The Genius Magician Hides His Swordsmanship - Chapter 27
Chapter 27. What happened during the Test (2)
“Whoa. I’m nervous”
Drew’s sigh echoed in my ears.
‘Don’t be too nervous. The first test is a written test.’
The first subject was Professor Andrei’s subject, Elementary Principle of Elements, so there was no need to use magic.
“Okay, Take one at a time.”
We accepted the papers handed out by the young professors that came with us. By now, all the students had a piece of paper.
After sitting on the dock, Associate Professor Midran activated his voice amplification magic once again. (PR: changed amplification magic into voice amplification magic)
“Professor Andrei is not present, but he conveyed the questions to me. I will recite it now and you will write the answer to the questions on your piece of paper.”
The eyes of the children sitting on the floor focused on his lips. After taking a breath, Associate Professor Midran shouted while looking at the note in his hand.
“Describe the correlation between the four attributes of fire, water, wood and earth.”
The children began to clamor after hearing the question.
‘The correlation……?’
It was difficult to grasp the true meaning of the question. There was no definite explanation of what the correlation was and Andrei gave this unfriendly question for a test. When all the children could not easily write down their answers, Associate Professor Midran, opened his mouth again.
“To give you a hint, you can write down something about the superiority between attributes.”
It was only then that the intention of the question was understood.
‘Which attribute beats which attribute? It’s just that.’
The children hurriedly wrote down their answers.
“Of course, water is superior to fire, and fire is superior to wood.
That must have been what Andrei intended, and that must have been the answer the other children wrote.
‘That’s not enough.’
My answer can’t be that simple. My goal was to get first place in Andrei’s test.
‘I can’t catch him off guard with a general answer.’
After thinking about it for a while, I wrote it down letter by letter.
[Eh? If you write it down like this, you might not get first place.]
Oberon tilted his head at my answer.
‘Shouldn’t I write this much to attract attention?’
What was written on paper was only one sentence.
– There is no absolute correlation between fire, water, wood, and earth attributes.
Instead, I cast a spell on the test paper. Then, a small pattern glittered on the paper. It was quickly absorbed and disappeared. It was the embodiment of the magic seen in ancient books.
[what are you doing?]
‘Because I have to prove to Andrei that I’m right later…’
It was a means to prove my logic. While the other children were diligently writing down their answers, I finished the first test by secretly planting magic.
“Okay! Now stop! I will take the exam papers. Marking will be done by Professor Andrei. If you are dissatisfied with your score, go directly to him.”
* * *
The second test was mana management.
‘It’s finally time for my test.’
Aloy stepped forward in place of Associate Professor Midran. As expected, a voice amplification magic was casted on his neck.
“All the stones in front of me are mana stones. As you all know, these stones contain mana. This will test your mana management skills.”
He pointed to the mana stone placed in front of him. Forty blue stones were lined up in a row.
“I’ll demonstrate first.”
Aloy closed his eyes, stretched out his right hand and discharged mana.
Whoo!
The first mana stone that reacted to his mana turned blue.
Whoo!
The second and third mana stones also turned blue.
“Wow”
Soon, all 40 mana stones were shining blue. At the sight, the children gathered at the outdoor training ground let out a soft exclamation. I don’t know how difficult it is, but everyone could tell that his skill was at a high level.
“Whoo. Have you seen it? You guys can do the same now. The higher the number of shining mana stones, the higher the score.”
Aloy distributed 20 mana stones to each class.
“If we were to test 100 people individually, it would take all day.”
A total of four rows of mana stones were created in this way. The young professors stood guard for grading. From then on, blue mana substances raged in the outdoor training ground.
Whoops! Mana stones started vibrating in all directions. However, there were not many children who could achieve such a spectacular performance as Aloy.
Most of them only made around 10 mana stones shine…
‘Oh, this one is worth seeing.’
Next came the turn of a boy named Tony Glun, who had a talent for wind magic.
“How many can he light up?”
At this moment, other children, including Drew, were paying attention.
Whoosh! The mana stone reacted quickly. He had a mana management ability that is distinctly different from other children.
“Wow!”
A loud cheer erupted from the students. In the end, Tony shone until the last twentieth mana stone.
‘Isn’t he from a newly established family?’
Aloy, who had been watching the whole situation while standing in the center, shifted his gaze slightly towards me.
‘You’re putting a lot of pressure on me.’
It was as if he was saying that I had to do that too. His gaze did not linger on me for long.
“wow!” “Amazing, Great!”
Cheers came from the other side.
‘Oh, did someone light them all there too?’
A student from another class also managed to light up 20 mana stones. I immediately checked the student. I didn’t know the skills of the other students, so I needed to know which ones were more talented.
‘Oh, he deserves it.’
He nodded, it was McDuff.
[He’s gotten quite a bit better, I guess all that mana practice with Rio helped.]
‘Of course, it’s not a talent you can find just anywhere.’
Rather than making me nervous, the scene made me feel at ease.
