Chapter 120: Story (3) (1/2)
A pop quiz! Epherene focused on attacking the problems with only her skills. However, from the first sentence of the first problem, the length of the calculation, which was a mixture of numbers and circuits, neared infinity.
“Ugh…”
Epherene envisioned the magic circle in her head. But, as something went wrong-
Whoosh—!
A fire burned in the air. Just then, Kreto raised his hand.
“Professor. You said we can discuss between us?”
“Just as I said. However, I will ask you all if you understood the question.”
Kreto glanced secretly to Rose Rio, but she was already in a trance. Iron-colored mana sparkled in her eyes. They said that when you reach the etheric level, your mana also becomes unique. As expected of Rose Rio, even her aura was metallic.
“…Ah.”
Epherene was captivated for a moment, but she shook it off and turned her eyes down to the test paper again, starting the full-scale calculations. She began scribing complicated formulas on the magical answer sheet.
“Epherene…?”
Suddenly, Drent called out to her quietly. Epherene spared him a glance.
“How about this?”
Drent coughed and showed her his answer. The beginning of his first answer was similar to Epherene’s, but after that, there were a lot of errors.
“Yeah. Here, I calculated these two parts separately and then joined them.”
“Oh yeah? I did it all at once.”
“That makes it harder. Wouldn’t it be better to do it the easier way?”
“…I find it harder when I do it separately.”
“I’ll do it for you. Look”
“Okay.”
While the two of them were discussing together-
Jump-!
Suddenly, Rose Rio stood and approached Deculein.
“Here.”
Then, she handed over her answer sheet. Deculein barely skimmed over it before glancing back to her and nodding indifferently.
“You passed. Go inside.”
There was another passage to which Deculein beckoned. Rose Rio left first, followed by the red-haired Munchkin.
“Me too.”
“Me too~.”
Next were the Addict Astal, Professor Louina, Professor Relin. It was difficult for Epherene and Drent, who were only Solda, to match their speed.
“…There is only half left.”
Epherene looked at the watch. Ninety minutes had passed, and by her side were Kreto and Drent.
“This part. I think this is the key circuit that makes mana pure. What do you guys think?”
“Yes. I think so. And Drent, what about the calculations I left to you?”
“Oh, I’m almost done.”
In this way, the three of them put their heads together, pondered, and divided the labor for three hours amongst themselves.
Tick-
Deculein’s timer rang.
“Time’s up. Submit.”
“Oh, yes!”
The three stood as one and submitted their answers.
“…”
He scanned the sheets. The tension squeezed around their throats like a noose, and their palms grew slick with sweat.
“Epherene.”
Deculein, setting down the answer sheet, looked to Epherene.
“Yes.”
Deculein pointed to a part of the answer sheet.
“Who came up with the idea of separating and combining in this formula?”
Separating the formula first, calculating it, and then combining it with precision. It was easy to suggest, but its difficulty was similar to that of attempting a body transplant. If it succeeded, it could save the dying, but if it failed, it would only kill them faster or turn them into a horrible chimera.
“Oh, I… it’s my idea. These two helped with the calculations and dismantling the formulas… I combined them.”
Epherene spoke hesitantly as Deculein continued to look down upon her coldly. She guessed that it must’ve been wrong. Drent and Kreto, predicting his reaction, began to sigh. However, what Deculein said next was:
“This is excellent.”
It was an unexpected compliment.
“…?!”
Anticipating a rebuke instead, Epherene, with her head bowed, looked up at Deculein with large eyes. He continued in the same dry tone as always.
“This technique will be of great help in the future, so hone it. You passed.”
“Nice!”
“Phew…”
Drent was delighted, Kreto sighed in relief, and Epherene simply stared blankly at him.
“…”
She was confused. Today, for the first time in her life, she heard that her work was excellent. Outside of empty words or exaggeration, she had never heard that praise from anyone. She received that first compliment from Deculein, of all people. Perhaps even this was just a form of conciliation…
“Epherene! Let’s go!”
“…Huh? Y-Yeah…”
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Drent pulled at Epherene. Bewildered, she was dragged along like a paper doll.
* * *
The second lecture hall, where only the successful candidates gathered. It was an outside space, with a stream flowing past on the other side, greenery was growing plentiful, and some fireballs were floating in mid-air.
“100 passed. Fifty were eliminated.”
