Chapter 6 - Exam

The day of the Exam arrived faster than Jason expected but he successfully kept his cured eyes a secret, without anyone noticing him.
Over the last few days, Jason improved his knowledge about everything he needed for the theoretical exam and he was confident in getting a perfect score.
Jason has always been a smart boy with an unsatiable desire to learn more.
To be more exact he hated it when he didn′t know something and once there is something he doesn′t know or is unsure about, this thought doesn′t leave his mind.
Jason also trained the martial art sequence at home but it was only partially useful, as he would get beaten up during the exam, even if he tried his best because his mana core and the corresponding physique was too weak
Pondering if he should just give up the sparring exam or not was still unanswered by himself.
However, his reading and writing achievements made him proud as Jason was able to fluently read books and write some easier sentences.
Technical language was still far away from him but Jason would just take one step after another.
At least his secret was kept hidden and getting a full score for his theoretical exam was almost completely sure.
Hoping to achieve a nice feat with his soul awakening, Jason was still slightly hopeful.
Awakening his soul was even more important than his first soulbond as he could also reject an extremely bad soulbond if his soul was too extraordinary or his soul energy too high.
If that was the case Jason had to ponder if he should loan money to purchase a good beast cub or egg at the beast pagoda.
But after dreaming for a bit he realized, that it was very unlikely for his soul to be something special as the chances were marginal.
Awakening a better soul wasn′t directly dependent on the parent's genes but the chances to awaken a better soul were higher when one's parents had decent souls.
Jason didn′t know anything about his parent's souls and he had never seen his mother's soulbonds which was somewhat suspicious but every time the young Jason asked his mother about her soulbonds she seemed to be sad and deep in thoughts, so Jason didn′t ask her after some time.
Nevertheless, Jason was still happy about his eyes getting cured and it distracted him from frustratingly thinking about his exam scored.
He began to slowly understand what his eyes could do, even if it was still too complex for him to comprehend.
There was only a theory forming in his head.
After washing up and changing his clothes, Jason went the same way as every day.
He was a little bit nervous but looking at the flow of mana calmed around him, eased his tension.
Leaving the small apartment, Jason didn′t forget to put on the small bandage, before he took the cane with him.
Arriving at the school ground an hour later, Jason was surprised about the loud noises he could hear.
Most parents went to the school ground with their children to support them sincerely.
There were a few thousand children with their parents crowding the school ground and it wasn′t easy for Jason to squeeze through, without seeing anything except the mana fluctuations and outlines.
Looking at the outlines from the student's parents through the bandages, Jason figured out that the strengths of every one were completely different.
The mana flow Jason saw was also different from each adult and after thinking for a short moment he figured out why this was most likely the case.
Apparently, every soulbond amplified and modifies one's mana slightly, thus the stronger a soulbond beast is, the more distinct are the modifiers and the mana one can use.
Jason could also see the modified mana which surprised him, as he could differentiate the different colors perfectly.
He was able to see which adult had formed a contract with a wind ability beast, and so on.
This fascinated him and Jason noticed again that his eyes were extremely special.
Thinking about possible fights in the future, Jason would already know what his opponent's abilities were.
This thought delighted Jason and he kept looking through the crowd while walking towards the classroom.
Each adult Jason saw, had formed a soulbond with at least one beast and accomplished a certain mana core rank.
Thus these parents were extremely strong compared to their children, the middle-school graduates, and each adult without a soulbond.
Probably only after binding a beast, some prodigies would be able to beat weaker adults with weak souls and soul bounds.
But right now even a few hundred Jason's wouldn't be able to beat the weakest adult he saw throughout the crowd.
It was comparable to moths flying into a campfire… Useless and a waste of one's life.
Jason tried to ignore the parents and their cheering as he went into the empty classroom and sat down on his chair, slightly dejected.
He missed his mother even more in such situations.
A few minutes later the first classmates came into the classroom, hesitating.
For most students in the recent era, the theoretical part was the hardest for them as they trained their muscles and mana a lot more compared to the quality time they used to learn.
Jason was calm and composed as he waited for around 15 minutes until the classroom was filled.
The last one who came in was Greg, who surprisingly greeted Jason,
He even sincerely wished him good luck.
This shocked Jason a little bit and he wished Greg also good luck after a short moment of hesitation.
Jason had no time to think about Greg′s behavior, as the class teacher entered the room with a special appliance, he handed Jason.
Jason noticed that the teacher gave him a special VR helmet which he immediately put on.
The other students opened the holographic-screen on their tables and the exam papers appeared in front of them.
In front of Jason was now the exact same exam papers his classmates had in front of them as the helmet could send the data into his mind like they were his eyeballs.
It went directly into his mind, without the need of him to really see them, the data were enough to provide his brain with the rough pictures.
This appliance was extremely expensive and the exact data sent would only stay in the user's mind for a certain amount of time, before they slowly dissipated.
Jason could hear the question by thinking about the number and answering would go the same way, thinking about the answer would be enough and his thoughts would be written down.
It was as if the VR-device was only a translator for Jason who started his exam after putting it on.
The questions ranged from human cities, beast-rankings, habitats, strengths, weaknesses, permanent rifts, temporary rifts, foreign races, strength indicators, common herbs and ores, soul awakening, beast evolutions, and many more theories about the rifts, Cataclysm and so on.
While others struggled a lot answering the questions, Jason finished them one after another without thinking much.
The only thing Jason did in his free time for the last 9+ years was listening to books and gathering mana for his eyes so it wasn't that difficult for him to answer these simple questions.
Jason didn′t even actively learn anything as he was good at remembering things after hearing them once.
It wouldn't be surprising for him if he could answer some high-school graduation tests so Jason finished up the exam early.
While Jason already finished everything he needed until the afternoon, where the practical exam was scheduled, the other students clumsily answered all questions.
As such, Jason left the classroom under the threatening glares of his classmates.