"We will begin the first test shortly; you have five minutes to prepare yourselves." Beatrix said, leaving the room shortly after.
Shortly after the teacher's departure, the room erupted into a cacophony of hushed gossip.
Though the students tried their best to be discreet, Kedra noticed that she was the subject of most of her peers' conversations.
Choosing to ignore them, Kedra turned to her deskmate.
"I don't believe I know your name; would you mind telling me?" She asked.
"Ah! Of course, my name is Selena Hallencourt." The girl shakily replied.
"You don't have to be so nervous when talking to me; the teacher said it herself; in this academy we are all students before anything else." Kedra said.
The girl was surprised and stammered on her words before properly replying.
"Very well, in that case it's a pleasure to meet you, Kedra." She said with a smile.
"The pleasure is all mine, Selena."
'She looks like a nice girl; I hope we'll get along.'
Five minutes passed by quickly, and Beatrix entered the room once again, this time accompanied by a brown-haired human woman that was carrying a stack of papers.
Beatrix grabbed half of the stack and began distributing three sheets per student.
"For your first test, we will assess your talent in the classes from the common curriculum, from mathematics and magicology to politics and history."
"I must warn you." She continued. "Cheating is grounds for immediate expulsion, so don't even bother."
"With that, I wish you all the best of luck; you may begin; we will collect your answer sheets in two hours."
Kedra excitedly turned the sheets over, expecting a challenging test, but her previous studies had covered the contents of the evaluation from a to z.
With her enthusiasm immediately shot, she contented herself to simply finishing the test as fast as possible, hoping to rest before the next one.
Before the first hour had gone by, Kedra had already answered the questions on all three sheets.
When the second hour passed, Beatrix clapped her hands and announced the end of the test, then proceeded to collect the sheets from the students.
"I will now pass the tests to my assistant here; she'll go through each of your sheets one by one and announce your results here and now."
The classroom burst into a flurry of quiet whispers and concerns, yet the assistant completely ignored the students; she picked up the first sheet and began reading.
Shortly after, she calmly placed it onto the podium. "Marshall Croisac, seven mistakes out of forty questions."
The woman then moved on to the next sheet. "Vivienne Sanlor, only four mistakes out of forty; good job."
'They're focusing on our failures, huh? That's harsh...'
She continued through the pile of papers; each student, on average, had answered at least ten questions wrong, though occasionally some managed to get under five.
Eventually, she reached the part of the pile that corresponded to Kedra's side of the class.
"Callow Murleigh, seventeen mistakes out of forty; we expect a better performance on the subsequent evaluations."
"Kedra Deslandes, no mistakes, excellent."
Each student turned to look at Kedra; their faces showed a mix of amazement and jealousy.
Kedra smirked, then quickly collected herself. 'I shouldn't get ahead of myself; I'm mentally an adult after all; this is nothing.'
"Selena Hallencourt, only one mistake out of forty questions, very good."
'Impressive; it looks like she's pretty smart. And unlike me, she doesn't have an unfair advantage.'
The woman continued to announce the grades until every single student had received their marks; she then took the tall stack of papers and walked out of the room.
Beatrix stepped up to the podium and clapped once. "Alright everyone! That will mark the end of the written portion of your examination; from now on we will be testing you on purely practical subjects."
"The first of which is the one I teach; that being magic engraving."
She then produced a stack of blank paper from a binder and began distributing it around the room.
"If you followed the lessons given to you last year, you should be able to replicate the simpler circuits. Though I understand that the Peace Hall's curriculum is much lighter, so I won't ask much of you."
Beatrix took a small piece of chalk from the podium and began writing on the blackboard. "I would like you all to draw the blueprint for a circuit that would produce this effect; you have thirty minutes."
Kedra looked to the blackboard and read the phrase that Beatrix wrote. 'A circuit that produces hot water for exactly twenty five seconds. That should be doable.'
'Ah, but at what temperature does she want it? Actually, does that even matter?'
Once she received the sheet of paper and Beatrix's permission to start, Kedra began drawing the basic outline of the circuit; first a circle to draw in mana, then three arrows pointing inwards to condense ambient vapor into water.
She then moved on to the part of the circuit that would produce heat. She voluntarily drew an imperfect, wavy base circle to disturb mana conductivity, weakening the effect of the heat-producing five-pronged star that she subsequently added.
She then drew exactly twenty-five small diagonal lines around the first circle, designating the circuit's runtime. Finally, she completed the circuit with a small external spiral connected to the circles to act as an on/off button.
'Well, it's not perfect, but it should be enough for this level.'
Having finished with ten minutes to spare, Kedra rested her head on her arms and waited for the end of the test.
Once again, a firm clap from Beatrix signaled the end of the test, with many students groaning about not having enough time.
Curious about Selena's circuit, Kedra snuck a quick peek before Beatrix could collect her sheet.
Her neighbor's circuit was very similar to hers, but many aspects of hers that she found tedious had been simplified and expedited. Kedra also noticed that Selena had specified the material to be used.
'Wow, I got careless; her work is way better than mine. Now that I think about it, I don't recognize some of the symbols she used; was my book outdated?'
Once Beatrix finished collecting everyone's blueprints, she enthusiastically returned to the podium. "With that, I will now escort all of you to the Wisdom Hall's gymnasium. Please quietly rise from your seats and follow me in an orderly fashion."