There were four different known graduation tests from the Great School of Zanzyr.

Oh, the graduates didn't speak of them, and neither did the teachers. They were smug about it, and took great delight in testing any new Eights in new ways. A good performance in the graduation test was like a major sporting event, and would bring you to the notice of nobles throughout the country as an extremely talented competitor.

Elves had a natural advantage here in having more combat capabilities than most wizards, but the only weapon allowed was a non-magical dagger and spells, so I would have to leave Dread behind.

However, this was Zanzyr. Using magic to find things out was a naturally accepted part of the wizarding world here, and if that involved spying on the schedule, Charming some of the professors of the School who set such things up, and covertly going through the plans of the Cards, the Crystals, the Maze, and the Chessboard to see how they were set up in case there was a last-minute randomization were all perfectly legitimate uses of my time and efforts.

One of the advantages of being a member of a noble family was connections who could coach you on the various Tests and how they were arranged, allowing you to prepare spells accordingly!

Nobody was surprised when I announced my eligibility for graduation. I was Tested, and under the auspices of my Curse confirmed I was an Eight Caster, with, eh, a marked skill with my variant Sharding spells and an entertaining and unique theme to all my magic, be it deliberate or otherwise.

Grandmaster Jean-Arc was pleased to see me advance so rapidly, having been delighted with many of the variant spells I used that adjusted themselves so automatically to their Casters. He had even purchased a copy of my Shard spell that changed for each Caster. His manifested as large and brightly colored wine bubbles that popped loudly when they struck opponents, burbling as they swirled through the air to do so!

I was not at all surprised when a member of House Bulgarov involved themselves with the testing, giving them the chance to keep a close eye on how I performed.

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It was indeed the Test of Cards.

I was checked to make sure I had nothing beside spell components and a dagger, woefully leaving my Rings and Staff behind, and having to suppress all my Buffs, or outright Dispel them. That naturally helped them confirm I was an effective Eight while on the grounds of the School with my Astral Ward down.

Professor Ortegaz handed me a golden keyring, currently empty. We enjoyed a fairly good relationship, since I had sent him a good candidate for Alchemy in Nico, and he was an excellent dancer more than pleased to swirl me around the dance floor… or spar staff on rapier at other times, as the combat classes here were dominated by elven participants.

"Good luck, senorita Edge!" he bowed to me with a flourish, and as always, I curtsied back to him, earning a great gleam of approval in his dark eyes. He turned precisely, striding away through the door, and closed it behind him.

I weighed the key in my hand, studying the magical door before me, and a map rose up in my head.

The test of Cards was… complex, to say the least. It involved a grid-like connection of hallways and doors, and ten rooms in the centers of the various grid squares. To travel the hallways, you needed to be able to open the doors, which required a Key of the correct suit. Entering a hallway gained you a Key on the keyring of the same Suit as was on the Hall's décor which could open a door, but if you already had that Key, it instead vanished from the keyring.

There were windows on the doors to let you chart your course, letting you look ahead to see the next hallway's Suit, and what you needed to exit the door on the far side. If you entered an area without the Key needed to get out of it, you were soon randomly Teleported into one of the ten test chambers, taking your chances there.

You did not need a Key to enter the various rooms off of the hallways, but those doors were one-way, only letting you in or out. The combination of Suit-Keys needed for the hallway doors and the one-way doors into and from the rooms made the whole of the Suit Exam a complex test of intellect, tracking your course while you attempted to make it to the exit at the far side of the test.

A student was scored on four things: how much time it took them, how many moves they made, how many spells they had remaining at the end, and how many treasures they had gleaned from the place. If they were greedy, they could gain many treasures, but the number of moves they had to make would drastically lower their score. Also, some rooms gave large rewards, and some gave pittances, so looting some might not even pay for the moves they had to make to enter and exit them along the convoluted paths of the grid.

I had indeed plotted out a potential course to clear all the rooms. I didn't need the dagger at my side for fighting, my hands with Arcane Fist being far more dangerous than any normal dagger, but the fact was that making so many moves was self-defeating, especially since I knew what the approximate contents of the chambers were.

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No, the way to really blow this test out of the water was to break the rules of the test.

I was a Cryptomancer. Discerning and breaking rigid rules was right up my alley.

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I headed down the stairs to the Suit Test.

The area was tunneled out of the stone with magic, shiny and clean. The white floor in front of me at the base of the stairs had hearts in the center of every white tile, while the door at the end also had a big heart symbol upon it.

Two doors halfway down the hallway led to the right and left. Normally, only one was an entrance to a room, the other was an exit from a different room.

