Examination

Noticing an examiner step forward from the line, Erebos faltered when he saw the figure emerge. Not sure if this could be considered good fortune, he saw a somewhat older girl who would probably be one of the prettiest he had ever seen. While someone of his age would dream of such an encounter in another situation, his already strained nerves exploded as he focused all of his willpower to not blush. Smirking as she witnessed this, the girl walked forward and placed her hand firmly on his back. Pushing him towards the table, she turned him around and sat him down.

Glancing at her face as he was womanhandled, Erebos couldn't help but catch his breath.

Erebos: "Ergh..."

Distracted with trying to figure out how to start a conversation, Erebos hadn't noticed her expression turn sour. On second thought, the expression on the face of the girl only a few years older than him could only be considered venomous.

Erebos: "Uhhhm... I'm sorry..."

Not exactly sure what he was apologizing for but certain he had made some mistake to warrant such a look, Erebos shut his eyes and hung his head.

While concerned for the state of his exam if this kept up, he heard the girl unfurl a sheet of paper and start scribbling something.

Girl: "Very awkward, doesn't talk much."

At the seemingly lighthearted tone of voice antithetical to her previous expression, Erebos shot his head up and let out a "Wha...?"

Girl: "Sheesh, It's just the personality profile, don't take it so seriously."

Smirking at the flustered Erebos, she now bore a placid expression whilst writing down the poor impression he had made.

Erebos: "Wha... Why... Did you look like you wanted to kill me?"

Girl: "The most pure expression of yourself comes in trying times, you know. Besides, this really only matters if you're absolutely rotten. The real exam is the physical, and you've got a preeetty high bar to beat if we're comparing to the last examinee."

Hoping that this wasn't the same girl that had examined Jiron, Erebos sighed heavily and hung his head once more.

Girl: "All right, left arm out, Afkoran. We'll be testing your ambient flux level, your total capacity, and your absorbing and discharging rates."

Picking up a wand with a rounded tip and a long cord connecting it to the device's main casing, the girl flipped a lever on the device and pointed the wand towards him.

Girl: "I'll first fill you up as much as possible, then drain you completely. It doesn't hurt or anything, so don't look so squeamish."

Tensing up his face despite her assurance, Erebos looked away and clenched the fist on his outstretched left hand.

Girl: "Um, palm please."

Loosening his fist, he instead presented his palm as she moved the wand's tip towards it. Bracing for a pain that wasn't supposed to come, he felt the cool tip touch his hand. Feeling foolish for thinking that it would hurt, he-

Pain. Pain. A burning pain, firing from his palm across his entire arm. Recoiling it back immediately, both Erebos and the girl shared a startled expression as he yelped and jumped slightly in his seat.

Erebos: "I thought you said it wasn't supposed to hurt!"

Girl: "Yeah, and it's not supposed t-t... to..."

Stuttering and falling silent, the girl's face transitioned from slight frustration to complete bewilderment. Following her gaze, Erebos laid his eyes upon one of the largest gauges of the testing equipment.

Erebos: "That's not, uh... supposed to be empty, is it?"

Girl: "The hell, man... Why'd you go and drain the whole thing...?"

Slowly turning her frown into a smirk, she takes a closer look at the gauges.

Girl: "Yep, it's empty. And you did it so fast that there's not even a reading for how fast you did it. Really making it hard on me, huh."

Picking up on her sarcastic tone, Erebos also lets out a smirk, and replies,

Erebos: "I mean, that can't be a bad thing, right? At least better than the last guy?"

Girl: "The last guy was good but this is unheard of. I'm gonna grab another tester, maybe this one's just busted. Either way, if it isn't we still have yet to fill you up."

Dragging an unused tester from the next seat over, the girl then runs though the same preparations with the device and holds out the wand. Timidly holding out his palm, Erebos feels the cool tip make contact as a sudden pain flares through his arm again. Bracing for the pain this time, he just blinks hard as he withdraws his hand.

Girl: "Draining it again, damn you. No readings either..."

Pausing for a moment and glancing towards a group of elderly looking men occupying the chairs Erebos had helped bring in, she puts her hand to her chin and sighs."

Girl: "As much as I'd love to keep dumping enough flux to kill a man into you all day, I don't think I should go around draining all the testers. So we'll just write that you took in about 100,000 flux and leave it at that."

While watching her scribble away on the sheet of paper in front of him, Erebos grew somewhat curious at how unusual of a case his was.

Erebos: "Flux is just the amount of starlight that is absorbed by a square foot of fluxcloth, right? How much can a person usually take in?

