Twenty minutes earlier, the first subject of the hatchling entrance test had concluded. There were still four more subjects to go.
Aurora sat at the back of the classroom, looking at the group of young candidates from various species, her sharp mind already scheming about how she could inject some fun into the otherwise serious environment.
Just then, Muen approached her.
"Little Light."
"What's up, Second Sister?"
"Are you feeling unwell?" Muen asked, her voice full of genuine concern.
Aurora blinked her large, intelligent eyes and shook her head. "No, why do you ask?"
"I noticed you spent half the test just resting your head on the desk. I thought you might be sick or something."
"Ah, well…" Aurora waved a small hand dismissively. "It wasn't quite half the time, maybe just a quarter~" she joked, trying to lighten her sister's worry.
Seeing her little sister's characteristically playful attitude, Muen felt less anxious but still felt the need to remind her, "If you really do feel unwell, you have to tell the exam proctor right away, okay?"
"Mm, I will, Second Sister," Aurora replied with a dutiful nod.
In truth, Aurora hadn't been slacking off during the test. She had been engaged in a very specific, calculated activity: score control.
As the name suggests, score control involves deliberately keeping one's final score within a desired range. It was a trick usually employed by genius-level students aiming to show off their precision, but Aurora's motives were far more pragmatic. She simply wanted to land solidly in the "middle" of the pack.
Her reasoning was sound. Everyone knows that if you want to sit back and enjoy the show unfolding around you, you can't be the one standing in the spotlight. All eyes are invariably on the leader; the more attention you attract, the higher the chance of a misstep leading to public embarrassment. Aurora's primary goal was to be a spectator to the drama, not the lead actor.
To achieve this, she had left a number of questions deliberately incomplete or had filled in answers she knew to be slightly wrong, all carefully calculated to ensure her final score would be respectable but unremarkable.
Furthermore, her older sister Noah was a permanent fixture at the top of every academic ranking. If "Little Light" also became known as a "permanent first-place" student, the inevitable comparisons and heightened scrutiny would be a constant nuisance. Aurora didn't know what Muen thought about all this, but she personally had no desire to become the subject of relentless gossip.
So, a little strategic score manipulation was a necessary evil.
And Aurora had already run the numbers. Even if her parents completely bombed the family interview—a unlikely but amusing hypothetical—her controlled score would still be more than sufficient to secure her admission.
Once she had her little backpack and was settled into classes, her first order of business would be to identify the most attention-grabbing student in the year—someone who could serve as a reliable source of endless entertainment.
Wasn't that just the perfect setup?
"I really am a genius when it comes to engineering my own amusement," Aurora thought, a surge of confident satisfaction washing over her.
Naturally, she kept this entire plan to herself. It wasn't that Muen wouldn't understand the desire for entertainment; it was that Muen's own goals were fundamentally different. She was here at the academy to follow in Noah's formidable footsteps and, more importantly, to ensure that no other little dragoness would dare try to steal her big sister away. Deliberately aiming for mediocrity for the sake of personal entertainment would be an utterly foreign concept to her.
In short, Little Light's score manipulation was proceeding without a hitch, and as long as she maintained her focus, a comfortable, anonymous middle rank was assured.
"These test questions are so hard!"
"Yeah, I had no idea how to answer a bunch of them. I just scribbled something down."
"I heard from an older student in my clan that this year's test is way harder than in previous years."
"Really? Why's that?"
"Not sure… maybe the academy is raising its standards, looking for more uniquely talented hatchlings."
"…"
The murmurs of the other young dragons in the test room, discussing the exam's difficulty, reached their ears.
"I thought the questions were really tough, too," Muen admitted, turning back to Aurora.
Little Light nodded in sincere agreement. "Yeah, they were."
This was no lie. Even while focused on her entertainment-centric agenda, Aurora had still answered the questions she knew correctly. Her father's rigorous preparation had been thorough, but it seemed even he hadn't anticipated the unique twist and elevated difficulty of this year's test. Many questions were structurally different from past years' papers, designed to test not just rote knowledge but independent problem-solving and conceptual thinking.
Aurora had initially wondered if the challenge was unique to her, but the general consensus in the room confirmed it was a universal experience.
