"You lot are looking happy." Nin said to the rest of our dorm who had just finished with their exams. Both practical and theoretical and while I was technically in the best position to help them, I did not. I just smiled, happy with the fact I did mine before as I was not interested in going through that amount of stress again. It even helped Ninno keep calm like my smiling always did.
"This better be worth it." my sister groaned before she threw a snowball at me which I had narrowly dodged.
"Don't worry! It will be! And soon, once Ninno is finished, we can all gather here once again to celebrate!" I said cheerfully while throwing my arms out and about the room as I danced. But all I got as a response was groans and moans as everyone puttered out. Quinshuu was even sat perfectly still as he had blinded himself in his test.
"I'd rather do it by the main entrance to this place. Preferably on top of it." Nin commented as he idly walked about.
"Why the main entrance, what's wrong with our dorm?" I asked him as I spun around.
"I have my reasons." he said before walking elsewhere with me following him shortly after.
"So," I then began to say, a more serious expression on my face, "Do you want me to go there with you or do you want to go on your own?"
He leaned on a nearby wall and sighed and moaned and groaned and made all kinds of noise, "I don't know... Just want it... Just want it to be done with." he said before he began to dig a nail into the wall. A small smiley face having been left in it briefly before the building fixed itself.
"Well, I guess I'll come with you, then." I said to him as I took ahold of his closest hand. Singing into my mouth gently so I could get his full attention. My smile growing when I saw his after his eyes found themselves staring into mine. A soft gaze once again being visible from my friend as we began to leave the dorm quietly. We might as well have gone now, while the Academy was somewhat dead as all the examinees calmed down.
But, to make extra sure that Nin himself had calmed down, I would take him across the roof. Let him enjoy himself and to ensure my joy distracted him from the paranoia he had. Something that seemed to be working quite well as he obsessively followed me across the roofs of various buildings. My laughter guiding him if I ever left his sight and a splash of water greeting him when he found me again.
"C'mon, keep up!" I told him before leaping a great distance away and spinning along the ground to land. A large splash of water coming out of the ground until I fully stopped myself in the freshly made mud. Then, he leapt after me, the concentration his magic just went through viewable even from here. And then, unlike me, he just landed with a booming thud.
"Help." he then squeaked as his legs had just gone straight into my mud. His mid-thigh being about how deep he went. At first, I just laughed at his predicament as this was something indeed hilarious. His magic just stabbed him straight into the ground!
"I-I-I-I'm s-sorry." I barely got out to him as I began to pull him out. My magic in the mud being redirected towards his legs so it could loosen him out. And then, he just slipped out and we rolled along the ground together before we stopped. His hand having just narrowly avoided my head when he stopped right on top of me.
A song in my throat as I lay there under him while he was so close to being on top of me. His usual signs of embarrassment being shown as his jaw made all kinds of rapid noises. And, as I was in a teasing mood, I began to guide his head forward towards mine, something he was letting just happen. Then, I giggled and brought his face straight down onto my flattened out chest.
Hugging him tightly while giggling some more before he shook me off. His expression showing slight hints of annoyance as began to blink and move around a lot. But, I brought him back to our original task as we really shouldn't have been messing around. Every lost bit of time would hurt how long he would have to show off how much he had learned!
This mud in his clothes and on his skin too... So, using some of my magic, I began to soak his lower half before extracting all the mud I saw. And frankly, I wish he had brighter clothes on as they were already dark and the water just made it darker. So, well, I probably ended up missing a lot of the mud.
"There! Presentable again!" I declared just before we reached a valley made by armoured men. Not even my efforts could keep Nin occupied now, there was just too much noise. There was just so many people here and it was completely contradictory to my exam. There was no love here, only hatred and I did not like it.
So, much to my shame, I began to wave at Nin as I moved away, slinking away so I could watch him go in elsewhere. But, I would not let him go in on his own so I moved some of my water off of his clothes and closer to his ear. Then, I tried my hardest to replicate my singing with captured air. And even if it was a bad replication, he at least calmed down as seen by his shoulders going down.
"Good luck!" I called out from my spot just as he disappeared behind those doors. A small nod coming from him just before the door closed with the crowd going away shortly after. I suppose they would be back, though. Where, however, was the real question, would we have to avoid our dorm later?
Yet soon it was quiet compared to before, at least, and when it became that level of quiet. I went into the building myself, hoping to get in with the staff so I could watch. I hoped Frihdeicalkbr had sorted this out and I could come in without issue. Yet, even then, with that in mind, I waited a little bit to see if he would show up.
And, thankfully, he did, "Ah, Student Larishazza, I take it you are here to observe our mutual interest in turn?"
I would have smiled having heard what he called me, but I was focused too much on Nin, "Yes, am I allowed to do so?"
"It has been, the price, of course, you saw before."
"So that's why they were all there..." I muttered with him nodding in confirmation.
