Five Lumina professors gathered in the monitoring room of the examination hall to supervise today’s entrance exams.
Their combined presence showed the significance that Lumina Academy placed on this occasion.
"Rember, even a tiny scratch on the wall on the left ans success."
The practical test required no special magical knowledge, but in order to succeed with the given thods, one needed to be proficient in basic skills and have adequate innate potential.
In essence, it was a challenging test for a freshly awakened.
"So your ti starts..."
"Now!"
One of the supervisors, Roderick, a robust man with brown hair, signaled the start of the test.
"What are your thoughts on this batch, Professor Isabella?"
After turning off his microphone, Roderick reclined in his chair and glanced at the person next to him.
There was a person there who was difficult to describe with words.
Hair reaching down to her shoulders as if grown from obsidian, eyes of unfathomable depth, and every line on her face as perfect as a sculpture.
Isabella Jane.
She was the genius of the Jane family, who entered the Lumina Academy at the age of eighteen, graduated as valedictorian at twenty-one, and was appointed as a distinguished professor at the Lumina at twenty-four.
Being in the sa space as her was an honor in itself.
"Not much hope. None of them have a decent background."
Isabella responded flatly without even lifting her gaze from the admission forms in her hand.
Though Isabella did not despise commoners in any way, her pride and upbringing had conditioned her to have high standards, resulting in her having lower expectations from people of underprivileged backgrounds.
Roderick’s expression showed a hint of disappointnt at that, and he sighed.
"It would be good if we could get at least one A tier from this batch of commoners."
"Don’t keep your hopes high, Professor Roderick. From this bunch, it would be a miracle if we could even get 20 students who can barely pass the test, let alone soone who would compete in rankings."
"That’s rather harsh."
"Truth is not sweet."
"You’re as direct as ever, Professor Isabella. Ahem! Anyway, what’s your opinion on the test?"
"Seems to be a decent assessnt."
Isabella responded bluntly before redirecting her attention to the applicants on the screen, leaving no ti for Roderick to respond, who could only scratch his head as the monitoring room returned to silence.
However, the silence didn’t last long and was soon broken by the unexpected ringing of an alarm.
Dring-dring!
It was the notification that one applicant had succeeded in solving the Mana Puzzle and was about to complete the test—a developnt that threw everyone off guard.
"What?! How is this possible? It hasn’t even been a minute!"
Roderick exclaid in disbelief.
"Let see who it is!"
The other supervisors also sprang into action, quickly identifying the source of the bell.
Room 172.
Isabella shifted the main screen and enlarged the live feed from room 172.
There was a tall, handso-looking, cute boy with golden hair holding a controller he must have gotten after dismantling the Mana Puzzle.
All eyes in the monitoring room turned to him in anticipation, imagining how he would soon use the controller to undo the protective barrier and beco one of the first to complete the practical test.
But to their astonishnt, the boy, instead of using it, held the controller tightly in his palm, and then…
Crack!
He crushed it.
Smash!
"…"
The swift and decisive action left the professors present montarily speechless.
Before they could recover, Adrian moved once more, quickly picking up the ordinary black iron sword nearby and...
Swish!
He swung it gracefully toward the wall with the protective barrier.
BOOM!
A loud explosion rang in the room.
Dring-dring!
The second alarm rang subsequently, signaling the successful end of the test, and as expected, when the smoke lifted in the room, a wall with a huge slash mark embedded on it appeared on all supervisors’ screens, along with an additional notification.
[Practical Test Clear: Adrian Vaiself (1st)]
Silence enveloped the whole monitoring room, until finally a female supervisor opened her mouth.
"We really got an S-tier applicant in the public entrance test."
Being veterans with years of experience, the other professors also quickly ca to their senses, and their shock and surprise turned to amazent and curiosity.
"Never thought soone in the public entrance section would be so daring and fierce."
"Indeed, using only one thod would be considered a pass, and doing it fastest using a single thod would push them up in the S-tier, but to use both thods...."
"This guy doesn’t just want the S-tier. He wants to be at the top of the S-tier. Just like that girl from Cypra."
Those words made everyone fall silent once again and look at each other.
Like the saying that an academy is a society, there was also a hierarchy at Lumina Academy.
It was a classification considering status, potential, skills, ability, etc., and not only the office of education but also the dia divided the students into pyramid-style tiers.
For instance, students in the top rankings would be considered in the S tier, and those who barely passed would be in the F tier, at the lowest.
Their classes would be different, and so would be their treatnt.
Ascending to the S tier ant joining the elite among elites.
But to reign supre inside the S tier ant standing above all others in that cohort—a single individual representing the entire academy.
"Isn’t Rosalie Cypra, the prodigy of the Cypra family, currently at the pinnacle of the S-tier?"
Students from privileged backgrounds had already taken the entrance exams in private.
Consequently, the supervisors possessed data on the top-ranked students, as historically, the S-tier in the private exams seldom changed.
"She is, but her ti exceeds a minute. However, this candidate..."
(00:57:32)
"It seems we’re in for another remarkable year."
One of the supervisors murmured, and the others nodded in agreent, with the exception of Isabella, who retorted.
"Don’t make empty assumptions yet. We have to see the written exams first."
"Yes, Professor Isabella is right."
Roderick ca to his senses and replied seriously, to which Isabella responded with a proposal.
"Then let’s hurry up his theoretical test if he consents to it. I want to see this candidate’s capabilities. What do you all think?"
She surveyed the room, seeking the consensus of everyone else.
"I have no problem."
Roderick replied first, and others soon followed suit.
"Likewise."
"Count in."
"Agreed."
Thus, with unanimous consent from the supervisors, Roderick requested Adrian’s permission via the microphone and swiftly received an affirmative response.
"No issues," ca Adrian’s confident reply, prompting him to proceed directly to the written test in another room without delay.
Ti passed, and it took about half an hour before his answer sheet finally found its way to Isabella’s hand.
She examined it carefully and soon passed her judgnt.
"Full score on the written: 100/100."
"What?!"
Roderick’s shocked voice reverberated in the room once again.
He quickly took the sheet from Isabella and ticulously reviewed each answer with other supervisors.
"... All correct. But doesn’t this place him in the current top spot in the examination, even surpassing Rosalie Cypra?"
"Seems like that’s the case."
"I doubt anyone else will be able to surpass this record."
"Agreed, though so may not take this lightly."
"Sigh! It seems this year will be tumultuous."
"I think it’ll be quite entertaining."
Isabella’s sudden playful remark and genuinely delighted expressions caught everyone off guard.
They all thought she would show disdain toward a candidate from a commoner background claiming the top spot.
Observing their reactions, Isabella understood their surprise but chose not to explain herself.
Instead, she turned her chair around, swiftly retrieved Adrian’s admission form, and studied it intently.
’Adrian, orphan, future goal… Hoo! An interesting guy has appeared this ti…’
A subtle smirk played on her lips as she gazed at Adrian’s photo on the admission form.
There was a mysterious gleam in her eyes.
No one knew what she was thinking.
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