Days passed by quickly and the Entrance Examination starts. Students gathered at the academy's gym which also looked like an expansive arena. A stage was built at one side of the arena, opposite the entrance.
"Welcome dear students to the Divine Prophecy Academy. I am Dean Fulgur, the Principal of this academy. You are all chosen to have the privilege to study here. This means that most of you have the potential to be strong in the future." Dean Fulgur greeted the students.
He briefed everyone on what's happening on the exams.
The exams were composed of three stages and at each stage, there was assigned personnel to tell the students what to do to finish each. The whole examination procedure will be monitored by Vice Dean Mufar. The students have the freedom to take the exams whenever they want as long as they finish the exams within two weeks.
The briefing ended as swiftly as it started and most of the students rushed out to take the exams.
"Luis! Stop! Wait for me!" Serion shouted from afar.
"Oh! Hi Serion! What's the matter?" Luis greeted and asked.
"Don't take the exams now. The examination areas are probably jam-packed right now. Let's take this exam after a week so there will be fewer people who will take the exams." Serion suggested.
The two spent the whole day roaming around the city since they can't go to the rest of the academy other than the arena and the examinations area. They become closer as friends as time passed by.
When night rises, the two separate their ways to go to the accommodations prepared by the academy.
Luis organized the things he had. He unloaded the backpack he carries since he left their house on Earth. The pack is full of things like the herbs he stocked when he was still living with old man Dave, all of the clothes he folded neatly, his water bottle, and the orb he got when they slew the serpent on the way to the Gorge.
"Ooh! You have an Origin Energy Orb!" A voice suddenly rang inside Luis's head as if his inner self suddenly talked.
"Who are you? Show your self!" Luis asked looking around the room to see if there's another person in the room.
A bright yellow light suddenly glowed in front of it as it turned into a figure of a half-bull, half-human creature. Its head and legs are of a bull, and its torso and arms are of a muscular human. He's a two-foot-tall spirit creature.
"I am Eroditus, I was with you the whole time right after you left the shrine." The creature introduced himself.
"Are you a Minotaur? And how did you get here?" Luis asked when he saw Eroditus popped out of nowhere.
"Minotaur? What kind of a creature is that? Anyway, Euclepius put me in your consciousness and gave me the instructions to guide you until you have enough strength to protect yourself." Eroditus explained everything.
"So what are you then?" Luis asked again.
"I'm a Guardian Beast of the Earth. I'm a Heavenly Bull who died from the last war and my spirit was saved by Euclepius and now, I am your guardian spirit." Eroditus explained.
"Okay? Then I think you knew what is this thing, do you mind to explain what you know about this Origin Energy Orb you're talking about?" Luis inquired.
"This Origin Energy Orb is the essence of the life of the creatures. This thing can't be easily extracted and only a handful of these things can be found around Spring Country." Eroditus explained.
"Is this thing expensive?" Luis curiously asked.
"Probably one of the expensive things that you have though I suggest that you keep it. That thing is a precious ingredient for Alchemists like you." Eroditus answered and suggested.
"You said one of the expensive things I have. What is the other one?" Luis was confused when he observed the odd thing Eroditus said.
"The other one is that book." Eroditus pointed out the tattered book old man Dave gave to him.
"You mean this precious book that grandpa Dave gave me is expensive?" Luis clarified.
"Yes, and also the most helpful thing for you. Use it now and try to see what it does." Eroditus urged Luis.
Luis opened the book. It has a series of spells that Luis read. After he finished reading the spells, the book floated and created a magic circle below Luis, the book slowly fragmented as it drifted towards him. A new magic spell was engraved in his memory and it was sealed inside a grey energy orb.
"Compound Spell: Identification!" Luis exclaimed as he spread out his hand but nothing happened.
"Try to use the spell on those things." Eroditus pointed out the boxes that were stacked on one side of the bed.
Luis used the spell on one of the boxes. A light glowed from his palms as information surged inside his mind.
=Alaster Weed,
Condition: Dried
Uses: Ingredient of Potion of Healing
Warning: None
The information showed everything that Luis must know. He tried to use it on another box of herbs.
=Peeler Mushnion
Condition: Soaked
Uses: Ingredient for Skin Ointment
Warning: Don't approach when premature.
Causes: Itch and Skin Peeling
He was amazed when he saw all of the information shown to his mind.
"This spell is amazing! I want to try it on you." Luis exclaimed as he faces his palm on Eroditus. He chanted the spell and nothing happened.
"This spell probably works only on herbs and plants, I think? I also don't have information regarding this spell." Eroditus thought out loud.
Luis kept on trying the spell on all of the herbs he brought until he felt tired and fell asleep.
