About five more minutes passed before Director Miraaz finally finished her speech. Some had already started fidgeting in place, others were staring at her with their mouths open, trying to understand if she was actually a student or not. Dorian, meanwhile, wasn't even listening. He had already seen all of this before.
Then she waved a hand and encouraged the students to move closer to the arena. The moment she said that, the ground in the middle of the field trembled. Not strongly, but enough for everyone to notice. At first nothing could be seen, only dust rose, and then tables started coming out of the ground. One after another. As if something from below was pushing them up. On top of them, papers and pens rose together, everything neatly placed, like someone had prepared it all beforehand.
Around, a quiet "woah" was heard, a few even stepped back, as if afraid that the ground would move again. One kid almost fell when he tried to step away. Others instead rushed closer, watching how another table came out of the ground with a dull sound.
"So this is what the earth magic looks like." Ezekiel's eyes were literally shining. He was looking at all of this like at some kind of a show.
"Sigh…" Dorian just sighed. It didn't look like anything impressive to him. He turned and started to walk toward the arena, not even waiting for Ezekiel.
Ezekiel stood for a few more seconds watching at the tables, then hurried after.
Coming closer, Dorian slowed his step. His gaze caught on the same simple wooden tables. Nothing special. A bit scratched, in some places corners chipped. The papers white, clean. The pens placed the same way.
He stopped for a moment. Looked at everything like the strongest déjà vu feeling in the world had risen.
'This is where everything started…' he thought, sitting down on the chair, in front of him were the papers for the written exam and the class selection forms.
He knew the answers by memory; the geography, the magic theory and the history. He wrote the hour work faster than in ten minutes. What interested him the most was the class selection.
He looked at the classes; the sword lessons, the fire magic, the water magic, the healing magic. His eyes stopped for a moment at the fire magic. Crossed out. Then the earth magic. Crossed out. In the previous life he mastered these. Nothing new. Need to focus on the most important ones.
He put an X at the healing magic, even though he learned it in the previous life too, the healing magic would always be useful. He paused for a moment, the finger still hanging above the paper, but finally just frowned and left it. Another X at the close combat, another one at the lightning magic, the ink slightly spilled because the hand moved faster than needed.
"Mhm…" Dorian stopped at the illusion magic and the wind. His eyes were jumping between the two lines, like trying to squeeze an answer from an empty paper. Both choices would help him in the future, the problem was that these classes happen at the same time. He wanted to click the tongue. For a few seconds he still looked, then finally scratched one and put an X at the wind magic choice, leaving the illusion empty. "Annoying…"
Once again he quickly went through the whole paper, in some places the letters printed crooked, somewhere the ink smudged, but he didn't care. It was enough.
After choosing the classes, he put the hands together and placed the head on them, the edge of the paper still stayed at the side of the forehead, and closed the eyes waiting until others finish the exams. Around the scratching of the pens was heard, someone sighed heavily, someone cursed quietly, but everything moved away from him. He fell asleep.
An hour and a half passed and Dorian was woken up by some teacher, with an eyepatch and graying hair. Dorian didn't recognize him. He, with the fake smile on the face, putting the hand on Dorian's shoulder lightly shook him.
"Did you sleep well?"
"Yawn… would been better on a bed. " Dorian yawned, with one eye still half closed he looked at him, the other tried to open. The neck was stiff, the hands numb, the paper still stuck to the cheek. Slowly straightened, rubbed the neck, then with the gaze went across the stadium. Most already finished, some still wrote, others just sat staring at the ceiling.
"Mhm… is it already finished?" he mumbled, still not fully recovered.
"Indeed." the teacher said, extending the hand, waiting until Dorian will give him the answers. The sleeve slightly slipped, on it some old ink stains could be seen, but he didn't even look at that.
"Question…" Dorian said, giving the papers, with the other hand he rubbed the eye. "Why do we get the class selection sheets before knowing if we got into the exam?"
"Mhm…" The teacher scratched the back of the head, the eyes for a moment moved to the ceiling like there would be the answer. "I don't even imagine. The director decided it like that."
"Eh?" Dorian got confused, raising the eyebrow, the gaze for a moment slid toward the center of the arena where the tables still stood.
"They don't pay me enough for me to care." the teacher laughed, with that tired, empty smile, and taking the last paper from Dorian's hand he went to another table, already calling another student.
Dorian stretched on the chair, waiting until the teachers will collect the papers of all students. The chair slightly creaked under him, the head still heavy from sleep. 'What next?' he asked himself in the mind, trying to remember. A few seconds empty. Then it appeared. 'Ah, the test of our combat abilities.' he remembered.
In the previous life, he answered the test answers almost perfectly, what dropped him into the worst class was that he never had the combat lessons. The grandfather crippled, the mother forbidden to use the magic, unless for the daily tasks. No one taught him how to fight. No one showed how to hold the weapon.
"Tsk." Dorian clicked the tongue, irritated. This time, he is determined to show that it is him who is the best in this school. Even if will need to use a bit of the lifespan instead of the magic. To extend the lifespan will not be hard, just need the gold. And he will get that anytime if he gets a good adventurer or hunter rank. It seemed simple to him.
He smiled.
In the previous life, he didn't have the hidden weapon; the spatial magic. Now, he can use it in advance.
When the last student gave the papers, Director Miraaz used the spell, which all the student names threw into the two separate transparent cauldrons. The cauldrons floated in the air, slowly spun, inside the slips moved like the wind was pushing them, even though nothing around moved. The surface shimmered faintly, like the water, but not quite the water.
'Word magic?' Dorian thought, standing up from the chair, the chair again quietly creaked. The eyes for a moment narrowed, the gaze caught on the cauldrons like trying to understand how the spell works. Then clenching the fists, brushed the fingers across the palms like preparing. "It begins." he muttered.
Director Miraaz started to pull one slip at a time from both cauldrons. The movements calm, but too precise. Then she threw the slips into the air, they ignited still in the air, the fire was strange, too transparent, and the names like fireworks exploded in the sky, for a moment stayed above the arena so everyone could see.
[Ezekiel vs Balmond]
"Can these two children come to the center of the arena?" Director Miraaz asked with the impatient smile, the eyes for a moment slid across the crowd, like not waiting to finally see the blood.