Sprint also took a glance at Katrina, and then walked into the assessment room without saying anything.
Early when they were in Sturk, and also when they were on the dangerous ship, Katrina and Sprint never stopped their competition. Often they would throw tricky questions to each other, and when they had chances to practice casting spells, they would always see who was faster. As it was Sprint who always won the games, Katrina often got quite unhappy.
Seeing Sprint’s attitude, Katrina stamped her foot a bit and then got in the room with a snort.
"Relax." Lucien lifted his chin a bit to point at the room.
Annick nodded seriously, "Yes, Mr. Evans."
Then he left with Layria and Heidi together a bit nervously.
Lazar, with his hands in the pockets of his double-breasted coat, smiled, "Lucien, are they the three apprentices you taught? How’s their study?"
"They just started studying arcana a bit more than a month ago, and I can't brag that they’ve learned a lot from me. I just let them get through a lot of repetitious exercises to help them get the most basic parts done as solid as possible, and thus they can learn arcana and magic easier in the future." Lucien replied casually, having no worries at all with the assessment, since he knew that his students were already way more prepared than their peers.
"Repetitious exercises? That doesn’t sound very appealing at all." Lazar grinned, "Aren’t you afraid of killing their creativity?"
"Creativity is for geniuses, and these children are not," answered Lucien directly. "Relying on something they don’t really have can only bring them disappointment. The only way out for them is to work hard, and the only thing they shall rely on is their perseverance." Although Lucien was still smiling, his voice sounded serious, "They shall obtain the arcanist’s way of thinking by these repetitious exercises, and these exercises can lay a solid knowledge foundation for them."
Lazar was only chatting, not debating, so he just tilted his head a bit and said, "You’re also very suitable for being a teacher, Lucien."
Lucien thought to himself that this was how he learned to be a student in his original world, then, very quickly he switched the topic, "Do you have many of the same black coats like this, Lazar? Why do I feel that you never change your clothes?"
Lazar laughed, "Come on, this coat is my magic robe! Don’t tell me that in your mind only that type of robes with gloomy hoods can be called magic robes! We have all kinds of styles, say, formal, casual, coats, dresses… as long as you’re willing to pay."
"How much is a level two magic robe? Honestly speaking, I don’t have any yet," asked Lucien a bit excitedly.
"Paean of Night," Lazar pointed at his own coat, "Level two medium rank, two Thales or arcana points, from Wasim’s, good price, good quality, good reputation."
Lucien was amused by Lazar’s words, and then quickly calculated the money he still had so far, "I only have six Thales and nine points right now… By the way, Lazar, is it right that one arcana point equals one Thale?"
When Lucien was traveling around, he treated himself pretty well.
"That’s right," Lazar nodded, "but when you upgrade to a higher level, you’ll know that arcana points actually have a much wider use than Thales. According to these greedy bankers, the points is guaranteed by the congress' own credit. It took me a long time to save the money for the robe, but fortunately, it is not hard for a sorcerer to find a job to make some money, and you can probably make ten Thales or arcana points a month, plus some extra income from other people learning your magic… So I’d say you can buy a robe like this within two years or so."
"I see. Definitely, two years is still a long time," said Lucien.
"I can lend you some. I still have the thirty points from submitting my new spell." said Lazar, "I know you will definitely pay me back, as you’re such a talented sorcerer, and I’m sure that lots of people will want to learn your new apprentice level spell."
"Thank you for your generosity, Lazar." Lucien smiled and said sincerely, "I still have some materials that I can sell for some money."
Lucien was thinking of the precious Wave Stones that he got from the murloc.
"I really envy you, Lucien," said Lazar honestly. "Sorcerers who follow the ancient magic system more or less often have some materials or magic items."
Time went by quickly as Lucien and Lazar were chatting casually outside of the assessment room. Soon, the door of the room suddenly opened and Heidi showed up cheerfully,
"The assessment’s so easy, Mr. Evans!"
Following Heidi, Layria also came out of the room and agreed, "Yes, way easier than the exercises we did!"
"Good to hear it." Lucien smiled and nodded, "What about you, Annick?"
"Not bad…" Annick was smiling shyly as he scratched his hair a bit as usual, "Many thanks to you, Mr. Evans."
