brother finished going over major historical points that were likely to appear on the exam, I went to sleep with a mountain of thoughts consuming me.
The entrance examination was the next day, so I was woken bright and early by Annabel.
Disoriented, I accidentally called her Therese and may have said something about the spells being on the kitchen table, but she seemed to ignore what I said.
The morning passed quickly as I hardly paid attention. My parents seemed convinced that I would at least make the B-class if I were to test into the Academie de Magie now.
I still didn't have a good grasp on how exactly the world worked. A single day before my first time going to school, I didn't have sufficient information to determine the best approach. It would help if I had ever even taken a single exam in my past life, but my mother's method of teaching focused far more on understanding, rather than memorization.
Thus, I had never taken a paper exam before, as she felt they were inadequate for assessing knowledge.
If the Laws of Physics and other sciences still applied in this universe, the sciences should pose no problem. Likewise for mathematics, I glanced at a few of the magic circle calculations problems briefly and could solve them without much issue.
Once we arrived at the exam site, I was first greeted by my "best friend."
"Candace!" she yelled.
I, of course, being a transmigrated version of "Candace Mendoza," had no idea who she was.
"I'm sorry?" I asked her when she approached.
"Aw, don't you remember me?" she pouted. "I'm your best friend, Lynne!"
I shook my head, not quite understanding.
"She has amnesia, from something that happened yesterday," my maid, Annabel, supplied.
"Ah!" Lynne exclaimed. "So that explains it! I suppose I'll have someone to keep me company in the D-class now?"
"I-I'm not quite sure..." I said hesitantly.
"I'll be leaving now," Annabel said. "Please do remember to write home occasionally."
I nodded in reply.
"Well, the exam should be starting soon," Lynne said, trying to be helpful.
I nodded, following after her.
The two of us walked into a large room, where the examinations would be held. There was no sort of assigned seating, though proctors walked around with magic detection spells cast.
Well, at least I knew those existed. Perhaps, it would be fine to utilize other divination spells as well, though it seemed that transportation spells or conjuration spells not related to my 'element' would still be far more difficult to mask.
Regardless, I took a seat next to Lynne as the exam papers were passed out.
Each exam was written in a small booklet of parchment, bound with twine on the left edge. Opening the booklet revealed the first question.
"Below are five magic circles. Choose the correct magic circle to prepare for a spell that would relate to the fire element."
There was a small like next to each drawn magic circle, a space for me to mark the correct answer. If the circle will pertain to the fire element, then it will naturally have pieces of the fire element drawn within it. I quickly marked the correct answer before moving onto the next question, one that required me to solve a relatively simple magic circle.
For these questions, it was simply about knowing the correct shapes that corresponded to the correct numbers, before placing the elements in the correct position on the circle. It was simple, something my mother would have taught me before the age of 10.
The rest of the exam went rather similarly, it wasn't until the history section that I started to have a bit more trouble. I didn't know specific dates for specific events, nor specific names, so those questions were ones I unfortunately had to skip, unless it was a topic I had covered last night with Fredric. That left a total of around half of the full history section unanswered, though the second half, which was two separate essays, were somewhat easier to write about. If I substituted a few names, such as Titillus for Caesar, the way in which many events played out closely mirrored that of my former world. The difference came in how the battles were fought, with magic instead of rifles. Swords still saw usage in the Middle Ages, from what I've gathered, though magic enhancements seemed rather popular.
Fredric had said that the Early Era, as the Middle Ages were called, would be tested a lot, so we had studied it closely compared to the rest of history.
Even without much knowledge, I think I managed to do passingly well on the paper examination. The parts testing magic circles and other mathematics were laughably elementary, and while a few of the physics problems initially gave me trouble, I managed to see through the tricks to apply the important concepts in solving those problems.
After finishing, I quickly glanced around and most others still seemed absorbed in their work. I waited, rechecking over my work, until one person finally raise their hand and a proctor came to collect their exam paper.
I hadn't been sure how the exam was supposed to be turned in, so after seeing a few other students do the same, I laid the exam book neatly with the fountain pen on top, and mirrored their actions.
The proctor that came by to take my exam looked at me a bit strangely before pointing off to the back door, where five others had already headed.
I nodded and left. I suppose the next part would be the practical exam.