A week later,

Outside the big cold steel gates of an old school building there stood many people, some of them were children, some were adults, and some were even elderly people who were coughing and panting as if they would drop dead right here and now.

Coming back to the topic,

Everyone who was standing outside was different but there was one big similarity between all of them, all of them looked terrified and anxious.

Why, you may ask?

Well, that’s because today is the result day of the entrance exam that happened just a few days ago!!!

I don’t get why the school officials took so much time, I mean they just had to declare the results about a bunch of brats, right? Then why the hell are they trying to maintain such suspense? Are they trying to make themselves appear superior to us or something like that?

I just want them to announce the result already! I can't wait to go to the school and make some new friends.

Oh by the way, if anyone is wondering why I am in such an easy mood then that’s because I already knew the result!

'I am going to be at the top of the class!' I already knew this. Why? Well, that's because the exam was soooo easy!

First of all, there was a written test with mathematics as the prime subject, then there was an oral test (a viva voce) in which I had to recite two poems and identify a few animals and monsters by looking at their small figurines made up of clay, and then at last there was a survival test in which the kids had to run three laps around the school ground while passing the hurdles.

All of these tests were easy, I mean for the first test which was mathematics, the toughest question in that test was 17x8=?, which was no doubt tough for a 4-year old but in my case, it wasn’t anything.

As for poems, my mother taught me a lot of them so I didn’t have any difficulty reciting two of them out of the blue, identifying the animals or monsters was easy too.

But none of these compared to the last one which was the survival test, although I call it that, it wasn’t much different from a regular hurdle race, the only difference was that instead of jumping over hurdles I had to jump over or dodge 2 ft. tall monster figurines without breaking my concentration and/or getting scared.

Most of the brats who ran in the race ended up soiling their pants after they saw a monster on the field, which in actuality was just a monster made up of clay or something similar.

Well, all in all, the test was easy. When my parents saw me coming back to them with a big smile on my face they got so happy that they even allowed me to take a break from the training for one day.

There’s also one more thing about this school, it provides scholarships to the child who scores the best marks in the exam, so I guess I’ll be saving my parents’ money as well, ah such a prodigy I am, I wonder if I will be getting an award or maybe a gold medal too.

It was then that I felt someone tugging my sleeve, I looked back to find that it was my mom. She was pointing with her finger in a specific direction where there stood a boy with a swollen face, it was our neighbor Angela’s son, what was his name again? Brutus or something if I am not wrong.

As anyone could see, Brutus didn’t have a surname, meaning that he was a commoner so because of that yesterday he tried to bully me, at first I didn’t pay much attention to him but then a thought crossed my mind, ‘Am I really going to allow myself get bullied from a child who’s probably 20 years or so younger than me?’ and well, after that I got pissed and bullied him instead.

Brutus and his mother Angela were looking in my direction with eyes full of hatred, I wonder how she would feel if she comes to know that I got the scholarship and her son barely managed to pass. Kek!

Not paying any more attention to them I turned towards my mom and dad and said,

“I am sorry”

My mother just patted my head and said,

“It’s fine, I know you only did that because he tried to bully you first”

Thank you, mama

My father on the other hand didn’t seem too pleased with what mom said,

“I know that you did the right thing but please Peter next time try to be considerate of others when you are about to beat them up”

What does he mean by that? Is he not going to scold me for beating someone up?

“Considerate?”I asked voicing my genuine confusion to which my father replied with a happy smile on his face.

“Yes, don’t hit them on their face, only hit at spots that are not visible to others, like his stomach, back or butt. That way you can beat them up and also make sure that no one would find out about it. The way you beat him up yesterday, it’s clearly obvious that he was beaten by someone but if instead of face you were to hit him in his butt then no one would have found out about this, not even his parents, probably. That’s why make sure to do it as I told you, okay Peter?”

He said as if he was giving me the most important lesson of my life, I looked at my mom and found that she was smiling and nodding to what just father said… what a bunch of weirdos, don’t they realize that they are practically teaching their son how to bully someone without getting caught?

I was about to say something when a loud voice prevented me to,

“Dear parents and students, thank you for coming here on the result day”

I looked at the source of the voice, it was the old headmaster of this school

“As you all know, our school is the biggest educational institution within a 100-mile radius from here, countless students every year apply to get admission but only a small number of them finally get the admission. That’s why please don’t lose hope if you are not able to get admission here, remember that this is not the end of the world. Hohoho”

The atmosphere got even heavier, I could practically hear the sound of someone’s heart thumping, when I closed my eyes I realized that it was the sound of my own heart.

