The hardest part of the examination wasn't taking it.
It was waiting for the results.
The examination board claimed it needed three days to verify every paper.
Personally, I suspected they simply enjoyed watching teenagers suffer.
There was no other explanation.
Humans had invented machines capable of calculating millions of operations per second.
Mages had invented portals capable of transmitting information instantly across continents.
Yet somehow it still took three days to grade a multiple-choice theory examination.
Civilization was a mystery.
I spent most of those three days at the temple.
The result portal was scheduled to open at noon on the third day.
I checked it at eleven.
Then eleven-oh-five.
Then eleven-ten.
Then eleven-fifteen.
At eleven-twenty, I caught myself checking whether noon had arrived early.
It had not.
Time, disappointingly, continued to operate normally.
The temple volunteer serving lunch gave me a concerned look.
"Waiting for exam results?"
"What gave it away?"
"The fact you've checked your portal twelve times in the last half hour."
Only twelve?
That seemed low.
I thanked him for the food and sat down.
The bowl of soup remained untouched.
A familiar knot had settled into my stomach.
I hated this feeling.
The theory exam was the only part of the process I truly controlled.
No genetics.
No magic power.
No natural talent.
Just knowledge.
Knowledge was fair.
Knowledge rewarded effort.
If I spent ten hours studying while somebody else spent two, the difference showed.
Magic power didn't care how hard you worked.
Magic power didn't care how badly you wanted something.
Magic power simply existed.
Or didn't.
At exactly noon, the portal finally updated.
The dining hall instantly became silent.
Half the students present were staring at their screens.
I wasn't the only one.
One by one, reactions spread through the room.
Excitement.
Relief.
Disappointment.
One guy actually put his head on the table and started praying.
Probably too late for that.
Taking a deep breath, I opened my results.
National Magic University Entrance Examination
Theory Component
Candidate: Neil
Score: 100 / 100
National Rank: 1
For several seconds, I simply stared.
Then I checked again.
And again.
Just to be certain nobody had accidentally uploaded somebody else's results.
Still perfect.
A smile slowly spread across my face.
Not because I'd ranked first.
Honestly, I didn't care much about the ranking.
What mattered was that every hour I'd spent studying had produced exactly the result I wanted.
No luck.
No miracles.
Just work.
The feeling was ridiculously satisfying.
"Congratulations, brother."
I looked up.
The volunteer from earlier was smiling.
"You passed?"
"The theory part."
His smile widened.
"Then celebrate the victory."
I laughed.
"If I celebrate every small victory, I'll never have enough energy left for the disasters."
The examination center published additional statistics an hour later.
Normally I wouldn't care.
Today I looked.
Purely for research purposes.
Definitely not curiosity.
Top Ten Theory Scores
Neal - 100
Raudra Vashkar - 98
Elena Rhys - 98
Harun Tesk - 97
...
Raudra.
Next to the name was a picture of the blond guy. Of course, the examination board had no qualms about making teenagers' profile public.
Interesting.
I tried to remember where I'd heard it before.
Then it clicked.
The blessed kid.
The prodigy.
The one everybody expected to receive offers from multiple universities.
That explained why people kept talking about him.
Apparently he was some combination of talented, hardworking, handsome, and generally irritating.
The next morning, candidates were instructed to return to the examination grounds for practical assessment registration.
Unlike theory results, practical examinations were scheduled in batches.
The testing facilities simply couldn't process thousands of students simultaneously.
When I arrived, the atmosphere felt very different from the previous visit.
Theory scores were public.
Everybody knew where they stood.
And people were looking at me.
I hated it.
Some recognized me immediately.
Others recognized my name.
A few openly whispered.
One particularly enthusiastic candidate even pointed in my direction.
I immediately checked behind me.
Perhaps he'd mistaken me for someone important.
Unfortunately, he hadn't.
"That's him."
"The perfect score guy."
"No way."
"Three years in a row apparently."
"I heard he studies eighteen hours a day."
"I heard he sleeps with theory textbooks under his pillow."
The sad thing was that the second rumor was probably closer to the truth than I wanted to admit.
I kept my head down and moved toward the registration hall.
Unfortunately, fate had other plans.
"Neal?"
I stopped.
The voice sounded familiar.
Turning around, I found myself face-to-face with Blond Boy.
Raudra.
He stood a little taller than me and looked exactly like someone who never had to worry about paying rent.
I immediately disliked him.
"Yes?"
For some reason, he seemed nervous.
Which only made the situation stranger.
This was supposed to be the confident prodigy.
The gifted one.
The future university star.
Instead, he looked like he was about to ask a teacher for permission to use the restroom.
"I just wanted to say congratulations."
"Thanks."
Silence followed.
Painful silence.
The kind that makes both parties start reconsidering their life choices.
Finally, he spoke again.
"You got another perfect score."
"Oh."
So that's why he looked nervous.
"Yeah."
Another silence.
"How do you do it?"
The question surprised me.
"Do what?"
"Answer all the trap questions."
I blinked.
Of all the things I expected him to ask, that wasn't one of them.
"I read them."
Raudra looked confused.
"I mean..."
"I know what you mean."
I shrugged.
"The examiners aren't trying to test knowledge. They're testing attention. Most trap questions rely on people assuming something instead of reading carefully."
Raudra thought about that.
Then slowly nodded.
As if some piece of a puzzle had finally clicked into place.
"That makes sense."
Of course it made sense.
Not making assumptions was one of life's most useful skills.
Assumptions were responsible for at least half the stupid decisions I'd ever made.
The other half were completely intentional.
An announcement echoed through the building.
Candidates were instructed to proceed toward their assigned testing areas.
The practical examinations were about to begin.
Immediately, the atmosphere changed.
The conversations stopped.
The smiles vanished.
Even Raudra straightened slightly.
Because unlike theory, this was the part that actually mattered.
For me, it mattered more than anyone else.
Theory scores could earn admiration.
Theory scores could earn offers.
Theory scores could earn respect.
But none of those things would make me a magician.
Only the practical examination could do that.
And for the third consecutive year, everything depended on a single number.
Four MCass.
I clenched my fists.
This time.
Just this once.
Let it be enough.