“Seriously! What was that?! I have never seen any magic like that!” the prodigy exclaimed as the two once again made their way down this hallway.

  “It was just the…ehm…the simple…trick—yes, the simple trick…” the foreigner cordially replied, albeit vaguely and…perhaps awkwardly.

  “Pfft! ‘Simple trick’, you say…” The prodigy was evidently unconvinced. “Wow, you really turned out to be something… Though, just goes to show how different magic can be across all of this world…” she remarked, pondering; “Makes you wonder, I suppose… What else is out there, hidden but…waiting to be found, you know?”

  “I suppose…” the foreigner just replied; “I guess that I may say that… There are the things beyond your eyes and even…the many of the things…beyond my eyes; I will leave this at that.” She was cordial, though…also slightly ominous. However, before a reply could be mustered, the foreigner abruptly leaned in closer and with rather the friendly charm, flustering the prodigy caught by surprise; “Now, you…on the different hand, ‘prodigy’, you were quite the surprise too, no?” She redirected the subject.

  The prodigy froze in place, her entire being turning white, metaphorically, as stunned realizations reentered mind. “Oh, yeah! You are absolutely right! It nearly escaped my heart!” her breaths expunged as bewildered affect once again overcharged within; “I was not expecting that at all! Not at all! I mean… W-w-what…what even was that, rightly??” Letting loose quite the breath, she began to walk once again… “At most I was expecting…maybe…a decent shadow affinity, but…not…not…EVERYTHING else!” her breaths further expunged… “It’s just all so… So… I don’t even know… I don’t even know what to say, or think, or…anything!”

  “Sometimes to not think might be gooder…” the foreigner frankly remarked.

  The prodigy, however, shifted her sight to the foreigner; “Maybe your words really did…give me Fortune’s luck…” she said with quite the smiling smile.

  ? Síc vidatùr ? the foreigner simply replied; “So it seems…”

  Yet the prodigy’s smiling gaze shifted aside… “Though, her luck is never without debts…” she mellowly remarked; “And I hope she doesn’t come…collecting…”

  The two continued their strolling walk down, until finally halting, seeing that the hallway split two ways; two paths down two separating directions.

  The prodigy sighed; “Well…uhm… I guess this is where we part ways, then…” she thus spoke, her smile still present though shifting…awkward and uncertain. “It’s been a…pleasure, uhm…actually talking to you and…meeting you, of course… It’s been full of surprises; you really…uhm…turned out to be something…” Her voice was…nervous but sincere.

  “The same is to you” the foreigner simply replied, cordially.

  The prodigy’s posture shifted to one more timid and…lowly; “I hope we can…see each other again…” She blushed a little; “In this way…”

  “Perhaps we might…” The foreigner merely nodded. “Well, I must go now… I do not want to be the late…” she said, before bowing to take her leave.

  “Yeah, of course… Fortune’s luck to you…” The prodigy smiled… “I hope you get in…” her voice added…more quietly.

  The two thus departed their ways, the prodigy returning to that counter area now even more stuffed than before, whilst the foreigner continued her way through this hall of many doors…

  Her mask-obscured cyanic glare peered down, looking at that which was in her hand… That document, now filled out more to a degree; she now had her own special card or ‘slip’ as well… Although, this one merely exempted her from the ‘affinity requirement’ on grounds of having a ‘novel’ ‘exotic affinity’ of ‘alien’—foreign—origins. Thus, she still had to participate in the rest of this so-called ‘preapplication assessment’.

  That proctor, of course, was not present to guide her to the next assessment, having to clean up and…no doubt do rather the explaining. He had, at least, described exactly down which way she needed to follow.

  Hmm… Nevertheless, the foreigner’s sight continued to remain fixed at the document in her hands rather than the ways ahead. In retrospect, she had…perhaps acted far too impulsively and excessively with what she had done… She probably should not have had exposed aspects of her arcanity in such a way either. Yet, even so, she perhaps, deep down within the shadows of her mind, could not help but feel a semblance of…smug satisfaction, even if she could not comprehend it.

  -|-

  The foreigner stepped into a moderately sized chamber of sorts; it was rather empty besides a long and wide table at the far end that stretched horizontally across from her sight, behind which were several numbered doors. Despite having chairs to be seated upon and papers readied, this long table was…empty—devoid of persons.

