With Master gone from my room, I was left to contemplate what I had learned. There was so much to absorb, yet so little time to spare.

I laid out a piece of parchment on my table, placed an ink bottle nearby, and prepared a quill. I held my quill, but did not dip it in ink. I was still unsure on where to start, or what to even write about.

Master’s explanations all felt so surreal, as if it was all a lie.

I could be right. Master could really just be lying.

Or he spoke half-truths, as he usually does, and he left me to figure out what are the truth and what are the lies.

I placed my quill down, then returned to my bed, exhausted. My body was starting to slip away, but my mind was rejecting sleep, probably as a side-effect of Master ‘teleporting’ us to another world which he may or may not have created.

The world is just a play, huh…

Is that the truth? Or a lie?

I stared at my hand intently, and I could faintly imagine strings attached to my finger joints. It felt like I was a puppet, and that I wasn’t the one controlling my own hand. The faceless clowns that tormented me on a daily basis could be the ones pulling the strings, and I hadn’t even realized it until now.

But, was that what I wanted to believe?

Could I have been a puppet the entire time?

Or perhaps…

I turned my hand around, and the strings disappeared. This time I was holding strings, and I looked up. A faceless clown floated mid-air while upside down, responding to my every move. I tugged a piece of string, and his arm moved downwards as if he was raising it.

Perhaps, I was the puppet master the entire time.

But how would that work?

I pondered what Master would think. He is a lunatic, so should I think the same way?

What would I think if I was in Master’s shoes?

‘I am both the puppet and the puppet master.’

The faceless clown I was controlling was replaced with a puppet that looked like me. I gripped the strings, and slowly pulled it downwards, expecting to float. Instead, all of my furnitures started to float. I pressed my hand down on my dresser and pushed it down, causing all of the other furnitures to slam down violently.

Welp, I need practice.

*

*

*

My job, as Magi-Architecture selection examiner, was simple - take the examiners to a plot of field just outside of Cahalot, serve as invigilator for one or two hours, give grades, and get out.

The selection exams weren’t expected to be anything more than just a friendly competition between the five magical academies of Cahalot. It was also exciting being the examiner for the selection process since the five academies had their own strengths and weaknesses in every field of study, one could observe different approaches for the same problem.

For example, the Western Academy of Cahalot specialized more in Civil Sorceries which included healing, magi-architecture, magi-engineering, and other high skilled sorcery. The Southern Academy of Cahalot was more of an art school designed for sorcerers more inclined to reach out to their creative side.

With each of the academies having their own ways of teaching, the selection process would always get varied results. Sometimes, Western Academy would win half of the civil sorceries selection exams, sometimes all of it. There were even times when Southern Academy would win all of the selections for the civil sorceries

“Fenvorth, should we give the instructions now?” my older colleague asked me.

“Oh, sorry. I was… distracted while I was looking at them,” I replied as I stared at plot of land belonging to the Central Academy.

Central Academy was known better for its military sorcery. Though it doesn’t advertise itself as one, it’s seen as Cahalot’s best military school. I always thought of Central Academy as another ordinary school since their results were also as mediocre as the rest of the academies, but…

“Do you know why they’re standing in formation?” my colleague asked.

“Maybe it’s a… Central Academy thing?” I answered back doubtfully.

“Do they always do this?” he asked once more.

“No. This is the first time I’ve seen this,” I replied.

The students of Western Academy made some miniature houses using small sticks for practice, while the students of Southern Academy made some statues out of clay for warm up. The rest of the academies’ examinees were also doing what students should be doing, but the students of Central Academy were silently standing at attention.

I could feel their bloodlust emanating from afar as if they were about to go to war.

“I heard Central Academy only has one teacher for their Advanced Magic Class this year,” my colleague told me.

“What? Did they choose to focus on one field of study only?” I asked.

Advanced Magic Class was used to take in the very best students where they could all learn general sorcery together, but the students would also be divided into the specialized fields. Unless they found a sorcerer who knew every field of the arcane arts, Advanced Magic Class must be taught by several teachers, not just one!

“Never mind that, we should start the examination,” my colleague insisted.

“Fine,” I sighed. “Attention, students. The selection process will begin soon. Since this year there are six of you per academy, the Examination Board has decided to give you a relatively simple task - build a two-story house in one hour. No cheating is allowed, which means that outside help or disrupting other groups will get you disqualified. You may begin now.”

In every plot of land, there was a stockpile of building materials and tools. The students would pick up the tools, plan for a project, then begin the process of construction through magic. Or at least that was what normal students would do.

The Central Academy students picked up the shovels, then began digging trenches.

“What in The Abyss are they doing?” my colleague whispered to me.

“I don’t know. Don’t ask me,” I answered. “I’m as confused as you are.”

It took them a few minutes to dig a maze of trenches before they decided to begin building a plain looking shack. Stranger still, they didn’t even use any material from the stockpile. They conjured hard stone from the ground, and started piling them up until they formed a bunker.

While I understood that Central Academy was military-focused, I didn’t really expect them to turn their plot of field into a military base!

“How many minutes are left?” my colleague asked as we stared at Central Academy’s slowly growing military base.

“There’s fifteen minutes left,” I replied.