Gazing at the girl's ankle length cape and wide-brimmed hat, Erebos guessed that they were made of fluxcloth, a material purposely made to absorb starlight in place of human skin. While people had different rates at which they absorbed light through their skin, fluxcloth was consistent and therefore could be used to derive a standard unit. By covering oneself in the cloth, one could increase their surface area able to absorb light and drastically increase their intake from merely standing outside. Although he knew the theory and the unit derived from it, he wasn't sure of exactly how significant the magnitude between one or 100,000 flux was.

Girl: "That's how you calculate the unit, and I can give you some examples. I'm a little above average for capacity and can only take in about 10,000. The numbers for the best of the best vary, but are usually around 20,000. I really don't even want to write this in considering how absurd your numbers are."

Glancing and meeting his eyes for a moment, she turns her face back quickly and tries to stifle her blushing.

Girl: "Well, I'm not impressed, at least. You still have the rest of the physical, and you could be a total flop there, so don't get cocky."

Erebos: "You're the one talking me up, I still find what you're saying hard to believe."

Making a strained expression as if she agreed with his incredulity, she flipped a large lever on the faceplate of one of the testers and brought up its wand again.

Girl: "Well, palm out. Let's see how long it takes to get it out."

Holding his arm out and opening his hand, Erebos shut his eyes once more and braced for another impact. As he felt the cold tip of the wand touch his palm, he could feel...

Erebos: "Huh, nothing."

Relieved at the absence of the burning sensation, Erebos opened his eyes and looked expectantly at the girl. As if shocked again, she started at the gauge with a look of disbelief. As she turned her eyes to meet his, Erebos quickly looked away and blushed.

Waiting for her response, he continued to hold up his palm and he noticed for the first time that she still hadn't removed the wand tip from it. Wondering what the issue was, he craned his neck to look at the gauge as well.

Erebos: "Ummm... Is there supposed to be something going back in?"

Girl: "Yeah... That's the idea... Maybe this one really is broken??"

Putting forth a hopeful idea and snatching up the second tester's wand and flipping the lever on its face, she touched the wand tip to his hand without giving him a moment to prepare. And the results were...

Girl: "Still nothing, wha...?

Looking desperate, she rechecked all the levers and dials on the testers but did not find any discrepancies. After failing to find any and desperately trying to absorb some of her own light to now avail, she looked at Erebos with a dismayed expression.

Girl: "I don't really know what to do in this situation, with two working testers both breaking. I feel like getting a third and struggling in front of the observers is worse than getting Administrator Dilaros involved, so just sit and behave."

She waved to the administrator after giving Erebos instructions seemingly as if he had done something wrong or made a mistake, to which he made a transient light scowl. She caught the older man's attention, and she stepped aside as he came forward.

Administrator Dilaros: "What's the issue here? Already forgot how to use the tester, Kalthira?"

Girl: "No sir, there seems to be a bit of an issue when testing Afkoran. He sucked up all of both of these testers' juice, but we couldn't get it back out and they won't even work on me anymore."

The administrator grunted in response and picked up both of the wands. He made sure that all of the dials and levers on both were in the right positions for drawing light out, and touched both wands to his arms successively. After neither of them showed any activity, he dragged another nearby tester that had just finished being used.

Drawing a little bit of his own flux out, he then turned a ring around the main gauge on the tester, moving an arrow that was previously pointing to zero to the 50,000 mark. Taking his flux back in, the tester stopped when the gauge hit the 50,000 mark. He reset the ring and flipped the lever setting the tester back to intake light.

Gesturing for Erebos to put his palm out, the administrator moved the wand tip towards his palm, and he felt the cool sensation once more. Since the tester had not reacted to him when it was taking his flux previously, he honestly didn't expect anything different this time. With his shoulders drooping and an anxious look on his face, he prepared to draw his arm back when...

Suddenly, the girl and the administrator turned their heads away from the tester and covered their eyes.

Girl: "Ow, shit, what the hell!"

Administrator: "Now you've really done it."

Puzzled as to what had happened, Erebos flicked his eyes between them with a confused expression.

Girl: "The hell, are you blind or something? I can't imagine you aren't now if you were looking at that thing!"

Administrator: "It looks like you somehow made the storage artifices inside dump all of their flux. And it doesn't look like it works on me anymore either."

Touching the wand to his own hand, the administrator confirms that the tester was truly broken. With three nonfunctioning testers surrounding his chair, Erebos had enough information to confirm that he had the potential to screw up something as basic as the physical.

Noticing the gazes of everyone around him boring into his back, Erebos sits in a shocked silence as the other examinees and examiners eventually look away.

Administrator: "I'm not sure how you managed it, but it looks like you have the prestige of being the only person in the world to have failed the physical."

Swallowing and looking absolutely miserable, he hung his head and covered his face with his hands as the administrator walked away.

Girl: "Um, all right, he was just a little harsh. I don't think you actually failed it, just maybe like a fifty percent?"

Musing such thoughts to herself, the girl filled out what she could of the sheet and added it to her other paper, which was what Erebos could only guess to be Jiron's passing physical.

