January 5th, Monday.
The tenth day of the twelfth lunar month, Minor Cold.
Auspicious: betrothal gifts, asking names, sacrifices, marriage.
Inauspicious: Opening market, burials, grave repairs.
None of the auspicious or inauspicious items had anything to do with exams. It really did seem like a good day for testing—mystically speaking, the day was fair to everyone. At the very least, no one could blame poor performance on being physically sensitive to some taboo.
This was the day the first final exam at First University Jiuyou Academy began.
Early in the morning, the atmosphere around the university had already become oppressively tense.
From Feiyuan, where students did their morning exercises, to the dining hall where they ate breakfast, to the bluestone paths beneath the tree-lined roads, every passing figure hurried along with a blank expression; or they walked with their heads lowered, clutching little slips of paper and muttering under their breath, trying for one last desperate struggle before entering the examination hall.
This left Zheng Qing feeling both pleased and worried.
He was pleased because everyone's attention was on the exams, naturally reducing their interest in him, the newly minted Great Arcana—The World—and greatly easing the pressure on him.
He was worried because the others' nervousness had deeply infected Zheng Qing. He had originally been fairly relaxed, but under their influence, he too became anxious without realizing it.
Just like now.
Since the first exam was the written portion of Spell Studies, he had begun muttering over his Magic Spell Class notes early that morning. He had not even put them down during morning exercises, and while eating breakfast, he was still memorizing the international standards for spellbooks and the principles behind their use. Only at times like this did he feel a profound envy, jealousy, and hatred toward Dr.