"The Imperial Embassy invited me to a reception tonight, but I don't drink." Rorschach felt that Kano should know about this whether he went or not.
"They finally invited you? They must have been unable to sit still after the king's evening banquet. Go. Go openly and confidently, wearing your best mage robe. You're a Spellcaster—whether you drink is up to you." Kano was writing in his office without even looking up.
"What's this?"
"Exam papers. Oh, right, I forgot to tell you. Before the break, you need to prepare the History of Magic exam papers. We'll test them when they come back."
"Isn't that a little rushed?" By that count, there were only a little over ten days left, and History of Magic was a massive tome.
"You can look through the archives on the second and third floors for question banks from previous years."
Rorschach suddenly realized there was a possibility even worse than preparing exam papers. "I won't have to take exams after the break too, will I?"
Kano finally stopped writing and raised his head to examine the young man. "You won't. You're already a formal mage, so go proctor for me. Also, after the break, make an appointment with the Mage Guild for a mage assessment. You're probably an Intermediate Mage now, kid, so you need to register again. At the very least, you should be a Level Three Spellcaster. Here, activate your badge and take a look."
Back when he had been an apprentice at the academy, Rorschach, like most apprentices, had had no idea how mage rankings were determined.
He did not know how it worked at the Tower of Stars or other Magic Towers, but the Empire's academies deliberately or inadvertently maintained an information barrier between apprentices and mages. Most teachers would