We shook hands, sealing the deal.
Since then, Veena and I have t almost daily, or on alternate days.
Gradually, I extracted Chaos energy from her without her noticing.
Her daily cigarette consumption also decreased and was instead replaced by an increasing addiction to practicing mana control with .
Despite the positive progress though, the overall progress in our relationship was slow.
However, I wasn’t in a hurry because I could see that the day she would fall for wasn’t far off.
"For now, I should focus on my dear Rosalie and Jessica."
One month had finally been over since the beginning of the academy, and today was the day of the monthly test.
....
In a world of magic, every natural phenonon, when seen through the perspective of a wizard, could be depicted as a magical phenonon.
Everything, from the simple fla of a candle to firestorms raining down hell on cities, was a magical phenonon.
The only difference lay in the scale and complexity—the root of it all was a magic formula crafted from mana.
It looked like a complex figure where circles and lines were intricately intertwined, and it could implent a very simple magical phenonon.
Like conjuring a drop of water or a will-o’-the-wisp.
Connecting two or more of these complex figures created a spell.
This spell formula, comprising multiple magic formulas, enabled the implentation of far more complex and awe-inspiring phenona.
Like summoning a thunderstorm or creating a barrier of protection, etc.
"Spell execution in the correct form ans the correct implentation of a spell formula. Easy to understand? Yes?"
Isabella surveyed the hall, and the responses ca in unison.
—YES!
"Good, because today’s test will focus on your ability to decipher these magical formulas."
She smiled softly and placed a ’box’ on the desk in front of her.
"So, let’s begin the monthly test and see how much you’ve learned and improved in the past month."
With that, Isabella gripped the box’s lid.
Snap-!
With a snap, Isabella opened the front part of the box, causing countless green plastic balls to roll out.
The size and appearance of the balls varied, but they were all green.
Isabella picked up one of the balls and displayed it in front of the class.
"It’s called a mana ball. Regardless of its plastic appearance, it’s actually made of a mana-conductive material inscribed with multiple magical formulas filled with mana."
The students watched, their faces filled with surprise.
"Pay close attention now because these will soon be hidden across campus, and you’ll have to find them using their unique traces."
Here, ’traces’ referred to the ’traces of mana,’ as everything made of mana inevitably left a trace.
"Don’t worry, they’re specially designed so their traces won’t be mixed up with other things."
Upon hearing this, the class erupted into noise as everyone scrambled to engrave the traces of these balls in their minds and looked at them intently.
Of course, I simply remained seated in my seat. I couldn’t do much anyway in the absence of Mana Affinity.
Next, Isabella transferred all the balls back to the large box, exited the classroom, and reappeared precisely twenty minutes later, shouting.
"Alright~! The balls have been placed across the Academy campus. There are a total of 100 of these mana balls made with magic formulas! Now let explain the details of the test."
Raising her middle and index fingers, Isabella continued.
"The exam consists of two sections. The first part involves finding these mana balls scattered across the campus, and the second part requires observing the magic formula they’re made up of and writing a report. Your final score will depend on the completeness of that report. Understand?"
—Yes!
Isabella nodded, tapping her wristwatch twice.
"It’s 9:30 now, and the ti to find a mana ball and return back here with it will be until 13:00! You’ll get 1 AP for finding the ball—no more, no less. However, depending on which ball you catch, bonus APs will be added!"
The difficulty of the balls was marked on the blackboard. The smaller the size, the fainter the trace left around the campus, and the higher it scored.
"From 13:10 to 15:00, you will have to write the report in this class on the magic formula of the ball you got. Any questions?"
Isabella glanced around the room.
"...I."
Then soone raised their hand. It was a sowhat timid-looking girl.
—W-What about the students who can’t find a ball?"
"The students who can’t find a ball will naturally fail. The first failure ans being demoted to the sa rank as the lowest F-tier. Second failure: direct expulsion. So, try your best to get that one ball."
Isabella spoke coldly in a contemptuous voice.
"Lumina is not a place for idlers; if you can’t keep up with others or grow up, either get demoted or expelled. This test is rely a stage to prove what you’ve learned."
