Episode 12 – Sign-ups (2/2)

Tonrai, on the other hand, was a side branch of the Ruyle family The Ruyle family was also one of the noble fa beasts They also had their own quest lodge, dragon racing tracks and they owned a chain of ”Rent-a-dragon” offices

Kiel was surprised how the university could make two nobles take entry forms Draw or no draw, it sounded ridiculous! This university was indeed so else…

Elaru didn't seem surprised, neither at the draw nor their last names Kiel wondered if it was because she wasn't aware of their status or because she was used to hanging around nobles

Kiel looked at the first forender, race and date of birth But after that, there were a lot of other questions such as infor (or, in his case, wouldn't be bringing) to the dorms

He also needed to write details about his rooood examples: ”I dislike animals, so I wouldn't like my roommate to have one” and ”Since I am an elibu, I'd like my roommate to be an elibu as well”, and soirl!” and ”I want to room with a noble!”

When he filled up these forreatly surprised to find this question He wasn't aware that they would be required to share a dore and luxurious, it wouldn't pose any probleive everyone their own room So why did they force them to share? In fact, how did they expect nobles to accept sharing a room with someone else?

Wait… asn't there a question asking the in their dorms in the first place? There were plenty of people who lived in Ashar and didn't need a dorm room inside the University Was everyone required to stay in the dorms even if they didn't want to?

Last year, after his initial confusion, he left his roommate preference empty because he didn't intend to enroll But this time, he stopped to think about it

He didn't care who he got as his roo However, he couldn't write ”So” as his answer He was tempted to write ”Not Elaru Wayvin” as the answer, but that made no sense since he wouldn't have been paired with her anyway He would most definitely be paired with a male freshman

After a brief pondering, he decided to leave it empty this year as well If he had a problem with his rooht? That's how it usually worked in the university dorht?

And besides, ere the odds of getting so?

Kiel suddenly felt chills travel down his spine

He looked up at Elaru, and then checked out the two professors, but nothing strange was taking place He spread hisout of the ordinary

Why did he suddenly get a bad feeling?

Kiel shrugged and shook his head Elarutoo much

He continued filling the papers until he reached a section about the practical part of the exam He needed to pick which practical exah points to be eligible to take it

There werethe university with varied specializations and skills, it was unrealistic to expect everyone to have the same skill set and even more absurd to test for it Therefore, the university prepared different scenarios that examinees could choose to better display their particular skillset

Kiel slowly looked over his options, the only thing he could go by was the name of the scenario, they didn't provide any additional details

There wereand daineering and enchanting”, ”Beast handling”, etc

There was also a variety of scenarios that required or could be completed with a varied skillset such as ”Hunt” and ”Apprehend and rescue”

It was here, faced with so many different options, that Kiel understood that even noith the abundance of e

Having plenty of e Mana could only open the path for hioal It was up to him to walk down that path

Currently, he could cast a variety of ic spells, but e knew Granted, his execution of them was flawless, but what he could do with theh to excel in any of the offered scenarios

He had no specialization, he wasn't particularly skilled in any area

Kiel felt cold sweat rolling down his back

Didn't Elaru say in her previous evaluation that he was skilled enough to get full points in the practical part of the exam? What scenario did she have infor help

When he realized what he was doing, he quickly looked down at his papers, disgusted by himself He didn't need anyone's help He was always on his own, and he relied only on himself That made him independent and competent That's who he was He didn't need help!

He exhaled quietly, cal himself down

He went to the top of the listed scenarios and ave them his evaluation of what skills were needed to excel in that scenario

”Healing and daic, fael and elibu, medicine and medicinal plants, diseases and ailments

He continued down the list, often stopping to cross over a scenario that he thought was impossible for him

Soon enough he was left with only a few options Most of the leftover options were vague and Kiel couldn't tell exactly what skillset would be necessary

There was only one scenario where the required skillset was quite clear – ”Battle Royale” Obviously, the test would require him to show his combat prowess

He was alonetrees, so he found it hard to gauge his own battle capabilities

Still, Kiel felt that this was the test that he had the highest chance of excelling at

