[Voxea, my eyes feel like I just stared at the sun for five minutes. What happened?], I asked while furiously rubbing my eyes and blinking. At some point I needed to ask why magic always seem to involve bright lights. This cannot be healthy for my eyes.
[Well it's a good news, bad news situation], Voxea replied in a tone reminding me of a grumpy child.
[Uh oh. What's the good news at least]?
[The good news is that we managed to clean out the aether stuck in the array and I did some things to it to make it more accurate and modern].
[And the bad?], curious as to what the issue was.
[ANOTHER MAJI TOOK MY STUFF]!
[Wait, what?!], I replied while trying to suppress the shock from reaching my face.
[Apparently I'm not the only one who managed to escape dying during the Collapse, granted their methods are greatly different from my own. Still, this is either a very very good thing or a very very bad thing depending on which maji it is].
[Which? As in you don't know who?], I asked surprised and confused.
[Unfortunately no, but they sounded familiar... regardless, your proctors are about to get their sight back so get to improvising].
[Crap].
_________________________________________
{That was a hell of a light show. Who was that majimonster anyways? It looked a Blizzabella but the feeling was very different}, Malgorious asked while pocketing a pair of dark eyeglasses into his pockets. He then proceeded to fake rubbing eyes as if to show that he was also affected by the flash.
{A very old friend of mine who went with a very different path towards survival, but I don't think she recognized me. Well, it probably doesn't help that my body is non-existent. Either way, we'll meet her and her apprentice properly later. For now, perhaps you should help her lie her way out, no}?
{Whatever you say}.
_________________________________________
As the light faded and the professors and students regained their sight, a clamor broke out, wondering what had just happened.
"Ow, why does it feel like I just stared at the sun"?
"Was their a loud sound? I swear a loud bang fired off when that light happened".
"What's up with the array? It looks different".
The evaluation array had indeed changed after that flash of light occured. Before, it was just a large crystal embedded in the ground, an intricate spell circle drawn around it. Now, the large crystal was floating above the spell circle while being surrounded by other smaller crystals. The spell circle was even more intricate than before, but only a maji or a very learned Scholar would be able to tell upon close inspection.
"Miss Rosewood. Would you care to explain what happened?", asked the wolf-like woman professor.
"I don't know. I just did as you instructed and injected my aether into the array", the girl replied in a clueless tone of voice. The other professors seemed mollified by her response, but the wolf woman stared at her with an incredulous eye. But before she could interrogate the girl further,Malgorious interrupted her.
"Mistress Feros. We shouldn't not place malice where ignorance is probably at play here. We lost much knowledge in terms of the maji could do and it's very likely that the array just simply...acted up. I believe it would be wiser if we just had Miss Rosewood redo the evaluation and move on. Don't you agree"?
Both Rosewood and Feros looked at Malgorious with surprise at his interjection, but the other binders present agreed with Malgorious's assessment. Feros looked at Malgorious with murder in her eyes due to his interruption, but she agreed nonetheless.
"Very well. Miss Rosewood, proceed".
The girl quickly nodded before doing as instructed and injected her aether into the array. Unlike before when the array just glowed, the smaller crystals began to spin a little faster
[Evaluating applicant].
And talk.
"Well that's new".
_________________________________________
[Applicant: Silvia Rosewood]
[Description: A headstrong girl with a good mix of cleverness and survival skills. Lacking in booksmarts but not by much. A diamond in the rough that could stand to learn some etiquette lessons].
[Recommended classes: Druid,Paladin, Scholar ]
[Recommended Affinities: Ice, Mystic, Lightning]
"...".
[You're welcome].