In the ancient continent, occupational exams are always held on the first day of the last month of the year. The exams are held in the major cities of the empire where the occupational guilds are situated. The exams' proctors are usually higher-ups from the major clans who are the representatives of the clan's Origin occupation.
The exam questions and procedures are only known to the Guild leaders of the occupation. Despite the fact that the exam questions are not known to the participants, an auction guild known as the Tower of Fortune sells the question and answers to any occupational exam.
The Tower of Fortune not only sells the exam questions, they also sell other illegal goods albeit a cheaper rate.
....
The sun has gone below the horizon. Despite the fact that it was already dusk, the local market in this part of the city was a beehive of activities. Nuzar and his friend, Ptah were manoeuvring their way through the busy market road. Trying their best to avoid bumping into some bad tempered folks.
The duo had a little tour of the city. This city is one of the minor cities in Misr. Minor cities are usually outside the empire's great walls. Citizens of the minor cities are more respected than the 'outcasts' of the borderline cities where Nuzar was from.
" Get away from me, you outcast" A young lady cursed, staring daggers at an older man who was trying to haggle the price of her goods. If looks could kill, the old man would have been long dead.
" What's the difference between living in the minor cities and living in the borderline city.... because I see no difference, both cities are prone to external threats. We all should get along with each other." Nuzar commented after seeing the discrimination between the locals of this city and the outcasts.
" The locals believe that they are better than the so called outcasts because, they are closer to the empire walls and before any external attack could get to them, the borderline cities would have been wiped out. But they've failed to remember that the Misrian government care less about them. The only reason why they stationed a few soldiers outside the empire walls is because of the little token paid to the military. Once they stop paying their taxes, they're done for." Ptah replied.
★ ★ ★
After walking around the local market, the duo finally stopped in front of a large tower-like building that had: Tower of Fortune written in English and in hieroglyphics at its top. Some touts were selling different stuffs outside the tower ranging from weapons to Occupational books. The touts were famed for selling fakes. They bought some clown faced masks and entered the building.
" Sorry Sirs, you'll have to drop your weapons outside." A man with a slender build said, casually. The man's face was covered with a scrap of cloth. He seemed to be one of the tower's bouncer.
Ptah brought out a jade like object. " This is my identity token, this should be enough to let us in with our toys right?" He said, smiling as he fiddled with the hilt of his sword.' This dude never gets tired of smiling' Nuzar thought.
The bouncer allowed them in, bowing to the duo. " We welcome you to our grand opening, Sirs." He said in a polite tone. The identity token that Ptah had in his hand showed the tier his occupation was. Although, he was just a basic tiered physician, this was just a minor city. The highest ranked physician that could be found in a minor city was an intermediate tiered physician. No doubt, a basic tiered one would be highly respected.
They walked through the passage way and entered a big room that was more of a bar than a reception room. The room reeked of alcohol. A partially clad waitress came to meet the duo, giving them a cheeky smile. " We have hard cider, ale, mixed opium and Us." She smiled. When she said 'us' it was then Nuzar noticed that she wasn't the only partially clad lady in the bar-like reception room.
" What's all these?" Nuzar questioned, furrowing his brows. " You know....this is their grand opening, think of it as their way of promoting their business. They're trying to make all their services as free as possible. Women...Liquor... Mixed opium...all are free for tonight."
" Oh, I see." Nuzar nodded. " My friend here want....you." Ptah smiled mischievously. " Yes my lord." The lady said seductively. She placed her arms around Nuzar's neck, pressing her jug sized bosoms against his chest.
" Get off me!" Nuzar screamed. " That's enough lady, it seems he doesn't like stuffs like this." Ptah giggled.
The lady left, not without giving Nuzar a seductive wink. His face was a shade of red. He turned to Ptah and shouted ; " That was treacherous!".
....
They got to a large hallway that was as busy as the local market. They got to the Occupational book stand. A scrawny old man was the one manning this section of the large hall.
" How may I help you young ones" The man smiled, revealing his randomly distributed teeth.
' Looks like they've been paid to always smile at customers.' Nuzar shook his head.
" We need a basic tiered physician exam questions" Ptah requested. " We need the leaked questions of the upcoming occupational exams" Nuzar chipped in. " Oh...the leaked questions? I'll need to contact the manager. The leaked questions are out of stock, but he might have one of those stuffs on him." The man replied and left the stand.
Shortly after that, he returned with a petite lady with acne spots on her face.
" Are they the customers that requested for the leaked questions." she asked the old man. The lady had a crew cut and many piercings from her ears to her lower lip. Her nose wasn't excluded.
" Yes ma'am" The old man said, bowing despite the age difference.
" Just as this book seller said, the leaked questions are not in stock but, I can sell mine to you albeit a different price." she addressed Ptah.
" How much is it then? " Nuzar chipped in. "My own copy of the books are three times the price of the ones sold out." She added, not paying attention to Nuzar.
" You haven't told us the exact price" Nuzar stated. The slim lady went silent, showing disgust towards him. Ptah noticed this and asked the question himself. " what's the price?".
"It's just 60 bronze coins". The manager replied nonchalantly. " What about 50 bronze coins?". Nuzar asked. " Argh! what a drag! How come you don't know the rules of the tower. Are you living under a rock?". She finally voiced out her dislike towards the young man.
" In the tower of Fortune, you don't haggle the price of goods. We're lucky she didn't hike up the price." Ptah whispered. Ptah passed his payment to the old man, who counted it and the man handed him the book. The duo were about to leave before they heard: " One last word young physician, don't ever come here with a no name fellow. I don't want our reputation sullied".
.....
This was the way of life in the ancient continent. The weaklings should bow to the strong and the Rich could treat the needy as pieces of trash. Ptah had explained to his friend that misuse of power was the way of life if those in authority. Not that Nuzar bothers about those miscellaneous stuffs, he had a lot of things going on in his mind.
Now the two friends were in the gambling section of the tower. Ptah had warned Nuzar against the idea of gambling in the tower of Fortune.
As lame as the name sounds, the tower was really a Fortune Paradise. Although, they sell illegal items at cheaper price and auction the rarer items, that's not what made all the Towers of Fortune in the ancient continent well known. It was the proclaimed winnings of gamblers that frequented the place.
Yes... Some gamblers do win in this place but, they've never carted their easy earned wealth home.
" Nuzar are you sure you still wanna gamble. You've won the fourth round, this should be enough for what ever reason you need the money for". Ptah whispered softly.
" Funny you, it's not as if I can leave this place unscathed with my 'hard earned' money. I'll just keep on winning and face whatever comes up" Nuzar giggled mischievously.
.....
" Sir, what should we do about those misfit". The petite manager asked a young man in his mid twenties who was seated on a makeshift throne coated with silver. The young man smiled and said:
" Keep an eye on the trouble makers".