I set foot onto the first tile, the keyring in my hand. There was a shimmer, and a golden Key with a ruby base in shape of a heart appeared on the keyring.

The rooms to either side did not interest me. I just glanced at them as I walked by, noting the hinges… an exit door to the left, an entry to the right, matching my Visual File map.

I touched the Heart Key to the door in front of me. The door creaked open magically, and I stepped inside.

There was a diamond on the floor, and so a Diamond Key appeared on my keyring. This only helped me go to the right, which had a diamond on the door. The door to the north showed spades, and to the west clubs.

Happily, the floor on the other side of the diamond door was a Spade. I touched the new Key to the door, and it creaked open invitingly. I stepped onto the Spade hallway beyond, and received a new Spade Key.

I then turned around, opened up the Diamond Door again, stepped through, lost my Diamond Key, and stepped through the Spade Door there, into the Spade hallway beyond, where I lost the Spade Key.

This, however, was where I wanted to be. I walked halfway down the hall, stopped, and pushed open the door halfway there to the east.

The hallway led into the center of the room, where a sight-proof dome of darkness covered everything inside the two hallways waiting for me there. Words were carved onto the dome: One Passage is Deadly. The Other Not So.

Perfect. A Cantrip Detect Evil (non-Good) with very limited range was still enough to sense that there was a living creature of very minor power in the dark left hand passageway.

There was no such sensation on the right hand side.

I spent a use of my First Tier Cryptomancy ability on Brass.

I received an instant hit from the right hand side. There was a significant source of brass there I could take command of. I reached out, and simply locked it up.

One hand trailing along the wall, I advanced into the passage, feeling the residual heat of what was waiting ahead. I knew unerringly where it was, and it could see me coming… but I had seized control of the metal of its body, and it did not have the willpower to oppose my control.

In the utter darkness, I set my hand on its big metal chest, and scribed the Rune of Life, Brass Golem.

Control was achieved instantly, the golem already helpless and unable to resist. It was effectively Rune-mastered and under my complete control now.

Come with me and clear the other passage, I told it, and the thing lurched into motion with deceptive speed and long strides, preceding me back along the short passageway and into the other side.

The creature in the other passageway screamed as it saw the golem coming through the darkness, and fled out of the hallway into the exit passage. However, what turned out to be a green-skinned goblin couldn't exit the room, and could only cower against the door as the golem tromped up and I glided smoothly after it.

I looked down at the cowering thing, and simply held out my hand. He quickly gave me the pouch at his belt, and I pointed back the way I'd come.

"Thank you, thank you!" the green-skinned goblin shuddered, staying as far from the golem as possible as it squeezed around us and fled back the way we'd come.

I jumped and grabbed the thick metal neck of the brass golem, ignoring the heat radiating from its molten blood since I was largely immune to heat and fire damage as a Child of Fire. Hanging onto it calmly, I ordered it, Go through the door.

The golem only touched the door, and it swung open. I smiled as it strode out into the hallway.

The keyring was on my wrist, but nothing happened to it, despite the diamond on the floor that should have materialized a key for me. There was another door there, but it ostensibly opened only into the hallway.

Go through, I told the golem with amusement. It approached the side door… and the door swung open.

I fought down a smile. The golem was very powerful, and could and would pound its way through anything if it interpreted an order incorrectly. Therefore, the doors in the test area had all been programmed to open if it was coming through, in order to save on replacement costs.

Still hanging onto the golem's neck from behind, we tromped into the passageway beyond, and the room past that.

The smell of moldy straw, confined reptiles, and spoiled food hit me as we entered the open area. A bunch of small nifloids, like greenish reptilian canids with scales and nostril horns, gaped up as the golem entered their room, completely forgetting to scatter to the ladders and lofts about the place in their astonishment.

The golem spread its hands, then pounded one fist into the palm of the other as I looked over its shoulder down at them. The CLANG of metal striking metal, and a wave of heat washing over the score of kobolds, knocked half of them flat on their asses in terror.

Detect Magic was a Cantrip for me and cost no Valences. I held out my hand, Mage Hand brought the concealed Potion to my grasp, and I tucked it away in my new belt pouch, joining the malfera eyes and nightcrawler stinger that were the goblin's treasure. The kobolds just watched it happen.

"Get out of the way," I ordered them in icy tones in their own tongue, and that got them moving and scampering wildly to the corners, cowering there as the mighty golem pounded south towards the exit there.

I smiled only to myself. The golem was definitely a massive deterrent to any fighting, but it wouldn't solve all the rooms. Its true value was in allowing me to utterly ignore the need for the Keys and the keyring while I hung upon it, saving me a massive amount of time and moves!

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