The next morning Tina and Theo crawled out of bed and took turns using their bathroom to get dressed and ready for the big day. In the bathroom, Tina had changed into her uniform and was finishing tieing her brown hair into the signifier pigtails. Looking at herself in the mirror, Tina thought back to how hard she worked the last few days with Theo to prepare for today. Letting out a deep sigh to calm her nerves, she smiled her usual beaming smile as she sicked herself up in her mind.
'Don't worry, you got this! Remember how much you have learned and how hard you trained! You can do this~'
Just then, a knock on the bathroom door jolted Tina out of her internal pep-talk. Along with the anxious voice of Theo sounded through the door.
"Come on Tina! Your dad told me that for the exam you are given a set of Combat Robes and I wanna get out of these dang rags as soon as possible!"
After leaving the bathroom, Tina glanced at Theo's current attire and added with a wry smile.
"Well, I don't disagree with you there, Theo. Tomorrow after the exam, we should go into the city and get you some new clothes."
Theo was wearing the same blue smock and leather sash that he's were wearing for the last three days. The oversized, blue T-shirt he arrived in had frayed even further due to how active he had been. The leather belt had been melted partly off by a yellow flame when Theo had been practicing his Spell Enhancements the morning before he taught Tina them.
The two kids left Room 121 and began to make their way to one of the Gargoyle Circles in the First-Year Dormroom. As soon as the duo left their room Theo noticed that the stone halls were being slowly flooding with the other students leaving their rooms also on their way to the first part of the Entrance Exam, the Magical Assessment Test. Theo thought back to his breakfast chat with his Advisory Professor Arthur J. Croff on how the Entrance Exam worked.
"The Stonehall Magic Academy Entrance Exam is broken up into two parts the Magical Assessment Test, which is taken by all the students twice a year. Then the Magical Comat portion, which only the top-scoring students get to take part in. At the start of every semester, the new and current students are divided up into their respective years. After that, each year's are divided up into 16 groups and sent to a testing one Testing Feilds. There an Advisory Professor goes through each student asking them to cast their best spell at a stone target. After that, each of the students is given a score form one out of one hundred based on their Advisory Professor's assessment of each student's current Magical Ability. After all of the groups have been scored, the top student from each of the 16 groups are placed in a bracket tournament where they fight in one on one Magical Combat to determine the top-scoring student. The first-place student receives 15 Merit Points, with second and third place receiving 10 and 5 Merit Points respectively."
Making their way through the packed halls, the two eventually found their way to a Gargoyle Circle and teleported to the Entrance Hall section of the campus. Stepping out of the Gargoyle Circle Theo followed Tina down the stone hall into the Entrance Hall. As Theo entered the Entrance Hall, he was greeted by a cacophony of hundreds of chattering first-year students packed in the massive room. Tuning out the noise, Theo scanned the crowd. After spotting Tina chatting with another female student, Theo moved his way through the mob to her side calling out to Tina.
"There you are, Tina! Man, this place is so packed I lost track of you for a moment!"
Seeing Theo approach, Tina smiled wryly as she replied.
"Yeah, I thought the same thing last semester. Anyways I'm glad I found you before everyone splits up into groups.~"
Tina glanced back at the two students she was chatting with before Theo arrived and with a beaming Smile introduced Theo to the young female student standing next to her.
"~Oh, sorry I almost forgot! Miss President, this is Theodore Jennings a last-minute student applicant for this semester. We met when he first arrived on campus and I helped him to see Arthur so he could apply for his classes.~"
Tina turned to face Theo as she Introduced the young female student.
"~Theo, this is the President of Student Council, Sonya Stonewall."
While giving a slight curtsy Sonya smiled as she reintroduced herself.
"As Miss Tina said, my name Sonya Stonewall the President of Student Council of first-year students at Stonehall Magic Academy. As you probably have guessed by my last name I am the granddaughter to our Headmaster and the current Arch-Mage of the Soran Kingdom, James Stonehall.~"
Theo's eyes widened in shock, calming his expression he returned Sonya's greeting with a warm smile as he reintroduced himself as well.
"Nice to make you acquaintance Miss President. My name is Theodore Jennings, most everyone calls me Theo. As previously stated by Tina, shortly after arriving, I received help from Tina to sort my classes and show me around the academy."
Sonya was in a similar uniform to Tina's the only defense being a small gold and silver badge pinned to her the left of her decently sized chest. badge with the silver crest of the academy engraved on it. her straight, silver hair was slightly curled at the tips. Her deep emerald green eyes seemed to sparkle through her small round glasses. The whole look exuded an air of intelligence and prestige.
Theo was surprised to be meeting the granddaughter of such an important figure in the Academy and the Soran Kingdom. After Theo reintroducing himself, Sonya put a hand to her mouth chuckled.
"Oh my! Mr. Theo, with the way you are dressed I never would have guessed you were well mannered. Well, I guess that just goes to show you looks can be deceiving.~"
Suddenly the deep gong of a loud bell echoed throughout the hall cutting Sonya off. Then the 16 Advisory Professors entered the front of the crowded hall standing a good ten feet apart. The students began forming lines in front of each of the Advisory Professors.
"Looks like we will have to pick our chat up some other time Mr. Theo. As the Advisory Professors are now leading the first-years into their groups.~"
Turning away from Tina and Theo, Sonya made her way to one of the lines in front of the Advisory Professors as she called back to the pair of kids.
"Dest of luck in the Magical Assessment Test you two!"
Tina turned to Theo and with a wry smile, she said.
"We better go into different lines since only one student in each group will participate in the Magical Combat portion of the exam.~"
While heading over to the line her father was leading, Tina turned back to Theo and with her beaming smile called out.
"~Theo, remember not to overdo it!"
Shaking his head with exasperation, Theo made his way over to a different line. He made sure there were no familiar faces in his line as he wanted Tina or himself to face off against Freya in the Magical Combat portion of the exam. Theo smiled internally as he imagined Tina or himself wiping the floor with Freya in the exam.
After a few minutes of waiting, the Advisory Professor at the front of his line began to silently lead the line out of the front of the Entrance Hall. Leaving the Entrance Hall the Advisory Professor led the line of kids down a spacious garden path. After a few minutes of walking with the group of students, Theo found himself entering a similar outside training field as the one near his dorm.
As the last of the students began to file into the training field, the Advisory Professor turned to the group of kids. The Advisory Professor's bushy, white eyebrows furrowed as with a commanding voice began Introducing himself.
"Now you lot listen up! I am Advisory Professor Avery White, you will address me as Professor White!~"
After a few moments, the group of students called out in unison.
"Yes, Professor White!"
A few students were a second late on the response, Theo included. Although, Professor White didn't seem to mind as nodding his head in satisfaction. Turing his back toward the group Professor White boomed out his instructions.
"Very good! Now, you lot have ten minutes to get changed into your Practice Robes. The lockers are over there~"
still facing away from the group Professor White pointed to a large building off to the side of the training hall.
"~Now, any student late back here will lose points on their final assessment."
With that Theo and the rest of his group raced over to the locker building as to not lose any points.