This week passed by quickly too. With Rian expending so much effort to help him learn magical history, and later political science, Ren Xiyang worked hard to memorise all the content.
Ren Xiyang didn’t return to the Rosewood fief over the weekend; partly to give him more time to study, but also partly because the healers from Angio had arrived.
Ren Xiyang teaching Cassiopeia his direct healing magic technique was a matter of a supervisor teaching their student; and Cassiopeia’s research and work in the future would benefit him.
Ren Xiyang didn’t have the same responsibility for the Angio healers, and in this professional setting, it was important to keep accounts clear. Hence, he negotiated a consultation fee, and then gave the healers a two-hour lesson. He planned another two-hour lesson in a week, after the healers had practised by themselves.
Rian, using the arrival of the Angio healers as leverage, had also acquired a consultation fee from a group of healers at the Capital Hospital, and gave them a two-hour lesson before the Angio healers.
And then, it was back to studying.
At the start of the new week, the exam timetables were released.
The exams were scheduled over four days in two weeks’ time: two days over the weekend, and two days at the start of the week; no classes would run while the exams were on. As these were all oral exams and students could only be tested one at a time, students had to sign a privacy agreement.
Ren Xiyang had much regret as he forced himself to draw a mind-map with political science concepts. He should have just withdrawn from the academy.
Rian narrowed his eyes. “What did I just hear you think?”
Ren Xiyang internally sweated. After he had let slip the mushrooms project, he had restricted his message-level sensitivity. But his regret must have been too strong. “Let me study.”
Rian snorted. “Don’t you even think of failing.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
The teachers were more stressed than the students as Vice Dean Blewitt and Dean Palatinate reviewed their exam questions.
The teachers were suffering regarding the quantity of questions and the difficulty of the questions.
During an oral exam, not every candidate received the same questions. Instead, the examiner had a pool of questions to choose from and could request more detail and ask the candidate to discuss further, to probe how deeply the candidate understood the content. Sometimes, there were numerous right answers, and it depended on whether the candidate could make a convincing case.
But this meant that teachers had to prepare more questions than they would ask one candidate and draft what an acceptable response would be.
And the teachers couldn’t just think of questions blindly. They had to consider the difficulty of the questions.
Some very difficult questions were fine, to distinguish the knowledge of students at the upper end. However, they couldn’t all be university- or post-university-level questions. As Dean Palatinate told them sternly: these exams were to assess whether the students already knew everything they would have learned during their current school year, and thus, would not benefit from attending the classes this year. Each year, students would need to be tested again to redetermine this. The questions the teachers devised thus also had to consistent with their class curriculum and with the end-of-year exams.
But at the same time, Vice Dean Blewitt wanted hard and tricky questions. It was very tricky for them to balance and make sure both the Dean and the Vice Dean were happy!
Another week passed.
Now that Pollux had Sasha, he had all but moved in, exclusively, into the Rosewood house. It was better there, anyway; the Angio embassy was busier these days with the team of healers from Angio now in residence.
Hence, when Wolfgang Titian wanted to bring Sasha’s “brothers and sisters from same and different mothers” to visit over the weekend, he came to the Rosewood house.
Wolfgang Titian carried a large basket with a dozen kittens rolling around inside. “Good afternoon, Your Highness. Good afternoon, Lord Hadrian. Hello, Princess Sasha!” he greeted brightly. “So, this is what the Rosewood house is like! I expected more plants.”
“Meow,” Sasha said from Pollux’s lap.
“Ayden has a fief full of plants,” Hadrian said.
“True,” Wolfgang said.
“Come in,” Pollux said.
The Rosewood staff had prepared refreshments in the main sitting room and carried down the box of cat toys for them to use.
When Wolfgang set his basket down, the first kitten crawled out and tumbled to the floor. “Ah! Lady Gerhild Titian! Be more careful!” He picked up Gerhild and righted her. He then helped the other kittens out of the basket and introduced them one by one. “This is Young Lord Willihard Titian, this is Young Lord Ásmundr Titian, this is Young Lady Eadburg Titian…”
Sasha, seeing more of her kitten friends, finally jumped down from Pollux’s lap to play. The little cats pawed and patted and bit each other, rolling and tumbling and pouncing.
