After the adventures that Kalmia had in the city she didn't really feel like going out there anymore. Not with Dedrik and especially not alone. One could go as far as to say she got paranoia because of those events.

  She just stood in her room learning and at times talking to Dedrik a bit. Dedrik in return after those events didn't want to force her to go out with him so he let her do whatever she wanted.

  After some very uneventful days Dedrik came into Kalmia's room at morning to tell her to get ready. The entrance test was in the afternoon of that day. Kalmia quickly prepared and tucked her tail away and essentially was ready to go.

  The tests location was a bit outside the city so they made their way out a bit early in the day. They chose to walk the path to the test and walked along some sights in the city. Dedrik hoped this would get Kalmia's mood up enoguh again, to get her outside of the inn again, but whenever she went out, she still seemed quite distracted and always looked around her shoulders. This lead to him rushing to the other sights but it was always the same so at one point he just gave up. At some point though they walked past a confection shop and Kalmia seemed to be interested.

  "Would you like some sweets?"

  "Sure. That would be nice."

  "Then come here."

  They went into the confection shop and Kalmia instantly was standing in front of a display of a cake.

  "You want that?"

  Dedrik didn't sound very amused but Kalmia didn't realise.

  "Yes! I love these!"

  "In that case"

  Dedrik sighed and took out his coin bag. Then he went to the counter and came back with the entire cake.

  "Here. We will eat it in the inn after the entrance test."

  "Thanks!"

  Kalmia had a happy tone to her voice again so in the end Dedrik decided it was worth it.

  For the entire walk to the entrance test Kalmia could not think of anything but that cake and her mouth filled with saliva.

  In what felt like no time they arrived the showplace for the test. It was right outside the city gates on a small field. They arrived a bit early but as the sun was already past its zenith it wasn't too long before the start. Dedrik left Kalmia there and told her that he'd wait at the gate. After Dedrik left, Kalmia took a look around. A lot of other people also already have been there. Among them a person with ears like a cat... or was it fox ears? Kalmia couldn't tell.

  There were also two elves. They had a look like they wouldn't take anyone else on that field serious, including the instructors.

  The last few people there were all appearently human. Dedrik told Kalmia in advance the details of the different races and that they could see any of them during the test. During their walk to the test he also told her that she would probably be more respected in the city if she wouldn't hide her draconic features. The people of the city have seen all kinds of races before but they feared the dragon race the most as they were very protective to their members.

  Kalmia still didn't want to appear like a dragon in public. Deep in her heart she still was a human boy. The boy part was hard to replicate but at least she could appear like a human.

  Some half an hour or so later in which appearently nobody arrived anymore, one of the instructors steps forth.

  "Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. With your presence here I take that all of you want to participate in the magical capacity entrance test of our prestigeous Silver Island Academy."

  Everybody just stood there silently, waiting for that instructor to continue.

  "The requirements of entry should be familiar to all of you. In this location we will examine your magical capacity and your physical capabilities. For the magical capacity test it is absolutely unimportant how strong and numerous the theoretical spells are you could cast."

  "The strength examination in return is a test of your current physical strength. For passing only one of both is needed however we will test you in both to make sure how capable you are. The passing scores will be put in relation to the average strength and capacity of your races."

  The elves didn't look too happy about that comment.

  "First of all let's take attendance. When I say your name you say "In attendance" and race."

  "Marquis Morgan?"

  "In attendance, human"

  "Countess Rosemarie von Kulz?"

  "In attendance, elf."

  "Maria?"

  "In attendance, Beastman."

  Kalmia was at this point not really listening anymore but suddenly she heard her name being said.

  "Kalmia?"

  "In attendance, Dragon."

  The people around her looked at her a bit surprised. It seemed that a dragon would not be that common in this area? or would they just not attend a school like this? Kalmia didn't really know. After that he listed a few more names. A few of them didn't seem to be in attendance today. Kalmia could only shake her head when she thought about how ungrateful they must be.

  If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  "Now that we know all the people attending, we will hand out nametags. Please only take your own nametag."

  Everyone proceeded to follow the instructors instructions.

  "On this table over there you see Capacity stones. They will measure your magic capacity. Do not be surprised. They will draw out a lot of your magical power to show your capacity."

