「…Frankly, we are not looking for those, who just barely grasp the basics of magic.」

He lifts his head, and declares with a slightly sad gaze.

「Hurk.」

Cycelia chokes on air, and her pink lips press together into a nervous, tight-lipped expression. Straf glances at her for a moment, before returning his eyes back to Corvus.

「If I have to be perfectly honest… We only seek those who will shape the world, and lead the future of magic. If you are not good enough to impress us now, perhaps there is a chance for you to learn more in two weeks…」

Corvus says, and then shrugs his shoulders, spreading his arms.

「…But what are the chances? Our Academy had more than 1100 students last term, and we believe we will have a little over 1400 this term. I can guarantee you, each and every single one of them is exceptional. In one way, or another.」

「Urg…」

Cycelia grunts, cringing heavily. Straf furrows his brows at her.

「But I have to admit, I am biased for the dedicated ones. A significant progress in those two weeks would certainly impress me…」

「…Are you feeling alright, Lia? Motion sickness? It was a long ride here…」

He asks, looking at her with a mildly concerned expression, ignoring Corvus and his long-winded speech.

「…But temper your expectations, young mages! If you fail, it's because your knowledge was insufficient! But you still live, and can learn more!… An opportunity that would not remain open to you, in the more brutal times!…」

「I'm fine, Straf…」

She replies, looking at him with a pained smile.

「…Gone are the times of witch queens, and ruthless magic massacres! This progress came about with magnificent, extraordinary people!…」

「…Ookay?」

He shrugs at Cycelia, and turns back to Corvus.

「…And I am certain, young mages, that we have some extraordinary people with us right now.」

The white-bearded mage continues unabating, rubbing the mass of beard resting on his chest with a gentle smile on his face, as his eyes peek the Academy's big-hatted examinators.

They shake their heads in disapproval with their arms crossed, and mouths scrunched. Squinting their way, Corvus pinches the frame of his glasses and adjusts them.

「…Oh dear, I seem to have done it again. In any case… To be exceptional is your right, young mages. Take no pity on the competitors, and do not hold back.」

Corvus concludes with a gentle smile and holding his hands behind his back, he makes his way to the examinators. The crowd of mages begins chattering amongst themselves once again, rousing a steady murmur.

「How about we move things along a little faster, and begin with the first and the last ones to arrive? Then we can meet the group in the middle while the latecomers wait.」

One of the examinator asks, spreading his hands as he approaches Corvus.

「Hmm… Yes, let's do that…」

The old mage humms, brushing his beard with his fingers as he looks aside to the students.

「…Ms. Tisha! Ms. Neela! Mr. Damian! Ms. Lia! To the line, please!」

Corvus calls out. His pointed finger jumps between each person as he names them. The old mage then points his hand at the line of stones on the grass.

「Ah! Me first!? Right away!?」

Cycelia jumps in panic, looking at Straf with wide-open eyes. Her gaze darts between the exam line, and him.

「Let's go, Lia. Show 'em what you've got.」

He shrugs with a bored expression, approaching the line with his hands in his pockets.

「Ah- But!…」

She protests meekly, but hurries along with her eyes down on the ground.

The named examinees approach the exam line, and the remaining students await their turn from a few paces behind them. The Academy's examinators are watching closely, with Corvus standing just beside them, smiling.

「Woah! They're so pretty!…」

One of the young mages in the crowd remarks, watching the girls walk up to the line.

「…Isn't that guy crazy handsome!? Are they a couple!?」

A female mage gossips with another, pointing her finger at Straf while he walks past.

「Please begin at your leisure, young mages. There's no time limit, but… Well, be considerate of others.」

Corvus says, and with a gentle closed-mouth chuckle, shrugs his shoulders.

Tisha and Neela look at each other, and powerfully nod their heads. Two young girls in their early twenties turn their sharp gazes to the black targets ahead. With their palms out towards the dark slabs out in the field, they begin chanting over each other. The young man standing at the line beside them silently watches on, along with Straf and Ms. Lia.

「『Mana Dust』!」

Fwwwwwshhhhh…

Neela exclaims, and throws a cloud of glittering rainbow-colored dust from her hand. It floats towards the target, dispersing slowly, appearing almost weightless. Thousands of shiny specks hang in the air and reflect the morning sunshine with brilliant flickers of light. When the specks are about to come into physical contact with the target, the air in front of it ripples like water, and the glittering particles of the dust dissipate into nothing. The bulk of the dust remains hanging in the air between Neela and the black slab, however. At the same time, Tisha finishes casting her own spell.

「『Prismatic Blizzard』!」

Tisha shouts with a determined voice, looking at the target ahead with cold blue eyes. Misty water vapor at her hand forms into an icicle, and doubles in size before shooting forward.

