Jason barely opened his eyes when the classroom went into an uproar 

"Am I seeing things? What was that golden color?" 

"Superior mana mastery?? What the hell is that?!!!" 

"He obviously cheated!!! Let us stand there for some time too, we might as well be able to increase our mana mastery like that!"

Some students shouted and Mr. Greil was unsure if he should just shut them up with force or let them bully Jason a little bit…

They were instinctively envious and Till couldn´t find fault with that.

He was also jealous of Jason´s mana mastery!!!

`How should a 14 year old youth be able to have such a high mana mastery!! And that was not even everything`...Jason´s overall aptitude to cultivating was superior, which he was also partially at fault, because he gave Jason the opportunity to create a sub-area in his mind in order to passively absorb mana continuously.

Till wondered how long Jason would need to enter the Magus rank with such capabilities but thinking about that caused his heart to sting.

A minute passed and TIll calmed down before he forced everyone to quiet down with an mana enveloped snap.

"Quiet!!" He was already in a bad mood because of Jason but the babbling students in front of him frustrated him even more, causing killing intent to gush out accidentally.

It was dead silent within a second and Jason could see tears in some weak-willed students' eyes, which was kinda funny for him.

He was still not sure what happened and wondered what a Superior-mana-mastery was, but sensing the atmosphere around him, it should be something good as he silently went to his seat, not minding the murderous glares of his classmates, with a bright smile on his face.

In the end, Till announced the result, after the last student finished his mana mastery test.

"Seron Gier and Jason Stella passed the test. You two will continue to test your theoretical knowledge soon. As for the others. I´ll test everyone of you about the three occupations...Everyone who is not able to answer my tests, will be punished!!

Don't even dare to think that the school will gift you non-purchasable and extremely expensive books about the three basic lifestyle-occupations without considering someone trying to exploit the given opportunity.

We all know that some students applied for all three lectures after finding out that rare books will be filed to you!!"

In Class 54, only Jason and Seron passed the first test, which was a 1 in 100 ratio. 

Considering that their class was the worst in the beginning, and the first 20 to 30 classes already have some 7 Adept ranks, Jason concluded that in all grades together, at least 3000 students might have passed the first test.

Around 7% passed the first test and the theoretical exam was said to seed out even more students. 

Considering that the most difficult exam would be the last test about one´s practical aptitude towards the particular lifestyle-occupation which involved mana sensibility, control, accuracy, patience, persistence, vast knowledge, and many more characteristics to be even able to produce even the easiest things.

Jason was aware that it would be difficult to pass all three aptitude tests but he would at least give it a try.

He was sure to pass the theoretical exams with flying colors, so he just went outside the class with Seron, after Mr.Greil finished his short lecture.

Mr.Greill also went outside and led Seron and Jason to their first theoretical exam.

While the knowledge about Inscription and runes was the first to be tested, alchemy followed suit and after that,  blacksmithing came.

Both students followed their teacher calmly and they entered a huge hall both of them had never been.

It was the school´s assembly hall that was connected to all three schooling buildings and the sheer size could fit thousands of students.

There was a white stage in the front with a ancient wooden podium highlighted in the middle, while many tables and chairs were placed all around the assembly hall.

Their test would be in the assembly hall? Cheap!!  Jason lamented in his mind but it was easier to survey the students like that with each table at least 2 meters apart from each other.

Row after row of tables could be seen and many of their seniors were already waiting for the test to finally begin.

They were probably eager to learn about the basic lifestyle-occupations as it was a rare opportunity to get known by some lower authorities of the Artisan-tower.

With some luck they might even be able to learn one of the three occupations!!

Jason and Seron were amongst the calmest youths inside the assembly hall as they sat down next to each other without saying a single word.

Wishing each other luck would be useless as one's luck was not tested. Only pure knowledge…

What was the use of luck in exams?? Jason didn't know and neither did Seron.

More than 20 minutes passed until the last group of students arrived at the assembly hall.

The doors were closed and even if thousands of students sat there, waiting patiently, nobody said anything at all as it was deadly silent.

Not much time passed until a brown-haired bulky man with a long beard entered the stage next to a blond-haired youth with blue eyes, thin glasses, and a long black robe with ancient-looking runes on it swirling around.

Between both of them was a fair-skinned woman with black hair tied into a ponytail.

She was busty and had nice curves perfectly fitting for her figure, causing some youths to droll.

It took the youths quite some time to regain their senses and they sensed something was off as their foolish behaviour shocked themselves more than others.

