*TING TING*

"Begin!"

Announced by the examiner as the first trial started.

The examinees of over 4,000 individuals were first divided by race. The dwarves were to go with the old serpentine, the elves with the nine-tails loli, the beastkin with the human lady, serpentine with the armoured dwarf, and the humans with the braided elf.

There were about 810 elves, 602 serpentines, 1060 beastkin, 482 dwarves and 1046 humans. All of them were children at the age of seven. After the division between each race, they were divided into groups of 100. Well by counting, there will be a lot of excess. So there were batches consisted of mixed races, and Gab was part of them for she got designated much later. Out of 40 batches, 2 were mixed.

A written examination. Typical, right? But think about this. Out of 4,000 entries, only 120 will be accepted to become students. This is to bring out only the best of the best.

Each student were given a unique combination of ten questions, greatly avoiding cheating. Now Gab, well after about 15 minutes down in the paper writing. She stood up and was just about to pass her paper, noticing three familiar faces.

Someone sitting near the front row caught her attention. It was Mary, the one she met at the party(you forgot, didn't you~). She was waving at Gab and beside her was Matthew, burying his face on the paper given. Waving back, she later noticed who the examiner was.

'Eehhh~!!'

Of all the people inside the campus, what are the chances for her meet this guy again? It was Phillip, Phillip Mcdouglas. That one guy who kept on belittling Gab at her party.

'Why did I have to bump into this guy here, godammit! Now he's gonna accuse me of cheating, being able to pass this early...Ahh fuck it, try me!'

...

Phillip was checking the names of the registered examinees listed for his batch, the papers lain out uniformly on his table.

'Zamiro'u, Ashford, Ruven, Fleiro, V'becuim, Xylmuitte, Fuentel...hm? Xylmuitte~?'

"U-um...excuse me, s-sir?"

"...!!"

Said a familiar voice whom he immediately recognized. He slowly looks up and sees Gab with a crooked smile and glaring eyes. She was handing out her paper to Phillip.

"Hmph! I'm assuming you have a question of sorts about an item in the test, too bad the papers has been reconfirmed multiple times so it is your lack of comprehension that poses a problem."

He said after crossing his arms and leaning on his chair.

"Oh no~, I am finished answering this stupid test and am now about to submit my paper. Stupid~!"

"Pfft!"

Mary was holding her giggles with all her might but listening to the two was just too hilarious. The other examinees looked at her curiously.

"P-pardon me.*giggle*"

"Quiet, please."

Announced Phillip, putting the crowd back to the pressure of the test.

"And...You. You say you've completed a test that even our scholars would take at best an hour to fulfill?"

"Yes."

"Haha~! Just how shameless can you be?"

He blurted out as he received her paper, then reviewing it.

"There must be a limit to your...arro...gance..."

He fell silent. Gossips started to get audible around the room, everybody was interested if it was really true.

*Gossips*

...

It has been a while since Phillip took his eyes off the pages.

(ehh~ she finished in just 15 minutes?)

(wow, it's a genius.)

(she looks like a noble, what family?)

(she must have cheated)

(but this school never had a history of cheating)

(damn, I wish I were that smart.)

"I said QUIET, ALL OF YOU!!"

Shouted Phillip rising from his chair.

...

"You...*sigh* follow me."

There was gasping all over the room.

"Oh my~"

Mary said to herself, shocked along with the whole crowd. Gab gave Phillip a condescending smirk with hands on her waist and raising a brow.

"Tch!"

Was all Phillip could say while popping a vein. Passing through the door to the back, Gab follows closely behind. She was floating in this strange sense of victory, waiting for the fact to slowly sink in.

It took them a while to finally reach the destination. Currently, they were standing in front of a wooden door with fine carvings. Phillip was fixing himself up and trying to look as presentable as he can, then carefully knocking on the door.

*knock knock*

"Yes. Come in~!"

"Pardon my intrusion, Headmaster Ethraldir."

They come in to the room. There was the braided elf with glasses sitting in front of his table with towering piles of paperwork. Though presented with such a problem, his calm demeanor was never moved.

