Aspiration to the Heavens: Becoming the Supreme Mage Vol. 1- Novus Magus

[Revised/Edited] Episode 26: A Prince's Doubts

-"Hopeless despair can lead to regret"

*Lei*

Me and the others followed Yuzu and Tahoma into a room filled with wooden benches and desks. The place had the aura of an old university lecture hall.

"Come on, Zelde," Wanikiya said, staring back at the opened mahogany door as we stepped inside.

"She'll come," I said, giving him an assuring grin. As if on cue, a red-haired girl in a white-deer-skin dress walked into the room. Adorning her neck were various necklaces made out of glass ornamental beads. "Ah! I was right!"

"Sorry for worrying you," Zel said as she sat down next to Wanikiya.

The prince smiled. "At least you made it."

A light blush streaked across her dark brown skin. "Same."

I glanced away, giving my two friends some space.

Tahoma broke their reunion by clearing his throat. "Alright. Time's up. I hope that you enjoyed your little break. The true challenge begins now." He snapped his fingers causing shrink-wrapped stacks of paper to appear in front of everyone. "You have two hours to answer everything. Don't cheat."

I rapidly removed the shrink wrap from the exam and wrote down my name on the front of the packet in case I ended up forgetting later.

The questions about prana were pretty easy. I knew that Water, lightning, and wind magic flowed the fastest. On the other hand, metal, earth, and ice magic without water as an accompanying element flowed the slowest. I also knew that lightning prana took a long time to restore compared to wood magic. Methods of restoring prana quicker relied on absorbing or digesting something related to the element of the prana. For example, wood, and water pranas could be restored quicker by drinking a glass of water or even by taking a shower.

The history part was the most difficult section. It took me a while to recall the name of the second Magus Maximus. The Magus Maximus was the title given to the head of the Universal Empire. The Empire was the entity that oversaw the individual national governments on this planet and in the cosmos beyond its blue skies. At least in theory. The present day Magus Maximus had less political power these days than in the past. During the time of Tai and Ventus, the Magus Maximus before Daisuke, the empire had far more power.

Thankfully, Eri was a big history buff.

I closed my exam booklet with twenty minutes to spare and turned it over to Tahoma. I glanced at the others. Nearly everyone appeared on pace to finish on time. Wani was one of the few struggling with the final part. Zel had already finished the exam before I did.

Ayawamat stood up to turn his exam in. He handed it over to Yuzu who stood on the other side of the room. I glared at him as he passed me.

"Hey, did you hear?" someone out of the classroom said. "It seems that only six students will be accepted."

"No way, only six? Then I wasted four hours of my life on this. There's no way I can be in the top six. I didn't even know that Aqua Rios was the one who unified the world, creating the third Universal Empire!"

"You're an idiot, everyone knows that," the guy's friend snapped.

I nodded. Then again, she was my great-great-grandmother.

"Idiots," Ayawamat muttered as he stepped out of the room. He smirked. "Good thing it's only six. There's no place for them where we're going."

I chose to ignore him, instead sitting down on the floor and waiting for Wanikiya to come out. Finally, after twenty minutes, my friend walked out of the class. His smile from before was gone.