Am I scared? But why? What is this palpitating feeling?

I placed my hand over my chest and tried to calm myself down.

The headmaster looked around the crowd of parents and students standing in front of the gates, a thin smile formed on his lips and then he said,

“Here is the list of the students who have been selected by us”

He took our a list and pasted it on the gate.

I walked alongside my parents to the school gates and looked at the list,

There were 40 names on the list, it went like this-

01) Volts

02) Watts

03) Ohms

04) Candela Joules

.

.

.

38) Newton

39) Amperes

40) Brutus

What the hell!? Why did they name their children after the S.I. units of voltage, power, resistance, luminescence, work, and such? What is this? A physics class? And how the hell did that guy Brutus got selected?

Well whatever, I guess I should wait for these people to announce the ‘toppers list’ you know, the special batch they make out of all the genius students.

I waited for the headmaster to make the announcement but even after waiting for more than 10 minutes, he didn’t say anything.

I turned back to look at my parents only to see that they had downcast eyes and their faces were red for some reason. I don’t know but I have a bad feeling about this,

It was then that someone came to talk to us,

It was Angela, our neighbor whose son got beaten up by me just yesterday, I could see a smirk on Brutus' face and I really felt like beating the hell out of him again but I somehow restrained myself.

In the meantime Angela came forward and said to my mother,

“Oh dear, I don’t see poor Peter’s name on the list, I pity you, Kristen”

Even though she said that she pitied my mother, I could sense the amount of ridicule in her voice when she said that

And why is she talking as if I didn’t get selected for the school or somethi…

“This ends today’s state of affairs, those who had their names on the list, you are to report at the school tomorrow and for those who didn’t have their names on it… uh… well, good luck for the next time”

The headmaster said in a business-like voice,

At first, I thought that I heard wrong but when I saw my parents’ facial expressions I realized that what I heard wasn’t wrong,

But how? I don’t think I made any mistakes during the exam

I looked back at my parents and said,

“Mom, dad the result’s wrong, you saw my performance too, right?”

Although I only said this to my parents, I made sure to speak in a loud voice so that everyone in the crowd of parents could hear me.

When my parents heard me their expressions changed, they too must have realized that something was amiss, not only them it was the same for almost all of the parents that were sitting there. They were all looking at me with complicated gazes,

In order to show that the school was unbiased all the tests were conducted in the presence of the respective parents or guardians of the children, so it made sense for them to know that my performance was nothing short of extraordinary.

It was then,

My father raised his hand and said, “Headmaster sir, why did my son get rejected? Everyone here saw his performance, he was excellent in every aspect, whether it be in maths, or general knowledge, or combat. Then why? What sort of biased behavior is this!?”

The headmaster looked at my father with a complicated gaze, my father was the chief guard at the Mayor’s mansion so even the headmaster was required to pay due respect to him.

Not only that, if my father somehow proves that the headmaster or the school was biased then the entire result of this exam might get declared null and void.

There were also many other parents whose children didn't get selected so there was also a chance that they might band together with my father and complain against the headmaster.

So the headmaster probably decided to treat my father with respect and gave him a bow,

He looked at my father, this time with a serious expression on his face and said,

“Yes indeed, Peter is a very brilliant child and he did pass, no, got first in every other test except one”

What?

“What test are you talking about, sir?” My father said in a slightly agitated voice

Never in my life had he ever appeared so angry to me,

The headmaster gulped and with a sweaty face said,

“A-ah, d-don’t misunderstand me, it was just that Peter failed at the most important test that’s why…”

He was about to complete his sentence but he got interrupted by a voice

“Don’t play around the bush, tell me why did you fail my son!”

It was my mother, she looked even angrier than my father,

The headmaster realizing the change in her mood hurriedly said,

“That’s because he failed in the test of equality!!”

***

AUTHOR'S NOTES

Assimilation Process- The process by which the Mystickal energy present inside an individual's body assimilates with the blood, bones, and muscles of the individual, thereby making his body stronger and more durable is called assimilation process.

People who have gone throught the assimilation process gain immunity from various diseases.

The age for the assimilation process to commence varies between different races, for example-

Humans- 7 years

Elves- 5 years

Beasthumans- 8 years

Dwarves- 10 years