Throne of Magical Arcana - Apprentice Assessment Department

It was not easy for the apprentices to realize how magnificent the tower was when they were looking at it from afar, however, when they came close to it, Heidi, Layria and the other apprentices’ hearts were full of wonder, as they had to stretch their necks to look up to barely see the spire of the tall tower.
    

Unlike the mysterious and gloomy towers in the ancient magic empire time, the tower’s outer layer was made of some kind of silver-gray material that sparkled with metallic gleam. The thrilling beauty of this building was something beyond the apprentices’ words.
    

This was one of Lucien’s favorite styles, hence he had a pretty good first impression of the congress.
    

Seeing that both Lucien and the apprentices were all so surprised, Lazar felt very satisfied. After Felipe and the other sorcerers walked through the gate, Lazar clapped his hands gently and smiled. “The name of the tower is also Allyn, the same as the name of this city, and Allyn is the ultimate dream of most sorcerers. All right, let’s go. As it’s already four fifteen right now, we need to talk to the staff in the congress by six. After six, there are only security people here.”
    

“Mr. Lazar, can we come back tomorrow? We are so tired that we need to rest,” asked many of the apprentices because they were afraid to take the arcana test, and even Annick was a bit hesitant.
    

Lazar led Lucien and the apprentices to the gray stone steps in front of the tower, “As you just arrived today, I’m sure all of you are tired, but you need to tell this to the congress staff responsible for testing you on your own, and they will arrange another time for the assessment. What I have to remind you all is that, without going through the exam, you can’t get the two badges—one for magic and the other for arcana, and that can make many things quite troublesome. The earlier you start the study of arcana and magic, the sooner you can be a true wizard or witch.”
    

Lazar was not telling the apprentices to take the test when they were tired, but to make the best use of their time.
    

Soon they walked in front of the gate of the congress tower. The silver-colored gate was engraved with many mysterious patterns.
    

When they were just about to walk in, two big black eyes suddenly appeared on the gate, blinking in a cute way, “On behalf of all the arcanists and sorcerers, I welcome you all to Allyn.”
    

The voice was delightful. The gate was greeting them.
    

“Come on, Prospell, you never welcomed me like this,” joked Lazar.
    

“Because only now I’ve sensed the smell of youth,” answered Prospell cheerfully.
    

Turning around to the stunned apprentices, Lazar introduced, “Prospell is a very powerful alchemy life born together with the congress tower. It was Douglas and several other grand arcanists who brought Prospell into life and it took them quite a long time to collect the special incomplete souls required. You can see lots of alchemy lives in the headquarter of the congress of magic. In this respect, nowhere can compete with the congress.”
    

Since Lucien first talked to an alchemy life in Viscount Carendia’s castle, he found great interest in building an alchemy life, so he could not help asking, “Lazar, when we can learn about alchemy life?”
    

“First you gotta have an arcana tree about soul in the school of Necromancy, and, at the same time, you have to learn at least basic alchemy knowledge. Then, when you finish learning all of those things and then become a senior-rank mage, you can start making an alchemy life,” said Lazar casually.
    

“Sir, if you’re interested in making an alchemy life, please make a lady. I got fed up with all of these male alchemy lives living in the towers in this area long time ago!”
    

Somehow, this alchemy life looked quite a bit obscene in Lucien and the apprentices’ eyes.
    

Seeing that Lucien did not really respond, Prospell laughed in a bit embarrassed way, “I’m just joking, haha… Apprentice Assessment Department is in zone three, first floor; Sorcerer Administrative Department, zone four, first floor; zone five, Task Zone, for accepting and releasing tasks; Conversion Department, zone six, first floor, for exchanging your money, materials, items or information for arcana points, or vice versa. Common Arcana and Magic Library is in zone one, and Magic Exchange Office, in zone two.”
    

Lucien listened carefully to Prospell to follow the information.
    

“If you want to do any meditation or experiment, you can go to the second to the ninth floor, where we have meditation rooms, all kinds of labs, constraint rooms, energy rooms, magic gardens and so on. Of course, you gotta pay money or arcana points to use them. On the tenth floor, there are the headquarters of the two major journals, Arcana and Magic.”
    

“Then what about the other journals?” asked Lucien.
    

“The headquarters of the rest of the journals are either somewhere else in Allyn, or other countries, hosted by the many divisions of the congress,” explained Prospell.
    

“Thank you for explaining, and please go ahead.” Lucien nodded politely, treating the alchemy life like a real person.
    

