A Serpent's Tale
Chapter 248: Exams (1/2)

Chapter 248: Exams (1/2)

After returning home from my lesson with Eric, I spent the rest of the day lazing around. In fact, that’s how I spent the rest of the week.

And when it was the third week, Verdanthil, I spent the first day checking the route to the Institute early in the morning to memorise it before heading back to study some more after a nice week of relaxing.

I also spent the next day, which was the day before the exam, just studying. That was it, that was all I did the first two days of the week really. Just going over what I had already studied.

And then, it was time. The exam was here.

Unfortunately for me, it was to take place early on in the morning, beginning at half eight, so I had to get up real early, so much earlier than I’m used to.

But I had now choice, I couldn’t not take the exam, that would mean instant denial into the Institute.

So, despite how much I hated it, and despite the fact that I even went to bed early that night, I still had to get up early in the morning and it was about as horrible as I had been expecting.

But, after eating breakfast and grabbing all the supplies that I needed and more, I went off to this city’s branch of The Gilded Ophidian Institute.

When I arrived there, I basked in the magnificent glory of its architecture. It was a fully black, shining building lined with golden trims everywhere.

It was two floors tall, including the ground floor, but each floor was at least eight metres tall from floor to ceiling.

Outside the institute itself were several people there specifically to greet and guide us to where we were meant to go.

I was told by one of said girls to go towards the right upon entering the main entrance, which was a massive pair of ornate wooden doors that seemed to be made with extremely intricate craftsmanship, given how detailed it was.

When I entered, I went towards the right and found myself waiting in a line with a few others.

We said hi to each other and I found that they were also orphans like myself who were all reapplying to see if they could get in again because they failed last time they took the test and they wanted to try again.

I asked if there was a different line for those taking this exam for the first time but they said since there were so few people accepting it, the Institute found no reason for it, so it was just this one short line.

Which meant that I was soon able to get to the front and talk to the person receiving me.

"Hello, is this your first time applying for a test?" She asked with a bright smile. It wasn’t a big, overexaggerated one, but a smaller, yet more genuine smile.

"Yes, this is my first time taking this test, and my only chance really."

"Ah, I take it you only have enough time for the minimum time period course then?"

"Yeah, I can only apply for the twenty-year course."

"I see, that’s rather unfortunate... But, best of luck to you. Here’s your papers that you need to fill out, just head down that corridor and take the third door to your left." She instructed as she handed me a paper to fill out with some information already written down on it.

I thanked her and followed her instructions and entered the third left door, which led into some sort of small classroom.

There seemed to be an instructor there and she beckoned me over and requested to take a look at my papers for a second and told me to go and sit on table number thirteen and fill the rest out before the test began.

I did as asked and then waited for the time for the exam to begin. If not for the constant ticking of the clock that was in the room, I might’ve fallen asleep.

Thankfully that didn’t happen and a few minutes before the exam began, I saw Asty enter the room in a bit of a panic.

"Ah! I’m not late, am I?" She asked a little out of breath.

"No, you’re just in time. Let me have a look at your papers for a second please."

The person whom I assumed to be the instructor then looked at Asty’s papers and told her to sit down at table number fourteen, which just so happened to be next to mine, and fill out the rest of her form like everyone else should’ve done by now.

She gave a huge smile upon seeing me here and would’ve caused a bit of a ruckus had I not held my finger up to my lips to keep her quiet.

She held back from saying anything and just nodded as she made her way to her seat next to me. But when she sat down, her smile beamed once more as she waved over at me, to which I returned the gesture and then gestured for her to fill out her paperwork.

And a few minutes later, she was barely able to finish filling it out before the instructor locked the door.

Everyone in the room was suddenly became very rigid, as that meant that the test would be starting soon.

The woman, who was dressed in a red lined, white toga then addressed us all.

"The exam will begin shortly. I will hand out the papers to each and every one of you, and each one is different for each individual, so there cannot be any cheating. You are not to start the exam until I say so. You will have two hours to complete the exam, and once I say to finish, you will stop writing immediately. Do you all understand?"

"Yes ma’am." All of us cried out in unison.

"Good. I shall now hand out the papers. Please get the things you think you may need for this test out now." We all did as she instructed and brought out all the things we thought we would need for this test.

She soon handed out our papers one by one, and once she had handed everyone their papers, she went to the front of the class and addressed us once more.

"If I find that any one of you is cheating, then you shall be disqualified immediately. You have two hours... BEGIN!"

Instantly, the sound of papers being turned over filled the room for a brief second before it was then replaced with the sound of various forms of writing. Some were using a pencil, some used a brush, and some used a quill.

I was using a quill myself, a special one at that. It was magically enchanted, meaning that it could write without ever needing actual ink. It could also change appearances if I used some mana.

As for the test itself, it tested my knowledge on things like history, I had to make sure that I didn’t put down anything that a common person might not know since I have forbidden knowledge from beings and places of higher orders.

It also tested me on magic theory, which I quietly thanked my father for teaching me to learn magic the way that I did. It asked about things from simple spells to how to best utilise them.

Then there was a smaller section that focused on faith. It was mainly just a question to see if you had any faith towards a certain religion and the individuals in it. This wasn’t a question that would affect our placements but we could earn bonus points from it if we had an actual answer. Besides not following any gods or religion, otherwise known as atheism.

For that, I put down the faith of Lust, which was my father’s domain.

Beyond that was a subject I wasn’t as familiar with, which was maths. They weren’t top level questions, but I still struggled considering I never learned it all that seriously. I only ever learned enough to be able to handle my finances.

Which just so happened to be the next subject on this test. And I felt much more comfortable with that than the section just before it.

Then, the second to last part of this exam was more of a general knowledge section, with things like the city we’re currently at, the kingdom, that sort of thing.

And the last section, which was one of the largest was about the world we lived in. It asked us about the many races, places and people. It also asked about things like dungeons and hidden realms.

Upon seeing that last one, I felt melancholic for some reason. Like a part of me wanted to scream out in pain but didn’t know why.

I supressed that emotion and finished the test with about twenty minutes to spare.

Using that time, I went back over my answers and cleaned them up a bit, skipping over the math section and soon finding myself at the end of the papers once more, with five minutes left.

Since there wasn’t any time left to go over anything again, I just spent these last minutes waiting.

And those minutes were quickly over.

"Times up! Stop writing!"