35. Exams are fast approaching.
Christopher woke up on the bright side of his bed the next morning. If anything, he was happy to not be blessed with that terrifying and horrifying nightmare again.
The mere thought of it was driving him nuts.
He was in high spirits and it was evident.
He stayed awake and decided to clean up while waiting for his friends to wake up.
Zinedine got up first and he couldn't help but notice Christopher’s good mood.
“Are you alright?” he wondered.
He smiled brightly taking Zinedine by surprise.
Andrew got up sooner too and he said the same thing.
He apologized to them about the previous night and they were all cool.
Christopher decided not to go to the academy alone so they all went together.
If anything, it was nice having friends that felt like brothers and Christopher was grateful for the feeling once again.
They cracked jokes on the way and Andrew couldn't stop cracking jokes about how touchy he was the previous day.
They all had a good laugh and walked into the academy.
On getting there, a lot of disciples were at the convergence hall point already.
They were all gathered in front of a tall screen and they were all talking to one another.
The trio looked at one another wondering what it was. In a bid to find out what it was and not to be left in suspense for so long, they approached the hall point and met Sarah, Evangeline, and Valerie.
“What's going on?” Valerie started.
It seemed they were not the only ones left in the dark.
“See for yourself,” Sarah answered, leaving their front and creating room for them to see what was on the screen.
“Holy geez, the first semester exams.”
Evangeline nodded, “and it's in a month from now.”
“It seems like yesterday since we just started and semester exams are here already.”
“Tell me more about it,” Valerie replied feeling downcast.
“Come on, we know you will ace it.”Christopher comforted her.
“I know but there's a problem, if we don't pass all the exams; we have to repeat the entire classes we took from the beginning.
You know archery is my major strength, how do I cope with the rest?”
“Ouch, you'll figure it out,” Sarah consoled, patting her back.
Valerie glared at her and she was forced to take her hands off her.
“We know you are good at everything, she yelled.”
“It's not easy being a commandant’s daughter,” she retorted, tucking her hair behind her ears, further annoying Valerie.
She ran after her and they both left, leaving Christopher, Zinedine, Andrew, and Evangeline.
“So big bro I need your help to get started,” Evangeline pouted.
“Do you need help from someone who is elementless?” He chuckled.
“Don't say that,” she answered.
“What?”
“You know it's true.”
“It's not.”
With or without an element you are still the most extraordinary person I know.
He stared at her and continued blinking his eyes until Andrew nudged him.
“She's absolutely right.”
“Guys, thank you so much," he said feeling emotional.
“Don't cry here or we might be forced to spank you.”
“Ouch,” he answered and they had a good laugh about it.
“When are you free?” He asked facing Evangeline.
“Tuesdays and Thursdays.”
“Okay,” he nodded.
“I'm free on Thursdays too. We can add one more day to it anytime you are free, he answered.”
“We will use the private training room, he said again and Evangeline's eyes widened.”
“Really?”
He nodded and she jumped in excitement.
“I haven't been there.”
“Really it's so amazing, you would love it.”
“And what about me?” Zane asked.
“What are you doing here?” Christopher asked his expression, suddenly growing stoic or turning sour.
“Little one, I don't understand why you would be taking lessons from an elementless one.”
“You know I was the top student twice in two years at the academy. I'm your best bet for this examination.”
“No thanks,” she spat and walked away in annoyance.
Not wanting to be around annoying Zane, they walked away and Christopher made a mental note to consult the Immortal brothers Tian and Jangwu, they would help them all train since they were seniors.
………..
It was a Thursday and Christopher and his friends had gathered in the private training room. Since they did not have any classes, they all planned to spend the whole day training for the first semester exams.
Christopher had invited Tian and Jangwu as well and they had promised to help them.
They stood in a circle formation with hands behind their backs while Tian and Jangwu stood in the center.
Tian spoke first, “So now you need our help with the first semester exams.”
They all nodded.
“Well firstly, the exam is held for a week and you are never going to be told what the exam would entail until the day of the exam.”
Their mouths widened and Jangwu laughed at them.
“Come on guys, it's not like you would be warned if you were to be attacked right now.”
They reasoned with him and simply nodded their heads.
“The exam simply tests your strengths and everything under the classes you've done.”
“It's just that you would be asked to use them in meticulous ways.”
“What do you mean by that?” Christopher asked.
“What I mean is that the exam would make sure you use the skills you've learned.”
They muttered a brief one
“Understood?”
They did not respond this time around but Tian was certain that they got the message.
Okay since we have five levels for year one students, I would mostly tackle your weaknesses and build your strengths.
“So we have swords, dealing with energy, martial arts, archery, and so on.
Jangwu here is very good with energy and swords, so he will train you on that.”
“We will split into two groups, I will train you in martial arts and archery.”
“Every day we'll switch groups.”
“How's that?”
“We are fine with it.” They chorused and took positions.
“For martial arts your greatest weapon is time. You can be talented and be a good fighter, if you are not able to knock down your opponent fast then you lose.”
“Why is that though?” Evangeline asked.
“In the real world, if you are not fast enough you might get attacked and die.
So what you do first is to calculate your opponent's strength and use it against them. Fast, it's important.”
“For archery, you won't have to shoot at the center like Valerie did.”
“Last year, the first-year students had bat-like beasts launched at them.”
“What did they do then?” Andrew asked.
“The place was dark and bats are supposedly blind at night so they aimed for their eyes, some aimed for their heart and that's how it went. But they had to be incredibly fast.”
“I wish I could show you,” Jangwu said, trying to demonstrate how it went. It felt like he was envisioning the moment in his head.
“Just prepare for five exams, that's how it's always been.”
“I won't be surprised if it gets changed though seeing that the entrance exam this time around was different. Red Falcons Academy is full of surprises.”
They couldn't agree less. Participating in the entrance exams gave them a first-hand experience of that.
Jangwu faced the other group assigned to him.
“Okay for energy, you are usually asked to control the energy around you to do something spectacular but I'll show you.”
“Being a master of the water element, I'll show you how I control energy using water.”
He took a bottle of water and poured a little on the floor, he stretched both hands and focused, in a matter of seconds the water began to rise slowly, he played around with it forming ripples until he formed a sword and with that same energy faced it towards Evangeline. Then with one touch of the hand, it came crumbling down.
“So that's how energy works. I'll teach you how to do it.”
“For swords, it's mostly the basic skills you've learned but, I'll give you tips.”
“One, make sure you don't get hurt.
Every single time your opponent attacks you and succeeds in striking, you get a strike from the elders, 4 strikes and you are out. It's also very easy to get struck out.
“Every single person participates in swords, you'll all fight in pairs of two until a last man is standing then you'll be ranked in that order.”
“Even if you don't end up being the overall best, you will still get a pass depending on how many times you were struck and your skills.”They paid close attention to every single thing he said.
He taught them how to focus their energy and they were all able to achieve something meaningful at the end of the day.
…….
It was a long day for all of them and Christopher still shone like the star he was. They spent a lot of hours preparing and at the end of the day, they were sure they had covered a lot of ground.
Christopher was relieved when he got to his room. He was still sure to ace the exams properly.