Swoosh!

Halfway to its target, the ice lance surprisingly sparks ablaze. A jet of steam violently erupts forward as a flame spirals around the long icicle. Some of the flames and steam collide with the magic dust hanging in the air…

Fwwip- BOOM!!

The dust begins to glow as it lets out a high-pitched chime, and abruptly becomes blindingly bright, before exploding into a fireball that stretches across the field ahead. At the same time, the spear of steam reaches the black slab, and the air in front of it once again ripples like the surface of water. Then, the ripples fade, and the ice lance slams into the target, shattering.

CLINK!

The flying icicle loudly cracks and disintegrates, but the sound is nearly entirely drowned out by the neighboring explosion. A powerful gust of wind hits the examinators and the mages waiting for their turn. Some of their wide-brimmed pointy hats are blown away to the ground by the explosion. With a huge, smug grin on her face, Tisha turns to Neela and pumps her fist. Neela raises her thumb at her in response, with a matching, satisfied smirk.

「Woah!」 「What was that!?」 「How did she mix elements like that!?」

The prospect students exclaim, greatly amazed, and some of them are picking their hats back up.

《New spell memorized. New spell memorized.》

「…They just had to squeeze a dust explosion somewhere in here, huh?」

Straf rolls his eyes, unimpressed by the magical explosion.

Clap. Clap. Clap. Clap.

Corvus slowly claps, smiling gently at the two girls. They turn their eyes towards him as he spreads his hands.

「Well done, young ladies! Very creative of Ms. Neela to fill the air with crystallized mana to support Ms. Tisha's spell…」

He nods his head, pointing his hand at Neela from his hip.

「…And Ms. Tisha, with her intentional use of a rather chaotic spell, and deliberately causing a magical reaction in the nearby dust to help Ms. Neela hit her target… Impressive indeed!…」

The old man smiles at the less-than-pleased examinators standing beside him, pointing his hand at Tisha, before turning his wrinkled face to the girls.

「…If only your previous academic year's results were so impressive! Wait with the others now, please…」

Corvus requests, pointing at the rest of the examinees. Tisha and Neela visibly cringe, and shamble away from the line with their arms slumped.

「…Next!」

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

An Academy worker calls out to the waiting group, guiding next examinees to the line. Corvus tilts his head, expectantly raising his brows at the young man standing at the line, and Cycelia.

Damian takes it as a cue to begin. He kneels down and places his hands on the grass ahead of him, beyond the stones. One of the examinators raises his finger to object, but Corvus holds his arm out aside and stops him.

「He did not cross the line yet.」

He says, smiling gently at the examinator, and lowers his arm. Damian chants spellwords, focused greatly on the black slab ahead.

「『Earth Golem』!」

Damian abruptly exclaims, and a humanoid shape sprouts from the dirt as he raises his hands off the ground.

「Oh?」

An utterance of mild surprise escapes the old mage's lips as he watches the young mage point his fingers at the target. The small, child-sized humanoid of dirt takes off, sprinting the best it can towards the black slab with its stubby legs.

Corvus and the examinators all look at each other, with either confused or surprised looks on their faces. The small dirt golem continues running, and running, almost making its way to the black slab.

Bent at the elbow, Damian flicks his hand upward. The golem jumps with its short, earthy limbs splayed. He throws his open hand aside and wiggles his fingers. Just before reaching the rippling, magic-resistant space, the golem loses its cohesion and disperses.

「Oh!」

Corvus utters out with his mouth open in surprise, watching the clumps of loose dirt feebly splatter against the dark slab, and slide to the ground.

Clapclapclapclapclap!

He applauds the young man, apparently amazed by this display.

「Now that is great thinking, Mr. Damian! Truly wonderful!」

「Thank you, headmaster.」

Damian bows, receiving an applause from the old mage.

「Huh? What'd he do?」

Straf disapprovingly asks Corvus, glancing at the young mage as he's heading back towards Tisha and Neela.

「Why, Mr. Straf, isn't it obvious!? Mr. Damian has worked smarter, instead of harder! He used the bare minimum magic required to complete the task!」

「So? What's so special about this guy being lazy? I'm lazy all the time, and nobody applauds me for it.」

Straf asks. Corvus chuckles softly, adjusting his glasses as he slowly shakes his head.

「Mr. Straf… As you can see, despite the impressive explosion, the targets remain undamaged.」

The old mage says, pointing his hand at the targets. Indeed, the grass in front of them is badly scorched, but the targets themselves lack a single scratch.