  Many denizens, she immediately saw as she peeked her head to her left, were waiting with…varying degree of patience; some were males, most were female; some were leaning against that very wall to which the door behind was attached, others were sitting down; all were dozing off.

  Hmm… So, she…was in the…correct place, then? The foreigner presumed so… Thus, she approached and promptly joined these waiting denizens, leaning her own back against the wall, patiently waiting. She began to peer around a little… It was rather interesting how many denizens there were, considering that she was the ‘tenth’ one in and thus should have been amongst the earliest to be called if such was going numerically.

  However, as she peered about, eyes began to peer at her in kind, scanning her as much as she scanned them. Most likely, her masquerade made them curious. Nevertheless, it did not take long at all before she defused amongst the many, those peering eyes losing interest.

  Time began to flow and pass, seamless and without barrier. A few more denizens stepped in and joined the waiting many. Some began to chat; others had brought books or scrolls to read; a few simply quietly hummed away. The foreigner was amongst the most silent.

  Before, eventually, at long last a certain door in the far corner opened as many pointy-hatted figures stepped through and with haste. Robed, cloaked, and even caped; old, bearded, and with staffs; all mages of the most stereotypical fashion, truly. These arriving mages quickly occupied their respective seats at the table, although one remained standing.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  “Ahem!” That standing mage thus annunciated his voice; “We apologize for the long delay, there was an…incident which demanded our immediate council… However, let us now begin this with haste. You are all civilized; you know what to do, surely.” He thus took his seat.

  Promptly, all of the waiting denizens sprung to life as an onslaught of speakings ensued. They headed straight for the tables and, as if automatically and without any higher-order cognition, formed organized lines before each of the seated mages.

  The foreigner herself, however, had been…perhaps…slower to move; she picked whichever line appeared the smallest, even if marginally so. She thus stood amongst the many in front and a few behind, waiting…

  This chamber was now significantly louder than before, all the denizens around chatting amongst themselves; strangers, nascent acquaintances, friends, it mattered not—a complete and total inverse to the silence of the preceding wait. Frankly, this abrupt surge in denizen…noises shook her head so… Her breaths tensed as her mind clenched; she found it to be so…awfully difficult to tolerate deep down within… Nevertheless, she had not any the alternative besides toleration.

  Thankfully, owing to the experience of these administrative mages, the lines moved swiftly enough. In no time at all—which was to say in more time than the foreigner’s aching mind and aged essence would have desired—, she was standing behind the last denizen before her turn.

  “Next! Step forward!” so ordained a rather indifferent mage as a denizen cautiously stepped off, things evidently in hand. The foreigner promptly stepped forward, to which he immediately groaned upon sight… “Oh, you… It is you—yes, I am well aware of you…” he so said with slight disdain; “You are the masked alien who is the cause for us having one less affinity stone… You know we have only been afforded five of those, rightly? And we already had to guard against chiseling thieves breaking in…”

  “Four, now more truly.” the foreigner flatly corrected.

  “Oh, yes, you must be so proud…” Dry sarcasm oozed from the mage’s voice; “If you can consume those forsaken crystals, then surely you could at least conjure us a new one; it is not as though crystalish magic is abundant in this era…”

  ? … ? Technically, she could…theoretically kind of maybe possibly do that, albeit probably not in the form of a crystal.

  Becoming side-tracked, he ahemed and refocused; “Whatever. Now then… Your document? Oh, and your ‘special’ alien exemption slip, bah…”

  The foreigner handed over both her document and her special slip. The mage, snatching, stamped the slip before he began to scribble onto her document, filling in some information before stamping it in kind. He then retrieved, from a highly secured and reinforced container, two thoroughly wrapped and concealed cards of sorts, carefully placing each downfaced upon the table.

  The material of their sealed wrapping seemed strange and almost synthetic in appearance; both were of a shiny grey color, however one seemed embroiled with a ‘flame’ sort of symbol, whereas the other…

  “I heard, alien,” the mage thus sternly spoke on, immediately recapturing her attention, “that you needed to be lectured on the basics of our traditional schools… I hope I need not do the same with these… For I should forewarn, if you know not what these are, you may as well depart now.”

