She holds up her hand, painted with golden nails to match her hair, to halt her retainer. The lady recovers her composure and smiles softly. "My name is Daphne au Therasia, first princess to the Royal throne, pleasure to meet you. "
"Absinthe," he smiles back. He holds out his hand, and Daphne twists her arm slightly to shake it. "Nice to meetcha. I'm aiming for your top spot, by the way."
"…I hope you understand that your goal means to stand above not just me, but Sir Cedric and Lady Seraphina as well. Are you prepared?"
"Sure I am. Remember my name for the next time we meet."
Her retainer frowns, drawing his sword and pointing it at Absinthe. "Scoundrel! Another word and I'll cut you down!"
Daphne sighs as she pushes away the blade of his sword. "Cymon, it's fine. It's always best to let a man dream before you destroy it. If we're deprived of this privilege, what's the point of dreaming anymore?"
As Cymon's sword trembled, held back by Daphne's gentle yet firm grip, Absinthe's gaze remained fixed on the retainer, a mischievous glint dancing in his violet eyes.
"Goodbye Absinthe. I feel that Vivil Sanatoria has conjured up quite the examination," she gestures forward, towards Alma Absalom who is about to continue speaking. Absinthe moves away from the edge and sits back up on the ferry's roof.
"What were you doing?"
"Talking to the princess."
"That's nice… what?"
Absinthe hushes Mel as Alma Absalom clears her throat. "Now, onto the Exam! In a moment, I will transport you all to Vivil Sanatoria's Enchanted Forest, which is the stage for the exam. On your bodies are plants called heartspuds! They will serve as your 'life'."
Gasps and murmurs emerge from the crowd as they check under their cloaks, coats, and jackets. Even Absinthe is deeply surprised to find a network of long, sinuous vines wrapped around his right arm. A small, purple bud is near his shoulder, purple in color, and has his name etched in on the bulb's curve.
Melchior's is near his torso, clinched near his gut.
"When the hell did they get there?" Melchior asks, realizing that something is deeply strange. He flips open his pocket watch, reading aloud, "1 PM… impossible. It's only been five minutes since our ferry arrived. Didn't this start at 12?""
Before they can discuss, Alma continues. "Heartspuds are carnivorous little plants that kill each other and drink the juices in their buds. If they consume extreme, copious amounts of the heartspud liquids, they'll bloom into a huge, beautiful flower. This results in the heartspud turning to an exceedingly rare flower, known as Caerulephyllum. However, heartspuds can bloom normally with time even if they intake a low amount of other heartspuds, but only in special circumstances.
"So! The scoring of you students will be based via lifesteals. If you steal the heartspud of someone else, and feed its juices to your own, that's considered 1 lifesteal. However, if another student takes and extracts the bud of yours, that student will receive 2 lifesteals, one from you and the student you took down. The more you gather lifesteals, the more your heartspud will change color and evolve from a dark purple to a crimson red!
"The moment that your heartspud is removed from your body or destroyed, or you are deemed incapable of fighting, you are eliminated from the exam!
"The first method to pass the Practical Exam is to survive within the Enchanted Forest for ten days and gather at least fifty lifesteals. I hope you all brought luggage as instructed! Secondly and more difficult is to bloom the Caerulephyllum! This is mainly achieved through 120 lifesteals!"
'So, the best is worth 120 other invokers?'
Alma pauses, glancing at the thousands of students who deliberate and strategize their near future.
"The Top Ten who claim the most lifesteals will be rewarded from the vaults of Vivil Sanatoria and guaranteed a spot in the A Classes! By my count there are 4,866 students taking this exam! I will be watching over everyone, so don't worry about holding back! May Sol illuminate the path to victory!"
A warm ray of light beams down on each student on the walls, even those on and in the ferries. Absinthe holds his fist out to Melchior, knowing what's going to happen next. "We're cinching first and second, alright Mel?"
"Naturally, but I'm going to be first," Melchior responds back with a chuckle, returning the first bump.
Then a blinding light forces Absinthe to close his eyes… before everything goes dark.