It was an open book exam where they could discuss it, but 50 students who could not understand the answer or didn’t write anything down were eliminated. Within three hours, a third of the students were culled.
“I have judged that the remaining 100 people understood the basic content. I will give you an assignment.”
An assignment. With that said, Deculein aggregated the dirt on the road into an awl-like shape; it was a spell known as Earth Frame.
“This is an extremely simple application of the earth attribute magic 「Earth Frame」. It’s not a long sword or an ax or anything complicated like that. A simple and small awl.”
Earth Frame was magic that molded soil into a weapon and was usually linked with Psychokinesis or used directly.
“Yes. 「Earth Frame」 needs at least 20 strokes to become a useful weapon.”
Rose Rio intervened, growing excited as it was her specialty.
“Nine strokes can create an awl. A dagger with 20 strokes. In about 30 strokes, any blacksmith can make an object sharper than a forged iron sword.”
“Yes.”
At Rose Rio’s remarks, Deculein nodded.
“However, the essence of pure use lies in the limit of the basics. Allen?”
“Yes.”
Allen, who was standing next to him, handed him a mana alloy. Deculein accepted it then grabbed the awl made from Earth Frame.
“If magic is used purely, the output of very basic magic increases infinitely depending on the skill of the caster. For example.”
It was an awl weaved with only nine strokes of magic, yet its sharp blade pierced the magic alloy.
Crack—!
Rose Rio’s eyes grew wide with shock.
“The awl pierced a mana alloy worth 5,000 Elnes?”
A hole was drilled in the metal. Surprised, Rose Rio stretched out a hand.
“H-Hey, give me that!”
Deculein threw the mana alloy to her. Rose Rio immediately made an awl out of Earth Frame and attempted to pierce the alloy in the same way. It just bounced off with a clear ‘tink’.
“No. What did you do?”
“I used Earth Frame, but it doesn’t matter what kind of magic it is.”
Deculein ignored Rose Rio and continued.
“If you can pierce, break, or melt this alloy with less than 14 strokes of magic, you will complete the task.”
Epherene and the other students swallowed hard. It was better than nine strokes, but 14 strokes also remained in the realm of elemental magic. On the other hand, that mana alloy was for use. If it was worth 5,000 Elnes, it was also probably above the intermediate level.
“If you don’t, you’re out. The deadline is until the next class. Okay, now…”
Deculein snapped his fingers — the remaining 100 students were slightly perplexed. They thought today’s class would be over with this.
“Let’s start the theory lecture.”
They still had much to learn.
* * *
In the Magic Tower, 99th floor. In a circular office the size of a sports ground, the Chairman and her dog were sitting together.
“Professor Deculein! What’s going on?!”
As soon as the lecture was over, I came up and handed her a document.
“Oh! Is this what you were doing?! That! That… a thesis…?”
The Chairman, who was speaking excitedly, stopped suddenly and looked at my face. Then, she looked down at the documents I handed her and back to my face again. Again at the documents.
After repeating that simple act roughly a dozen times, she slammed the desk with her palm.
“Aha! This is a dream!”
“No.”
“I beg your pardon?!”
The Chairman covered her open mouth with both hands. She wanted to show off that she was surprised.
“If this is not a dream… Professor Deculein! Is this a fake?!”
I looked at the Chairman without saying a word. This reaction was unexpected. I thought she would laugh as soon as she received this thesis.
“You’re not answering! It’s fake! It is!”
“No.”
“So why…?”
She didn’t seem very pleased as a busybody, even though it would usually be a very welcome thing. Rather, she appeared confused and dissatisfied as her brow wrinkled.
“…Professor Deculein! Professor Deculein! Professor Deculein!”
“Why are you calling my name three times?”
“Are you going to submit it like this?!”
Adrienne pointed to a section of the thesis on the very first page. The part introducing the name of the [first author].
“Yes.”
I nodded. Then, the Chairman looked over the thesis again. This time, she almost put her eyes directly against the paper.
“Sigh…”
She took a deep breath. Is this real?! The Chairman’s eyes were yelling that at me.
“…Professor Deculein! Do you want to submit it like this?! I can’t fix it even if I wanted to!”
“I know.”
“No! Are you not Deculein?!”
The Chairman stretched out a finger. Suddenly, a gust of wind rose and engulfed my body.
Whooong-!
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It was a high-end technique that destroyed all magical spells applied to the target, known as Weathering. The storm swept across my face, rustling my collar.