Since exiting to the north was impossible without going down into the coals, and the golem couldn't climb back up, we went out to the west, which actually brought us out into the first Spade Hallway and directly across from the door that had led to the original room I'd found the golem in.

Without further ado, we headed north, proceeding easily through those doors as they opened up, turned back west, and tromped down to the door to the second-to-last room in place to the north.

It was almost distressingly simple. There was a big hairy bugbear in the place, an oversized and muscular goblin armed with… a mighty spiked club. It looked pretty mean and impressive, all things considered… and then cringed backwards as two tons of golem came striding into the room, with me riding it.

It was on the far side of a wooden bridge, the room beneath us filled with shallow water, the way out obviously behind it.

"Uh, uh!" it protested, backing up quickly against the door out as it stared at us. The bridge looked rickety but held up just fine as the golem lumbered out onto it without a care. "Me, me no wants to fight!" it shouted at me as we came towards it very confidently. It dug into the purse at its side and held out its prize quickly. "Me give you powerful magic Potion if you let Gralgaz live!" the fellow squealed quickly, shaking the vial of faintly glowing orange liquid.

"Open your hand." He did so quickly, wincing, and the Potion drifted out of his hand and sailed across the space to mine, where I quickly stowed it. "Now jump over the side."

Cursing, the bugbear nevertheless did just that without hesitation, jumping into the water below, which ended up only being chest-high to it after it came up from the big splash.

---

It was the last room. It was covered in magical darkness.

I flashed a Dispel, knowing that having a Light spell at IV to get rid of Eternal Darkness was not something that was likely to be seen as a coincidence. The magical spell dissipated, and revealed what was nominally a very terrifying sight.

There was a ball of utter darkness about a foot in diameter drifting slowly right for me and the golem.

Behind it, in the center of the room, was what looked to be a hole in space, surrounded by restraining Wards… Wards I had now Dispelled with the magical Darkness. With a rather ominous whooshing the hole in space opened up, and the drifting ball of annihilating void was sucked unceremoniously back into it, and right out of this dimension.

I blinked in surprise. Ah, Dispel was an area-of-effect magic, and I'd hit both active spells at once.

And… was there something floating inside that Gate?…

---

There was a Dispel Magic layer on the very last doorway. My golem friend paused as the Rune controlling it vanished, seeking a directive and what to respond to, while the table full of stuff settled to the ground behind me it had been held a mere inch above.

I rapidly redrew the Brass Golem Rune on its head, and it shuddered and fell into compliance again.

"Turn around without changing position, grab the end of the table, pick it up carefully, and drag it through the door," I told it calmly, never letting go of my position.

Obediently, it did so, backing out of the Dispel area as it did so. Once the table was halfway through, I had it shift its long arms to extend down to the middle of the table, lift it off the ground, and then it spun its head completely around, walking backwards towards the stairs out of here slowly and carefully, leaning backwards against the weight of the table to counterbalance what was stacked atop of it.

I reflected that I probably could have gone back to the library and grabbed a whole lot more books, but I didn't want to seem greedy or anything.

Ruthlessly efficient and pragmatic, sure!

I did keep a big smile off my face as I got to the top of the stairs, hopped off the golem, and manually pushed open the non-magical door there, clutching my ring full of all four Suit Keys (normally impossible to achieve under the configuration of Suit floors and doors) and spinning it around my palm as I stalked into the room.

Behind me, the Brass Golem, head turned around, backed slowly into the room, the lab table heaped up with alchemical equipment, research materials, and testing devices, along with that magical Mirror, held in its grip.

The four wizards - three male, one female, Professor Ortegaz among them - stared in disbelief at the golem behind me as I came forward.

I jangled the ring of Keys, noting that I'd been in the whole thing about an hour, all told. Janglie Iendyl, a haughty instructor of aeromancy for many students, looked about ready to have her eyes bug out when she saw them.

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"How did you-!?" she demanded, stepping forward.

I held up a hand and halted her. "Put the table down carefully there," I told the golem, "then stand next to it, righting your head." The Brass Golem obligingly did so with grinding predictability. "If the proctors will wait a moment, I will divest myself of my plunder."

There was a creak at the back of the room, and Grandmaster Nathaneal Jean-Arc entered it, his face solemn. He looked at the Brass Golem, amusement and concern flashing in his eyes, but he merely took up position behind the stunned proctors as I started piling everything in my Deeppocket bag atop the table, too.

I was fully aware of the tradition that EVERYTHING the student carried out of their exam was theirs. The disbelief was because I'd walked out with the golem, and, impossibly, a full set of Keys!

It had not escaped my eyes that the Keys were also magical, and potentially quite useful. They made great mementos of my achievement, too.

Soon enough it was all piled up and waiting to be tallied. The proctors looked a bit numb as they regarded it all.