I took a peek at the other groups, and found out that the Western Academy group created a simple, but sturdy looking two-story house. Even without going near the house, I could tell that it would probably last many decades before its foundations would even start to decay.

Southern Academy’s house was artistically decorated. There were statues, engravings, and patterns on every corner of the house, and the students were finishing up the paint job on the house.

Meanwhile, Central Academy was…

Wait, is that a fortress? I took my eyes off them for a few seconds and this happens?!

“Fenvorth, it’s been an hour!” my colleague reminded me.

“Right… time’s up, everybody! Cancel all your spells and put down your tools!” I announced. The students stopped working and gathered up in front of their plots of land. As usual, the Central Academy students stood in formation and at attention in front of their… military base.

“Should we start from Central Academy?” my colleague nervously asked me.

“No! I always start from Western Academy!” I exclaimed. In truth, I always started from Central Academy, but I really didn’t want to be near that military base.

My colleague and I approached the Western Academy students, and we began inspection of the two-story house.

“So, can you tell me anything about your house?” I asked the group leader.

He was staring off into the distance and didn’t answer me. Without even looking, I could tell that he was staring at the military base in the middle of the examination field.

“Oh, sorry. Um, for our project, we decided to use enhancement magic on the foundations…”

One by one, we completed evaluating the groups until we finally reached the place that I didn’t want to go to.

As I approached the Central Academy’s military base, their group leader raised a hand towards me. “Halt! Step any closer and you risk death for entering a minefield!”

MINEFIELD?!

I checked my footing any realized that there were stone tablets containing explosive runes around the military base.

“I need to get up close to evaluate you!” I shouted.

“We will send for a military escort,” the group leader responded back.

“We are here to escort you, sir!”

“GAH!” Two students from Central Academy appeared behind us out of nowhere which caused me to scream unintentionally. “Where did you come from?!”

“We’ve set up a strategic labyrinth system underground to allow reinforcements to flood in, and for assault patrols to attack out of,” one of the students responded.

“Didn’t I just ask for a two-story house?!” I retorted.

“But, sir. It is a two-story house,” the student clarified with a confused look.

“Which part of ‘two-story house’ is that thing?!” I shouted as I pointed at the fortress in front of me.

“Please, sir. If you have questions, please ask the lieutenant,” the student replied as he walked towards the minefield. “Follow me closely towards the two-story house, please.”

As soon as we got out of the minefield, I was greeted by the lieutena-... group leader.

“Welcome to our two-story house, sir! A pleasure to have you inspect the compound!” the group leader saluted and greeted me.

I wanted to retort on the ‘compound’ part, but I just wanted to get out of this place as soon as possible. “So… um… can you tell me more about your house?”

“Yes, sir! This house is built for front-line combat, which would serve as a mobile artillery, reinforcement rally point, short-term siege weapon, as well as an overall defensive position. I assure you that, from experience, this house should even survive against magical artillery hellstorms,” the group leader explained.

I wanted to ask about where they got their experience but…

“Wait, did you say ‘mobile’?” I asked.

“Yes, sir! Mobilize the house, troops!” the group leader commanded.

Two students began chanting, and the ground started to shake. Following that, the fortress lifted itself into the air slowly.

“H-HOW AND WHY?!” I unwittingly shouted. It wasn’t flying, but it still managed to hover over the ground. The students demonstrated its mobility by moving the castle around. There were plenty of floating buildings in Cahalot, including floating roads and streets, but they used extremely complex magi-engineering which would have taken many, many years to prepare and create.

“Would you like to check out our artillery capabilities as well, sir?” the group leader asked.

“What?”

“FIRE!”

A massive fireball was launched from the fortress, and Western Academy’s house was engulfed in fire.

“My house! My house is on fire!” Western Academy’s group leader shouted as the students panicked.

“What in The Abyss?!” I shouted.

“Sir, the design follows the housing standards of the old sorcerer cities so I am sure you would find this very satisfactory,” the group leader of Central Academy proudly proclaimed.

“Old sorcerer cities?”

“Yes. Many sorcerers used to live in houses like this.”

Which part of this is a house?!

There were so many things wrong with this house, but…

“Tell me, how many floors does this thing have?” I asked tiredly.

“Two. The first floor, and the second floor, sir.”

“Alright, that’s good enough. You won the selection process,” I sighed.

I mean, what could I do?! The house floated, shot fireballs, and the thing could probably survive an Advanced-tier arcane artillery magic! I didn’t want to know the rest of this accursed thing’s capabilities!

As an educator, it is my duty to be open to interpretation. What if it’s my common sense that’s wrong?! These kids could just be following a new fad or something! Let’s just go with that!

The Central Academy students gathered around and saluted. They looked like they had a great burden lifted off their shoulders.

“That’s great, sir. Now we don’t have to throw a military coup in case we fail the examination!” one of the students cheered.

Excuse me?

“It’s either that or forced conscription into a suicidal mission to blow up the Demon Lord. I’m glad we didn’t fail Professor Boss.” The group leader nodded satisfyingly.

I felt a hand fall against my shoulder. “Want to go to the bar down at the Lower Levels, Fenvorth?” my colleague asked.

“Yeah, I need a good drink,” I sighed as I began walking back to Cahalot.

“Wait, sir! The minefield is-” was the last thing I heard before I woke up in a hospital.