The ic And even if he couldn't beat his opponents, he could at least run around fast enough to avoid their attacks In the worst case scenario, it could turn into a battle of attrition, and since Elaru's er than most people, he would hen his opponents ran out of mana

Kiel circled the ”Battle Royale” option, satisfied with his choice He wasn't useless after all He even had a few days before the exam, so he could use them to brush up on his skills and prepare

His satisfied se of the sign up forms

He needed to report his ”special skills” so that Muni could prepare to test his speciality Special skills were different froet special points only if you had extraordinary, rare abilities The her chance to be accepted into the university and separate them from everyone else

There was a large list of offered ”special skills”, such as ”Aethernea wielder”, ”Possesses flawless recollection”, and ”ingenious breaker”

Kiel went over the list quickly His heart tightened

Elaru made it sound like all his probleh h hi That he was now better than everyone else He even entertained the thought that he would score the highest on the exaht that these exae That he would show everyone that he was a genius et the respect he deserved

Looking at it now, if he didn't ace the practical and if he didn't apply for a special exam, he couldn't hope to reach the top 10

He would pass the exa other nobles

In fact, his grandfather ht even say that his perforht even be ridiculed in the end

His fist clenched He wouldn't be able to surpass his ass of a brother He would always be in his shadow

His knuckle turned white and he was slowly losing all feeling in his hand

When his eyes passed over ”pure ritted his teeth He was a pure mana wielder, but he couldn't let anyone know about it It felt unbearable Those 25 points were so close yet out of reach!

Hiswords of others He could see the him how unremarkable he was Hoas never special And even if he was no longer a non-e, he was still a nobody

The voices got louder and louder, his head hurt, his breathing became raspy

And when the voices becaht his head would explode, suddenly, everything went quiet His eyes focused on tords

”Spell replicator”

He stared at the tords dumbfounded

”Spell replicator”

His eyes widened How could his ! It didn't matter if he didn't know a spell, because as soon as he was confronted with it, he would learn it very quickly

Spell replicators were iven an enchanted iten itself, and they would use it to replicate the spell

Spell replicators had only two skill requirements One, they needed to be able to weave mana flawlessly, so flawlessly to be able to create a perfect replica of another spell And two, in case they weren't given a spell design but shown the spell, they needed to have a h to sense all of the details in the given spell, so they would be able to replicate those details

His weaving was flawless! And his Mind was very sensitive to

He fit both requirements!

Kiel's eyes lit up

He circled the tords on his paper and smiled unconsciously

No one could beat hie, but not ability

He would shi+ne like a Xiuem! He would show everyone that he wasn't a coret for the way they had treated him

After filling up the initial forulations that he needed to be aware of (and sign that he had read then a document that stated that he takes all responsibility for any dae (or death) caused by the exam and the university is in no way accountable for it It was the university's way to avoid any legal responsibility

After he passed the filled papers back to the elibu going by the naave him another paper The paper contained the schedule of the exams, so Kiel would knohen and where he was supposed to take his exams

The friendly argel took out a round ceranature pen

The argel ht blue numbers on the plate – ”5642” He then turned the plate around to the other side and offered the plate to Kiel

”Sign your name here, on the back”

Kiel took it and quickly wrote down his elegant and curvy signature

Ahon Tonrai's chocolate eyes seemed to smile as he explained ”This is your proof of identity and your exam pass”

Finally, Kiel had got his exam pass He sed to sign up for the exam! All he had to do noas pass it

Ahon continued speaking in a gentle and pleasant voice explaining the purpose of the plate:

”This is your entry number” He motioned to number ”5642” that he had written on the plate ”For the sake of privacy and ensuring everyone receives equal exam conditions, we don't use your real names on the exam, but instead, we refer to you by your number Don't lose it You can't enter the exam without it”

Kiel thanked theboth men farewell

He noticed that Elaru seeotten pretty friendly with the thile he was filling the forood luck on the exams

”Hope to see you in school!” Ahon shtly

”You rinned back

While they treated theood intentions, he could tell both of them were especially friendly towards Elaru

Kiel didn't knohy that fact made him feel uncomfortable They clearly didn't have any bad or indecent intentions Was it that he envied people who couldtrue to themselves?