‘Since I’ve always won against McDuff, this means that my skills are enough.’
It was true that I was a little nervous because it was my first time doing it. But it never occurred to me that I could not do what Mcduff had done.
“Now next, Ian Delemar!”
A young professor standing at the front of my class called my name.
‘Let’s try it’
After one deep breath.
Whoo!
The mana flowed right away.
‘What, it’s this easy?’
The blue light of the mana stones spread rapidly. The colour was much darker than Tonys.
Whoo!
In the end, it was only natural that the 20th mana stone would shine.
“Wow! Did you see that?”
“So fast!”
“And the light was so intense!”
The cheers that started in our class soon spread to the entire outdoor training ground.
[Isn’t this too overwhelming?]
‘It’s because I’m confident in mana management. ‘
Of course, I didn’t realize it would be this easy either, so thanks for that.
[What’s wrong with him?]
Where Oberon pointed to was Aloy’s gaping mouth again.
‘Professor Aloy must have been shocked again.’
The corners of his mouth went up at the change in his expression.
I guess I’ll be number 1 in this one?
Even if we did light up the same twenty mana stones, there was a clear difference.
‘Now I can relax and watch.’
McDuff, who could be seen in the distance, also sighed and shook his head as if he had a sense of defeat.
* * *
The test ended quickly.
“Everyone is better than I thought. Five students were able to light up to all twenty.”
As Aloy said, there were five children who were able to make all the mana stones shine. However, no other student made them shine as strong as mine. With Aloy’s closing remarks, the exam almost came to an end.
“Professor Aloy! Then, how is the first place going to be chosen?”
That is, until Tony Glun raised his hand and asked a question.
“Huh? First place?”
Aloy twitched his eyebrows in embarrassment. Anyone can see that I was number one, so it must have been strange to ask such a question.
“Yes. Since there are five people who reached the same number of twenty, is it a tie for first place?”
“The scoring standard I mentioned at the beginning is the number of mana stones that are lit.”
He’s right. In any case, there was no reaction speed or strength in the scoring criteria that Aloy said.
“Okay. That’s a reasonable question. Then let’s have the five of you do a separate evaluation.”
According to Tony’s opinion, Aloy gathered all 80 Mana Stones and lined them all up.
‘Little boy, you’re bothering me.’
[let’s see who’ll take first place.]
Five children gathered in front of the Mana Stones. The rest of the children gathered around them to watch.
‘Okay. Let’s make it clear who’s on top.’
The first to step out was a silver-haired girl from another class. The mana stone, which reacted calmly, halted after 20 counts.
“Oh! Good work. You could have shone up until twenty-three.”
With Aloy’s encouragement, the next in order came. As expected, it was a boy in another class.
“Um. It’s a bit disappointing. Twenty-two.”
The dark-skinned boy regretted it and returned to his seat.
[The next one seems capable.]
McDuff came third.
The mana stone reacted much harsher than the previous children.
[He’s so good at this!]
McDuff lit up twenty-eight mana stones.
“Oh! You did twenty-eight! You’re in first place so far.”
Aloy’s lavish praise fell.
Tony caught his breath as if he was nervous about McDuff’s performance. He, the guy next in line, strode off.
“Okay. Tony Glun. Show off your skills.”
Tony stretched out mana with Aloy’s words.
‘Oh, that’s good.’
Whoo!
In an instant, he surpassed two top students and reached the 25th stone.
Whoo!
But that was as far as it went, cold sweat broke out all over his body. His body was shaking with effort, but he couldn’t get any further.
Woo woo woo…
The 26th stone flickered at that moment. But that was it. Tony had already consumed all his energy.
“Well done. Tony, I’ll count the last one as a success.”
Tony hung his head in frustration, with his grade lower than McDuff’s. But he’s not going to win first place regardless.
‘Hoo. I’ll show you, so look carefully.’
Passing by the depressed guy. I approached the mana stone.
“Ian, start.”
There was also a strange anticipation in Aloy’s eyes. How many would I be able to light up? I wondered too.
Whoops!
I activated my mana and the mana stones started to react. I was not as fast as before, and injected mana cautiously. Of course, I easily surpassed 20, and Tony’s record of 26 mana stones was not too difficult.
[Oh, if you go a little further, you’ll be ahead of McDuff]
‘That’s enough.’
So far it seemed so easy.
Whoops!
I went over twenty-eight, even thirty did not take much effort.
[What if you do more than Aloy?]
I didn’t know if I could. The test doesn’t really make use of magic, it’s just a test to see how many mana stones one could light up. Maybe I’m ahead of the others because I’m sensitive to mana.
When all eyes were on me. The thirty-second mana stone reacted.
The clear sky started to get a little darker.
Maybe it’s because it’s getting darker? At that moment, the glowing mana stone seemed to shine even more.
“Ahh, It’s the Centrifugal society!”
I could understand why the sky darkened with someone’s cry.
Coooo!
It was because of the dozens of offensive magic pouring over the outdoor training ground.