The First Round

The cavernous hall where Caelumis sat was a silent sanctuary, its high ceilings and cooling artifacts casting a soothing chill that barely dulled the nervous thrum in his chest.

The Starshard's golden glow still lingered in his mind, its verdict: Light, a rare derivative attribute, both a gift and a burden.

He was alone, the only aspirant in this hall, the vast rows of empty desks stretching around him.

The heavy doors creaked open, snapping Caelumis from his thoughts. The same female instructor from his queue strode in with a stack of papers, her expression a mix of authority and calm.

She stepped onto the podium, her boots echoing in the silence, and set the papers down with a deliberate thud.

"My name is Professor Lirien," she announced, her voice clear and steady, carrying the weight of someone accustomed to commanding attention. "I will conduct the first round of the entrance test for aspirants with the Light attribute. You will have four and a half hours to complete the written exam, covering history, mathematics, science, and rune theory."

She glanced at the ornate clock on the wall, its hands ticking with relentless precision. "Your exam begins in twenty minutes. Once it starts, you may not leave or speak. Use this time wisely." Her lips curved into a small, encouraging smile, but it did little to ease the knot in Caelumis's stomach.

He leaned back in his chair, his mind racing. Light attribute. The words felt foreign, a truth he hadn't fully grasped.

His school's outdated artifact had pegged him as Fire, but the Starshard's golden glow had rewritten his destiny. Derivatives follow the same logic as their fundamentals, he reasoned, his thoughts scrambling to find footing. If I know Fire and Wind formations, I should be fine with Light magic… right? But doubt gnawed at him.

He'd never solved a single question tailored to light attribute's intricate patterns. The textbook fundamentals he'd drilled with Aeri felt distant, inadequate for the trial ahead.

He glanced at Professor Lirien, who was arranging the papers with meticulous care. Swallowing his nerves, he raised a hand, his voice tentative.

"Um… Professor? This was my first time learning I have the Light attribute. Will I be okay with rune theory centered around it?"

Lirien lifted her eyes from the papers on the podium, her expression softening but sharp with insight.

"You're from Eldergrove Academy, aren't you?" she said, her voice carrying the quiet authority of someone who knew more than she let on.

"We have records on every aspirant on this ground. Your graduation exam scores were impressive. Strong across all subjects, though your rune theory for fundamental attributes was… above average, let's say."

Caelumis nodded, his cheeks flushing under her scrutiny, his golden eyes flickering with a mix of pride and unease.

Lirien's lips curved into a reassuring smile. "Don't worry. If you've mastered Fire and Wind formations, you'll find Light questions familiar. Derivatives share patterns with their fundamentals. Besides, the Academy doesn't expect aspirants to know much about rare attributes like Light. It's too uncommon to be studied deeply.

"The rune theory questions will lean heavily on Fire and Wind, with only slight tweaks." Her tone was calm, almost gentle, and Caelumis felt the knot in his chest loosen.

Then her smile turned teasing, a glint of mischief in her eyes. "I assume you do know Fire and Wind well… don't you?"

Caelumis sputtered, nodding so vigorously his white hair flopped into his eyes. "Of course!" he blurted, his voice cracking with nervous conviction.

Lirien's smile widened, a quiet laugh escaping her as she returned to her papers. "Good. Then you'll be fine."

Caelumis's golden eyes were locked on the desk, his mind replaying months of study. He recalled the important topics he prepared last week.

Professor Lirien's voice snapped him back to the present, crisp and commanding. "The exam starts in five minutes."

She stepped down from the podium, her boots echoing in the cavernous silence, and handed Caelumis a thick test booklet and an answer sheet, their edges crisp with the Academy's seal.

"You may start on my mark," she said, her gaze steady but encouraging. "All the best, and use your time wisely." With a final nod, she returned to the podium, the ornate clock on the wall ticking toward 9:00 AM.

The second hand hit its mark. "Begin," Lirien announced, her single word a spark igniting the trial.

Caelumis flipped open the test booklet, his quill scratching to life.

He tackled history first, each question a thread pulling him through years of lessons. The Emperors, their ministers, and their contributions to the Empires, the rise and fall of ancient kingdoms, and treaties with the Council of Gods.

His answers flowed steadily, the dates and names as familiar as his own heartbeat. Forty-five minutes later, he turned the page, history conquered.

