After the lunch break, the afternoon written test subject was Mathematics.
For most test-takers, this period of the exam should be the least stressful part of the entire assessnt. So, compared to the serious atmosphere during the morning's Rune Literature test, both test-takers and proctors visibly relaxed more in the afternoon exam hall.
Almost without a hitch, Erald Sparrow completed the afternoon's exam paper. This ti, because the questions were really easy, she didn't leave any blanks and only deliberately got a few calculation questions wrong before handing in her paper.
After the exam ended, Erald Sparrow, as promised, took a few juniors to a dessert restaurant.
The place chosen was the sa one she and Mo He had visited before. Although that dining experience could be said to be full of incidents, the quality of the food and service attitude still left a good impression on Erald Sparrow. So when she decided to take the juniors out for snacks, the first place that ca to mind was this shop called "Mikke."
A few Magical Girls sat around a round table in the restaurant, slowly savoring desserts while enjoying a mont of relaxation after the exams, each exchanging their feelings about the first day of the written tests.
—"Like, you guys get it? That feeling of my brain being all jumbled at the ti?"
Lin Xiaolu waved a spoon in the air with one hand: "It's like my brain tells I morized the content of the question, and I can indeed recite things, but my subconscious tells I morized it wrong, in the wrong place."
"But here's the weird part! When I reviewed last night, I didn't have this feeling. Honestly, although I rote-morized these things, I've got a pretty good mory. How could the morized things get mixed up?"
Lin Xiaolu looked incredulous: "And the most crucial part? Now that I'm out of the exam room, when I recall those questions, I feel like I rember them again!"
"Rembered after leaving the exam room?"
Erald Sparrow listened patiently to Lin Xiaolu's recounting. When Lin Xiaolu ntioned this, she subconsciously repeated: "Including now?"
"Of course, I feel very clear-headed now."
Lin Xiaolu nodded: "Erald Sparrow, ask a few questions casually."
"Alright."
Erald Sparrow didn't say much, directly picking a few exam questions to ask. She also found a few knowledge points from the book that weren't in this exam. Throughout this series of Q&A, Lin Xiaolu, though stumbled and with quite a few detail errors, surprisingly got most of them almost right.
It could be said her status could only be called "not thoroughly learned," but she definitely shouldn't have mixed up the book's content.
The group had been together since leaving the exam hall, so it's also unlikely Lin Xiaolu cramd last minute to save face. This ans the level Lin Xiaolu currently displayed should be her actual level.
Not only did this surprise Erald Sparrow, but Bai Jingxuan and Xia Liang were also amazed. Lin Xiaolu's answers were basically what they thought of, too. In other words, Lin Xiaolu's grasp of the Rune Literature exam content was definitely not as bad as she claid in the chat group this noon.
"...If that's the case, then it's very likely the effect of a Magic Technique."
After pondering for a mont, Erald Sparrow provided a more reasonable explanation: "If it's a tool, it would be stopped by security outside the exam room. To achieve this effect, it must be a Magic Technique."
"Is there such a Magic Technique?" Xia Liang asked curiously.
"Yes, there are Magic Techniques for thought interference. Although their power is relatively weak, rely making mory a bit fuzzy and decision-making a bit slow, they can't play a decisive role in battles."
Erald Sparrow's face turned serious: "But if it's in the exam hall, this kind of Magic Technique uses very little magic power, can easily evade the proctor's detection, and if applied only in a small area, won't get exposed due to chaos."
"Huh? So you're saying my poor condition during the exam was because soone was plotting against ?"
Lin Xiaolu raised her eyebrows upon hearing this: "I wondered why it felt so strange; soone was trying to lower my score?"
Bai Jingxuan, listening to their discussion sowhat dazedly, asked perplexed after a while: "If it really is a Magic Technique, then why would that person do this?"
"To reduce competitors, or to lower the pass mark, or just out of sheer malice."
Xia Liang took a sip of her milkshake, leisurely analyzing: "To be precise, if you can lower others' scores, you can indirectly lower the pass mark, increasing your own chances of passing...or sothing like that?"
"Not impossible."
Erald Sparrow nodded: "Proctors in the exam hall typically focus on whether a candidate is cheating. Plus, with so many Magical Girls on site, magical power fluctuation is mixed. So, this hidden purpose technique, which isn't cheating, is easily overlooked."
"But if it's just targeted at a few people, it wouldn't really lower the score line either, right?"
Xia Liang further pondered: "After all, there are so many candidates this year. Lowering a few candidates' scores is a drop in the bucket and can't change the pass mark. Unless..."
"Unless many people are doing it."
Erald Sparrow squinted her eyes: "But this kind of Magic Technique, if I rember correctly, is quite obscure. Even the books recording them are scarce. Can many people really learn and master this Magic Technique?"
"Yeah, which is why I said, it might just be sheer malice too."
Xia Liang laughed: "There are people who do things really not for any benefit to themselves, but just to harm others."
"And I just happened to be that victim and unlucky one?"
Lin Xiaolu blinked, pointing at herself: "Could it really be such a coincidence?"
"At the mont, it doesn't seem unlikely."
Xia Liang nodded: "After all, you've also proven that you've indeed been morizing, and a Magical Girl's body shouldn't experience such large fluctuations in state just from emotions like 'nervousness.' It must be considered whether there's an external cause."
"Damn it! If I find out who did it, I'll definitely confront her tomorrow!"
Lin Xiaolu gritted her teeth first, and after venting her anger a bit, suddenly seed to realize sothing, turned to Erald Sparrow, showing a pitiful expression: "Er... ah, Long Dan..."
"...What's wrong?" Seeing her expression, Erald Sparrow's eyebrow twitched, but she still asked back.
"So, what I'm saying is that I really did morize, and I didn't want to worry or disappoint you."
Lin Xiaolu dragged her chair closer to Erald Sparrow: "I'm really so upset, so wronged..."
Watching her act like this, Erald Sparrow couldn't help but half-close her eyes, slowly sighed.
Reaching out to place her hand on Lin Xiaolu's back, she symbolically patted twice: "I never blad you for anything; I trust your efforts."
It had to be said that recently Lin Xiaolu was getting more and more fond of acting spoiled.
If when she and Erald Sparrow first t, one could still see so rebellious teenager in her, then her current behavior is akin to that of an elentary schooler like Bai Jingxuan.
Unfortunately, Erald Sparrow really couldn't resist her daughter's spoiled behavior, so gradually Lin Xiaolu beca more proactive, so much so that she even dared to do this in public now.
However, even in such a situation, the matter of "soone using a Magic Technique secretly in the exam hall" still caught Erald Sparrow's attention.
Even though Xia Liang eventually revised her opinion and thought that it was possibly just so test-takers being "malicious," from Erald Sparrow's perspective, she couldn't overlook such a risky situation.
If this situation wasn't just an isolated case, and indeed many test-takers were using such techniques in the venue to disturb others' states, then today's two simple subjects are one thing, but who knows what tomorrow's two more difficult subjects would turn into.
To be safe, she couldn't sit by and let such events that could significantly impact many test-takers' scores happen.
Later, she'll report these suspicious circumstances to the Magical Affairs Institute to increase scrutiny tomorrow.
As she comfortingly patted her daughter's head, Erald Sparrow pondered silently in her heart.
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