"But Dad's lessons were really good. I managed to answer everything, even the new types of questions. I'm not sure if I got them all right, but at least I found the basic logic behind them," Muen said, a note of pride in her voice.
Aurora gave her second sister a genuine thumbs-up. She had complete faith in Muen's capabilities. While Muen often presented a relaxed, almost nonchalant exterior, Aurora had long since realized her sister was far from lazy. Muen simply operated on a different wavelength: she completed her necessary tasks with startling efficiency, leaving herself ample time for relaxation. Work hard, play hard—that was Muen's unspoken motto.
"I don't think my score will be very high this time. Ugh, forget about becoming this year's model family!"
"Relax, as long as you pass the test, it's fine. Personally, I don't care much about being part of a model family anyway."
"Looking back at the model families from the past three years, they were all top-tier. Especially that girl from three years ago, Noah C. Melkvey. I heard she's still getting perfect scores in every subject."
"…"
The conversation among the other hatchlings seamlessly shifted from the test's difficulty to the topic of model families.
Aurora's ears perked up, her interest fully captured.
"Second Sister, what's a model family?" she asked innocently.
"Oh, the model family?" Muen uncrossed her arms, her posture straightening with pride. Her tail gave a happy sway, making the cowlick on her head bounce. "Every year, St. Heath Academy holds two entrance exams, and each time, they select one family with the highest combined scores from the hatchling's written tests and the parents' family interview. They're crowned the model family!"
She leaned in closer, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. "Our family was named the model family the year Big Sister entered! Mom, Dad, and Noah all got the top scores in both the written exams and the family interview!"
Aurora's eyes widened, sparkling with newfound admiration. "Wow~! I didn't know our family had such a glorious history!"
"Yup, yup!" Muen said, her expression turning dreamy. "So this year, Aurora, let's try to get high scores too~ Let's see if we can do it again!"
Aurora tilted her head, a thoughtful frown appearing on her face. "Well…"
Would she really sacrifice her perfectly laid plans for anonymous spectating just for a "model family" title? It was a tempting offer, recognition for the family… but was it fun?
Hmm… a genuinely tough choice.
"If we win, Mom and Dad will have to take us on stage to give a speech!" Muen added, as if reading her sister's hesitation and playing her trump card.
Go on stage.
Give a speech.
It sounded mildly amusing in a cringe-worthy way… but probably not amusing enough to warrant abandoning her strategy.
"I remember Dad kissed Mom on stage! And—" Muen continued, reminiscing fondly.
"Wait! Second Sister, what did you just say?!" Aurora interrupted, her entire body suddenly leaning forward.
"I said, Dad kissed Mom on stage! And in front of a huuuuge audience!"
In front of a huge audience—Dad kissed Mom!
Aurora: 🤩!
The sparkle in her eyes intensified into a blazing inferno of anticipatory delight. Compared to the potential of watching her usually composed, often socially-awkward parents share a spontaneous, public kiss in front of hundreds, finding inspiration from a random classmate seemed like trivial, childish play.
As expected, being born into this family was the single greatest decision the universe had ever made. Every time she began to fear life was settling into monotony, her family would inevitably conjure something extraordinary to revitalize her world.
The mere thought of her father, the legendary Dragon Slayer, and her mother, the majestic Silver Dragon Queen, being put in a situation that resulted in a public display of affection was enough to make Aurora's spirit of entertainment practically vibrate with excitement.
She knew it! Coming to this academy was destined to deliver premium, top-tier drama!
Ding ding ding—
The bell rang, signaling the imminent start of the next test subject.
Muen, having delivered the pivotal piece of intelligence, gave a little wave and jogged back to her seat.
The proctor began moving through the rows, handing out the next set of examination papers.
Aurora looked down at the new test booklet placed on her desk. The title read: Introduction to Basic Magic Concepts.
A slow, determined smirk spread across her face. All hesitation vanished. She stretched her fingers, rolled her neck with a quiet crackle, and picked up her pencil with the grip of a warrior seizing their weapon.
"Dad, Mom, please forgive your daughter," she whispered to herself, a glint of sheer resolve in her eyes. "But this time—I'm going for a perfect score."