Science came next, and the questions bared their teeth. Comparisons between plant and animal kingdoms twisted into unexpected parallels with fungi and protista, their similarities a maze.

Caelumis's brow furrowed as he grappled with questions on bacterial cell composition and airborne single-celled protists, their elusive details testing the edges of his preparation.

Still, his confidence held, bolstered by months of relentless study. He pushed through, finishing science in an hour, his quill steady despite the mental strain.

Mathematics loomed, its pages dense with challenges. Non-linear integrations reared up, their complexity hinging on formulas he'd memorized.

He navigated them with care, his confidence growing as the numbers aligned. But questions on asymptotes tripped him, their abstract curves demanding deeper thought.

He wrestled with them, his quill pausing as he traced mental graphs, but time pressed against him.

An hour and a half later, he set mathematics aside, sweat beading on his brow, the problems tough but within the grasp of his middle-school foundation.

One hour and fifteen minutes remained. Caelumis turned to rune theory, the final hurdle. The Light attribute pulsed in his mind.

Somewhere beyond these walls, Aeri faced her own test, her brothers' futures riding on her strength.

He glanced up at the ornate clock, its hands ticking down the last five minutes. Heart pounding, he flipped back to history, scanning his answers with a fevered focus, double-checking dates and names etched from months of study with Aeri. The seconds slipped away, each one a drumbeat in the silent hall.

"Time's up. Good work. Place your quill on the desk." Professor Lirien's voice sliced through his concentration, sharp and final.

Caelumis dropped his quill. Her boots thudded against the stone floor as she approached, her expression calm but curious. "Did you write well?" she asked, her tone carrying a hint of warmth.

Caelumis swallowed, his golden eyes flickering with cautious hope. "I think so."

Lirien collected his booklet, her fingers deft as she tucked it under her arm. "It's time for lunch. Head to the eastern yard and join the aspirants there. Results will be announced by 4 PM, and the second round begins shortly after for those who qualify."

Caelumis's eyes widened, shock rippling through him. "You're going to correct 135,000 booklets in two hours?"

Lirien's laugh was bright, cutting through the tension like sunlight. "Do you know how many experts the Academy employs to grade these exams?"

Caelumis blinked, hazarding a guess. "At least a thousand?"

"Three thousand hired experts," Lirien said, her smile widening, "and over a thousand standby professors."

"Each of them allocated to the branches they have expertise in."

Caelumis's jaw dropped, his mind reeling. Forty-six square miles, around 29,500 acres. Its the size of the academy.

Though most of it is forest.. the explorable area is still comparable with a small-sized city, he recalled. A small city of knowledge and power.

Lirien's gaze softened, her voice dropping to a near-whisper. "I hope you do well, Caelumis. Life here is unlike anything outside these walls."

"Thank you, Professor," he said, his voice steady despite the storm of nerves within. They left the hall together, the heavy doors groaning shut behind them.

Outside, Caelumis was swept into an ocean of aspirants, a chaotic tide regulated by guards in gleaming armor, their halberds glinting as they funneled the crowd toward the meal halls.

The air buzzed with chatter, hope, and fear, the weight of the first round pressing on every soul.

Caelumis craned his neck, searching for Aeri's sky-blue hair or Borun's boisterous energy, but the throng was too dense.

She has the Water attribute, he remembered her saying, and he edged toward the queue near the Water Hall, hoping to catch a glimpse.

A tug on his sleeve startled him. He spun, nearly lost in the sea of faces, and found a familiar grin. "Hey!" Torren shouted, his voice barely cutting through the crowd's roar.

"Torren, hello!" Caelumis yelled back, straining to be heard. "How'd your exam go?"

"Haa?" Torren cupped his ear, grimacing.

Caelumis leaned closer, shouting, "How'd your exam go?"

"I think I did well!" Torren bellowed, his brown hair flopping as he gestured wildly. "I got to the Light exam hall as soon as I could and saw you heading into this queue!"

"I'm looking for my friend!" Caelumis shouted, the noise swallowing his words. "She has blue hair!"

Torren nodded, his grin undaunted. "Let's search together!"

"Thank you!" Caelumis yelled, relief flickering through him. The guards herded the crowd toward the food stalls, their movements precise despite the chaos.

The scent of fresh bread and hearty stew wafted through the air. The results loomed just hours away, and with them, the next crucible that would decide who would claim a place in this city of dreams.