  “No. It is not needed… I know of what these are” the foreigner frankly replied; “These are obviously the ‘spellcards’…” And considering the extra precautions and safety procedures, she could already presume that these so-called ‘spellcards’ were likely to be volatile… Not in effect as much as…sensitivity.

  “Hm. Well, good.” the mage merely replied; “Now, then, alien… ‘Exotic’ your alleged talents may be, it matters little if you are unable to utilize the most fundamental instrument of magic in these lands…” he thus stated bluntly; “There have been many special exotics such as you who had shown exceptional prowess, only to be shown as inert to spellcards, making their alien magics useless to us and ours to them.”

  Inert to spellcards? Hmm… Interesting, then… That implied that the arcane cards of this place were not holistically universal… That could be a problem for her, then.

  “Now, then…” the mage continued forth, “you are to place carefully these two cards one-by-one—”

  Yet, rather interruptingly, the foreigner placed her handbag onto the table; she carefully slid, without even lifting, each card onto her palm, stacking the other on top, ensuring that the already covered and sealed face of the cards remained hidden and downfaced, before obscuring it all with her other hand—just for good measure. Standard safety protocols aside, she had not spent the time waiting in line completely inattentive; she had observed the doings of the denizens preceding her.

  “…” the mage stared rather blankly… “Next time wait until the instruction is finished before acting, alien, regardless of if whether you already know or not. Respect aside, patience and precise adherence are necessary characteristics we look for in applicants.”

  The foreigner…averted her gaze away, embarrassed ostensibly; “I give the sorry… I might have become with too much of the impatience…”

  “Yes, yes… Now, to move on,” the mage thus moved on, “normally, this test would be of one’s affinity in practice as well as general utilization—thus, one card for their affinity, and one of a random school. However, considering your…alien artistry, you were given two random cards, in effect. We are interested in your general utilization purely and your capability to cast any spellcard at least once, regardless of accuracy.”

  “It is understood” the foreigner just acknowledged.

  “You will be in room twelve. You are to keep those cards safe from the eyes of others, and you are not, at any point, to unseal the cards nor place the cards, sealed or not, on their faceside, and most especially you are not to use these cards without first being explicitly instructed. Failure to follow proper procedures will result in an instant failure regardless of results. Is that clear?”

  The foreigner nodded, “Yes.”

  “Good. So, then get going.” the mage thus dismissed; “You are only allowed to take your document and exemption slip. I will hold onto your bag until you return.”

  The foreigner would prefer to not leave her handbag with a random denizen, however… This was mandated procedure, therefore outside of her control. Still keeping the two spellcards resting upon her palm, she thus took her document and special exemption slip into her other hand.

  The mage began to move her handbag off the table and onto the ground next him, yet…as he did so, he quickly noticed… “This is rather… What are you keeping in this?”

  ? … ? The foreigner stared… “It is improper to ask the lady such the question…” So she had heard, at least.

  The mage ahemed; “Yes, of course…” Mage, old, antagonistic, or not, he was still a man of these lands; he dared not to snoop nor peek.

  The foreigner departed away from that table, the denizens once stuck behind her finally allowed their turn. She made way for that door labeled ‘12’. Conveniently, the denizens of this place used Standard Numerals; thus, she could read them easily.

  Awkwardly opening the door with her elbow, she stepped into this small room of desks…

  Six in total, she instantly counted, three rows with two desks each, all evenly spaced out; not so large, but sizable enough. They had a sort of…cubicle or covering of sorts—‘dividers’. Tall and obscuring, no doubt these were meant to deny an accidental peek at another’s spellcard.

  She scanned around, attempting to identify a desk to claim as her own… Hmm… She opted for the first desk of the third and last row—which happened to be the desk that was…right in front of her. Approaching this desk, she thus placed her documents onto it first…in the place that seemed to be allocated specifically for such, before then carefully placing each concealed spellcard in kind, spacing them out evenly.

  She then…stood by as time began to stream and flow. More denizens stumbled in with their own spellcards, showing varying degrees of precaution as, one by one, each desk was claimed until none were left. They all simply waited, idling in place.