Emma stood around the field, looking at the various beasts. Most of the beasts there were young. Even young, quite a few of them were large. They would only continue to grow as time went on.
A few more people came to ask where she got Lyra from after Betty left, and once they learned that she was from the Springwind Continent, they left as well.
Betty on the other hand was approached by dozens of people every minute, most of whom just greeted her, but a few stayed to talk to her.
"She is popular," Emma spoke softly to Lyra. "I wonder what her family name is." Emma had no doubt at this point that the young girl was a noble.
A small bell chime rang through the entire institute, announcing the passing of the hour. Immediately, people started making their way toward the main building's doors even before the staff could announce the start of their exam.
"Let's go," Emma said and made her way to the building as well.
"Only beasts that fit through here can go in," the woman who was letting them in one by one said. "Also, no toxic beasts allowed indoors. Go over there and keep them there for now."
A few people went toward the direction the women pointed to.
Lyra was still the size of a young house cat, so she had no problem getting in with Emma.
Emma made her way through the rather colorless halls of the institute, making her way to the exam hall. The hall turned out to have a little more color, with wide pinkish walls and a white ceiling.
Gentle air flowed through the room, and Emma couldn't understand how it worked. She could sit at any seat, so she chose one closest to her at the front of the room. A few minutes after everyone was seated, questions were handed and she started answering them.
The questions seemed to be entirely about history, and politics, as well as some math and general knowledge. She had read the books for this for the past 3 days, so she easily answered everything.
Lyra simply sat by the side and watched Emma work on it.
The answers came easily to Emma who had excellent memory. With her photographic memory, she could recall every bit of information she read. As for math, there was no way someone so many years old as her wouldn't be good at it.
The only problem she had was in the general knowledge, as the knowledge wasn't common to her. It belonged to this planet, and here she was a guest. Thankfully, she thought she did the best she could.
She raised her hand, announcing she was done with her paper, and was led out. She didn't miss the low gasps and surprise that everyone showed as she walked away.
Arriving outside, she could only go back to the field and wait again. She sat close to the wall, petting Lyra on her lap, and waited. It was only 10 minutes later that a few people started walking out.
One of them made his way straight to her. "Hello, may I sit here?" the young man asked.
Emma shrugged and let him sit.
"I'm James Noran. Who might you be?" the boy asked.
He was only 15 years old at best, with bright blonde hair that was a bit too long to comb properly but too short to tie. He wore a leather suit and pants and had no beasts around him.
"I'm Emma," Emma replied.
"Just… Emma?" the boy asked.
"My father is used to using his surname as his name, so I didn't get to inherit it. So, just Emma," Emma replied.
"Wait, so you are a noble?" the boy asked.
"Not precisely," Emma answered. "Is there a reason why you came to talk with me?"
"Can't we have a small talk before we get to business?" the boy asked.
"Not if you're going to treat me like I'm a peasant for not being a noble," Emma said.
"Alright, sorry," the boy said. "I just wanted to ask how you completed the questions so quickly. I am used to being very good at answering, but even I took nearly 10 more minutes than you."
"My hands move fast," Emma said.
"And your mind?" he asked. "Were the answers correct?" "For the most part," Emma said. "I can't guarantee I got it all right, but I would be surprised if I got less than 95 points."
That took the boy by quite a bit of surprise. "You're that confident?" he asked.
Emma shrugged. "They were easy questions after all," she said.
The boy tried to figure out where she was from and how she had come to learn for the test, but he managed to get nothing out of Emma. In the end, he was forced to walk away.
"What a weird guy, right?" Emma asked,
Lyra nodded her head vigorously. Emma wasn't sure she understood what she had meant, however.
The next 2 hours in the field were not fun. Emma was bored out of her mind, waiting for something fun to show up. In the end, she ended up spending that time reciting the details of every beast she saw in the field.
Finally, after 2 hours, the next text began.
The second writing exam was entirely focused on beasts and knowledge about them. Emma looked through the questions and found all of them rather easy as well.
'Did I overprepare for this?' she wondered. She hadn't read materials that existed in this world and had instead learned everything directly from her father, who usually tended to have more information than everyone in the world combined.
There were questions about differentiating between snakes and giving the description of a feather of a random bird. There were hand-drawn pictures of sea beasts and whatnot.
Emma quickly wrote down the answers as freely as she could, albeit still quite fast, finishing way before anyone else. Amid gasps and surprises, she left the room once again.
