Nick arrived in front of a building with an all white exterior and four grand columns positioned to hold up the part of the roof that jutted out to provide shade to the entrance. Since it was night time, the lights surrounding the building were turned on with many facing the building's walls, making the magical anatomy office look more fantastic than it would in the day time. Most of the academy's administrative offices and stores remained open for 24 hours to accommodate the large population of students, faculty and civilian staff that lived on campus. Nick walked into the building going past its automatic sliding glass front door. In the reception area, a woman sat at a desk working on her computer and occasionally looking through documents; she had silver hair and a fair, white complexion. Nick walked up to her desk and inquired:
"Good night ma'am, I would like to have my magical affinities tested, where would I go to have that done?"
The woman looked away from her computer to give Nick some attention, saying:
"The magical anatomy office has 6 floors, this being the ground floor, the affinity testing rooms are located on the second floor. In one of those small rooms you will find a machine that you will have to pour your magical energy into. The machine will analyze what kind of magical natures are most compatible with your magical energy. As you should know, based on our affinities, all things being equal, the type of magic we are most suited for are naturally attracted to our mindscapes, the more suited we are for a type of magic the larger the quantity of a certain type of magic energy that is stored within our mindscape. A more accurate test exists but that involves a having a Regular Magician skilled in soul magic inspecting your soul's laws. While we do offer that service, it is expensive and I do not recommend it."
Nick became curious.
"Huh? Why do you not recommend the latter test."
The woman wore a plain expression as she explained:
"That is because although testing the soul is a more accurate test, generally that greater accuracy makes very little difference, practically speaking. Also, the test that involves the machines are confidential while if you have a Magician stronger than you check your soul's laws, who knows what they will do with the information that they obtain, after all, it is very difficult to police Regular Magicians. Not to mention, a Regular Magician with some understanding of soul magic could easily tamper with an Apprentice Magician's soul without that Apprentice Magician or this office noticing."
The woman finished her explanation and waited for Nick to make his decision but rather than the test, Nick was now thinking about the fact that the dean of this academy is a Regular Magician that specializes in soul magic and Nick had willingly let him interact with his soul.
(Oh shit, although the dean said that he only stimulated my soul into having a soul state and didn't inspect it, how can I be certain that he did not tamper with my soul?)
Nick felt distressed, having the realization that he gave the dean the initiative to take advantage of his ignorance.
(Sigh, advantages often come with disadvantages. If it wasn't for my soul states, I might not have gotten this far so even if the dean did something to my soul, its up to me to become strong enough to defend myself.)
Nick had already learned from a previous soul state that accountability mitigates failure, in this case his failure to have been more cautious with the dean. Nick spoke with confidence:
"I will use one of the machines to test my affinities."
The woman looked unsurprised, as if she knew that Nick would make that choice.
"Using the affinity testing rooms are free so just go to the second floor and enter an unoccupied testing room."
The woman pointed at the elevator that could take Nick to the other floors; it was located at the far right of the room. Nick thanked the woman and made his way to the elevator, using it to get to the second floor. What Nick saw once he stepped onto the floor was a large hallway with may doors on both of its sides. On each door, Nick saw a digital sign that indicated whether the room was occupied or not. Nick saw that most of the signs displayed, "Unoccupied", so Nick chose to enter the door closest to him on the right. When Nick entered the room, he saw nothing but a stool and a device that looked like an ATM embedded into the wall. There was a poster that on the wall that had instructions for using the machine. Nick read the poster carefully and summarized its contents in his head.
(Apparently all I have to do is activate the machine with my student ID card and place both my hands on the designated pad while pouring my magic energy into them. The machine will siphon my magic energy in order to analyze it and I should have the results within three minutes. That's pretty easy to understand.)
Nick didn't waste any time, he placed his two transport briefcases and his backpack on the ground in the corner near the door and sat on the stool in front of the testing machine. Nick placed his student ID into the designated slot and words appeared on the machine's screen: "Place both of your hands on the pad below and concentrate your magic energy into your palms.".
