Mages of Rubia ✔️

22

The test is different than I expected. First there's a written exam. I take it seated in a room with a bunch of kids about two years younger than me.

The written part is difficult. I didn't go to magic school, I did my own study. So for a lot of it I simply have to choose the most logical answers, even though I have no idea what some of it means.

Then there are three practical exams. The first is in alchemy. We're simply instructed to make a potion that would make someone taller. They don't tell us whether it should be permanent or not.

It's a bit confusing, but through my experimenting I've found ingredients that work for that. My potion makes the entire person bigger, not just a bit taller, but it gets the job done and is accepted.

The second practical exam is to demonstrate the best three spells I know. I use teleportation, invisibility, and a truth spell. The examiner seems surprised I can work a truth spell on another mage directly after telling them I was about to.

The last exam is a duel.

I don't get to know the name of my opponent. I don't really think much of it, aside from a stern reminder to myself that this has to be non-lethal and not too harsh. I sort of just... blank. I don't remember it, but I must not have killed anyone. I figure it's best not to dwell on.

I've been losing time a bit recently, mostly just little patches at work where I do everything im supposed to and seem totally normal but don't remember later. It isn't a big deal.

"Please wait to be called for your results in the exam hall," the examiner says.

I walk back to the room where we took the written exam. The students there talk in excited whispers.

"It's rare that anyone fails, you know," a girl says to me.

"So I've heard."

"So don't look so stressed about it. You're not from here, are you? Your accent is weird."

"No, I'm not."

"Do I get any more details?" she asks.

I shake my head.

"Okay. I'm Ruby. I saw you in the practical exams. The guys seem impressed with you. What's your name?"

"Lief. And if you're trying to start a rivalry or a friendship or something, I have more important things to deal with."

"Wow, you're strange, aren't you? Where did you go to school?"

"I didn't."

"God, really? Who taught you, then? You're like, crazy skilled."

"I taught myself."

Well, Ravana taught me a bit, too, but I'm not counting that.

Ruby's eyes widen. "That's crazy."

"Thanks?"

"Ruby Beam," the examiner calls from the outside of the exam hall.

She jumps up. "See you around, Lief. I bet you're gonna be a great mage."

It still seems so genuinely strange to interact with people who don't know me as Mage Lief. To hear people I'm not close with call me without the title. I give the girl a nod of my head, and she goes.

-

"Lief Smith," they say when I finally am called into the office.

Surprisingly I'm the last, despite the alphabetical order being messed up by skipping me. A woman stepped into the room just after me, casting relief onto the examiners faces.