"Ah, Grandmaster?" Professor Ortegaz asked respectfully. "We've, we've never had someone walk out of the test with a golem under their control. The gold value of the golem is far more than the value attached to defeating it, which some have managed to do…"

I knew a lot of spells were investigating me, trying to make sure I wasn't cheating… but I wasn't, at least magically. The spells I had available to me were exactly those of an Elven Wizard/8, and a Cryptomancer of the Second Circle.

I had only Cast five actual Valence spells during the whole test that were not Cantrips, of course.

"Young Lady Edge, how did you gain control of the golem? Such spells tend to be of the Sixth or higher Valances," the Grandmaster asked somberly.

"A Rune of Life is of the Second Circle of Cryptomancy, and works against golems, as it is not enchantment magic per se, Grandmaster," I answered directly. "I know a Rune for golems."

Actually I knew about sixteen different Golem Runes, and more for other Constructs who barely fell under the aegis of the Life Runes.

"That, that is even possible?" the portly and sharp-eyed, scruffily-chinned Master Jhagryl of House Lhamsa wondered aloud. "The rune-scribblers may prove to be more dangerous than I expected..."

He was getting ideas, but he was also gravely uncertain, especially as his eyes flickered to the golem that, if all went well, was now mine… and might be worth half again what the rest of the results were!

The simple fact Cryptomancers could take control of Constructs wasn't new. Using it to nab a free brass golem for myself was!

"I see. And clearly, taking it out of the test is more difficult than defeating it, especially retaining control of it through the Dispel traps." the Grandmaster murmured in open amusement.

"Oh, I simply applied another Rune of Life when the first one was Dispelled," I assured the Grandmaster calmly. "After all, the golem couldn't see me on its back and didn't know what to do."

"I see." He stroked his long black beard in cheerful consideration. "And how many spells did you expend over the course of this test?" He'd likely been watching and knew, but no reason not to recount matters.

"Five." In spite of having watched everything, the proctors still blinked. "Most of the spells I employed were mere Cantrips. Elemental Dart, Bibliophile, Detect Magic, Detect Evil, Mage Hand, and of course Read Magic," I ticked off absently. "I expended a Jaunt to escape the shrunken laboratory, an Elemental Form to escape the Hourglass, a Dispel Magic to remove the darkness in the last room, which inadvertently dropped the Wards on the Gate and sucked the Blackball away, a Floating Disk to move around my spoils, and a Deeppockets spell to carry my extra books. I still have prepared a Shards spell, a Sleep spell, a Web spell, a Fly spell, a Dimension Door, and a Charm Monster."

The Proctors looked at one another. It was a good spell selection, but not perfect, with no capacity to open a door, and actually with two spells normally used for carrying loot… which in this case had turned out magnificently for me.

"It seems you were prepared for this test," the Dean of Pyromancy Azzamal Latian, naturally a Frier, snapped at me.

"Well, of course." I looked offended that he even alluded to the fact I might NOT be prepared for this test. "I prepared for all FOUR of the tests. As I'm sure you did when you took yours, Dean Latian. After all, the Frier students and their parents have been taking the graduation tests for years, and know them all quite well, as I overheard them talking about them many times."

He didn't look happy I was airing that fact. Did he think I was an idiot?

"Narrowing it down to a ninety percent probability that it was the Cards test merely involved an opportune Wizard Eye at the correct moment to ascertain the choices for all the candidates."

None of which was forbidden at all by the test-takers. Not being prepared for the test was usually one of the biggest hurdles for non-nobles seeking to gain a good score. While leveraging family influence to lean on a proctor was expressly forbidden by the Grandmaster, passing on lore was simply what wizards did!

"Your tactic with the golem was inspired," the Grandmaster assured me, pleased to see such innovation. "I will award you full marks for claiming it for your own. However, the golem itself is the property of the School and will be used in future tests. Let us value it at its construction cost of forty thousand, instead of its combat defeat of five thousand, to reflect the greater planning that went into this, and compensate you in gold and points at, mmm, half the value of construction, since your control of it is not permanent as it stands."

That was still a bonus of fifteen thousand to my score!

"In the future, the golem will have standing orders to not leave the room, regardless of control," he assured me, another legacy I would be leaving behind. I simply inclined my head. I had done nothing against any rules, but others in the future wouldn't be so lucky!

The proctors looked more disgruntled that I'd out-foxed them and that they hadn't thought to do something similar, rather than that I'd actually done it.

On the other hand, my score was going to be impressive, indeed.

-----

I had to expend all the spells in my memory, with the Grandmaster himself assuring my safety until my Renewal at midnight… as long as I kept to school grounds. That wouldn't be an issue, and certainly there was going to be celebrating.

The score was a measure of defeating enemies, claiming all the loot possible, minus how long it took and how many moves were made before exiting, adding in how many Valences I had remaining. Use of Cantrips and School abilities naturally did not count as expended spells...

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