"It's starting! Hurry up before we miss the chance to see it!"
"The freshmen exam is about to start. Let's see if there are any formidable students today."
"Do you think the son of Lord Jeon would make it to the top ten?"
A girl wearing a white v-neck shirt partnered with black leather pants with matching colored combat boots looks at the students running towards the school pavilion. She adjusts the maroon cape draped behind her as she walks towards there as well.
Despite the searing heat coming from the sun, she still hasn't felt any discomfort even while wearing her cape. It was the first and last gift she had gotten from her mother, which is why it is important for her to wear it all the time no matter what the weather is.
As she nears the pavilion, she notices that not only freshmen students are going inside but also senior students who have come to watch the epic entrance exam done in their academy every year.
Today is the entrance exam for freshmen students who wish to enter the most prestigious and outstanding mage academy in the whole kingdom of Mages. Mistwood Academy is a well-known academy which is a home for many talented teachers and students, which is also known to be a school where most of the powerful and popular high rank mages of today came from.
It is also a well-known fact that even the King of the Mage Kingdom studied in this academy back when he was still young – which is also why there are a lot of teens who dreamt of attending this school ever since they were children.
As to Mi Young, Mistwood Academy is just a stepping stone for her in order to achieve her one true goal.
"Look! That's her!"
"Oh my god! Is that really Jeon?"
"Hey, there's my younger sister!"
When she entered the pavilion, a huge crowd of students had already surrounded the center stage where the entrance exam of Mistwood Academy will be held.
Every year, Mistwood Academy will only accept 100 students in their academy. And every year, thousands of teenagers will go home with tears in their eyes as to not being able to pass the entrance exam.
Mistwood Academy isn't only known for its outstanding teaching capabilities, it is also known to be a school where the hardest mage exams took place. The entrance exam of this academy is composed of three parts; the written exam, the Selection, and total accumulated Mage points.
"I wonder how hard the exam is this year."
"I heard it's even harder than the previous year."
"How about we make a bet on which freshmen students would advance on the next round?"
"Deal!"
On the first round of the entrance exam, students will have to answer 100 questions that are all made by the Top 10 Great Mages of their school. It is said that these written exams are so hard that the highest marks ever recorded was only 52 points.
The top 300 students who are able to score bigger numbers than the rest will advance to the next part of the exam, while the others have to give up and try out next year.
However, according to some examinees, the first part of the exam is quite tricky. Some of them even said that there is some secret way in order to pass the exam, yet no one was clever enough to decipher the hidden message for the first part of the entrance exam in Mistwood Academy.
Mi Young scans the test area and notices that there are thousands of tables and chairs placed on the center stage. She also noticed that her fellow examinees were already sitting on most of the front part of the exam stage. She sighs in boredom as she slowly walks towards the platform and finds an empty seat for her at the back.
"Min Ji is really pretty!"
"It's my first time seeing them in person!"
"I wonder if the twins are even stronger than their older brother."
While waiting for the exam to start, she looked around her and noticed a few familiar faces. On the front part of the stage, she saw the son of the famous Pyro Mage, Jeon Shi Yun, who was said to inherit the powerful capabilities of the whole Jeon clan. Rumor has it that they have an ancient clan book that contains all the hidden secrets of the first ever Pyro Mage, who was a member of the Big Four.
Seated next to Jeon Shi Yun, is his forever admirer, Park Min Ji. She is also a daughter from one of the most well-known clans in the whole Mage Kingdom, the Park clans which are known to possess amazing Anemo attributes.
While everyone loves to pamper Min Ji because of her beauty, it seems that the son of the Jeon clan doesn't harbor any feelings towards her and she's the only one oblivious to it, given that Jeon Shi Yun doesn't spare her any glance at all.
Aside from the two, Mi Young also notices other famous teens her age such as the daughter of the most powerful Hydro clan, Shin Shang Min, as well as the twin brothers from the number one Geo Mages, Kwon Jin Young and Kwon Ji Hyun.
"It feels amazing while watching the children of the Four Great clans together."
"I want to be friends with Shang Min, she's really cute."
"Hey! Call her Lady Shang Min!"
Long ago, during the Ancient times, a savage beast which has the level of a Celestial Mage ravaged their Kingdom causing the deaths of thousands of Mages. A lot of Mages were starting to lose hope during that time because for them who can stand a Celestial ranked beast? But before the fire in their hearts totally burns out, four brave and powerful Mages teamed up and defeated the savage beast using their abilities.
Because of their bravery, their Kingdom was free of the vicious attacks coming from the Celestial beast. Eventually, the people of the Mage Kingdom hailed them as the heroes who freed and saved their country and were called the "Big Four".
Moreover, the clans where they came from instantly became the four clans that retain peace all over the Kingdom and are known to have direct orders from the throne. The Jeon clan which are Pyro Mages are in charge in the South part of the Kingdom, while the Park clan are in charge in the East side. The Geo Mages, the Kwon clan, are in charge in the West side and the Shin clan, which are all Hydro Mages, are in charge in the North.
But to Mi Young, no matter which family or clan you came from, as long as you make trouble for her, she will do her best in order to stop you from interfering with her plans which she had been planning since she was young enough to understand what magic is.
Just as she was about to get even more bored, the Examiner steps inside the pavilion and finally announces the instructions for the first part of the entrance exam.
