"The contents of the examination? Do you mean to tell me you were going to apply without knowing what they were? Is that meant to be a joke??!"
The look of disbelief and confusion on Roq's face was ever so clear; it looked like the words were written on his forehead. But Maryl quickly stepped in to explain the situation saying,
"Clovis isn't from around here, Roq, so naturally, he will be unaware of the contents of the exam."
He looked at me to verify what Maryl had just said, and I just had a bright smile on as I nodded in acknowledgement, leading him to facepalm himself and sigh before he began explaining.
"There are four tests in the examination, each of a certain difficulty that the examinee must overcome. The first is reaching the examination venue itself."
"The venue is located at the floating island in the middle of the upper floating ring. This is the hardest part of the examination, to ensure that those that are incompetent do not end up wasting the examiner's time."
"The floating island is located at over 6200 meters above the ground, and there are only a few ways to get to the island. The first is having a beast with exceptional flight capabilities, which is only found on beasts at the 6th level and above. The next is having an elemental affinity with an element that can give you the ability to fly."
"The last is through connections. Though there are almost none that use that method, the few that do have varying reasons and are all high-class citizens."
"The next is the written test; the questions usually revolve around matters such as basic magus arts/spells, history and some common questions involving English, math and other advanced subjects."
"The reason for the wide range of questions is a mage who is only good at casting spells is not of much use other than fighting. Lunvir Academy especially values students that know varying fields of occupations."
"Third is usually a free for all/battle royale. This is probably the easiest stage, were it not for the teaming or grouping that occurs yearly! The FOA(Free for all) is held on a randomized terrain, decided by the examiners."
"The terrain differs every exam, keeping the difficulty at the same level. Monsters and participants will be in the said terrain, and one has to complete a specified goal to progress further in the exam."
"The last is a 1vs1 tournament, the easiest yet hardest part of it all. This eliminates those who relied on others to get to this stage, and one by one, you have to defeat your opponents until you rank at the top of the table."
"The one who ranks first in the exam is usually granted a reward unknown until the end and tends to get placed in a good class."
"Good class??" I asked him curiously.
"There are three ranks of classes, used in academies across the continent: namely X, S, A, B, C, D. Those at a higher class are given a higher level of care, resources and attention, and it reduces as the classes go lower until it reaches D class."
"That said, the highest level a low-level citizen can reach is A rank, due to the pride of those in the higher classes, even worse is the fact that regardless of the position you rank during the examination, all low-class citizens must start from D-rank classes."
As he finished off his explanation, I couldn't help but think of how disgustingly hideous the caste system was in Lunvir; the higher class citizens had made themselves seem like gods, whereas they were nothing short of swine of the earth.
But this also made me laugh, as I understood that the reason why the higher class set it this way was due to their fear of losing their oh-so cherished power and determination to suppress those of lower status forever.
"Truly, humanity can be ugly on many scales," I said as I shook my head in disdain and disappointment. What or who I was disappointed at, I know not as the disappointment was directed rather generally that specifically.
"The last bit of the exam is the exorbitant fee you have to pay before taking the exam itself. Even after hustling and saving over 3 years, I only have slightly over half of the fee needed to get into the school."
A dejected look hung on his face as he looked to be disappointed that all his effort and labour only amounted to half the sum he needed.
"How much is the fee, if I might ask?"
"100,000 CC
"The price of the thousands of students who take the exam is how they fund themselves and obtain student resources."
Roq interjected as he explained.
"I see... I would assume weapons and equipment are for the student to handle, as the academy supplies the others?"
"Correct, and that right there is going to cost another shattering price as weapons of good quality are priced from the 100,000 range, reaching hundreds of millions, and a select few reach the billion mark."
"I see... then the money is not a worry! We have less than six days before the examination application deadline, and we also have 50,000 CC. I will make you rich past what you could dream of by this time next week."
"Huh??" The look of confusion was bright on his face as he looked at me as if to ask, 'Are you insane?'.
"That said, I will need you to trust me and give me all you have saved."
"That's supposed to be a joke, right?" He said as he looked around laughing. While I looked at him with a bright smile as I said,
"No, no, I've never been more serious!"