The female teacher remained expressionless, for over the years she had grown accustomed to the students' bizarre reactions.
The female teacher simply lowered her head again, her fingertips slowly tracing the names on the list, before reading out the names of the next pair. " Cole Baker, Jenna Lise."
Upon hearing this, two newlyweds immediately stood up from the crowd.
One was a tall, thin boy named Cole, and the other was a girl named Jenna with light brown curly hair. Both of them walked out of the crowd with somewhat stiff movements.
Jenna, in particular, was startled when the chair leg scraped against the floor as she stood up.
They had just witnessed two people from the previous group go in, only to be eliminated in the end. That scene felt like a huge stone weighing on everyone's hearts, let alone those who were called out immediately afterward.
When Cole and Jenna came together, they both saw the panic in each other's eyes. Jenna's fingers clenched tightly, Cole tried to appear calm, but his shoulders were trembling slightly.
"Come on!"
The other test-takers, whom they had just met, felt sorry for the two of them and patted their arms and shoulders to comfort them.
The female teacher, unusually, offered a word of comfort to the two, "Don't be nervous, a relaxed mindset will make it easier to pass the interview."
Although these were just words of comfort, they worked. The two took a few deep breaths, suppressed their panic, and tried to appear calm.
Seeing that the two had calmed down a bit,
The female teacher turned and walked away, saying, "Come in with me."
The two followed her inside.
The door closed again.
The test takers were in an uproar again, with one exclaiming, "They've both been eliminated... Everyone's guesses came true!"
"That's terrifying! It means that two people are going to be eliminated..." someone said, still shaken.
A young girl clutched her chest, still shaken, and said, "When the professor opened the door and came out, I saw no one had followed him. I felt a chill run down my spine; I was afraid I'd be the next one to be called on."
"Me too, thank goodness it's not me..." said the person next to her.
Some people lamented, "What a pity for Leland. He wanted to be a magician so badly, but all his enthusiasm has ultimately been in vain."
The person beside him said calmly, "That's how things are. Becoming a magician isn't something you can just decide to do; it depends on fate."
"In comparison, Ella is lucky. She never wanted to stay here in the first place, and now she's finally able to go home."
Some people joked about the two new hires, "These two newcomers are so scared their legs are weak; their interviews are probably in serious trouble."
"Don't talk about others," someone nearby retorted sarcastically. "If they call on you, you might be paralyzed. Don't tell me to stay calm; you'll be lucky to even walk in on your own."
"Yeah, anyone would panic in that situation," someone chimed in.
The person who was being retorted opened their mouth, but ultimately couldn't retort, only muttering, "Anyway, they didn't specifically mention me."
Another ten minutes or so passed, and the female teacher came out again with a group of people. This time, just like the first group, only one person came out.
Draco and the others stopped chatting and turned around. Draco and Hermione also craned their necks to look. Behind the female teacher was a girl named Jenna. She was very lucky.
But Jenna was different from the first group of candidates who passed. At this moment, her face was very pale, and she looked very tired, as if she had gone through a great ordeal. Her steps were a little unsteady, and she even had to hold onto the door frame to steady herself when she walked out the door.
Upon seeing this, everyone's hearts sank.
After the second person left, the female teacher called out again:
Quentin and Julia.
The two people who were mentioned trembled.
He then stood up and replied, "Here."
The two exchanged a glance, their eyes revealing a complex mix of emotions.
"Come in with me." The female teacher went in first.
Julia looked at Quentin with a complicated expression:
"I didn't expect it to be the two of us."
This means that at least one of them, Julia or Quentin, will be eliminated. Julia still feels somewhat out of place in this unfamiliar magical school. The two are childhood friends, and if possible, Julia still hopes that they can both get through it.
But it seems there's no way to change that now.
She hadn't believed in magic before; everyone was an adult now, and couldn't be as naive as children. Only Quentin was a die-hard believer. But now that she was here, she had no choice but to believe.
Julia was under a lot of pressure.
Because he was facing Quentin, the guy who had always believed in and pursued magic, Quentin seemed to have a better chance of winning.
Quentin also felt intensely uncomfortable. He didn't want either him or Julia to be eliminated; it was the last thing he wanted to see. He said bitterly, "There's no other way. Let's go."
Julia nodded, took a deep breath, clenched the card in her hand, straightened her clothes, forced herself to calm down, and walked inside. Quentin also clenched the card, his palms sweating, and silently followed Julia forward.
The two remained silent the entire way, their minds in turmoil.
Quentin was even more confused.
On one hand, there was his long-held dream; on the other hand, he didn't want to see Julia's memories erased and her sent back to reality.
After the two went inside, someone raised a chilling speculation. "Is it possible that in the second group, it wasn't both of them who were eliminated? Maybe Ella passed the interview, Leland was eliminated, but Ella voluntarily withdrew, creating the illusion that they were both eliminated."
Several pairs of eyes immediately turned to him.
After a moment of silence, someone continued along this line of thought, "If that's really the case, then from the very beginning, who can awaken magic and who is destined to fail is already a predetermined outcome. We're here for the interview not to compete for anything, but to let those who pass awaken magic and those who are eliminated have their memories erased."
Some people disagreed, as if they already knew this:
"Isn't the written test just a selection process? If the test can hit the nail on the head, then the examiners probably already know what they want to know."
These words caused another uproar among the test takers.
"If it's something that can't be changed at all, that's terrifying." Someone felt a chill run down their spine and got goosebumps.
Some people are skeptical. "It's just speculation, why bother yourself? There's a combination of inevitability and chance; man proposes, God disposes. It's not necessarily all predetermined."
However, some people were skeptical and confused.
Then I started to examine myself: was I destined to pass, or destined to be eliminated?
Many people are torn between these two conflicting viewpoints, feeling uncertain. "If the outcome is already decided, what's the point of being nervous now and trying to adjust my mindset?"
"Don't worry unnecessarily," someone next to him advised. "Even if it's fixed, there's still a 50% chance, right? Who's fixed and who's not, you'll only know once you go in. What's the point of scaring yourself to death now?"
A single word awakens one from a dream.