Chapter 31: Into the License Exam

Earth didn’t look all that different from the way Eren remembered it. Loud streets. Towering skyscrapers. Crowded thoroughfares. If he simply imagined Phantom armors as a niche fashion style, then it would’ve been as if the world wasn’t in an apocalypse.

From the parking lot all the way to the License Exam venue, he simply watched. He looked out the window, silently observing as the City of Los Medes flashed by outside the car.

He recognized some of them. A mall here, a government structure there. But the only thing that remained were their skeletons. The design was foreign. The inhabitants, unfamiliar. Even the names and faces flashing on billboards were wholly different.

A dream. That’s what this was. A false memory that only warped as he tried to remember its details.

His first life was merely a blip in his whole existence. Earth? It was nothing more than a mirage of pictures flashing by his memories.

"God. Traffic is horrendous," the driver said. "You’re lucky you didn’t have to take the metro. Just imagine the smell, huh?"

Eren chuckled. The License Exam attracted examinees to Los Medes from all over the region. At least, that’s what he heard from the news segment last night.

Iron gates flashed by his periphery, interrupting his thoughts. Its blurring red colors and shapes triggered something in his memory.

"We’re here. I just hope we can get a parking spot."

"Everossi’s School of Los Medes," Eren muttered out loud.

"Oh, you know about this Martial School?" asked the friendly driver.

The car stalled just in front of the entrance. The majority of traffic flowed here. Into the very source of congestion.

Eren looked beyond the red iron gates, beyond the sea of cars and flow of people around it. Up, towards the Victorian-style tower clock that ticked ever so slightly near the Main Building’s steeple. It was perhaps the only thing that hadn’t changed from his alma mater.

Martial School...

The difference was substantial. Instead of bodyguards, Awakeners wearing intimidating Phantom armors stood at attention near the gates. The Main Building glimmered under the light of the sun, brought on by its metallic face instead of old-school brick. Behind the roof, new structures peeked. More grand, more alien.

"Last time I was here, this was an elementary school," he said, memories flashing by as the traffic proceeded forwards.

"Ah. Most of our academic institutions pivoted to more... practical... studies rather than theory."

"This is the venue for the License Exam?"

"Affirmative," the driver replied. "Only a fancy school like this will have the facilities required to accommodate the unique circumstances of a License Exam."

At the entrance of the school’s Main Building, a small rotunda was in place to drop-off students. Or examinees, in this case.

The cars’ blinking hazard lights made a twinkling curved path of red and yellow, peaking towards the grand staircase leading up to the entrance.

Families dropped off their sons and daughters, fixing their battle suits one last time. Emotions ran high here. Lots of hugging. Lots of wiping tears from cheeks. No wonder the traffic had slowed to a crawl.

"I can walk there," Eren said to the driver, opening his door.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. Enjoy the rest of your day."

The driver was pleasantly surprised. "My man! If you ever need any taxi services, call me."

Once Eren exited the vehicle, the driver immediately parted away from the flow of traffic, making an illegal U-turn at the open counterlane.

Now finding himself amidst the flow of crowds, Eren blended in as best he could. Listening, watching, observing, as he made his way towards the entrance.

This wasn’t the first time he’d seen this. At the dawn of every cyclic year, sects accepted students. And without fail, nervous applicants would chatter. Prideful geniuses would boast. And they’d inevitably paint an accurate assessment of each other for the upcoming exams.

Who stood out? From which Prominent Family did these geniuses come from? How many underdogs graduated at the top of their Martial Schools?

Eren absorbed them all.

The names sounded familiar. Bits and pieces of gossip media he heard from late-night TV shows. People were interested, dare he say obsessed, with the heirs and scions from the legendary Awakeners who first saved humanity from the Cataclysm.

Expectations were high for them to perform just like their fathers and mothers who built a legacy out of their names.

That’s one of the good things about being an orphan. No obvious weakness to exploit.

Eventually, he found his way through the grand, marble staircase leading to the entrance. He passed by examinees greeting, hugging, and bidding each other luck. Everyone knew everyone.

He was a ghost as he entered the Main Building vestibule. Gliding unbothered through the crowd until he found a familiar face.

Geister was talking with someone. A red-haired man wearing a brown professor’s jacket. A lanyard ID hung from his chest that said: [Proctor – First Exam]

"Ah, he’s here." Geister waved at Eren, his voice boisterous. It echoed off the entire vestibule, catching some attention.

The ’proctor’ turned to Eren and their eyes made contact. Or eye? His left eye was grey completely. Cloudy with cataracts.

"Eren, Kaiser. Kaiser, Eren."

Kaiser nodded at him. "Pleasure to meet you. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some things to do."

Then, the half-blind man turned and walked away without another word. Brief, aloof, and reserved. That was Eren’s first impression of him. Kaiser reminded him of someone he knew way back then.

"Bah, don’t mind that guy. He can’t be seen as too friendly to examinees. And he’s always been bad at introductions, ever since our early Awakener days," Geister said.

"You worked with him?"

"Yep. We were part of the same party once upon a lifetime ago."

Interesting.

"Anyway, I’ve already prepared your papers for the License Exam. All you need now is your wits and luck."

Eren cracked his neck. He’d prepared for it best he could. No need to worry about it now.

"The different tests in the Exam are still undisclosed. But I was able to figure out what the first one will be," Geister said with a knowing smile.

"What is it?"

"The Primal Strike."