“So, how has Princess Sasha been?” Wolfgang asked.
“Good,” Pollux said.
“Spoiled,” Hadrian said.
Pollux gave a short laugh. “She doesn’t let Hadrian pet her.”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Qbioujcu cbvvfv rjufis. “Po sbe’gf abb fjufg, atfs xcbk jcv atfs vbc’a ilxf la.”
Ljvgljc: “…”
“Zlcv lo P…?” Qbioujcu ibbxfv abkjgvr atf ybz bo mja absr.
“Xb jtfjv,” Ubiiez rjlv.
Qbioujcu uglccfv jcv qeiifv atf ybz bnfg. Lf rja vbkc bc atf oibbg cfjg atf xlaafcr jcv qeiifv bea j mja afjrfg: j ralmx klat oieoos ofjatfgr jaajmtfv nlj j raglcu. Lf vjcuifv la lc ogbca bo atf xlaafcr jcv—atf xlaafcr qbecmfv!
Except, the kittens’ movement was still jerky and unpractised, and they missed and tumbled about.
Pollux was gratified to see that Sasha was one of the better kittens.
“You’re not studying for those exams, are you?” Pollux suddenly realised. Ayden had been extremely busy these days, completely the opposite of Wolfgang who was playing here.
“Correct,” Wolfgang said. “Petting cats is extremely important. What’s the point of doing extra work if I don’t have to?”
“You don’t want to make more money like Ayden?” Pollux asked.
“My family is rich,” Wolfgang said.
“Are you the eldest?” Hadrian asked.
“Not at all,” Wolfgang said. He grinned. “It’s great. My parents have very low expectations of me.” He picked up different toys from the box and handed them to Pollux and Hadrian. “Here!”
Pollux didn’t realise just how fun it was to tease cats until now.
And Hadrian also had a pleasant afternoon. Not all the cats avoided him, and he was even able to pet a few. These kittens were just so tiny though, they were smaller than his hand!!
Afterwards, Sasha climbed back onto Pollux’s lap, while Wolfgang put his charges back in their basket.
“Can they come over again next week?” Hadrian asked.
Wolfgang grinned. “Of course.”
It became the week before the exams.
Four days before exams.
Three days before exams.
Two days before exams.
One day before exams.
The first day of exams arrived.
Numerous rooms in the academy had been commandeered and turned into exam rooms, with strong privacy and anti-cheating spells.
Of the approximately 50 first year students, there were ten students who were taking the alternative stream exams. There were approximately ten students from the second and third year-levels too, with only two commoner mages in the third year level.
Although there had been a lot of chatter initially about the alternative stream, many students didn’t want to actually conduct research and be marked on it.
For the first years, there were five exams: magical theory and practice, spell-writing theory and practice, combat magic theory and practice, magical history, and political science. The exams were two hours each, and there were three time slots: morning, early afternoon, and late afternoon. Given that there were more students than examiners, the students didn’t have a back-to-back examination schedule (unlike the examiners).
For Ren Xiyang, this meant he had two exams on the first day, one exam on the second day, and two exams on the third day.
His first exam was combat magic theory and practice, conducted by Lord Cyan with another unknown person present.
The exam was held in one of the indoor magical practice halls. The wall, floors and ceilings hummed with magical shielding. Lord Cyan and the other person had extra shields over them. They and Ren Xiyang stood to one side; on the other side of the hall, there were several targets.
“Earl Rosewood, we’ll start with some theory questions first, before moving to practical questions,” Lord Cyan said.
Ren Xiyang nodded.
“If you were faced with a psychic attack, how would you defend?”
“First, I would dodge. If unable, I would set up a pure magic shield…”
Ren Xiyang answered the questions one by one.
Aside from technical questions, Lord Cyan also asked about obscure duelling rules and about the history of major combat styles.
Neither he nor the accompanying staff member made any indication about whether Ren Xiyang was right or wrong as they made notes on their clipboard. In fact, no marks would be released for at least a week: after the exams, all the examiners would convene to cross-check, make appropriate adjustments, and finalise the scores.