"Ahh, Phillip! What's the matter?"

"Um, well sir. Take a look at this."

*hands paper*

"Hmm, what's this?..."

*Reviewing*

Gab was nervous. She kind of figured that the braided elf must have held a high position in the system but being the Headmaster wasn't out of question too.

The Headmaster was intently reviewing her papers, then he cleanly fixes them on the table.

"I don't quite understand, what's the problem here?"

"Well, as you see, sir. She completed the test, with full marks."

"Yes, it is uncommon for such brilliance to present itself but it still happens."

"...she did that in less than 12 minutes."

"*flinch*..."

The Headmaster had this doubtful look on his face, then after that, he looks at Gab.

"What is your name Miss?"

"I am called Gabrielle sir, Gabrielle Xylmuitte. The second daughter of the house of Xylmuitte."

The elf's smile slowly came back but now in a bit more curious way.

"She may proceed to the next trial, Phillip."

"Yes sir."

"...um, excuse me. But aren't you going to make me take the test again? As to make sure I did not cheat?"

"Did you?..."

He said with a hint of animosity.

"N-no."

"Haha, then there is no need to. Besides you'll probably ace it once more...you may take your leave."

"Excuse us, sir."

"Good luck for the next trials~!"

They said as the two turned to leave, closing the door behind them. As they were walking back to the venue, another professor ran past them to the direction of the Headmaster's office. Phillip looks back to see but sees Gab instead. There was a simple look of victory up her face.

"Tch! Just because you aced the written portion doesn't mean you've passes, you brat."

"Oh my~! But I haven't said anything...*kekeke* I'm a damn genius, huh~?"

"*POP*...damn brat, I'll get you for this!"

He said after they re-enter the venue. By the time, the second phase of the trials started. The talent portion, the time to demonstrate your own unique abilities. Everybody was preparing themselves, given half an hour to prepare before presenting.

All the batches were to do the presentations simultaneously in front of three judges in each of their own venue. They were made to wait in the fields within the campus, allowed to bring the items deemed necessary.

Though the exam hasn't started yet, everybody was showing off their pride and establishing territory. There were a lot of different groups in the field, the division was common on either between royals, nobility and peasants or simple racial discrimination.

Gab was sitting under the shade of a tree in her loneliness, reviewing her [Conjure]s. Mariel approached her as she too had no company.

"Hah! That wasn't much a challenge, I was finished in less than an hour. I could easily compete with their scholars in here."

"Hey Mariel~! I'm sure you did. Are you ready for the next trial?"

Gab greeted with a humble smile. Little did Mariel know, that she was boasting in front of a recognized prodigy.

"I specialize in [Life Magic]. How's that? Truly befitting of a noble as precious as me~."

"Woah~! That is so cool. I always wanted to try [Life Magic], but sadly my affinity to it is not good enough to cultivate it effectively."

"Ehehehe~. Nevermind about me, how about you? What's your specialty?"

"Well...It's not too grandiose but is still worth mentioning. I'm good at [Lightning Magic]."

"Hmm~ It contrasts to your personality. Your more of a mild and easy-going person on my opinion, so I thought that maybe you would be a [Wind Magic] user. But [Lightning Magic] is pretty good too, you can tear apart anybody who tries to upset you."

"Hahaha! I wouldn't want to do that. Anyways, sit with me here we could pass time talking before the exam."

*Gestures to sit beside her*

"*blush* I-I-If I must, then excuse me."

*Sits*

Mariel fell silent while Gab resumed reading.

"...H-hey, It's unfair that I'm the only one with a nickname. So I'll call you one too. Gabrielle...Abrielle...rielle...Then Ellie, from now on I'll be calling you Ellie and only I am allowed to. Alright?!"

"*giggle* Okay, okay, you can call me that...Mariel you're cute when your flustered."

"Wha—!!*blush intensifies*"

They continue to talk thoughtlessly while waiting for the exam, the other students were feeling the pressure of the following trials.