As Wei An heard the shelf close, he felt panicked; however, his face remained stoic. He stayed still, as anything might happen inside the passage; his body was alert.
Great, how lucky am I? Stay calm. This is all part of the test; someone might be observing from outside.
Wei An then cast a protection spell around him; he stayed still, trying to figure out what he should do in the situation. The room was suffocating, and the only light there was the one that Wei An made with magic. He sighed and looked around; he saw faint green lines in the corner of the room.
Ah. Right, whenever I released mana, it always glowed green... I guess it's worth a shot trying...
Wei An released his mana around the room, and the faint line he saw now glowed green. The passage shook violently, making Wei An stumble and fall to the ground. He had unconsciously closed his eyes due to the shock. As soon as he opened his eyes, he saw an unfamiliar room. He stood up, looking around; the room was all white. He looked around a bit more and saw people seated on what looked like a banquet table. His vision was blurry from what happened, and Wei An blinked in confusion; however, he did not dare to speak as he was unfamiliar with the place.
Slowly, a familiar old man stood up from his seat, slowly walking towards Wei An. Wei An took a step back, readying himself for whatever might happen. As he took a closer look at the man approaching, his body relaxed slightly as he saw the man's face clearly.
"Vice headmaster?" Wei An muttered with a low voice; he still had his guard up as he did not know what might happen.
"Congratulations, boy. You can relax; we are not here to harm you. You are the first to pass the test." The man stood in front of Wei An with a smile. He raised his hand, and the white room suddenly turned into a lecture hall.
Ah. What the hell is happening?
"Have a seat, Mr. Marion. As you know, you just passed a secret test, which will grant you extra credits. However, since you are the first to pass this way, you will be rewarded at the ceremony."
Wei An took a seat in the first row where the vice headmaster was; he then saw the head of the magic department and the head of the swordsmanship department, as well as two senior teachers seated in front. "Ah, yes. Thank you. However, Vice Headmaster, could you explain what happened?"
"Hm, as you know, the academy conducts tests to see who passes; among them are tests that are known to the participants and secret tests such as this. Those who encounter the secret test are observed carefully by the staff," the vice headmaster explained.
"You used your brain and magic to solve the riddles and get through the passageway setup; you also showed incredible poise and stayed calm during the test. Hence, you passed the practical exam."
Really? No other challenge? The secret test was fairly easy. The riddles weren't that hard to solve either.
"Vice headmaster, is there a catch to all of this? I don't think I can believe it."
"Ah, this is the academy tradition; there is no catch. Well, you aren't exempted from the written exam."
"Ha...Right."
"Now then, it might take a while since you were the first to get here. This is the place where you take the written exam; those who pass the practical test will be teleported here. You'll have to wait a while until people get here. Feel free to do whatever you want."
"Vice headmaster, may I leave the room?"
"Very well, however, carry this with you." The vice headmaster walked toward Wei An and gave him a small pendant. "Since you did not take the practical test directly, you were not given this pendant. This will allow you to be teleported back here once the test starts."
"Thank you, vice headmaster."
The vice headmaster smiled as he watched Wei An stand up and leave the room.
"Looks like we have some promising candidates this year." He spoke, and the others that were seated in front of the lecture hall nodded and expressed their agreement.
"I agree. I may not know much about the magic he used, but I know for sure that boy has talent. He seemed quite calm in the face of us too, don't you think?" The head of the swordsmanship department, Silas, spoke up.
"The boy saw through my illusion barrier; he shouldn't have seen the letter up on that chandelier, but he did. I look forward to teaching him." The head of the magic department, Garnet, agreed with the statement.
"You're right; let's hope we see more promising participants this year." The vice headmaster spoke up, going back to his seat and then discussing with the teachers present.
________________________________________________________________________________
Wei An was back in his dormitory resting for a while; instead of studying for the test, he lay in his bed eating a freshly baked crepe that was served in the academy cafeteria.
I just need to pass anyway. Just enough to get me into a good class. Let's not think about it.
Wei An continued to lie on his bed, doing nothing. He played around with the fox for a while and then later fell asleep on the chair near his bed. About 20 minutes had passed since he left the lecture hall.
After a while, Wei An was still asleep in the chair. He had put the pendant inside his pocket when he got it. The pendant glowed green, and a spell had appeared. The fox tried to wake Wei An up, but he was too deeply asleep, and it was already too late since the spell teleported Wei An back to his seat in the lecture hall.
Other students were already seated, and Wei An had been the last to be teleported to his seat. Wei An has still not woken up even though he was teleported. Students looked at him, baffled at the scene.
'How can someone sleep like that? '
'What the hell? '
Students looked confused and sent weird stares at Wei An while he was asleep. Just then the vice headmaster cleared his throat and began to speak; this made Wei An start to make up.
Ah—shit. I must've fallen asleep! How embarrassing.
Wei An looked as if he didn't have a care in the world when he woke up; however, inside he was panicked. He sighed and just let the events pass.