"Yes, in exchange for Examinee Nin to be let in to watch, I had to make the entirety of Oddity House come too. This time, however, it will just be you coming to us, no one else."
"That's good..." I said while nodding over and over.
"We will, however, need to wait for a short period as Examinee Nin will have to do the written exam first."
"Yeah, reading, writing... Spell describing..." I began to say as I remembered what I did. The first two were boring but the last bit was somewhat enjoyable. However, I still worried for Nin, his spells were not complex. So I worried he would lose points here because of the likely simple descriptions...
"That last one is where most of the points come in. So, let's hope he can explain a few in-depth or so many he just nets many basic sets of points." Frihdeicalkbr said before he began to gesture me to his front.
"That's what I am worried about. We've had a lot of trouble getting him to learn magic. It's like he has never touched it before."
"Yes, I have been observing your actions in the All-Purpose Magic Development Centre."
"Is there anything you might have noticed we can help him with later?"
"Outside of him actually attending the lectures once he becomes Student Nin, rather than Examinee, no. I am afraid not. His magic may have origins in wind-based magic but he has also adopted a very rigid form to it. I assume it is due to his osibin-"
"Nin is human." I then corrected him after otherwise listening politely. A small nod coming from him before his eyes stared intently at mine.
"Of course." he then said with another nod.
"As you were saying?"
"Yes, his magic, to put it as simply as I think I can. Is well, not wind magic if that makes sense. It's the external application of his internal-magic reserves. I have a few theories as to why, but my favourite is that he suffers from Sudden Induction."
"What was that again?" I asked with a frown.
"It is when a low to non-magic holding entity is suddenly exposed to high concentrations of it and survives. And due to a few details that I won't describe. Its power goes far beyond the average natural magic user and their body is confused."
"That might be it."
His brow rose, "He has admitted to it?"
"He has said some kind of blast happened before when he was stuck in a hive with bugs." I said before shuddering at the thought. So many small creatures with little legs going all over you.
Our House Head then began to laugh openly, "Oh, this will be good when he finally becomes Student Nin!" a smile of my own appearing as I heard his joy.
"Does this information perhaps help him pass?"
"It might, it might. If I can prove it to them, then maybe. Being a beneficiary of Sudden Induction does alter how we score our students, see. I won't give you the details due to you being non-staff but know that it gives Student Nin a firm leg to stand on score-wise."
"Would me explaining what happened to him perhaps help?"
"I think it would clarify some things, but as a whole no, you would need someone who was there during the incident to testify. Or, even better, what inputted all that magic into him. Because whoever did must have been strong as despite his lack of wind characteristics. What is in him is very pure, far beyond even some of Exceptional House's intake."
"Well, that's going to be hard then..." I then quietly muttered as the one thing Nin didn't tell me was that. He mostly focused on what happened to him specifically, what he went through and that. He mentioned people but never said their names. Not that it mattered I suppose, the odds of them being here would have been something.
"Either way, we best get seated, wouldn't want to be late."
"Has the practical started already!?" I then asked in surprise. Had we been talking for however long!?
"No, no, no," he clarified before he held the door open with an outstretched hand, "I just want to get my spot." he told me as sat down in an unmarked seat. A cushiony, velvet-covered chair with lengthy armrests and many hidden parts. Magical and mechanical.
"I'll be over here if you need me." I told him before I then sat against the large, what I assumed to be a glass panel. Leaning my head against it so I could stare intently at what was in the arena this time. Not only was the arena itself a different shape this time, but a lot more physical related items were also present. It even had a centrepiece to it.
A large dark and likely metal bar surrounded by thick logs on either side. It looked heavy, very heavy, I was not even sure if I could lift it and I was stronger than Nin in both magic types! Then again, I also did not lift heavy object often. But, my inability to sense the internal-magic of that item worried me.
It could have been very deceptive in how heavy it was, yet, the sudden appearance of more items took my attention away, "Why are objects still appearing and... Disappearing...?"
"Remember the spell describing?"
"This is all being custom made to what he is describing?" I then said with widening eyes as I saw what Nin was making. Even if he was likely unaware of what we going on in this place. I guess that even explained why the ground was so well-suited to my dancing when I did my practical...
"Indeed it is," he said as he came over, an arm resting on the glass, "And going by what I am seeing he is going for the Excessively Manly approach as it has been nicknamed."
"How so?" I then asked as I turned away from the glass.
A small smile on his face appearing as he thought on the answer, "Because males of all magic-capable species have an easier time with internal-magic compared to a female. Just how biology is. So, as such, a lot of the less spell-confident examinees just treat it as a weightlifting competition." he explained before laughing briefly.
"There's so many men in my dorm that I sometimes forget witches are mostly women." I said with a laugh of my own as I remembered my old lessons. The ones that clarified the more biological aspect of magic.