“The offices of the several boards and the exclusive lounges for the board members are on the eleventh to the fifteenth floor; qualified arcana and magic research groups can apply for the use of the rooms on the sixteenth to the twentieth floor for free; on the twenty-first to the twenty-fifth floor, we have the best labs designed for different fields of research; high-level Arcana and Magic Library, high-level constraint rooms and material warehouses are on the twenty-sixth to the thirtieth floor; the thirty-first floor to the thirty-fifth floor are reserved for the members of the highest council, but I heard that, recently, they’re considering to separate the thirty-first and the thirty-second floor to be the academy for training junior-rank mages…” Prospell continued.
    

Obviously, Prospell was a very talkative alchemy life, and the lots of information totally confused the apprentices.
    

“Anyway… come in here now,” said Prospell, and then he started singing:
    

“Don’t touch around, cuz that’s my muscle.
    

“Don’t touch the wall, cuz that itches me.
    

“Don’t vandalize anything, cuz organs are always vulnerable.”
    

…
    

Accompanied by this strange song, when Lucien, Lazar and the apprentices walked into the silver hall, the first thing that appeared in front of them was a one-meter-diameter round disc, engraved with complicated magic circles. Around the disc, there was a yellowish green cover, extending from the first to the second floor.
    

Around the hall, there were signs labeling six different zones.
    

“The elevators are over there,” introduced Lazar. “How about we go to the Apprentice Assessment Department in zone three first, and then the Sorcerer Administrative Department in zone four?”
    

“No problem.” Lucien did not mind at all.
    

…
    

There were rows and rows of different rooms in zone three. A lanky, old man dressing in old school style was there.
    

The old man’s name was Simeon. He said seriously to the apprentices, “All of you register first, and then you will receive arcana assessment. Based on the results, you all will be assigned to different schools.”
    

“Mr. Simeon, all of us are very tired right now since we just arrived in Holm this afternoon, and then we spent another three hours on the train again.” Katrina was not being shy. Regarding herself as one of the leaders of the apprentices, she felt that she was responsible for making this request.
    

Facing the reasonable request, although he was usually pretty stubborn, Simeon still nodded, “Then register first, and then do the assessment tomorrow morning at nine. All of you can stay in zone three to rest for the night, but since you don’t have both badges, keep in mind that you should not leave zone three.”
    

“We won’t. Thank you, Mr. Simeon,” said many of the apprentices.
    

When the apprentices all finished doing their registration, Simeon noticed Lucien. “You’re not one of them?” asked Simeon a bit confused.
    

“Mr. Simeon, I’m a sorcerer.” Lucien smiled.
    

Simeon looked quite surprised, then he took a quick glance at Lucien from head to foot, “You’re not even twenty… You seem to be very gifted with your spiritual power. If you want to study Astrology or Light-darkness, or if you’re interested in studying mathematics, you might want to join us, Tower.”
    

Lazar looked at Simeon and quickly cut in, “We talked about this before, and Mr. Evans said that he wanted to focus on studying arcana first before making any decision.”
    

“Interesting. Not many young people are thinking like this nowadays anymore.” Simeon smiled, “Tower is relatively neutral compared to most of the groups in the congress, and we usually just follow the direction of the congress, suitable for sorcerers who do not want to get involved in all those conflicts. All right, all right… I’ll stop, or Lazar’s gonna cry in front of me now.”
    

There were two badges on Simeon’s robe: one was black inlaid with two stars, and the other was silver with two black circles on it, looking rather cold and mysterious. According to Lazar’s introduction, Lucien could tell that the former was the badge for a level two arcanist, and the latter was for a second circle sorcerer.
    

Noticing that Heidi, Layria and many other apprentices were busy with reviewing what they had learned, Sprint frowned a bit. “It’s just useless making efforts at the last moment.”
    

Hearing what Sprint just said, Heidi hurriedly came to Lucien, “Mr. Evans, do you have any better suggestion then?”
    

“Having a good rest is the most important thing.” Lucien nodded, “I agree with Sprint. Maybe just roughly leaf through the books a bit.”
    

Both Annick and Layria nodded behind Heidi, they looked at Lucien, “Will you come here tomorrow, Mr. Evans? When we’re taking the test?”
    

“I will.” Lucien smiled, “I would like to know whether I’m a good teacher.”
    

Seeing the apprentices were encouraged by his words, Lucien felt some softness in his heart. Then, he turned around and said to Lazar, “What about going to the Sorcerer Administrative Department now? By the way, if I want to make exchanges in Common Arcana and Magic Library or in Magic Exchange Office, what shall I use? Arcana points only or I can also use Thales?”
    

“Either.” Lazar grinned, “But Evans, you gotta activate your arcana badge before going there, or you can only have some free basic arcana and magic books given by the congress. When you reach a certain knowledge level, you can take arcana assessment in the Sorcerer Administrative Department. If you can pass the test, you can get a basic arcana point to activate your arcana badge.”
    

Lucien frowned a bit and asked, “If I want to get this done sooner, can I just submit a new spell?”