`She used a pheromone reagent? `  Jason questioned himself while his mana eyes saw a pinkish haze following the black-haired woman with every step she took.

The busty woman was standing on the podium while the two men were standing next to it, clearly indicating that the woman had higher rank and authority. 

"Hello dear students!! My name is Antalia Sharon, I´m a Rank 4 Alchemist.

It's my honor to be here to test everyone's knowledge about the three basic lifestyle-occupations and I hope we will find a few hidden gems to nurture in the future."

She said with a light and gently smile, before she continued.

"We know that some of you have applied for all three exams because it occurs quite often that students try to trick schools in order to gain more resources.

But before that, I want to say, that we´ll do the three exams right now in a row without wasting any time.

Everyone that applied for all three lectures at once should be confident in their own ability, otherwise you guys wouldn't have applied for all of them, right?" 

Antalia was still smiling but her eyes turned cold.

"After a discussion with the principal, we decided to make a few changes in the exam. Everyone that applied for more than one lecture and without being able to pass the exams will have to pay the full price for the books they acquired. If that is not possible, their Lace points will be deducted according to the costs. 

With that, everyone that doesn't pass and is not able to pay, will have to request a loan from the Artisan tower or the Vanguard school.

This also applies to all students that didn't pass the first round.

They will also be tested about the theoretical knowledge. If they can´t pass the exams, they´ll have to pay.

As for the jokester, that applied for all three tests and fail all of them, nice try in working hard to repay the debt. 

Because we are a nice community, we decided to not charge a single credit for those that applied for two lectures and are capable to pass at least one while the students that applied for all three lectures have to pass at least two theoretical exams."

The whole surrounding turned upside down and everyone began to lament about being conned.

Some students even cursed the whole school, the artisan tower and so on. 

Jason's lips curled up, thinking that the school and Artisan tower were frauds, as he clearly remembered the small written notice that costs could occur if one were to fail the exam.

Apparently most students hadn't seen this notice and it was somehow difficult for Jason to cover his smile.

He had to hold his laughter in, when more and more students jumped up, cursing at the magus-ranked authorities in front of them.

When the whole situation was about to escalate completely, Jason felt a familiar snap amplified with a dense amount of mana, causing a shocking wave spreading through the whole assembly hall that threw some students from their chairs.

Jason and Seron predicted this scenario and used most of their mana to envelope themself, which saved them from being pushed from the chair.

"QUIET!" Mr.Greil said with a cold, amplified voice, while he suddenly stood in front of the podium.

"If you can´t even read, don´t even try to con others without expecting to be conned yourself.

I think the Artisan tower and the school are lenient with their punishment or do you guys want to die or live with a destroyed mana core? I DON'T THINK SO?!"

The assembly hall turned eerily quiet and the students that were blown away, went back to their place, with tears in their eyes.

Considering that they jumped into a huge well of debt, once they wouldn't be able to pass two out of three exams, some had already given up on trying, looking lifelessly in front of them.

The busty ponytailed woman continued her speech with telling another few changes.

"Normally every exam would take 4 hours but we changed it slightly. 

Everyone that only applied for one lecture will have 4 hours without any change, but the students that applied for two lectures will have 7, while the many of you that were eager to learn will have 9 hours time to finish all three exams."

Many youths groaned in misery but due to the fear of being blown away by a mana shockwave, they didn't do anything else than groan.

"Receiving 60% right answers is enough to pass the second test and our Artisan tower will reward everyone that can pass with 90+% with a recipe suitable for the tested subject." 

When Jason heard this, he lifted his head and looked straight into the busty woman's eyes, while she didn't notice him.

"We´ve lowered the percentage to pass the test because the test is already extremely difficult for our students that learned for more than a month.

I hope we´ll have some students capable to pass the theoretical exam! Our Artisan tower is extremely generous if you make some effort!"

She said full of enthusiasm, when she saw a raised hand within the last few rows.

"Yeah… Student with black hair and g-golden eyes? What is your question?" 

Everyone turned to the direction of the raised hand and only now did Jason notice that he had raised his hand.

He was curious about a certain fact… rewarding the one that makes effort could be understood in many ways…

Clearing his throat Jason asked in a  loud slightly mana-amplified voice that was filled with confidence.

"In my understanding, the Artisan tower thinks that nobody will pass all three tests, I might as well be wrong but what if someone passes all three exams with 100%? Can you give me some better rewards if that happens??" He asked with a tinge of greed glimmering in his eyes.