Everywhere people are bustling. The independent and neutral city-state of Wyford Academy has opened its gates to people all around the world for its yearly admissions process. The storied city was built with the central Administration and Educational building at the center, towering over the skyline. Radiating out from there are practice fields, classroom buildings, dorms, and other assorted buildings. Further on beyond the ring that makes up the campus are the different neighborhoods of people who live and work in Wyford. Teachers, trainers, nurses, librarians, it takes all kinds.

And once a year, as students attempt to gain a spot in the prestigious school for adventurers, outside the campus becomes a festival of sorts. People place bets on the prospective students that already have made a name for themselves, watching the trainee adventurers in the practical exams through the net. For the days leading up to the Admission Assessment Examinations horses, carriages, caravans, and airships are in and out of the city until, filling it up until it feels like it might burst at the seams.

But while visitors revel and trade, the ambitious adventurers have a different schedule.

A new class only accepts a hundred or so students, all under the age of twenty. Some may come recommended, enough to have their trip paid for by the school itself, but most of the two or three hundred young adults assembled for the exams have found their own ways there. For the chance to become adventurers; many with the dream to explore the floating continent when they graduate.

The exam itself is in three parts:

1. Written Exam
2. Physical and Martial Exam
3. Practical Exam

After the exams the prospective students get a free day to spend how they like, before the acceptance notices are posted. It's a difficult day full of anticipation, but the administration needs time to go through the students and choose which they feel has the most potential.

♟ ARRIVAL ♟

Whether it's on horseback, or on the deck of an airship, each prospective student finds their way to Wyford Academy. In the southern reaches of the Federation of Volk, near the border with Lann Dulle, the school sits at the edge of a large lake, at the foot of a long range of mountains that disappear into the north. Built on a hill, the main buildings of the campus tower over the city protected by a wall on all sides, built into the cliff over the lake.

Just arriving, it's clear there's plenty to do. Checking in at the school building will take a while, but at least there's plenty of interesting types about to talk with to pass the time. Students from all reaches of the world; mages, fighters, clerics, rogues, archers, wizards, even necromancers and thieves, though they might keep that to themselves. Some carry their weapons with them, some have none at all, hoping to pass the exam without any real experience. But they say that one of the Wyford Six, the legendary celebrity adventurers who defeated the first dragon on the floating continent, came to Wyford straight from his farm in the backwaters of Volk.

After signing up, students will be given a locker and a key, and given the rest of the day to prepare for the exams the next day. Most of them are likely to sleep in the dorms for free, but there are some that openly flaunt their wealth, explaining how they rented the biggest room in the nearby tavern thanks to their father's money.

Most of the campus is open, though for the most part, none of the faculty can be found outside the signup area. They have much to do after all.

♟ EXAM DAY ONE ♟

Early in the morning is the written test. In the largest assembly hall near the center of the city the students file in and take seats at small collapsible desks. Given two hours, each student is expected to answer to the best of their ability, while cheating will be grounds for immediate dismissal. Not to mention that even guises, the mechanical devices used to connect to the Shrine Network have zero connection in the building. On each desk is a pencil and a packet of papers, with a stern faced blond woman with glasses at the head of the room watching intently. At the strike of 8am, the woman, the current headmaster of the school, yells out "Begin!"

Of course, the exam is not what most might expect from a school. Math and science and history all are accounted for... but so are questions on the proper order of magical incantations, open ended questions on dealing with a broken cart in the middle of a lonely road, as well as questions on the proper tactics against magical creatures and their weaknesses.

At the end, the papers are collected, despite most people not being able to have an answer for every question. The stern faced woman merely explains they have their reasons, and will grade on what they think best is suited for each student.

Afterwards the practical exam begins. The practice fields outside the main building are filled with different stations, each with a faculty member or upperclassman overseeing it. On the way out of the exam, those who made it anyway, are given a sheet of paper along with a list of stations for each skill. The stern faced woman explains they can choose any station they wish, and should try their best to reach as many as possible before the end.

Sprinting, weight lifting, sword fighting, magic spell usage, archery, lockpicking, agility, artifact identification, trap detection, the list, in small print, reaches the very bottom of the sheet. The order in which each student might want to showcase their skills is their own determination, but there's time enough to catch a breather or a drink of water, given just how hot the late spring sun overhead makes the day.

♟ PRACTICAL EXAM ♟

The next day, certain students receive a number, and are told to meet at the signposts outside, corresponding to it. Those who don't receive one are thanked for their time, but they will not be attending Wyford Academy.

There are six of each number, splitting up the remaining students into adventuring parties, or at least attempting to diversify skills amongst each member. Though there has been groups in the past of all longsword wielding fighters, or a group of mages with a single bard. They can't always be perfect.

Each group is led into the basement of the main building, into the catacombs below. They are told they have one hour to reach the end of the dungeon, and given their pick of weaponry should they need any. Don't expect any brand name swords, or new grimoires with the flashest spells in them, these are hand me downs, plain and simple.

Inside the dungeons are monsters, traps, and puzzles, all set up to give the real dungeon exploring experience. And at the end? A giant slime monster that eats up projectiles (or anyone foolish enough to get close) that can only be defeated by a party smart to realize it's elemental weakness. Are slimes flammable or inflammable? Is there even a difference? Hopefully someone read the written test through yesterday, to give them an idea.