With a hint of irritation in her voice, she mumbled, then smiled once more.
"But! If you can’t catch it, you can borrow it. I’ll allow you to steal or snatch a ball until 1 o’clock! However, rember that each mana ball has a unique magic formula on it, and if you submit the sa magic formula as soone else, I will only give points to the one with higher completeness."
In other words, if two people analyze Mana Ball A, she wouldn’t give points to both, but only to the better one.
"The other one would get a big zero. Of course, if you have done the drill I taught you in the class, you must have had better control of your mana and thus a better chance to see through the traces of the ball and read the magic formulas. Well, enough of the chitchat. We have already wasted enough ti on this."
Isabella took a pause, adjusted her expression, and then shouted in a bright voice.
"Start!"
At that mont, everyone’s commotion rang out in the class hall as they ran outside.
I also disappeared amidst the crowd of students, whispering to myself.
"It’s really a world of talent supremacy."
...
Isabella’s words were true for people in this world, since, in the absence of a system, they relied on their own comprehension and talent to control mana.
But for , whose soul wasn’t from this world and whose body had average talent, this test was almost impossible to pass, let alone getting a score worthy of S-tier.
Nonetheless, I wasn’t worried; I had everything planned.
’What if you have talent? I have my own cheats.’
Subsequently, I employed my first cheat.
’The power of knowing the storyline co to . Hehe.’
Exiting the class while activating my skill [Concealnt], I hurried towards the backside of the campus, near the gardening area.
According to the storyline, the two smallest balls with the most points were hidden there.
Naturally, it was also possible that the balls had moved due to the butterfly effect and my presence, but even if that were the case, it would only have applied to other balls and not to these two.
Because the campus gardening area was traditionally used to grow magical herbs and was full of mana with various properties and origins, making the search for balls through their mana traces even more difficult, the first and second balls with the highest points were purposefully hidden there.
"Heh. For others, it might be difficult, but for , it’s not much different from picking berries from the bush."
Chuckling to myself, I continued to rush.
….
After around 8 minutes of running at a moderate speed while maintaining my skill [Concealnt], I arrived at the garden gates, as anticipated.
Following the novel’s instructions, I successfully located the two balls, one hidden on the tallest tree and the other buried in the soil near the second exit.
"Got it."
Cheering at myself, I looked at the ti on my watch.
Since I rushed from the class and acquired these balls, it took about 14 minutes.
"Rosalie and the others will likely take about 20 more minutes to arrive here, if I’m not mistaken."
"I must use this ti wisely."
Imdiately, I grasped the green ball with the highest score and attempted to read the mana formulas on it by channeling mana into my eyes.
"Sigh!"
Naturally, I couldn’t discern the magic formulas inscribed on it.
Using Chaos Affinity to navigate around it and dismantle it was straightforward, but touching the ink on a piece of paper and attempting to read it? That was out of the question.
Technically, I could try, but the ti and effort required would be imnse, and I wasn’t foolish enough to attempt such a futile endeavor.
However, this was a dilemma I had anticipated.
’I have my own solution.’
With that thought in mind, I promptly retrieved a golden monocle from the system storage.
Although it looked like a fancy monocle used by nobles in the past, it was, in fact, a magical artifact—a mana microscope I had brought with from my main world, along with nurous other artifacts.
"With this, I can not only observe magic formulas but also detect mana particles suspended in the air."
As for the prohibition on using tools during the test, there was no explicit rule against it.
Of course, using tools wasn’t explicitly permitted either.
However, based on my understanding of Isabella, as long as I didn’t flagrantly use it in her presence, I was unlikely to face repercussions.
After all, preparing a tool specifically for the test could be attributed to a student’s foresight and planning.
Moreover, there was no one around to observe my actions.
"No one sees it, and I didn’t do it, hahaha."
Besides, I had a lot of ti before 13:00 to use the monocle to read the magic formulas.
"So before that, I must use this ti wisely and prepare a wonderful gift for my dear protagonist, shouldn’t I?"
"Khe Khe Khe."
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