Nick followed the instructions and placed both his hands on the semi-glass pad jutting out from the machine, concentrating his magic energy within his palms. The screen showed new words: "Please keep your hands on the pad while your magic energy is analyzed.".
Nick waited in the same position for three minutes before the screen showed the results of the test.
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Unknown magical affinity: 59%
Soul magic affinity: 22%
Blade magic affinity: 11%
Other assorted but insignificant affinities: 8%
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"So these are my magical affinities. This unknown affinity has to be for rule magic. From what I've read, an affinity for soul magic is fairly common and most Regular Magicians have magic related to training their souls but for someone to actually specialize in it is rare because of the rumored pain involved in cultivating soul magic. I read in a book that recounted the events involving of a certain World Class Magician that specialized in soul magic that killed people as a method of strengthening his magic; the book stated that in those turbulent times, there were many Soul Magicians but now soul magic is mostly used to cultivate defensive methods within one's own soul. What's surprising to me is this affinity for blade magic..."
Nick thought for a moment.
(Why blade magic? Why couldn't it have been space magic or something more cool sounding and rare like time magic. Well, at least now I know where my talents lie. Hmmm... is my affinity for soul magic related to my less than frequent soul states?)
Nick didn't have an answer but he would definitely look into the cause of his soul states in the future. Nick picked up his transport briefcases and backpack and left the magical anatomy office, heading towards his dorm room.
When Nick entered his dorm room he placed his belongings on his desk and went to have a shower. After he was finished showering, he ate a snack, changed the time that his alarm was to activate to 5 am and went to bed, the current time being 9:43 pm. The exam starts at 9 am tomorrow morning so he was going to skip his regular training routine until the exam ended.
.......
RING RING RING RING
Nick woke up to his alarm at 5 am; he jumped up out of bed and ran to take a shower and brush his teeth. After he was finished, he got dressed in his usual attire consisting of a pair of blue jeans pants and a light colored polo shirt. Nick opened his two travel briefcases that were on his desk and began placing his throwing knives within his vest's pockets. He spent thirty minutes doing that and so after putting on his vest and picking up his backpack containing a few snacks, a bottle of water and his last beast capture scroll holding the animal he had bought yesterday, Nick left his dorm room heading to the cafeteria to have breakfast. Nick waited in line to purchase a serving of eggs and sausages with french toast. Nick then sat at a table in the far left corner of the cafeteria to enjoy his breakfast.
(This place has the best food...I mostly grew up eating whatever I got from my grandaunt and I did not usually have enough money to buy food when I went to school so I actually don't have much experience with getting food elsewhere so I guess I'm not the best judge of quality. I should eat out at one of the academy's restaurants after the exam, I still have £2,000 after all.)
While Nick was eating his breakfast, two persons clothed in black combat attire walked up to his table, sitting down with their trays in hand. Nick looked up at the two persons and spoke with a hint of annoyance:
"Oh, its you. It's been a long time Don Bartholomew and miss...Marcia, right? I'm sorry but I never got your last name. What can I do for you?"
Nick obviously recognized these two as the scene of their moment of passion from his first day at the academy was seared into his brain. Don and Marcia looked at Nick with serious but friendly expressions; Don spoke first:
"Hello Nick, it's been a long time since we stood face to face since the mid-year exams so I'm hoping that we can put that whole event behind us. I'll get straight to the point since we are both busy men; I want to invite you to join our group in order to complete this year's survival challenge with top ranks. Even though you are still clearly a rank 1 Apprentice Magician, we recognize your talents and want you with us."
Nick raised his eyebrows and replied:
"Us?"
This time, Marcia spoke to Nick:
"Yes, us. Us two along with six of our other rank 2 Apprentice Magicians. It makes sense that in a survival challenge that we should work together to get through the difficulties. As you know, as Apprentice Magicians we only have limited experience as well as magic skills to use so we should try to make up for what each other lacks with our individual skills. Don't you agree? By the way, My full name is Marcia Dunn."