「The material used in their creation has been mixed with gold. In addition, an antimagic coating has been applied. The goal is to merely hit the target, not destroy it, Mr. Straf.」

He shrugs and spreads his hands, before placing them behind his back.

「Just Straf.」

「Well, Just Straf… Mr. Damian has aptly used his golem to lightly spatter the target with mud. He has well interpreted the goal, and shrewdly accomplished it. I am very impressed. We need more young mages like him.」

Corvus explains, while other mages arrive at the line and prepare to cast their own spells under the examinators' watchful eyes. With his fists on his hips, Straf scoffs, and turns to Cycelia.

「Go on Lia, do the thing. Show everyone how special you are.」

He nods his head towards the targets, encouraging her.

「Hu- Huh? Okay…」

She nods her chesntut head, toes the stone line, takes a deep breath, and points her palm at the black slab.

「…Come to think of it, I've never seen you actually cast a spell… Go ahead and impress me, too.」

Straf chuckles a little, grinning at Cycelia from the side as he's looking at the target.

「…『Fire Sword』!」

She exclaims, without any incantation. The space in front of her palm does absolutely nothing.

「Hm?」

Nothing happens. Straf tilts his head, blinking at her.

「Huh?」 「What?」 「…Did anyone see her cast? No?」

Corvus and the rest of the examinators look at each other with their brows furrowed, muttering in confusion amongst themselves. Distracted, the examinees beside Straf and Cycelia begin cackling.

「Hahaha!… That's a good one!」 「…Okay, I'll admit, that was funny.」 「Is that even a real spell?」

The prospect students behind them join the laughter too, with the stress of the exams lifted from their shoulders by a comedic event.

「…Lia? You know some spells, right?」

Straf hesitantly asks, leaning in a little. Cycelia snaps her tight-lipped, red-faced, mortified grimace towards him.

「…I know how to flow mana.」

She replies, and slowly shrugs her shoulders.

「Huh? What does that have to do with anything?」

Straf asks with furrowed brows, spreading his arms.

「What?」

「What?」

They blink their confused eyes at each other.

「What? But I thought mana is important- Nevermind. I thought it would work if I just flow some mana, and shout something. Isn't that how it works?」

Cycelia asks, innocently tilting her head.

「…Lia, I don't want to give any legitimacy to this shitty world's magic system, but I think it's a little more complex than that…」

With his fists on his hips, Straf replies with a troubled, tight-lipped grimace on his face.

「How do you do it then, Straf? You don't even need to say anything to cast a spell. I know the basics of magic, so I thought I'd be fine without studying-」

Cycelia says, and Straf grabs her shoulders, leaning down to her head level.

「Lia, you didn't study for the magic school?」

Straf asks, staring into her eyes with his lips stretched, tightly pressed together.

「Huh? No, I thought I'd learn magic at the Academy… You made spellcasting look so easy, that I thought I'd get by without studying for the entry exam…」

She shakes her head gently, and her emerald eyes escape his intense stare downward.

「…Is that bad? I realize it may have been a little short-sighted, but…」

Cycelia asks, and Straf lets go with a large sigh, straightening out.

「Lia, you are right. It's extremely short-sighted…」

「…Right…」

She glumly concurs, tapping her fingers together with a sad frown. Straf encouragingly places his hand on her shoulder.

「That's why I think you'll make a perfect mage, Lia.」

「Huh?」

Cycelia tilts her head in response to Straf's blunt declaration.

「Look at them. Do you see any of them not wearing glasses?」

Straf asks, pointing his hand at Corvus and the examinators. Cycelia looks at their faces, and indeed, all of them are wearing spectacles of varying shapes and sizes.

「…No?」

「Exactly, Lia! They're all short-sighted! That means your very soul is that of a mage!」

Straf snaps his fingers, and points at Cycelia with a grin on his face.

「I'll figure something out, let me think…」

He turns away, rubbing his chin.

《What did that mage girl say again on the way back?… Something something minimize maximize, greater lesser, but what were the spellwords before that?…》

Straf thinks, and glances at Cycelia while she's bashfully tapping her fingers together, pouting a little, and looking up at Straf with huge, emerald puppy eyes.

《Man… Lia, I'd be mildly upset if you weren't cute.》

He sighs, and places his fists on his hips with his mouth aslant. Corvus raises his brows.

「Ms. Lia, is there a problem?…」

「Eep!」

The old mage calls out from the side, and Cycelia yelps in panic.

「No, she's just nervous! Do you not ever get performance anxiety, old man!? Or is it just straight up dysfunction for you!? Give her a moment!」

Straf shouts back, spreading his arms and indignant.

「Okay, Lia… I might have an idea.」

He proudly declares, looking into Cycelia's nervous, emerald eyes…