“Now, cast a shield upon yourself,” Lord Cyan said.
Ren Xiyang did so.
Under Lord Cyan’s commands, Ren Xiyang cast spells of different elements and hit different targets. Then, he made shields of different elements.
Then, with the unknown person acting as referee, Ren Xiyang and Lord Cyan engaged in a short time-constrained duel.
“Don’t hold back,” Lord Cyan said.
“Understood,” Ren Xiyang said.
He followed through the duelling formalities with ease, and then (proverbially) crushed Lord Cyan with ease.
“That is all, you may leave now,” Lord Cyan said.
Ren Xiyang inclined his head. “Thank you.”
Lord Zaffre’s magical theory and practice exam was set up in an office-like location. He sat behind a desk, while a mage from the Imperial University sat to the side. The University mage was an independent examiner.
Lord Zaffre’s first examinee was His Highness Prince Rian.
Lord Zaffre grudgingly stood up when Prince Rian entered. “Your Highness,” he greeted.
Prince Rian nodded. “Good morning, Lord Zaffre. Good morning, Lord Pewter.”
“The exam will consist of theoretical and practical questions. Answer to the best of your ability,” Lord Zaffre said.
Prince Rian nodded again.
“What are the seven principles of magic?”
“How many laws of magic are there?”
“Describe Lady Kinsley Magnolia’s theory of non-verbal spell casting. Demonstrate non-verbal spell casting by using this earth to create an earth golem.”
“Cast the spell produces a round sphere of water. Now, explain how this spell works, referring to at least two different proposed theories.”
“Cast a spell to reveal the object hidden under this shield.”
Prince Rian answered each question calmly with barely a pause between question asked and response. His casting form was impeccable, and his explanations detailed.
The ease at which Prince Rian answered the questions made Lord Zaffre question his life. These questions were meant to be hard!
He asked Prince Rian the most difficult questions in his bank of questions and made him cast all the difficult spells, but Prince Rian did them all!
“That’s all, you may leave now,” he said at the conclusion of the exam.
“Have a good day, my Lords.” Prince Rian nodded and left.
Lord Zaffre glanced at the other examiner.
Lord Pewter raised an eyebrow. “Not bad.”
Lord Zaffre snorted. “These questions should have been harder.”
“Prince Rian may be an outlier,” Lord Pewter said. He glanced down at his notes and put them away. It was time for the lunch break before the next set of exams.
While the exams were going on, Wolfgang came over to the Rosewood house again. This time, one of his older sisters accompanied him, also carrying a basket. In the basket, there was a large fluffy adult cat, looking around with big curious eyes.
“Your Highness, my name is Wulfflæd Titian. My little brother is young, please excuse him for any mistakes he makes,” Lady Wulfflæd Titian said, looking dead inside.
“He’s a good and friendly young man,” Pollux said.
Lady Titian didn’t look convinced. “Wolfgang…”
Wolfgang put his own basket down and picked up a box. “Your Highness, I prepared a gift for you today.”
Pollux accepted the gift.
After Lady Titian put down her basket and cat in the prepared sitting room, she left.
“If the baskets are too heavy, why not have levitating baskets?” Hadrian asked.
Wolfgang blinked. “No need, Wulfflæd was going in this direction anyway. Okay, now, open your gift now,” he said eagerly.
It was a book about raising cats and was filled with delicate and cute illustrations. Pollux flipped through it, interested.
“Now, the box is for Sasha.”
Pollux put the box on the ground, and lo and behold, the kittens started to walk over and climb inside.
“Cats love boxes,” Wolfgang said wisely.
Pollux closed the book. “A few days ago, Ayden suggested that you could open a cat café, where visitors pay an hourly fee to play with the cats.”
Wolfgang scratched his head. “Why, though? They can play with cats for free. Setting up a café sounds like work.”
“It could be quite lucrative,” Hadrian said, as he subtly got closer to the kittens.
“Nah,” Wolfgang said.
“I thought all Sedaverians liked making money,” Pollux said.
“I’m an outlier,” Wolfgang said proudly.
Pollux’s lips twitched in amusement.
