Aethernea : Soulbound [Book 1]

Episode 71 - Sudden Illness

Previously:

The third day of the exams arrived. Kiel and Elaru find out that Kiel's exam is allocated to the first timeslot of the day. They hurried to make it in time, flying invisible and concealed the entire way. Only when they reached the classroom did Kiel exit the invisibility barrier and stop concealing his presence, blending with the crowd of examinees. While Rau Eryey and Kady Ailert explain the following exam, which tests their mana pool size, mana regeneration and mana flow speed, Kiel finds it hard to concentrate on the explanation. Rau uses the mana crystallizer to condense a yellow mana crystal.

* * *

It was only when the light reflected off of the dazzling yellow crystal that Kiel's gaze once again focused on the exam. He had never seen a yellow mana crystal before. Mana crystals were usually either blue, red or purple. Their color depended on the structure of the crystal that the crystallizer produced.

Technically speaking, the crystal could be of any color, however, since the type of mana inside of the crystal was important for the future usage of the crystal and couldn't be determined without using the crystal, the Association of Magic imposed a rule on mana crystallization that stated that crystals had to be colored based on the mana type they held inside. Blue for transmutation mana, red for augmentation and purple for pure mana.

The fact that the crystal in front of them was yellow, clearly stated that the crystallizer was neither issued nor certified by the Association of Magic. It was custom-made.

"Are there any questions?" Kady's warm voice snapped Kiel out of his thoughts.

The examinees exchanged glances with one another, but no one spoke up.

"If there are no questions, then we can start the exam. Who wants to go first?"

When the question was uttered, Kiel immediately took a step forward to volunteer. However, mid-step, he noticed that someone had already volunteered.

It was one of the males in the room who didn't particularly like Kiel. After noticing everyone staring at him, the male looked around himself in a stupor, before looking back at smiling Kady. After a few seconds of fidgeting, as if he was fighting an internal battle with himself, he caved in to peer pressure and walked towards the crystallizer.

Kiel's eyebrows furrowed. If the guy had done it just to spite him, Kiel wouldn't have been surprised. But there was something strange about his behavior. It was as if he ended up volunteering accidentally.

But how do you volunteer accidentally? Did his legs give out making him stumble forward just at the right moment?

Internally, Kiel chuckled and shook his head. Well, whatever. The test would only last between 5 and 10 minutes.

Kady Ailert and Rau Eryey proceeded to usher people out of the room, allowing only the first person taking the exam to stay in the classroom. They explained that the crystallizer doesn't differentiate between mana of different people, so it was a measure to prevent any possible attempts of cheating.

When the doors to the classroom closed, the previously silent examinees again crowded around Kiel.

"Pfft, that blockhead! Couldn't he tell that you wanted to go first!" a random girl sneered and batted her eyelashes at Kiel. At her exclamation, a bunch of other girls agreed and started cursing the poor fellow.

A scent of perfume assaulted Kiel from all sides, with difficulty he kept his facial expression unchanged and breathed through his mouth. Individually, the perfumes might have been pleasant but mixed together they only made his stomach turn.