Erebos: "A fifty percent is what I'd consider a failure... But there's still two more phases, right? I'm sure this doesn't help me, but is it still even possible for me to get accepted?"

Girl: "Well, we couldn't confirm if we can even draw flux out of you. But if you can still cast a basic spell in the third phase, I don't see why you couldn't pass. This was just a test after all, I don't think anyone actually cares if the testers work on you or not."

Feeling somewhat more relieved at this response than her last, Erebos regains some of his confidence. If the second phase was just handwriting and constellation basics, he was certain of his ability in those areas. Standing up after the girl gestured him so, he glanced at the observers that the girl had been previously wary of. Noticing that all of their stares fell on him, he quickly averted his eyes and made his way back to the first group after the third started making their way towards the examiners.

One thing Erebos was thankful for was that neither the girl nor the administrator had pressed him on his lack of response to the bright light of the tester. He'd rather not have to explain his strange condition to others, but he was surprised they did not pursue an explanation. The girl had actually been close enough, probably guessing something was strange about his grey orbs for eyes. He assumed that the administrator just did not care, which he was equally thankful for.

Shaking such thoughts from his mind as he approached Jiron, he tried his best to look undisturbed by the first phases' events.

Jiron: "So, I take it that you just blew my results out of the water, huh? What was the deal with that flash anyways, huh? That was you, wasn't it?"

Rushing straight to the point, Erebos faltered under Jiron's relentless assault. Deciding that he could not hide the truth from Jiron even if he tried, Erebos thought of the best way to word his explanation.

Erebos: "If by water you mean the testers, I blew up about three of them to be exact."

Responding with a casual joke, Erebos thanked the vast experience he had conversing with Jiron and his ability to think up a remark to get him off his case.

Jiron: "Damn, that's three more than I did. You really must be something special, huh."

Erebos: "We can't all be experts at wrecking expensive equipment. If you have the time later, I could teach you a few tricks."

Continuing in a frivolous back and forth, Erebos eventually noticed the third group make their way back to the rest of the examinees. Stepping out from the examiners and clearing his throat once again, the administrator called for the first group to come forward for the second phase.

Administrator: "The writing phase will have a time allotment of about thirty minutes, so the second and third groups are allowed to leave as long as you're back in 30 minutes and an hour respectively. Try to be a little earlier to prevent any confusion. After all of the groups have been examined, all examinees should return to the hall at 10 o'clock for results of the first two phases and the third phase for those accepted."

Waving to Jiron walking among the rest of the first group, Erebos decided to return to the room he originally sat in to get some last minute practice. Returning to the presumably dark room and rewriting the alphabet repeatedly with precision, he felt satisfied with his work as he spread page after page of letters in from of him. Comparing them to the template he had from his writing manual, his letters were almost identical to the printed characters.

Erebos: "I might have managed to mess up the physical, but that doesn't mean I'm out yet. I'll just ace the writing section and get an easy entry."

Reassuring himself with such thoughts, Erebos noted the clock tower's chimes indicating that it was about 6:45. Since the second phase started around 6:20, he decided to make his way back to the examination hall. He made his way back to the door, stepping aside for whom he could assume to be first group examinees leaving from the hall. Entering and catching Jiron's eyes, Erebos made his way to him by the back of the hall and questioned him about his performance.

Erebos: "So, how did the exam go? Did you match up to your performance in the physical?"

Jiron: "As I expected really, she said I wrote a little messy but was still acceptable, but also faster than most. I guess you could say it's peak performance, being just legible enough to work in artifice but being faster than the rest."

Erebos: "I'm not sure that's something to be proud of, but I'm glad you're satisfied. I suppose..."

Jiron: "Eh, not so fast."

Interrupting Erebos, Jiron waved a finger in front of Erebos' eyes.

Jiron: "I asked the examiner about what she thought of you, and you wouldn't believe how pale her face turned. What did you do to that poor woman, you."

Not sure how to respond to such accusations, Erebos considered his best course of speech to divert the topic away from his miserable performance.

Erebos: "She's just probably still in shock from how well I did, you know."

Jiron: "Well from what she said, blowing up 3 testers and failing doesn't sound like a shockingly good performance."

Recoiling his head at Jiron's response, Erebos figured that he already had the full picture from the girl and was just teasing him. Erebos prepared to launch a counterattack when Jiron sighed deeply and changed his tone.

Jiron: "Hehhhhh, just let me have my little moment of victory, all right? Don't let whatever happened in the physical put you down, they probably don't even know what to think about that. Just ace this like you always do, and I'm sure you have nothing to worry about, right?"

Appreciating his once in a lifetime serious encouragement, Erebos calmed his temper and turned his head towards the examiners.