They spent the rest of the afternoon playing, teasing, and feeding the kittens and the big cat.
Over the next few days, Ren Xiyang and Rian had the rest of their exams.
Under contract rules, they couldn’t even ask each other how their exam went, let alone connect telepathically.
Rian showed remarkable restraint. He studied quietly when Ren Xiyang was studying quietly; and during their conversations, he avoided any academy topics and talked about some of their current and future projects instead.
Finally, the fourth day of exams arrive.
Then, finally, at last, the very last exam concluded, and the students were finally allowed to communicate about their experiences.
At this moment, Rian dragged Ren Xiyang back to their quarters.
“How do you think you went?” he asked immediately.
Ren Xiyang blinked. “Hm, alright.”
“No, no, no, that isn’t good enough. Tell me every single question you were asked and how you answered it!”
Thanks to KeKe for the name “Kinsley”.
Question: What do you think—did Ren Xiyang pass all his exams or not?
Answer in the comments!
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Ren Xiyang must have passed! Rian wouldn’t able to bear any other outcome! 🤣
Thank you for the update.
+1
Rian did put in a lot of effort 😆😆
Poor, teachers so much unexpected work. Next year should be easier for them.
We’ll see 🤣
I do hope he passed; but realistically speaking, the exams where one has to memorize like a robot are…hard. Those used to be my worst grades too 🙈 Analyzing concepts is so much easier than memorize stuff …And, of course, more kittteeeeens 😻Thank you for the chapter! Felt somehow longer than the other chapters, but you certainly won’t hear me complain 😉
And I see that the formatting still doesn’t work for me when commenting your novel…😅
Hopefully Rian help Ren Xiyang understand the concepts too 🤔🤔 But yeah, concepts are so much easier! That’s why I was good at maths!
ahhahah this chapter wasn’t longer, but there was a lot more time passing!
I think Ren xiyang passed everything~
I see 😆
He must have passed I think… With how hard Rian must have taught him.
And now even Wolfgang noticed right away that what Xiyang suggested was only more work 🤣🤣 but cat cafe is really a good idea ❤
They both worked hard u_u
Wolfgang is almost allergic to work, huh 🤣
I think Xiyang just barely passed, but i feel so the magic theory examinees! Rian set the bar too high and those kids probably had such a hard time. Nonverbal spell casting!? Adults can barely do that!
I think Rian must have crushed all the teachers’ conceptions hahaha
Exams or Cats?
Exams or Cats?
Exams or Cats? Exams and Cats! Exams on Cats!
Cats on Exams! Cats taking Exams! 😁😁😁😁
Cats taking exams 🤣🤣🤣
I was channeling my inner Dr. Sues when I wrote this one! 😅😆😅😁
🤭🤭🤭🤭
I think Wolfgang would be more interested in cat breeding and possibly even discovering and making healthy breed standards for cats.
Magical jackson Galaxy
Wolfgang: Sounds like work…
🤣🤣🤣 Thank you for your comment!
I’d like to say he scored fairly well for spells and other things but for the theories and history etc he struggled and didn’t earn a beautiful score
But he passed!!!
Rian passes with flying colors.
Lol Pollux. Wolfgang is a very interesting person. I still think he can set up a cat cafe or adoption center or something
Thank you for your answer!
Wolfgang doesn’t want to do work, he wants to be a salted fish!!!
Also Ren Xiyang should involve Wolfgang in development of pet therapy.
Sounds like work though hahahah!
You’re right… well, maybe just as a pet provider? And leave the administative work to Pollux and Hadrian.
HAHAHAH maybe he can accept that 🤣
I think it’s a matter of: Xiyang’s answers are correct, but technically not at the same time and still gets a pass.
👀 thank you for your comment!
I think he passed for four reasons: 1. He scored so high in some areas that his results are skewed; 2. He’s an outstanding athlete; 3. He’ll cause more trouble if they keep him for another year; and 4. The crown prince has a romantic vision for his campus life and they’d better not interfere.
The crown prince has a romantic vision for his campus life 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Wolfgang is my hero, keeping petting cats free instead of profit!!
🥰🥰🥰