Chapter 37 (2/2)
“I think you should ask Professor Deculein about that! In my opinion, even the ‘Isle of Wizard’s Wealth’ would want to pay for it too!”
All sorts of people surrounded the tower.
Having finished their exams, the undergraduates and cadets came to check the commotion out as well before training for the season of festivities and MT of the entire university, which would begin in two weeks.
“By any chance, can we get an interview—”
“Are you a debutante? Please wait—”
The reporters grabbed the wizards and asked for an interview. Most of them refused, but Epherene agreed in exchange for 4 cups of coffee and three pieces of bread.
“No one’s given up on the test yet?”
“Probably.”
“What do you think is the reason?”
“I’m not sure.”
Epherene drank the coffee without answering properly.
The truth was she knew all too well the reason why they didn’t give up.
This exam was an extension of his class.
Just like Deculein’s somehow unfriendly yet friendly lectures, the test was leading them to growth.
Review everything you’ve learned from Deculein as you solve the problem, use it arbitrarily, and comprehend the application.
“What do you think of the wizards discussing the test among themselves and leaking out the answers to each other?”
Epherene almost spat out coffee at the reporter’s naive question. Smirking, she shook her head. “That’s not possible. Wizards are very individualistic. And it would be too obvious if we did that. Magic and mana have their own ‘characteristics,’ after all. Think of them as fingerprints.”
“Aha…”
“Ten minutes have passed, right? I’ll be going now.” The promised interview duration had ended.
Epherene got up from her seat with 3 cups of coffee and two pieces of bread remaining.
*****
Early Monday morning.
Sylvia woke up in the test room and warmed up her food with magic.
“Nom nom—”
She ate breakfast as she looked at the test paper.
[7. When the magic with the above core circuit satisfies the following four conditions, infer the whole formula and implement the magic.]
She was thinking about manipulating the mana according to the conditions in question number 7.
“… Ugh.”
She failed to solve it yesterday despite attempting to find the right answer all day, and since she still couldn’t come up with an answer for it, she decided to take a different test for now.
“….”
Sylvia came out of her test room and approached the Assistant Professor in front of the elevator.
“Are you giving up or going out?” Allen asked.
“I’m going out to take another test.”
“Okay, Ms. Sylvia. Good luck.”
Sylvia then took a refinement test outside the tower at the ‘Theo Hall.’
*****
Finishing the 2-hour exam in 20 minutes, Sylvia made her way back to her test room, finding the attendants of the mansion waiting near the tower to give her packed lunch and dinner.
“Good luck, Lady Sylvia! I know you’ll be able to solve all of the questions!”
“Don’t give up! You’re going to be the greatest wizard to ever exist, so I know you’ll be able to do it!”
Sylvia returned to her room after receiving their support.
It was strangely burdensome. She didn’t feel this much pressure during the entrance exam.
The possibility that she couldn’t solve it was growing in one corner of her mind, but she refused to acknowledge it.
“Don’t be impatient.”
Reminding herself of the Professor’s words, she steeled her mind.
[Room #23 – Sylvia]
Sylvia’s test room had all the things she needed. She made a bed using her magic and brought blankets and pillows. She also had books and research papers to serve as references.
It had become a capsule where she cycled between eating, sleeping, and solving the test. She sat behind her desk and challenged question #7 again.
1 hour.
2 hours.
3 hours.
4 hours…
She put her heart and soul into it as the time passed.
It wasn’t only because of the level of difficulty of the exam.
Its questions were indeed difficult, but Sylvia would have already told her father if it was needlessly so, calling it a garbage exam that wasn’t worth spending ten days on and its creator a trashy professor.
But this exam was nothing like that.
Each problem presented new possibilities and directions, induced unexpected transformations, shocking utilization and application out of her, and promoted flexible thinking inherent in the problem itself.
Regardless, it was no different from participating in a ‘boot camp.’ Its level of difficulty also greatly increased starting from the 6th question.
The wizards believed that they would rise to an entirely different level if they got a perfect score. The Letter of Recommendation was just an unexpected bonus.
10 hours.
11 hours.
12 hours…
“…!”
Twelve hours today and eighteen hours yesterday. After a total of 30 hours of hard work, she finally solved number 7.
Sylvia manifested the circuit through magic, which rose in the air in the shape of a sphere.
It looked like a blazing star that combined fire and earth, wind and water, causing a brilliance so bright it reached even the edges of her room.
Sylvia was briefly mesmerized by its beauty.
But soon afterward, she sighed as she looked at the clock.
[6 PM]
It was time to take another test.
After combing her hair, she walked out of the tower. There were still many people at the main entrance, so she went around the back, where she ran into someone.
“Oh, Sylvia?”
Epherene.
“… Are you going to take another test?” Epherene asked.
Sylvia walked without bothering to answer, but at some point, they both asked the same question.
“At what number are you—” Their words overlapped.
Sylvia grew silent.
Shrugging, Epherene spoke first. “… I’m currently solving number 7.”
Sylvia answered honestly. “Number 8.”
“What? You already solved all of them?!” Epherene’s eyes widened out of envy.
“Solving.”
“… Ah. You’re fast. I’m stuck at number 7.”
Epherene smiled bitterly as she scratched the back of her neck, but Sylvia walked past her without saying much.
However, she felt twisted deep down.
If she was already answering number 7, then Epherene was much faster than she expected. There was only one problem separating them apart.
‘Is she lying? Or am I just too slow?’ Sylvia resented her for reasons she couldn’t quite fathom. The problem was time.
The false tests were taking too much of it, preventing her from spending all of it on the real tests.
*****
Epherene, who went separate ways with Sylvia, reached the cafe. She felt like she had used up almost 1 thousand Elnes on coffee alone during the exam period.
She scanned the interior for any reporter. For her, the formula was ‘reporter = interview = free coffee and bread.’
“… None. Tsk.” She was left with no other choice but to buy coffee and bread with her own money.
Sylvia’s words came to mind as she sat down. “Number 8… I’ve been stuck on number 7 for the past two days.”
During those forty-eight hours, she felt as if she caught an illness.
She even cried out that she would quit out of sheer rage, but she calmed down and felt a lot better after finding a hint to the problem’s solution.
The happiness that moment brought was incomparable to anything she ever felt before. “… Whew.”
Epherene conjured mana at her fingertips and thought about number 7 while drinking coffee and chewing on bread.
Out of the blue, she wondered about what Deculein was doing.
“I will solve it even if I have to come after you…”
Epherene walked out of the establishment as soon as she finished eating and went back to the tower.
Looking up at the sky, she found a star shining so bright it looked like a marshmallow floating amid the vast darkness of the universe.
“…!”
Epherene’s eyes widened, her pupils reflecting the celestial object.
Enlightenment spread down her spine.
She rushed straight back to her test room and began to release mana.
“It’s working. It’s definitely working! This better be it…”
The star in the night sky served as her inspiration.
She calculated the circuit under the condition recorded on the test paper to identify the solution, created an estimation using the formula that the solution used as its basis, and implemented the magic that met the conditions of the problem…
“… Have I solved it?”
She conjured an [Artificial Star] by gathering the fire, wind, earth, and water attributes. The pure and gentle cohesion made Epherene tear up without even realizing it.
“Oh, come on…”
For thirty minutes, Epherene’s tears rolled down her cheek ceaselessly.
“Sniff… Sniff…”
Epherene wiped her drenched eyelashes and turned to the next page.
“…”
The moment she saw number 8, the last question, and its magical circuits and conditions that filled half the page…
“Ah no, this crazy—”
She almost fainted.