He shook his head and put it to the back of his mind It was beneath him to feel jealous

Kiel and Elaru exited through the foyer through the university gates in silence After they were out of earshot and line of sight, Elaru turned to Kiel and asked: ”What now? Any places you want to visit?”

Kiel looked towards the horizon into the golden setting sun that died the sky orange It had been a long day

”It is getting late The only place I want to visit is an inn”

”Hmm, I know of a cozy little inn nearby that has an excellent cook” Elaru suggested with a smile

Kiel didn't protest her suggestion He had never stayed in an inn before so he had no idea what Ashar inns were considered good, or where to even begin searching for one

Kiel quickly found out that his definition of ”nearby” didn't match with Elaru's definition of ”nearby”

The only reason why he chose not to complain was because the small inn in front of them didn't look bad at all

It was a small tavern, but it looked well cared for and friendly It was in a good neighborhood filled with little houses that were glued to each other like canned fish The houses were built from warm colored bricks and decorated by pots of flowers

Kiel stared at the wooden sign in front of hie pot and tords – ”Hot Pot”

Hot Pot? Seriously?

He shook his head and followed Elaru inside

As soon as they entered, they noticed aat the reception desk Her al the newspaper while her thin lips were sipping on a glass of lee strands was tied into a plat on the back of her head covering her argel round ears

Kiel could tell that the woe because her e Armour

The woot no available rooms left”

Kiel stopped in his tracks He would have walked out if he didn't see Elaru coard the woman's words Elaru leaned on the counter ”What about that nice little comfy one on the attic?”

A flash of recognition washed over the woman's face and she looked up in surprise When her eyes fell on Elaru, her face spread in a wide grin ”Dear, you are back fro?”

Elaru scratched her head sheepishly, giving Kiel a side glance ”Ah well I got sidetracked”

The wolance and shi+fted her eyes onto Kiel's soft s him up and down

”What do we have here?” The wo a sip of her lehts ritten clearly on her face: Where did you pick up this pretty boy?

Elaru turned towards Kiel, sht and motioned her hand towards the woman ”Kiel, this is Mira She and her husband own this little tavern”

Then she put her left hand on Kiel's shoulder and ht hand ”Mira, this is Kiel” Kiel noticed how she purposefully avoidedlast names ”He is my… ”

Elaru struggled to find the right words Friend? Colleague? Fellow future student? Partner?

”mate!”

And of course, she had to choose the word leaving s And the way she said it wasn't helping either She said it with pride, glee and delight

Mate was a tricky word When used to refer to a male and female pair, it would mean that the two are roender, it would ood friends

Kiel's smile froze

He wasn't sure if Elaru used the word ” to say that he was her good friend But at this point, it didn't e

The argel woman, whose name see coughing fit, she ot sidetracked?”

”Yeah!” Elaru nodded before Kiel could stop her

Mira looked at Kiel sternly, like aher future son in law

Kiel's eyebroitched He was just about to fix thebut Elaru beat him to it

”So, is my room free or not?”

Mira turned to her, surprised, but nonetheless, she took the keys out of her desk ”Well… yeah… ”

”Then we'll be taking it!” Elaru declared

Kiel almost face-palmed himself

Mira was flabbergasted ”But there is just one bed in there!”

Elaru didn't quite get the problem She looked at Mira, confusion written all over her face ”So?”

”There is two of you!” Mira tried to clarify

But Elaru, being Elaru misunderstood completely ”Ooh! Don't worry it's a double bed, so we can both fit!” She waved it off

Kiel stood frozen He wanted to set things clear, but he didn't even kno to go about fixing it

Elaru snatched the keys fro down to dinner soon! Mmmm, I sure hope chef's special is on today's racefully She knew exactly where the room was

Kiel stood glued to the spot, his face frozen into a soft smile It wasn't until Elaru called out to him that he was shaken out of his stupor

”What are you standing around for? Come on!”

Kiel rubbed his temples and slowly followed her upstairs

Hoould he resolve this issue?! This girl had no common sense!