"Maybe you guys ignored some traps there in the assessment, and that’s why the test looked so easy to you three." One apprentice following them commented unhappily, "How do you feel, Sprint?"
Sprint looked less confident now, "Most of the questions are okay, but some are quite challenging… I’m not sure."
"I feel the same way…" Hearing Sprint’s answer, Katrina was a bit more relaxed. She thought it was her own problem that she felt quite challenged during the assessment.
"It’s really difficult… My head hurts…" agreed the other apprentices.
"Sprint, how did you analyze and construct the apprentice spell, Spectre Strike?" Seeing the door of the assessment room was closed again, Katrina asked after a bit of hesitation.
"I tried to…" Since Sprint was also quite uncertain with this one, he did not try to hide his own answer but to check it with Katrina.
More apprentices joined them to check the answers together, and they started discussing heatedly.
However, both Heidi and Layria felt quite confused, as they truly felt that the assessment was not hard at all.
Soon Annick, Heidi and Layria also joined the other apprentices, leaving Lucien and Lazar looking at them discussing energetically on the other side of the corridor with smiles on their faces.
When the apprentices finished checking all the answers, it was already close to ten thirty. All of them stopped talking and were waiting for the result.
It was completely quiet in the corridor.
At this time, the door of the assessment room slowly opened. Staring at the door, all the apprentices looked very nervous.
There was a folder in Simeon’s hands, and he said seriously, "I’m now reading the result of the assessment."
All of the apprentices held their breath, including Annick, Layria and Heidi who thought the test was quite easy.
"The first group, for those apprentices who have a solid foundation of arcana knowledge, qualified spiritual power level and spell casting ability, we have: Annick, Layria and Heidi. The three apprentices’ strength is in Astrology and Element."
"What?! That’s impossible…" The other apprentices were stunned, "How come it’s not Sprint and Katrina?!"
Both Sprint and Katrina’s faces suddenly turned pale, as they never thought that they would be beaten by Annick, Heidi, and Layria, and they were hoping that this was just a mistake.
However, Simeon said seriously to them, "If any of you don’t believe it, feel free to discuss basic arcana questions with them."
No apprentice dared doubt Simeon. Remaining silent, they reluctantly accepted the result. At the same time, many turned around and looked at Lucien, feeling rather regretful out of different reasons.
"Then the second group, for those apprentices who have a relatively good foundation of arcana knowledge, qualified spiritual power level and spell casting ability, we have: Sprint, Katrina and Olmos. Sprint and Katrina’s strength is in Force, Electromagnetics and Element, and OImos’s in Summoning and Necromancy."
As Simeon was reading the results, some apprentices felt cheerful and some quite upset. In the end, Simeon announced,
"Annick, Layria, Heidi, Sprint and Katrina will be studying in Douglas, OImos in Allyn, …" Based on the assessment result, Simeon assigned the apprentices to different schools. All of the schools were in Allyn, and no one needed to go to schools in other counties or even countries.
When they were following Simeon to the office for the admission procedures, something suddenly came to Layria. She looked at Lucien emotionally and asked with her black eyes grew moist, "Mr. Evans, are you gonna stay in Allyn? Can we still see you again?"
There was also tears welling up in both Heidi’s and Annick’s eyes.
"I think I will stay in Allyn for quite a long time, as long as there’s nothing else emergent." Lucien smiled, "I’ll visit you three when I’m free."
"Awesome!" Heidi and Layria hugged each other and laughed, with still a bit of tears in their eyes.
Annick also grinned, but he looked aside, trying to hide his emotion.
Following Lucien and the three apprentices, Sprint remained all the way silent. After all the apprentices entered the office, Katrina suddenly bowed to Lucien, "I’m sorry."
Then she quickly ran into the office, leaving Lucien no chance to say anything.
"It’s so nice to be young," Lazar sighed with emotion.
After getting all the remaining procedures done, Lucien got the certificate from Simeon showing that his teaching job had been finished.
Then Lucien and Lazar headed for Sorcerer Administrative Department together.
"By the way, Lucien," asked Lazar, "Any idea which word to put behind your name for your paper?"
"Lucien Evans X." Lucien smiled.
The letter "X" could be mysterious, and it was also the initial of Lucien’s original name.