Noah sat in the middle of the classroom, staring at the exam paper in front of him.
The room was eerily quiet, save for the occasional scribbling of pens and the soft shuffling of parchnt.
Sunlight stread in from the tall windows, but it did nothing to lift the oppressive atmosphere that hung over the room.
Every student was deep in concentration, their faces pale with anxiety.
The silence was suffocating, and Noah felt the weight of it pressing down on him.
He tapped his pen on the desk, trying to keep his cool.
'Focus, focus, focus,' he thought, but it wasn't working.
Frustration bubbled up inside him, and he clenched his jaw, glancing around the room.
Everyone seed to be doing just fine, their heads bent over their papers.
anwhile, Noah's mind was a complete ss.
"This exam isn't as easy as I thought it'd be," Noah muttered under his breath, his eyes narrowing at the questions on the paper.
He'd expected the written exams to be a breeze—he knew the material, more or less, and had spent plenty of ti studying.
But now, looking at the questions in front of him, he realized he'd underestimated the challenge.
They weren't asking for simple definitions or explanations.
No, these questions required a deeper understanding of magic, the kind that required real thinking.
He exhaled and read the first question aloud, whispering to himself as he tried to make sense of it.
"In a duel between a Pyromancer and a Hydromancer, the Pyromancer's flas have reached temperatures exceeding 1,500 degrees. The Hydromancer has ford a water barrier, but it's starting to evaporate. What spell should the Hydromancer use to maintain the barrier and counter the flas? Justify your answer."
Noah blinked at the page.
'Seriously?'
He rubbed his temples, feeling a headache forming.
This wasn't just a simple 'water beats fire' scenario.
He needed to consider the chanics of the spells, the interaction between the elents, and the limits of each mage's abilities.
"Okay, okay," he muttered, biting the end of his pen.
"Hydromancer's water barrier is evaporating... So, more water?
No, wait… the flas are too hot.
More water would just evaporate faster.
What if…"
He scribbled sothing down.
'The Hydromancer should use an Ice Transmutation spell to lower the temperature of the water, converting it to ice. This would both reinforce the barrier and absorb so of the heat from the flas. Additionally, the Hydromancer could channel cooling magic into the ice to prevent rapid lting, maintaining the barrier for longer.'
He read over his answer and sighed.
"That… better work."
Moving on to the next question, he hoped it would be easier.
It wasn't.
"A group of mages has been trapped in a cave where the air is thin, and oxygen levels are dropping. One mage is a Windcaster, and another is an Earth Shaper. What spell combination would best preserve oxygen while helping the group escape the cave? Explain your reasoning."
Noah groaned.
'Of course it's not simple.'
His brain was already fried from the first question, and now they were throwing survival magic scenarios at him.
"Preserve oxygen… okay, Windcaster… can't just blast air in.
That'd probably make it worse.
Earth Shaper could open the cave, but... collapse risk?"
He scratched his head.
"Co on, brain, work with here."
He thought for a mont, chewing on his pen.
What if… the Windcaster creates a controlled air bubble?
That way, they could regulate the oxygen levels…
Noah scribbled again.
'The Windcaster should create an airtight wind bubble to seal off a small area around the group, preserving the remaining oxygen. anwhile, the Earth Shaper can reinforce the structure of the cave using earth compression magic to prevent collapse, and then use Earth Sensing to locate a safe path out.'
He leaned back in his chair, staring at the paper with a mix of frustration and resignation.
This was way harder than he'd imagined.
Why is everything a life-or-death situation?
The sound of rustling paper snapped him out of his thoughts.
One of the students finished their exam and stood up to turn it in.
Noah glanced at the clock—he was running out of ti.
"Damn it," he muttered.
He forced himself to focus and quickly scribbled down answers to the remaining questions, even if so were rushed or barely made sense.
Guess I'll wing it.
As the clock struck the hour, the professor announced the end of the exam.
Noah stood up, feeling like his brain had been put through a at grinder.
And this was just the first exam.
---
After a short break, Noah shuffled into the next exam room.
This one was smaller and more cramped, but the tension was just as high.
He sat down, eyeing the new exam paper with dread.
The questions weren't any easier.
"You are tasked with creating a multi-layered defensive barrier using Light Magic. Describe how you would layer the spells to maximize protection against both physical and magical attacks. Include at least three layers of defense and explain the properties of each."
Noah groaned.
'I am so screwed.'
He hadn't studied Light Magic defenses in detail.
He'd focused more on offensive spells, thinking that'd be the tough part of the exam.
But here he was, being asked about barriers.
"Alright," he whispered to himself.
"Three layers. First layer… Light Reflection? Bounces back weak attacks… okay, second layer… uh… maybe a Light Absorption spell? So it takes in magical attacks, nullifying them… and third layer…"
He tapped his pen against the desk, trying to think of sothing clever.
What's a strong defense spell with Light Magic?
"Oh, right!" he said aloud, earning a glare from the student beside him.
"Final layer, Light Fortification. Strengthens the barrier against physical force.
Okay, done. Moving on."
By the ti the afternoon exams rolled around, Noah was running on fus.
He shuffled from one room to the next, feeling his sanity slowly slip away.
The questions blurred together, and his brain felt like it was lting.
At one point, he found himself muttering nonsensically.
"So… if I summon a… no, wait, that's wrong. Fireball… no, ice ball? Ice is cold.
Cold is good. Wait, what's the question again?"
---
When the final bell rang, signaling the end of the written exams, Noah slumped in his chair.
His hands were cramped from writing so much, and his brain felt like it had been fried in a magical explosion.
As he dragged himself out of the exam hall, he muttered.
"I'm fucked."
The exams had been brutal.
He'd barely survived the written portion, and his answers ranged from decent to outright nonsense.
There was no way he'd make it to Class B or C based on that alone.
"Guess my only hope is the combat exams tomorrow," Noah groaned, rubbing his temples.
"If I don't pull sothing amazing out of my ass, I'm done for."
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