Nick nodded as if he understood what Marcia was saying and spoke clearly:
"I understand what your saying but why exactly would I need to team up with you to get a top score in this exam?"
Don spoke with squinted eyes:
"You definitely received the same email as us, this exam will take place within one of the academy's private realms which are home to poisonous plants and magical beasts. Although we don't yet know the overall criteria for getting top scores in this exam, we know that we have to overcome all these natural hurdles while we are within the realm. Not even I have confidence in doing well by myself, how much more would you, who is one rank lower than me?..."
Marcia interrupted Don before he said something that would make their efforts to recruit Nick futile:
"The point is that unity is strength and we would like for you, as rank four within our year's ranking to contribute your strength to our overall success. We would be willing to pay you for whatever expenditure you incur during the exam. We will also give you tips on how to become a rank 2 Apprentice Magician. How about it?"
Nick looked at Don and Marcia sitting across from him with an indifferent expression and thought for a moment:
(I don't give a damn about your money or your tips. You people give me the creeps and I don't trust you. You say that the difficulties within the realm require a group's effort but that's just your own guesswork. I hate the herd mentality more than anything and you two actually came here trying to lure me into working for you? Hmph, maybe I would agree to your invitation in another life but not in this one.)
Nick thought all of that within a moment but knew that he should not say such things out loud.
(What did King Akhtoi of Egypt counsel his son? "Be diplomatic. It will help you gain your point.")
"Thank you for the invite but I'm just getting the hang of my magic and would like to use this exam to test my skills. The presence of other people would just get in the way, so I will have to reject your invite."
Marcia was about to speak further but Nick raised his hand in order to stop her.
"I've already made up my mind so there's no need to continue speaking about this, so if you'll excuse me, I have to get to the exam venue."
With that, Nick got up from the table and left the cafeteria, not looking back at the two people that he rejected. Don sat in place with a vain visibly bulging on his forehead and an angry expression.
"Marcia, I told you that trying to invite that guy would lead us to disgrace but you insisted. I was feeling happy with you because of how we 'rekindled' our relationship yesterday so I at least tried things your way but now that I've been rejected, I will do things my way. We will use the people we already have and pass this exam and afterwards you are going to let me inside of you as much as I please. Do you understand?"
Marcia internally sighed.
(Although Don has gotten more powerful since the mid-year exam, his temperament is still that of an entitled prince; he doesn't understand that that will get him killed in this academy full of human monsters. I was intimate with him yesterday so that he would comply more easily but it looks like this episode will result in me giving him more of my time when the exam ends; I'm so sick of him but without a special background my hands are tied. I'll agree for now and see how things play out.)
Marcia nodded her head.
"Sure Don. Nick is only one person and he is still just a rank 1 Apprentice Magician, he is only putting on airs. I only thought well of him because his magic energy seems a little interesting but it's his loss. Let's get the others and go to the exam venue."
......
Nick arrived at the exam venue, following the directions given in an email that he received a few days ago. The venue was located within a clearing located within the woodlands at the very edge of the campus's southern region. The clearing was large enough that the over 800 first years could freely move without getting in each others way. Nick stood at the edge of the group of students, waiting for what was to come. Nick looked above him to see a platform positioned at the very center of the venue, floating about fifteen meters above the ground with three Magicians standing on it, their presence being felt even from such a distance, there being two males and one female. Nick recognized the female. When it became 9 am, the female Magician stepped forward and spoke authoritatively:
"My name is Rebecca Jones and I will be the overseer for this exam. I will now explain the rules and objectives for this exam."
As Rebecca spoke, a bright glowing circular diagram made up entirely of laws written in Valteese appeared above the students and the floating platform, its light blocking out the sight of the morning sun.
Nick looked on with excitement.
"It's finally starting."