I stepped out of the ring, feeling a little bit more disoriented than I liked.
Even if the illusion barely fazed , the fact that I finished the exam so quickly was enough to cause whiplash.
It was like I just entered and exited two entirely different realms within the span of a minute; of course, my brain would hate .
[Major Healing]
Surprisingly enough, that spell worked. I expected to be hit with so sort of magical backlash, but I guess even the academy is nice enough to allow recovery in between tests as long as you can cast the spell yourself.
"That wasn’t difficult at all..." I muttered, looking at the rest of the students, most still stuck in the first prompt.
Likely very imrsed in the illusion.
Good thing I didn’t let it fully settle and focused on the prompt instead. The illusion was impressive, but if I just focused on the task at hand, it was barely a factor.
"Cael Arden, correct?"
The proctor approached , scanning for any interference or oddities.
"Yes, need anything?"
"No, I just wanted to confirm sothing. I guess the academy wasn’t bluffing when they said you might be the highest performing student this ti around."
"Feel free to use the rest of the ti as a break; the others won’t be done for another few hours or so."
"Hours!?"
I disbelievingly laughed. Did they seriously just say hours? Co to think of it... I did pass so other rooms that were still in the first part of the examination.
Guess the pacing is different.
And for the Hunt to start, it needed everyone to be done.
Guess a few hours was reasonable.
"Nevermind, I get it."
BEEP!
The proctor excused herself for a second, turning around and responding to a call from her transceiver.
"You’re in luck; another one seed to have passed as well. I suggest you talk to them while you wait."
She walked off without any goodbye, heading imdiately to a shaking student on one of the platforms to check up on his stability.
But more importantly...
Another already passed?
That’s definitely impressive... even Julius didn’t finish this fast, according to the novel’s description at least.
Maybe...?
thud!
A powerful magical presence washed through the air, but it was controlled, like it was specifically attuned to communicate with .
It was simple enough that it didn’t alert the examination’s barriers, and it was innocent enough not cause worry.
Yep...
That explains it all.
Kevin.
He’s the only one with dark magic similar to that, and he looks like he finished just a few minutes after .
What a beast...
I turned toward the source just in ti to see Kevin walk inside the building, breathing a little heavier than usual but otherwise completely fine. No shaking, no glassy eyes. If anything, he looked... energized.
It looked like his examination hall was from a different part of the academy altogether, considering where he ca from.
Then our eyes t.
He froze.
Then his face lit up like he’d just spotted his favorite religion in human form.
Turns out if you teach soone a little bit of special dark magic, they’ll sohow end up worshiping you... who knew?
"M-Master!" he stage-whispered, jogging over while trying, and failing, to look composed.
"I ca as soon as I finished!"
"...I can tell," I said, eyeing the faint wisps of dark mana still clinging to him. "You didn’t brute-force it, did you?"
Kevin scratched the back of his head, grinning sheepishly. "Only a little. Mostly I just collapsed the illusion layer by layer by focusing my magic on it. Once those broke, the prompts beca trivial."
I blinked once.
...Right. Of course he did.
"Next ti," I said slowly, "try not to dismantle academy property during an exam."
"O-Oh! I didn’t—" He panicked for half a second, then relaxed when he realized nothing had exploded. "I was very careful. The proctor didn’t mind as well; they said that dismantling the illusion itself was also an option."
"R-Really? Guess there really are no wrong answers..."
I sighed. I could have just done that the entire ti?
We stepped aside as another platform flared violently, a proctor intervening almost imdiately. The student was escorted out, pale and unsteady, supported on both sides.
...Yeah. That tracks.
The third exam was really separating people now.
So platforms were dimming peacefully as students finished the first prompt, while others were outright malfunctioning, runes flaring like they were about to overload.
Every few minutes, a proctor had to step in and cut the illusion manually before soone completely lost it.
"Guess ntal exams really aren’t everyone’s thing," I muttered.
Kevin followed my gaze, watching another student get escorted out. His expression shifted, less manic, more thoughtful.
"It wasn’t that hard," he said. "They probably just got too caught up in the illusion."
"It wasn’t that hard because you’re an adept dark mage already," I replied. "Illusions are barely a problem for us."
He nodded hard, like I’d just handed him divine wisdom instead of common sense.
We found an empty section of the hall and leaned against the wall, staying out of the proctors’ way. The hum of the rings blended into background noise, broken only by the occasional sharp crackle of unstable magic.
"So," I said casually, "how bad was yours?"
Kevin’s smile widened. "They tried guilt first, then fear, and lastly a future projection."
"...Let guess," I said. "You just removed the illusion so you could focus on the prompt and answer it normally?"
"...Yes."
I snorted. Just hearing it aloud was ridiculous. ’So he just completely dismantled the entire point of the test, huh?’
He looked really proud of that as well.
Being able to dismantle an illusion while under one is impressive enough on its own. No wonder the proctor passed him.
A few minutes passed in silence as we continued to observe the rest of the students. It was useful to gather information from the upcoming competition.
Besides, I didn’t have to do so last minute training with Kevin; he looked like he already had everything handled.
And to be careful, I’ll still brief him about the plan during the Hunt, I couldn’t risk letting other competitors hear about it.
FWISH.
A familiar presence slid into the room like a blade slipping into a sheath.
Refined, cold, and incredibly elegant.
I didn’t even have to look.
"...Evelina," I said.
She was already walking toward us, uniform pristine, posture perfect, not a hint of lingering illusion sickness on her face. If anything, she looked bored.
"Cael," she greeted, then glanced at Kevin. "...Illinalta?"
Kevin stiffened like a kid eting royalty. "Y-Yes! Kevin Trest Illinalta, adept dark mage—"
She raised a hand. "Relax. I’d rather you not make a scene."
Her tone was more relaxed than usual, guess her softness towards also extends to my students. Well... as long as it wasn’t Vivianne, I guess.
"I was just supposed to co check on how you were faring. I didn’t expect you to finish already, let alone with your so-called student right beside you."
While the three of us continued talking in a quiet corner of the hall, our presence alone was enough to draw the attention of several faculty mbers and even the proctor.
"Aren’t those...?"
An assistant looked at us.
"Pay them no mind. If you’ve read the academy reports before we arrived, you should have expected this."
The proctor slapped the assistant on the back of the head, snapping his attention back to those who were still trapped in the illusion.
"Ouch! I know that... but it’s still impressive to see firsthand."
"Tell about it."
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