The Scream of A Thousand Libraries Chapter 57: Chapter 2: Sometimes the time passes too quickly.

Read chapter 57 of The Scream of A Thousand Libraries by Susangja on NovelPedia.

POV: HELENA IVYRA I always thought the time was something poetic. It possessed a… confusing speed. Sometimes, it seemed to walk slowly, as if it wanted us to feel the moment more vividly. Other times, it accelerated as if fleeing from us, leaving behind nothing but an empty void of longing. It was as if it alternated between turtle steps and hare leaps. And, for the past two months, time had moved at Flash's speed. "But since when is it already February?" I frowned, looking at the calendar. It was the 1st. I blinked, and January was gone. "Einstein, you bastard..." I muttered in anger, cursing that messy-haired genius in a whisper of pure hatred. Time was relative, of course, everyone knew that. Thanks, Einstein. But no one told me it sped up precisely when we most wanted it to slow down. My beloved vacation was slipping through my fingers like the sand in an inverted hourglass, constant, merciless, and ever faster. Whenever I had vacation, they always seemed hurried, wanting to end as quickly as possible. It wasn't the best way to start the day. And definitely not the best motivation. The last two months had passed as quickly as the last day of school. After that fateful incident with the frying pan… time flew. Perhaps that had something to do with the pan incident. Just a guess, of course. After all, I barely remembered how I got to school that day. I only remembered flashes: We had the classic year-end party, the basically useless classes on the last day, I met some friends, exchanged quick words about whether we'd be together in third year, if we'd see each other during the holidays... Which hadn't happened yet; my introverted self was living happily! "Ugh... it's already February, and I barely leave the house. I think I'm becoming too antisocial. I hope I don't turn into one of those edgy anime protagonists..." I grumbled, organizing my thoughts and finishing my morning routine: coffee, tidying the room, reading notes on Euclid's Axioms. Yes, that was me. Since the end of the school year, I had basically divided my time between studying Euclidean geometry and researching the university entrance exams I could take. The most interesting of all, by far, was the NLEE, National Literary Education Exam. I remembered that passage from the pamphlet the teachers handed out on the last day of class. It was a classic university entrance exam promotional pamphlet, explaining the timeline from registration to the final exam date. The NLEE is the country's main university admission tournament. Organized annually at the end of November, it has three stages: school, state, and national selective rounds. This was the first paragraph of that pamphlet, which also provided some extra information, tips on what to study, and how to prepare. And, of course, it promoted the great opportunity that studying at one of the national institutions represented. When talking about college, no matter the topic of conversation, we always ended up discussing federal universities – criticized by many, loved by others. Regardless, they had always been the most respected institutions for training mages and academics. Many of these institutions have several authorial dominators, many high-standard mages, and some rare cases of Primary Dominators. Studying at any of these institutions was a golden opportunity for middle-class youths. The problem itself was that to get there, you'd have to move to the big cities, the capitals. Which, often, was not only an intellectual challenge but also a financial one. If you managed to get a spot... you'd need the money to go. Unfair? Partly. However, those worries could wait. I needed to stay focused on my NLEE studies. And, with luck, maybe I could get a spot in the final phase, which took place at the National History Museum in Rio de Janeiro. "Tsk... it's a huge amount of work..." I sighed, reflecting on what awaited me. There were more than twenty battles until then. From the school qualifiers to the final. If I manage to