"Well done, brats! You pulled off an unprecedented miracle. Don't listen to the bullshit those snobs spew. And my blade is damn happy to be bathed in blood again after a century!"
A massive grin stretched across Cantankerous Hanry's face as he sheathed his sickle-shaped blade. Striding toward the exit, he seized Mel by the arm and pulled him along.
"I keep my word. Even if you don't make it into the Academy, I'm giving you those Ten-Budded Phantom Orchids. This is my token; as long as you have it, you can come find me in the Botanical Division."
Patting the boy's back, he thrust a square token bearing a massive, embossed 'H' into Mel's palm. Then, whistling a lively tune, he sauntered away. Cantankerous Hanry was in a great mood.
Mel escorted him to the door; after watching the jovial man leave, he turned back to the youths waiting for him.
"Thank you, my friend!"
"I never thought I could get a score like this!"
One of the youths who had secured seven points stepped forward, intending to shake Mel's hand, yet a second later, realizing how weird his gesture looked, he pulled his hand back.
The others were just as eager; without exception, every single one of them congratulated Mel and thanked him. The last one to approach was the boy with uneven bangs; with his two wounded hands, he placed the plant, its crimson blossoms fully open, upon Mel's desk.
"My family is poor, and I don't have anything else to give you except this plant. Please, take it!"
Offering his gift with deep respect in his eyes, he stepped back; his action got the others moving too. Those who had made six and seven blossoms bloom immediately headed for Mel's desk.
"My friends, listen to me!"
Everyone stopped; the young boy they now saw as their leader had something to say.
"I won't lie to you; I asked the Division Head for the Ten-Budded Phantom Orchids for my own reasons. But before you take them, you have to get back the life energy you lost."
At the mention of their heavy sacrifices, the bright smiles of the young boys around Mel faded into sadness. The crushing weight of spending decades of their lifespans for a single trial was crashing down on them.
"Before giving the plants to me, I want each of you to eat the blossoms they grew. That way, you'll get back the vital blood energy you lost. Listen to me; there's one strict rule. You must never feed another plant with your blood again. If you do, you won't be able to get back what you lost this way!"
Without a single doubt, the young boys started doing as he said; almost all of them were eating their first blossoms.
"Unbelievable! A massive wave of energy is pumping from the flower into my body!"
"Mine too!"
"Mine too!"
As if bound by an unspoken promise, the youths who ate their first blossoms reached for the second in unison, then the third, then the fourth...
With every blossom they ate, the pale look on their faces vanished, replaced by a glowing health. By the time they finished the last blossoms of the plants they had fed, they looked even stronger than they had before the trial started.
"Look, my old friend; we made it, and now we have fifty Ten-Budded Phantom Orchids. Thank you so much for holding onto and protecting the life force of these kids inside the flowers!"
This was the simple truth; the only reason they could get their energy back by eating the blossoms was because the tree inside Mel had commanded the plants, making it happen.
Gradually, the youths started to scatter; the Division Head had said the second trial would start the next day. Mel waited quietly until every last person left; the moment the last boy disappeared out the door, he set to work pulling the plants into his inner cavern.
It didn't take long; within ten minutes, the room was completely cleared. The time had come for the leader of the first trial to leave too.
Stepping out the door, he raised a hand to block his eyes; having stayed inside for so long, the midday sunlight hit him hard.
"My friend!"
Unable to open his eyes, he turned his whole body toward the voice; the sun was now at his back.
"Hey!"
The one calling out was his neighbor from the trial; a friendly smile sat on the plain face framed by his uneven bangs.
"I was waiting for you! I live around here; if you want, I can show you the place!"
Mel smiled.
"You don't owe me anything; the moment I took your plant, we were even!"
"You've got it wrong; I just want to be friends with you!"
Hearing that, Mel fell into thought. He had way too many secrets; letting someone stick close to him would be a huge risk.
"I get it; you want to be alone. I'm heading over to watch the Martial Division entrance exams; we can walk there together if you want! Listen, this is my last offer."
"Is that happening today?"
Mel acted like he had totally forgotten what he heard a few days ago; his reaction made the boy really excited.
"My name is Nalt; follow me!"
The boy introduced himself, and the two of them left the main street of the Botanical Division, diving into a maze of alleys. It turned out Nalt wasn't lying about being from the settlement; taking shortcuts Mel hadn't seen when he first arrived, they reached the central district, and soon after, the huge arena where the Martial Division exams were happening.
It was a massive space surrounded by rows of stone seats, with a bunch of ten-by-ten-meter fighting rings right in the middle. Judging by the huge crowd, the fights had already started, but Nalt used his local knowledge to guide them to a good spot near the front.
"Mel, they couldn't have started too long ago. The Botanical tests are in the morning, the Martial ones at noon, and the Alchemy tests at dusk. They say it's set up this way so people can watch all three, but as you can see, nobody gives a damn about us!"
The boy wasn't wrong; while the Botanical Division test was going on, the building was empty. Here, though, people were swarming like a tidal wave.
"Why is everyone gathered here?"
When Mel asked, his new friend laughed, but the robust youth next to him frowned.
"Don't get mad! You asked something pretty obvious, so I laughed. Let me explain why the crowds are watching these guys instead of us!"
"Even though the Martial Entrance Test lasts three days, it's actually one long, non-stop gauntlet. The candidates are split into groups and fight each other; every win gets you one point. Anyone who hits ten points gets to fight again the next day; the ones who don't are out!"
Listening to Nalt closely, Mel spoke like he had already figured this part out.
"So the ones who hit ten points stop fighting, while the rest keep going? Is there a limit?"
"Of course there's a limit. If the number of fighters left in your group drops too low, you can't fight anymore. Unlike the Botanical and Alchemy Divisions, if you've got enough cash, you can just buy a fighting ticket from the Academy. Because of that, in an arena split into twenty zones, every group has at least fifty fighters."
Mel had heard this before; the gate guard's son had told him almost the exact same thing.
"After taking a beating in so many fights, how do they bounce back in a single day?"
"The fights on the first day are mostly between weak guys or people just looking for experience. Nobody dares challenge the big names everyone's been talking about; they just give up right away to save their energy for the real fights."
"There's an old saying; if you're forced to fight five times on the first day, making it to the third day alive is almost impossible!"
Everything was totally foreign to Mel; maybe keeping Nalt around wasn't such a bad idea after all.