  "Now you can go over and grab a stone."

  One of the elves went over to the table and grabed a stone. As soon as she touched the stone, it started to glow in a bright whitish yellow.

  "Passed."

  After her a human came to the table and his stone turned into a nice and dark blue but it didn't really have much of a glow to it.

  "Failed."

  Interested in the process Kalmia came over to the table to grab a stone herself. It started to shine a bit brighter than that of the elf and its colour seemed to be... grey? What does the clolour even mean? Is it the element? is it the power? Kalmia didn't know.

  Nobody seemed to mind the colour of her stone but the instructor seemed interested. He looked at it and thought for a bit before he came to his verdict.

  "Passed."

  This was easier than i thought

  Kalmia got back to where she stood before and watched the others do their tests.

  In total five people had passed the test. That was out of 14 people that attended. They would however have another chance. Next was the physical test.

  "Now that we tested all of you in your magic capacity, we will test your physical strength. For this you will just have to hold this rock. For every 3 seconds that you hold the rock it will double its weight. If you are human or elf hold it for more than 15 seconds and you pass this test. For beastmen it is 18 seconds and for Dragons it is 21 seconds."

  Now all of you, grab a rock."

  Everyone went to the table and looked for the rock that seemed the lightest, however all of them appeared to be the exact same shape and form, down to a millimeter.

  Everyone just grabed whatever stone was closest to them and tried to hold onto it for dear life. The stones weren't too heavy at start but after six seconds one could already tell that most people were exhausted. The elves the most. Three seconds later and *PLOMP* the two elves couldn't hold their stones anymore. Kalmia found it not too hard to continue with holding the stone but she did feel the weight increasing. More stones fell with the next weight increase after further three seconds. Now Kalmia passed a bit more than half of the time that she had to hold these rocks. At this point Kalmia still felt no struggle and kept hold of the stone. The beastman too did not appear to be in trouble holding the stone.

  After three more seconds, the humans that still held their stones passed and let them drop. Kalmia and Maria were both still having to hold onto their stones. Both of them at this point getting to a point that gets a bit harder to hold for them.

  The next time the three seconds passed, Maria may have passed the test but she was still holding onto the stone, as if she was trying to test herself to Kalmia. Kalmia now getting into the area of where it is quite uncomfortable to keep a hold of the rock. The weight doubled again and now it was over 90kg heavy.

  Kalmia's fingers hurt like hell and her face started to get red. She didn't wanna loose against that beastman. Something deep in her got the feeling of her having to overpower Melania. It was like a voice deep in her that didn't want to loose. Both of them kept up with the weight so after three more second it doubled again. now roughly 180kg. Instantly both Maria and Kalmia let go of the rocks and they fell to the ground. Both of them passing the test and the only ones to keep up with more than they had to.

  Kalmia may have a competetive temper she didn't know about herself until now but she wasn't a bad looser.

  "I must admit, you are pretty strong!"

  "I have to return that to you!"

  "But you got it harder. You are a beastman."

  "Say, do I really look like a normal beastman to you?"

  Kalmia didn't pay much attention to her before but now that they were up close to each other she could tell that those ears are definetly fox ears and that tail is a foxes.

  "Oh... you are from the fox clan?"

  Dedrik told her about some of the Clans of the beastmen before but from what she could remember the foxclan was the mightiest.

  "Correct."

  Maria held her head high and seemed very proud of that fact.

  "In fact we should be comparable in strength if you are a normal dragon!"

  Kalmia didn't know how to answer to that. She didn't even know whether she could be considered a normal dragon. Maybe half a dragon? At the end Kalmia just decided to just roll with what Maria said.

  "I guess this makes us equals?"

  "Yeah!"

  The instructor stepped forth again.

  "All of you that passed the exams thisforth just have the minor tests of maths, your native language and literature left. We will see you in the palais de Marmont in three days in the written tests."

  Kalmia was happy that she got this far. To her left was Maria that, from what Kalmia could tell, looked just as happy as she herself felt.

  The instructor told the applicants to leave the field and Kalmia went over to look for Dedrik at the gate. With a big smile on her face she told him about her success at the test.

  After having heard the news he seemed... even happier than Kalmia herself? Eh. Must be her imagination.

  **CHAPTER 9: END**