Dead, then taking an exam
Kingdom Unified Magic Apprentice Entrance Examination, Northern Plains Administrative Province, examination room 17401.
"Do you want me to write on you?" Xie Yu whispered to the exam paper on his desk.
[The Petulant Test Paper (Affection 0) said:]
[Hmph, who do you think you are? Do you think just anyone can write on me? Let me tell you, I was born to make things difficult for every one of you examinees!]
"What if I said I'd fill you up?"
Xie Yu spoke so softly that only the hum of his breath could be heard. The examinees at the desks in front of and behind him couldn't hear him.
He reached out and touched a blank in a fill-in-the-blank question.
[Basic question 1. The three elements of a spell include (3 points):]
After his fingers made gentle contact, the exam paper evidently felt the warmth of the boy's fingers and trembled slightly.
More words appeared before Xie Yu's eyes.
[The Petulant Test Paper (Affection 1) jeered:]
[If you can't answer it, don't touch me!]
[Fill me up? With that little hand of yours and that silly fountain pen? Oh, honestly, I've seen more little boys like you than I can count. Aren't they all sitting in this exam room? A bunch of bad students who talk big but can't write. If you've got what it takes, go on and write! Show me what you can do.]
Xie Yu narrowed his eyes slightly and sighed, then abruptly spread the exam paper flat across the desk.
Every inch of blank space and every printed character on the entire face of the large sheet of paper lay exposed beneath the classroom lights.
The surface of the exam paper grew a little warmer as a result.
He removed the metal cap from his fountain pen with a soft pop. New words appeared before his eyes.
[A gentle pen (Affection 100):]
[Xiao Yu, do you need my help again? Please don't worry. I'm in excellent condition today. The ink on my nib is so full it's almost dripping...]
[It's so chilly today. Would you breathe a warm breath of moisture onto my nib with your mouth and let me feel your warmth?]
"Mm."
Xie Yu agreed to the fountain pen's small request.
After all, Affection had to be maintained. He couldn't just stop treating someone like a person once it was maxed out.
The invigilator walked quietly past Xie Yu, paying no attention to his muttering or small movements. In a magic exam, examinees were allowed to mutter spells as long as they didn't disturb anyone else.
It had taken Xie Yu two days to adapt to all of this.
He wasn't originally from this world.
In this world, the body's original owner was also named Xie Yu, a sixteen-year-old boy preparing for the Kingdom Magic Apprentice Unified Entrance Examination. After taking a certain mind-strengthening magic potion continuously and studying late into the night for days on end, he'd suddenly developed a headache and dropped dead.
The memory of dying felt real, yet Xie Yu had woken as usual at daybreak the next day. He had then remembered that he was actually Xie Yu, who had grown up on Earth. Those memories were distant but clear, and became what Xie Yu recognized as his true self.
As for his birth into an ordinary family in the kingdom's North Plains Province, his sixteen years of childhood and youth, and his memories of preparing to become a magic apprentice, they still remained, but no longer felt as real as his own experiences. Recalling them was also a little awkward, as though he were watching an exceptionally long film as a spectator.
Xie Yu had spent an entire day trying to understand this state of affairs. He guessed that he had transmigrated and been reincarnated, and that his self in this life hadn't taken care of his body, somehow causing the soul from Earth to come back to life.
As soon as he came back to life, he had to take a major exam in the dead Xie Yu's place.
He had to admit, this guy had died at quite the convenient time.
Dying while cramming for the exam and leaving a relevant guy like him to take it in his place was truly top-tier mind games.
Xie Yu wrote his name on the exam paper.
More words appeared before his eyes.
[The Petulant Test Paper (Affection 2):]
[Very neat handwriting, and your grip on the pen isn't bad either... But writing your name only proves you're literate. Keep writing, big talker.]
[If you can't fill me up, hmph, I'll mock you mercilessly!]
How could anyone take flirtatious talk seriously?
Xie Yu smiled easily, paying the willful exam paper's threat no mind.
According to the memories that remained, answering these basic questions wasn't difficult. By searching his mind for the words he'd studied, he could just about answer them.
The boy's pen flew across the paper as he wrote down the answer he'd memorized countless times, filling in the first blank in an instant.
[Basic question 1. The three elements of a spell include (3 points): the object of prayer, the price one is willing to pay, and the effect one wishes to obtain.]
[The Petulant Test Paper (Affection 5) exclaimed:]
[Oh! So fast! Faster than fifty percent of the examinees!]
[But that's just the easiest question!]
Was that really worth praising? Xie Yu was a little surprised.
He didn't know exactly how difficult this so-called Kingdom Unified Magic Apprentice Entrance Examination was. He only remembered that the original owner's goal was sixty points, which would guarantee him admission to an academy.
It didn't seem very difficult... Xie Yu skimmed the paper and found twenty basic fill-in-the-blank questions on the front, each worth three points, for a total of exactly sixty. Just finishing the basic questions would fulfill the original owner's wish.
He had just decided to look at the back of the paper.
[The Petulant Test Paper (Affection soared to 20) exclaimed:]
[What are you doing? What are you up to?]
[That's against the exam rules, you know.]
[It's good to be confident, but you have to finish the front before you can unlock the back!]
Xie Yu reached out and picked at the edge of the exam paper, only to find that his fingers couldn't turn it over at all.
There was no glue; it was as though something heavy were weighing the paper down.
"Be good and quiet. I said I'd fill you up, and I definitely will. I'll get every answer right, too. That's my promise to you."
Xie Yu pressed the exam paper firmly against the desk, carefully smoothing it out and holding down the corner with his elbow as he spoke in a low voice.
[The Petulant Test Paper (Affection 20) is secretly gazing up at your jawline.]
Answering questions required focus and love.
The basic questions were all simple. He only had to put the knowledge from his memories onto the exam paper, which took little effort. They were all matters of common knowledge, so even though Xie Yu knew nothing about magic, he didn't find them difficult at all.
In the blink of an eye, he had answered more than half the paper.
Every time he answered a question, the willful exam paper's Affection rose a little.
[Basic question 20. The highest rank of mage is (3 points):]
[The Petulant Test Paper (because you are answering questions extremely quickly and with exceptional accuracy, Affection has risen to 60) said:]
[You're writing too fast! I'm really going to be filled up. Oh...]
[A little reminder: question 20 is a trick question!]
[If you get it wrong, hmph, you won't get the points, and you'll be a big talker after all. Hee-hee.]
Xie Yu's train of thought was interrupted, but he wasn't annoyed. After all, the willful exam paper meant no harm and was giving him a warning.
There was a great deal of clear evidence that these words were neither hallucinations nor delusions of his. The exam paper's reaction just now was one piece of that evidence.