Erebos: "Well, it appears that the first group is almost done, so I suppose it'll be my turn soon. Just for your kind words, I'll make sure not to shame your performance too much."

Hearing the call of the administrator for the second group to come forward, Erebos set off from Jiron and gave him a wave as he left the room. Returning to the same seat he took the physical in, with the girl standing somewhat menacingly with a smirk and a slight glare in her eyes, Erebos sat down with a somewhat confident feeling. If he was certain about something, he knew that his handwriting was truly exemplary for really any age or skill standard, one of his few actual accomplishments. No matter the poor impression he had made on the first phase, he was determined to show his capabilities in the second.

As if sensing his confidence, the girl smirked at him and wordlessly placed a sheet of paper and a fountain pen in front of him.

Girl: "If your expression is anything to go off on, it looks like you're pretty prepared for this. Well, go on and just write the alphabet in print on the first line."

Leaning over his shoulder and watching his every stroke, the girl's eyes followed Erebos' pen as it made quick, clean strokes across the page. Finishing with the last letter, Erebos sat the pen down, taking notice that most other examinees around him had not even started writing yet. Glancing at the girl who had yet to say a word, he was prepared to hear at least some acknowledgement, but was thrown off by her expression of absolute horror.

Girl: "What... No... Did you really just do that?!"

Startled by such an adverse reaction, Erebos began to fret over the possibility that he had made some critical mistake. Grabbing the page and scouring the letters with his stare, he tried but failed to find an error. Looking once more at the girl's expression, he noticed that it had flipped from horror to despondency.

Girl: "You didn't even need to use any more lines... You just did it perfectly immediately... Who do you think you are, just writing better than a third year who's practiced for ages?!"

Erebos realized that the issue was not one of error but rather the examiner's astonishment, and he could almost feel the blood rush back to his drained face.

Girl: "Well, you know, we all have our strengths, I guess you're bound to be good at something. Don't get cocky and think you're better than me just because you have a little bit of talent."

Erebos: "But you just said I'm better than...

Girl: "WELL, next is just the names of the 16 constellations in order. There's eight pairs of lines, so write the first and second constellations of each pair on the upper and lower lines respectively."

Swallowing his cut-off words with a slight grin, Erebos picked up the pen once more and swiftly wrote out the names of the constellations. Along with his writing ability, he had the memory to keep up with a decent lexicon, so commiting the constellations was an early and easy feat. Finishing the names with the same swiftness as the alphabet, Erebos couldn't help but smirk at the girl's frustration.

Girl: "Hah, an easy feat for a master of writing such as yourself, huh? All that's left is reading comprehension, then. Turn the page over and recite each sentence."

Glaring at him through her whole sentence, she watched Erebos flip the page and begin reading each sentence. Her fury only grew when he flawlessly recited the last few sentences on the page, which were specifically written with obscure and archaic language nearly impossible for beginners to fluently read."

Erebos: "And the obfuscation of the immanent god continued henceforth, the remuneration of his deeds unheard. That's all of them."

Erebos looked back up towards the girl, expecting a glare hot enough to melt steel. He was met with, however, an expression of pure serenity, with her eyes closed and a faint smile playing across her lips.

Girl: "Resistance is futile. Nothing constructive can come from my deep hatred and burning envy for your existence."

With those bittersweet words ringing in his ears, Erebos felt almost bad for crushing the spirit of the girl to such an extent. But regardless of her mood was the affirmation of his masterful writing abilities, especially if they could impress even a third year Capital student. Feeling a surge of confidence stronger than any before, Erebos couldn't help but grin when the girl told him to stand up and return to the back of the hall.

Girl: "All right, enough of your stupid grin, just go find your friend and rub it in his face instead. You finished thrice as quick as you're supposed to so I can't imagine he's too far away."

Nodding to her forced words, Erebos set off while the rest of the second group continued their exam. Suppressing his smile and assuming his usual relaxed expression, he scanned the back of the room. He was not expecting to find Jiron conveniently waiting for him, but he was surprised to glimpse the back of his head casually waving in emphatic speech. Erebos realized that he must have been talking with one of the enigmatic observers, with Jiron standing in front of the row of chairs Erebos had helped bring in. He decided to avoid a confrontation with the group of old men that had stared at his disastrous performance in the physical. That was his intention, at least, until...

Jiron: "Heyyy Erebos, come over here for a second!"

Despite Erebos' attempt at turning away and exiting through a side door, Jiron had turned around and noticed him. Pointing a sullen face towards Jiron's call, Erebos made a defeated march back towards the observers.

Moving aside as Erebos came close, Jiron smiled as he gestured towards the wizened old man who he was previously talking to.

Jiron opened his mouth as if to introduce the him, but he was interrupted as the man broke into a large grin and forwent such formalities.

Old Man: "Erebos Afkoran, I look forward to hearing about your performance in the third phase."