We got to the school in less than an hour as we only stopped once for food. We got to the front gates that were covered in banners showing the sun and moon faction symbols, as well as an additional yellow symbol showing both together. There were people swarming the front entrance like bees around an intruder. There was a buzz throughout the crowd, the gates opened to the exam in less than a minute. Then the guards shouted in unison among the people:

“Attention! The exam will now begin!”

The crowd muttered in confusion, the gates were supposed to open for the practical testing. I was confused as well, this wasn’t like Ms. Zara said the exam would be.

“Boom”

There was intense rumbling from inside the doors. Then, it opened- Goblins. There were Goblins inside the gates, but they didn’t look like normal goblins- there were glowing purple crests along each of their chests. The guards spoke again-

“If you would like to continue to the next stage of testing, bring the ears of a Goblin to the front desk!”

People gasped, Yamu and I included. Nevertheless I started thinking on how we could get out of this situation together.

“Hey, Yamu.”

“Yeah?”

“What magic can you cast?”

“I can cast a little bit of earth magic- Not enough to take down a goblin though!”

“It doesn't matter, because I'm 100% sure that those are weakening crests on their chests. They also have slave collars on, probably so they don’t kill anyone.”

“Whoa, you thought of all of that that quick?”

“No time for talking about how amazingly smart I am, we have to go.”

We were the second ones to move, first was a boy in an ice cloak. He looked oddly familiar, however I couldn’t quite place my hand on it. 

I was panicky and nervous, my palms were sweating profusely, but I was thinking- constantly thinking. “Hey Yamu, can you cast mud creation spells?”

“I can make boxes but that’s about it.”

“Can you make an empty box?”

“Yeah probably, why?”

“Make a mud box around a goblin.”

“Which one?”

This was a tough call because there were so many of them, 2 to 300. But one stood out to me- it was standing in the middle of all the others, alone.

“Hey Yamu, you see that one in the middle? Let's go there.”

“What are you crazy!?”

“It’s the only one alone. Do you wanna go up a gang instead?”

“Fine. We’ll go after that one, but you gotta tell me your plan man.”

“Ok alright alright. #1. What you said rhymed, and that’s pretty cool. #2. My “plan” is for you to quickly made a mud box around the goblin, and since I’ve been practicing Ice Magic-”

“You’ve been practicing Ice Magic!?”

“Yes… But why is that your worry right now? You know what it doesn’t matter. Since I’ve been practicing, I’ll freeze that box, and since mud is an insulator it will make the goblin really- and when I say really I mean, really cold.”

“You’re freezing the goblin… to death?”

“I mean not really… but yeah.”

We eventually got to the goblin after trying to dodge 30 others on the way there. Then it was me, Yamu, and a goblin on a dirt field.

“Yamu go!”

“I gotchu don’t even worry!”

“Ok!”

He trapped the goblin in a box made of mud. I walked up to it, nervous because I didn’t know if it would work, my Ice magic was still iffy afterall.

I muttered under my breath, “Let’s hope this works.”

I placed my hand on the box, focusing the magic into my hand. The mud started hardening, then it started slowly turning a pale white color. I held my hand there for as long as I could- which was only a few minutes, but still.

“Alright, Yamu break it.”

“Slight problem, how do I do that?”

      “It should be cold enough to the point where you can just hit it and it will crumble.”

“Alright, whatever you say.”

Yamu hit the box, and just like I said it would, it broke. With a goblin inside, seemingly unconscious.

“Yamu take the left ear off of it, I’m looking for the next one.”

“Alrig-”

Yamu was cut off by the guards’ speaking again-

“15 minutes remaining.”

I had found another Goblin, the only problem was there were 2 this time.

“Hey Yamu, I know we’re short on time, but do you think we could take two?”

“I mean we did this one with no problems, might as well do two this time.”

We got both down without a hitch, taking the left ear of both of them. We got to the front desk with 5 minutes remaining.

“Hello! We finished, where do we put the ears?”

The receptionist looked like Ms. Zara, just meaner.

Then Yamu started talking- “Oh hi Aunt Yuri! I didn’t know you worked here!”

“Hello Yamu, Loud as ever I see. Anyway, if you would give the ears to me I can check and dispose of them. Then you’d head over there with the other candidates.” 

“Here you go.”

“Oh. Do you have another ear by any chance?” 

I was confused- “I thought you only needed the ears from 2 goblins, we have 3.”

“Wha- Oh, you’re smart. Usually all the people that take this test get both ears. But to identify you killed a goblin you only need one! Good work.”

“Thank you!” Now I was even more confused, I thought that was common knowledge.

Then I looked over to the area of the other students who passed the test, there were two. Both looked old enough to assume they'd taken the test before.

“Excuse me, Ms? Why are there only two people here?

She smiled- “Oh that’s just because people usually come in the last 2-ish minutes. In fact, I see around 30 people coming right now!”

Among these was the hooded figure I saw before. I could see their face just barely… It was-

“Oh why hello brother!”

My brother. I ignored him, telling Yamu to do the same, we walked over to the finished test takers as the Guards yelled in unison one last time-