Even before Rick lost it, Jim could see the burning fire in his eyes.
"How did my test go? How did my test go?! I failed it!"
"Well, maybe you'll do better next time," Jim said, hoping to make his friend feel better, but it did the opposite.
"There is no next time! This was a one-shot deal."
"Well, at least you can still do magic."
"You don't get it, Jim. If someone fails the last test, all of the knowledge gained about magic is taken away."
"That's not fair."
"I guess that if you aren't ready to be a witch or a warlock then you shouldn't be able to use magic."
"But you used magic when you were studying."
"That was different. Anyway, it doesn't matter."
"Don't talk like that. I'm sure that your professor ..."
"No, that's not what I mean." Suddenly Rick grinned, making a very obvious contrast to his angry tirade just a moment earlier. "I prepared for this yesterday. Just in case I didn't pass."
"What did you do?"
Rick opened his desk drawer and pulled out a glowing blue gelatinous-looking ball, about the size of a baseball.
"What is it?"
"It's a memory sphere. I made a copy of all my knowledge about magic so that if I forgot, I could just download it into my head again."
"That's brilliant," Jim commented.
"I know. With all of my brilliance, it's still hard to believe that I failed my test."
"Well, are you going to download it, or what?" Jim asked.