She was a lady dressed in a green silk robe with silver linings on the helm of her clothing. She was wearing square-framed eyeglasses that matched well with her small face. Even if she is about forty to fifty years old, she still looks young and fresh.
And if you look at her clothes more closely, you will see a group of magic symbols embedded on the clothing. It was written using the Ancient Language of Mages. Lots of people have already forgotten how to read and write their Ancient Language, but Mi Young was lucky enough to understand them after finding an Ancient Book about their language in her father's old wardrobe.
"Good morning students! I am the proctor of this year's entrance exam." The Examiner starts as she scans her surroundings, she smiles softly at the crowd before continuing, "Today, we will conduct the first part of the entrance exam to select students who are qualified enough to join our prestigious and beloved academy. But even with thousands of aspiring students, we will only select 300 students who will advance to the next stage of the exam. And within those 300 only 150 students will be given the chance to further show their potential until the final part of the test. And finally, during the third part, only the top 100 students with outstanding remarks will be called as official students in our school. We will conduct the first part now, and to our examinees, good luck and may the Celestial Mages guide you. Let the exams begin!"
As soon as the Examiner uttered those words, the pavilion was engulfed in complete darkness. The torches that surrounded the center part of the pavilion, which Mi Young didn't notice at first, immediately lit up and served as the only source of light in the dark hall.
Loud gasps echoed all throughout the center stage when pieces of paper appeared in front of each examinee. Immediately, all aspiring freshmen students scanned their paper and started writing their answers.
Mi Young looked up to see almost all examinees diligently answering their piece of paper. However, because of her thorough knowledge and strong observation skills, she immediately noticed that something was amiss with the piece of paper she was holding.
She focuses on the words written on the paper in her hands. Mi Young's forehead creases when she notices that almost all questions are easy to answer. She began to scan the questions again and realized that even Mage children can answer these.
Mi Young's suspicion grows bigger when she sees that all of the 100 questions are very basic and can be answered by grade school Mages. She looks up once more and sees that the Examiner was looking at her. She is a few meters away from the Examiner but she knows that her keen eyes are planted on hers, and she did not back down from the staring game.
When she thinks that she's wasting so much time having to stare at the Examiner, she reads from the very top of the paper. "Name….age…birthday…Directions, answer all the questions within the time limit—"
That's when she sees it. She looks up once more and sees that the Examiner is looking straight ahead but there was a small smile playing on her lips. Mi Young squints her eyes at the Examiner before finally reading the rest of the directions.
"So that's how it is…" Mi Young whispers to herself.
Mi Young smiles triumphantly to herself as she looks to her left, flips the exam paper she was holding and reads the words written on the back part of the paper,
~ You have an older brother/sister and you are very jealous of him/her. One day, you stumbled upon a lamp and a genie appeared before you. He said that he was the "half genie", which means that he would grant you three wishes but your brother/sister would always get two times of what you wished for. Your first wish was to be the "richest" person in the whole world, but shortly after your sibling became the richest person since he/she got two times the money you received. Your second wish was to be the most handsome/beautiful person in the entire world. However, your brother/sister gets twice your beauty.
What is your third wish? ~
Mi Young scrunches her nose upon reading the passage. She couldn't help but think that the character in the text is so stupid knowing that his/her sibling would always get twice of what she had wished for.
But upon further thinking, she thought that the question is by far the most real question that was asked in their exam paper. Upon coming up with a clear and straightforward answer, Mi Young wrote down the words she wanted to say.
The moment she stopped writing, the exam paper she was holding turned into a gold bracelet. Thinking that she had destroyed her exam paper, Mi Young instantly rose from her seat and walked up towards the Examiner in long strides.
Immediately, all eyes inside the pavilion were on her.
"Is she done already?"
"I think not, since she's not holding any paper."
"Poor girl, she's already surrendering. I bet the exam is so hard, huh?"
"Of course, even the genius King only scored 52 points during his entrance exam."
Mi Young ignored the whispers all around her and went directly towards the Examiner. The older lady smiled at her and asked, "Is something wrong?"
Mi Young nodded as she lifted up the golden bracelet she was holding. Upon seeing what the younger girl was holding in her hand, the Examiner's eyes went wide like saucers. "Yes. I answered your test and the moment I was done with my answer, my paper vanished into thin air and this golden bracelet appeared out of nowhere."
"H-How…I can't…" The Examiner adjusted her eyeglasses and with trembling hands, she touched the golden bracelet in Mi Young's hands. "How is this possible…"
"What? What's not possible? Is something wrong? Am I in trouble?" Mi Young couldn't think about anything at all, except that she had f*cked up her exams and she could no longer fulfill her goal. She would go home utterly defeated and---
"No. Everything's fine. It's just that, ever since Mistwood Academy was built no freshmen student has ever finished the first part of the entrance exam with a perfect score. This golden bracelet is proof that you have definitely scored perfect in the entrance exam." The Examiner answered. Her tone is much more composed now and she finally regained her professional aura, given that minutes ago she was stuttering like a kid in front of the crowd.
Another set of loud gasps echoed all throughout the whole pavilion. Everyone was looking at Mi Young like she grew a third eye or what. Some even looked at her with envy and some with amazement.
Mi Young herself couldn't even comprehend what she was hearing, "I-what? Perfect?"
**
Note:
Pyro - Fire
Hydro - Water
Anemo - Wind
Geo - Earth