Chapter 5 – Proficiency Test

The Magic Proficiency Examination Room was located on the 8th floor. There were only a handful of students waiting outside the room when they arrived, each accompanied by an adult. They also met Johan there, together with Prof. Dupont who were third in line.

"Johan! Professor!" Dorin called when he saw the two, "You're already here!"

"Dorin!" Prof. Dupont called back happily. "I thought you already left for home?"

"My mother gave me permission to study here!" Dorin said excitedly, "I'm taking up Magic Defense!"

"Oh, just like Johan!" Prof. Dupont patted Johan on the back. The other looked at them nonchalantly, but suddenly stood in attention when Gen. Muller came near.

"Prof. Dupont! I see this kid is another one of your protégés," greeted the general. "So, where did you find this one?"

"We met near the borders of the Arfan Empire," the professor said with a smile, "His grandmother entrusted him to me, right Johan?" the young man nodded. "Why don't you introduce yourself to General Muller?"

"Johan Ignacius... Sir..." mumbled Johan.

"Ignacius?" Gen. Muller's face suddenly looked surprised.

"Yes, it seems the people in their area name children according to their ability, particularly when it manifests in an early age," Dupont recounted, he looked like he was about to give a lecture. "His mother was an Ignacius as well, his grandmother, on the other hand, was a Terra."

"You, really, never cease to amaze me..." Muller said in a low voice, "Another rare find, I see." he laughed, but the laughter did not reach his eyes. "I still can't believe you got to Sebastian before I did."

"Now, Gen. Muller, no need to be so competitive, we are, after all, part of the same University!" Prof. Dupont pointed out smiling sweetly. "Besides, you already have Dorin."

"Ah yes, I've been his mentor since he was a kid." Marcus beamed. "I'm mightily proud of this kid," he looked back and realized that Dorin was no longer by his side. He had gone back to the end of the line with Prof. Althea. "Anyway, I better go give him some advice for the proficiency exam," he said, hurrying to Dorin's side.

"Did they say Dorin?"

"Who's that?"

"You mean you haven't heard?"

"He came last week and became an instant celebrity!"

"They say he blew up the kitchen in the magic division's dormitory, a shooting range, and half of the Dark forest in a span of 2 days!"

"True, they say even the imperial mages were after him."

"But didn't they say those were just rumors? Didn't the mages leave him behind after finding out what a weakling he really was?"

Dorin half listened to the whispering around him. As hard as it may be, he would have to swallow his pride and pretend that he was as weak at magic as the groundskeeper made him out to be. He looked at the front of the line where a young girl entered the inner room while her guardian was left outside.

"Four more to go," he thought to himself.

The door opened and Sebastian entered the room. He stood behind Dorin and showed his slate. [How was enrollment?] he wrote.

"I chose Magic defense, like I planned. I'm aiming for a full scholarship, like you."

[Good luck] wrote Sebastian, [But I can't re-apply for full scholarship. I'm just a partial scholar now] he wrote on, [so make sure to stay out of trouble once you get yours.]

"Sebastian! Over here!" Dupont called, "What took you so long?"

[The lines in the Military Division were too long, Margarette told me to go on ahead without her.]

"That's right," Dorin said thoughtfully, "It's a good thing the lines here are not as long as the ones outside."

"That's because there are more and more students who prefer to join the Military Division," Gen. Muller explained, "while the Magic Division gets less and less enrollees each year."

"How come?" Dorin asked.

"There aren't as many young mages coming out as there used to be," said Prof. Althea. "And even then, a handful who do arrive, prefer to join the Military or Science and Technology division."

"They prefer 'new things' since Magic is, pardon the term, getting too old," added the general.

The atmosphere in the room suddenly changed. People were glaring at the Military man, but Major General Muller didn't seem to notice anything.

"Anyway," Marcus went on, "if you're aiming for a full scholarship, you should be able to master at least one element, or have powerful mental magic to show the examiners."

The general went on giving unsolicited advice to Dorin and everyone else in the vicinity. Soon it was Johan's turn. Prof. Dupont waived him inside the room, then turned back to join Sebastian and the rest.

"Ah, I always feel anxious during proficiency exams!" Prof. Dupont said, wringing his hands together. "It feels as if I'm here on my first day again!"

"What class were you in, anyway?" asked Gen. Muller.

"I graduated 5 years ago, during the 12th monarchy, my head was Professor Gerstein," Dupont said proudly. "She is also my benefactor."

"I believe she found you in an orphanage?" Althea inquired.

"Yes, she adopted me and treated me as her own. I am very thankful to her."

The doors to the inner chamber opened then, and out came Johan with a blackened shirt. They could smell something burning and heard commotion from inside the room.

"What happened?!" Prof. Dupont asked his protégé.

"Well, they told me to show my best element, so I did," answered Johan, looking down with a frown. "Then they told me to hold the flame at a certain temperature, I asked what temperature, they said, 'as high as you can' then..."

Prof. Dupont's eyes widened. He ran to the inner room with Gen. Muller right behind him.

"So what did you burn this time?" Dorin asked with a grin. It was then that they noticed the door frame turning red. The other students waiting their turn quickly stepped back as the double doors fell from the melted metal frame.

Dorin and the others were able to look inside.

The whole room was turned black, except for the far end where the examiners were seated behind a long wooden table. Professor Johan stood in front of that table, his head bowed, while Gen. Marcus looked around the room with an awed expression on his face.

"Wow, you did all that?" Dorin asked.

"Well, yeah," said Johan, embarrassed. "I often use blue flame back in the mines to find metals." He looked back in the room and frowned. "They did tell me to do my best."

"Good job then!" said Prof. Althea. "I expect you got the scholarship grant?"

Johan pulled out a gold slip from his shirt pocket. "Yeah."

"Wow! You did it!" Dorin happily reached up to rub Johan's clipped red hair. "Congratulations!"

[Congrats] wrote Sebastian.

"Looks like it would take a while before they can resume with the tests, though..." said Dorin.

"Don't worry, the University has counter measures for such incidents," said Prof. Althea.

Dorin and Johan looked back into the room and noticed one examiner, a tall woman wearing a flowing blue dress, stand up and walk into the center of the room. She raised her left hand, waving it slightly, and called water out of thin air. It rushed around the room, cooling the burned walls and cleansing it. The walls were soon clean, although they looked warped after getting melted.

Prof. Dupont went back, smiling from ear to ear. "Congratulations Johan!" he went to his protégé and hugged him tightly, then started jumping around like an excited little 7 foot kid. "You did it! You're so great!"

"Ahem..." Prof. Althea interrupted, "Please remember, Prof. Dupont, that you are an educator here."

"Oh, yes..." Prof. Dupont cleared his throat and tried to keep a straight face. "Good job." He gave his student a thumb's up sign. They could hear some of the students giggling behind them.

"That was an excellent show of elemental power!" Gen. Muller walked back to them. "It would be a pleasure to teach you in the Magic Defense class!"

Johan looked guarded again. "Yes, sir," he replied before stepping behind Prof. Dupont.

"I hope you would excuse him," Dupont said with an apologetic smile, "He's not very fond of men in uniform," he explained. "They were harassed a lot by patrol soldiers back in their old town."

"No worries," the general said with a friendly laugh. "I just hope he can learn to trust us in time, after all, he'll be seeing a lot of me from now on."