"Begin" Archer shouted followed by the scene of all students swiping their hands on the screen on their desk.

Ellis saw the small timer on the corner of his screen saying 3:59:57. However, he was still distracted by something else.

A small button on the corner of his desk.

'What is it for? Maybe I could press it and see. No, what if that button was there for those who wanted to give up? I don't want to end up accidentally disqualifying myself. I will just observe and see for now.' He thought as he finally looked at his question paper.

[1a.) State and describe the effects of 3 magi spells of rank 3. (6 Marks)]

'What the heck? Isn't this supposed to be a graduation exam for rank 1 magis? Why is the 1st question itself about a rank 3 magi spell?' Ellis frowned and started to scroll through the remaining questions.

He was shocked beyond anything as he got to the last page. 'What has his highness done? This paper is impossible for any normal magi of rank 1.'

The questions got harder and harder as it went on. However, unlike the usual paper where there were 100 questions with there being few multiple option questions, this paper only had 20 main questions which were occasionally split into parts, with there being no multiple option questions.

Usually, the mock exam they took had 100 questions. They could often afford to miss out few questions as all questions were worth 1 marks, with the students only needing 100 marks to get a perfect score.

However, in this paper if any students missed out 1 question it would cost them a hefty amount of mark.

So, it seemed like not only was the paper hard but not a single question should be missed out.

'Wait, hang on. Didn't Archer say I would receive a harder paper? Doesn't that mean there are people here who are taking a harder exam? But why would someone do that? Are there extra rewards or benefits in doing so?'

Ellis got more puzzled as he thought about it. Soon his eye caught the timer ticking down.

3:55:07

'5 minutes wasted. Let's start.' Ellis started scribbling his answer for the 1st question onto the screen.

Meanwhile, Rondell who was known as the muscle brain among Law's group looked at his paper in shock.

[1a.) State and describe the effects of 1 magi spells of rank 1. (2 Marks)]

'I am really grateful for not being the son of a noble or rich person. This paper is so darn easy.' He thought excitedly, as he flew into his paper, glad that his hard work at revision finally paid off.

Law carefully looked through the paper and frowned.

[5.) Explain the symptoms of a person affected by a rank 1 ice spell and how to cure/ treat them. (6 Marks)]

'These questions are not hard at all. It's like anyone who attempted to do any basic theory revision could easily answer these questions. Wouldn't that mean the association won't accept this exam if it's made too easy? Or is there a reason more to this than what it seems?'

Meanwhile, Natasha looked at her paper and sighed in relief.

[9c.) State the duration of rank 1 paralysis on a commoner in comparison to a rank 1 magi. (2 Marks)]

'Looks like they didn't attempt to get the answers for me from his leak. Did they expect his trap? Most likely not. They probably wanted me to fail and learn my lesson. However, they never expected their ruthlessness to turn in my favour. But the problems remain, the questions are way too easy for a graduation exam, along with having way too much time.

Usually, a 100-mark question received a 1 hour 50 minutes time. But here we received an extra 2 hour and 10 minutes. Why?' She pondered as she flew through the papers.

Phil cursed under his breath as he looked at his paper.

[2e.) Calculate using the Friona's theorem how far one can travel after casting a rank 2-speed boost in combination with a rank 1-physical boost. (9 Marks)]

'Damn it. I should have never asked for dad's help. Now I am screwed.'

Phil suddenly looked at the invigilator in his grid in desperation. The invigilator in this grid was someone he knew of. He was his families head butler.

The invigilator looked at his master in hopelessness across the grid. The students in this grid had somehow come to an agreement.

Phil was right in the centre of his grid. All the students adjacent to him decided to take rotations to keep watch of him and the invigilator, therefore giving no chance for the butler to send the answers to his master.

'If only a few students in this grid had the same difficult paper as his master, then he could have convinced them to work for him, in return for the answers. But it seems like all of them here abhors young master, that they won't even co-operate' The butler thought as he looked for some kind of opening.

'Hang on... They never said anything about using spells.' The butler smiled as he realised a flaw in the princes' plan.

Suddenly the grid that contained Phil slowly started getting foggy. It soon turned into a strange view as all the people in the back could see was a cuboid of grey fog.

'Darn he is using the fog as a cover.' Many students inside the grid started coming up with countermeasures after seeing that pressing the button had no effect. They quickly realised the camera probably was blocked by the fog hence the proper moderators couldn't do anything.

So, they quickly used wind magi to restrain all the fog to the upper section. So that the cameras in the adjacent grids might be able to help them out

While this was happening, the butler knew he didn't have much time, so he quickly made his way towards his master.

He soon was 2 desks away from his master while the wind spells were slowly taking effect, but he still had plenty of time to give the answer and get back to his position somewhere else.

'Fools, it's over.' He screamed inside as he leapt the final section...

*Pak*

Only to hit something solid. The butler tried to see through his teary eyes, barely able to see the barrier around his master and the students adjacent to him.

'This... Were they prepared for this? No, it's more like they came up with it at the last second. But they shouldn't be allowed to communi... Shit! Shit! Shit! I forgot I blocked the camera. So, these guys used it to their advantage along with me.'

There were only 5 seconds before the adjacent camera could get visibility in their zone.

'I hope this would be enough. Physical boost. Speed boost.' The butler chanted in his mind and ran towards the barrier intending to break it.

4 seconds.

The students surrounding his master looked at him in panic as he easily broke the barrier.

3 seconds

He arrived before his master and quickly took out the answer sheet in his pocket and stretched it towards his master, who was grinning while stretching his hands to receive the paper.

2 seconds.

*Pak*

'Shit another barrier. Are you kidding me?' The butler quickly moved back away from his master putting his hand back inside his pocket with the paper.

1 second. The visibility slowly returned as the camera in adjacent grid finally took hold of that zone, trying to see what the reported accusation of cheating was about.

Everyone noticed how all the students in that zone were smirking except for Phil and the invigilator.

'How? I thought the kids next to him summoned the barrier. If so how did they summon another one so quickly and that too the instant I broke their barrier?' The butler thought as he looked around his master from far away in order to not arouse suspicion from those observing him now.

'Shit! How could I forget? That was a protection barrier. Its casters can't stay inside the barrier. They have to stay outside of it while protecting their targets within it. That means.' He looked at the students next to his master.

'They have formed a ring. An outer ring and inner ring. The outer ring casted a spell to protect the inner ring. While the inner ring casted a spell to protect their target. They fooled me.

Damn. These brats are not fools. They are very smart and calm. They know what they are doing.'

However, outside of that grid, everyone had a gobsmacked face as they realised what just happened, especially when they saw Mr.A taking no action towards what happened in that grid. He just stood there smiling

Suddenly Natasha and Law suddenly realised what this exam was all about. 'It's a defence capability test. The invigilators attack while the students defend and try to stop them from reaching their masters. So that's what he meant by counter strike.'