A week passed by. Luis and Serion hang out for the past few days until the day that they decided to take the exam came.
A loud knock can be heard from the door as Luis finished taking a bath with only a towel covering his lower half.
"Dude! We're going to take the exam early remember? Did you just finish taking a bath when I came? Gods! Hurry and dress yourself up we will be late!" Serion nagged as he pushed Luis back inside.
After a few minutes, Luis wore the uniform that he got from a year ago.
"Now, let's hurry!" Serion pulled him out of the place and dragged him towards the first examination area.
"Bro! Easy! We don't need to hurry! Remember that we had more time?" Luis tried to calm down Serion.
"No! We don't have more time! They readjusted the schedule and made the last day of examination today since almost all of the students took the exams on the first three days." Serion anxiously replied as he dragged Luis again towards the first examination area.
"Hi! Welcome to the first examination area! I am the person in charge of this place, I am Anarie." The girl at the entrance greeted.
She explained everything that they need to know about the first examination. The exam was held in a room where an Identification Array was transcribed.
They entered the room and saw a large circle transcribed in the middle part of the floor. The circle was connected on a stone slab placed on the right side of the array.
"I'll go first and show you how this thing works." Serion volunteered and stepped on the circle.
He closed his eyes as he relaxed his whole body and a pinkish-white aura came out of his body. The array glowed as the slab lighted up with the same color that Serion emitted.
Serion stepped out of the circle as he placed his hand on the slab as a mark appeared on the back of his hand.
"This is the result of the exam, we can't understand this because we need a thing that they use to decode this mark. Now it's your turn! Just relax and feel your energy flowing through your whole body." Serion explained and directed.
Luis nodded as he headed towards the circle and stood inside of it. He relaxed his body as energy started coursing through his body. He emitted a bright grey aura but an unusual thing happened. The ground where the circle was transcribed, cracked. The slab emitted the same light Luis emitted and a crack slowly formed at the top of the rock, luckily, it didn't break down. Luis headed to the slab and nervously placed his hand on the slab. A mark appeared on his hand as the light from the slab dimmed.
"Whoa! Luis, what happened? Why did everything crack?" Serion asked in an amazed tone.
"I don't know either? But I'm scared that they might void my admission!" Luis nervously responded.
"It's okay Luis! There's no need to be worried. As long as we reported this to them, they won't do anything to you unless they found out that you have the intention to ruin the thing." Serion comforted.
"But I didn't do it intentionally! It's all an accident!" Luis exclaimed nervously.
"I know, I know, I will stand as a witness if ever something happens," Serion assured as he dragged Luis back to Anarie.
"Just place your marked hand on this disc and I will write down your results," Anarie instructed.
Serion placed his hand on the disc and he got his results. His element is Air with Illusion variety.
Luis placed his hand next to the disc and he got a result that made Anarie sigh. His element is Neutral with Earth variety.
"Uhm... Ms. Anarie, I would like to report something." Luis nervously said.
"What is it?" Anarie asked.
"The array and the slab inside was cracked. I promise that I didn't do anything with it!" Luis panicked as he confessed what happened inside the room.
"Don't worry Luis, you might just be the unfortunate one when the array broke. No need to panic! I will ask someone to look into it!" Anarie assured as she smiled towards Luis that made him calm.
"Now, let's go to the next exam! Hurry!" Serion exclaimed as he dragged Luis towards the second examination area.
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A ring can be heard inside Mufar's office as the voice of a man echoed inside an orb.
"Sir Mufar! We need you to see this immediately!" The voice panicked as he hanged up after saying what is needed to be said.
Mufar hurried to the first examination area and there he saw people looking inside the room from the doorway.
"What's happening here?" Mufar asked and one of the men pointed inside the room.
The room was glowing and the whole room was covered with different arrays that even he can't decode. It was engraved on the floors, ceiling, and walls. The slab was also glowing and some inscriptions were engraved on it and a palm-shaped hole can be seen from the center.
"Why is this happening?" Mufar asked.
"One of the students reported that there's a crack inside the room so I called the maintenance team and then this happened," Anarie explained to Mufar.
Mufar entered and tried to examine the room but as soon as he entered the room, his aura was revealed as the slab glowed with the same hue as his aura. All of it happened in an instant.
"The array became ten times stronger than it was. Tell me, who reported this incident?" Mufar asked.
"If I remember correctly, his name is Ignacius Luis Delmont," Anarie answered.
"Interesting... Try to mend the cracks but do not touch the array." Mufar instructed as he left the room.
"Sir, I think we don't need to." One of the men responded that made Mufar stopped.
He looked again inside the room as he saw that the cracks inside the room are mending themselves.
"Really interesting..." Mufar said as he walked back to his office.