The academy's class schedule usually wasn't too tight.
Mornings were reserved for the compulsory courses of each semester, while afternoons were dedicated to free electives and mentor guidance.
But for the freshmen who couldn't register for any classes (since the old fogeys had taken up all the slots) and didn't have a mentor, the academy had thoughtfully prepared a generous gift for them—
Namely, the "Deadly Four-Part Exam" that took up an entire day!
Foundational Magic Theory, Imperial History, Elemental Theory, Rune Analysis...
Every single subject, every single question, was packed with the deep malice of their predecessors and professors.
'You greenhorn freshmen, are you still fantasizing about a beautiful and fulfilling campus life?'
'Wake up! This is the Sacred Capital Magic Academy, where competition is our school motto!'
'Of course there's no beauty... but as for fulfilling...'
'Crying from academic competition until the early hours of the morning every day is also a fulfilling campus life!'
Lynn leaned against the outer wall of the exam hall, scanning the passing crowd.
Neither Lilian nor Veronica was in this exam hall, and neither was Her Highness the Princess. The only familiar face...
...was the little white-haired girl standing in the corner, clenching her small fists to pump herself up while taking deep breaths.
'I almost forgot, when it comes to magic, little Irene is basically an illiterate.'
Hehehe, this was a golden opportunity!
With that in mind, he adjusted his collar, put on a sunny smile, and strode over.
“Keep it up, Irene, you can do it~”
Not noticing the boy walking straight toward her, her quiet muttering continued.
Irene nodded firmly, and even the ahoge on her head stood unusually straight and tense.
It wasn't until a shadow slowly cast over her that she suddenly looked up.
“Yo, Irene. I didn't get a chance to say it during morning practice, but... morning?”
L-L-L-L-L-L-Lynn?!
The already dizzy girl let out a sharp, silent scream in her heart at this moment.
She took two hasty steps back, and the back of her head hit the wall with a clack.
Only when she realized she had nowhere left to retreat did she speak with a tremble.
“H-Hello...”
Her voice was soft and sweet, and she even accidentally bit her tongue.
“...”
【Emotion Points +10】【Emotion Points +8】【Emotion Points +9】...
We haven't seen each other for just a day. Why is this girl suddenly so afraid of me?
Am I really that bad of a boy?
It's almost as if she witnessed some unsightly scene, got dragged away by her ears, and was forced to listen to a whole night of bad-mouthing about me...
Looking at the little white-haired girl shivering as if submitting to the Great Demon King Lynn, Lynn sighed.
“It looks like you're having a headache over the exams?”
Taking a polite step back to give the girl a comfortable social distance, he spoke gently.
“To tell you the truth, I feel the same way~ After all... I've never been good at these theoretical subjects...”
“Y-You too?”
As if she had finally found a fellow victim of misfortune, her doe-like eyes instantly lit up.
She looked around, and only after making sure no one else was eavesdropping did she speak with utmost caution.
Like a girl next door who secretly opened a bag of potato chips and pinched one to feed you, Irene generously shared the “secret” she thought she had hidden so well.
“I... I'm not good at this kind of exam either... Ehehe~”
At this moment, the two mutual-sympathy Demon Pills formed an unbreakable slacker alliance!
“I see. Then let's do our best together~”
After saying this in a rapid tone, Lynn patted the girl on the shoulder and strode into the exam hall.
The white-haired dumpling hopped slightly, patted her baby-fat cheeks, and said energetically, “Good luck, Irene!”
Ehehe~ She couldn't help but giggle foolishly.
Classmate Lynn isn't as bad as Pandora said...
Right?
She blinked in confusion. Through her brilliant Eyes of Insight, the departing figure's body was vibrating with an unmistakable, unsuppressible sense of joy.
He database seemed to be... holding back a laugh?
'...Did something really happy happen to Classmate Lynn?'
Irene Durandal—still completely unable to understand this man today~
...
The atmosphere in the exam hall was somewhat solemn.
“The exam begins!”
The old-fashioned proctor adjusted his glasses and suddenly slapped the desk.
“Let me tell you, I already previewed the first-year subjects at home long ago. This time, I'll definitely be able to—”
“No joke, I've long been a famous genius in our domain. A mere entrance test is—”
“Please don't fail me, please don't fail me, please don't fail me...”
The freshmen, who had been chattering excitedly about their new campus life, suddenly went silent.
Exam papers emitting a golden glow flew before them with a whoosh, landing lightly on their desks.
After seeing the contents of the paper, their confident smiles froze instantly.
“Th-This has to be fake, right?”
After rubbing their eyes and confirming once again that they weren't seeing things, the examinees peacefully put down their pens.
“It doesn't... matter anymore...”
【Given that under a Tier 4 tide state, the magic power density function of the spiritual sea is ρ(t), and the instantaneous flux coefficient of the soul barrier is κ. Combining the Third Law of Magic Conservation, derive the complete differential equation of magic power during its three-stage transformation of “spiritual projection—elemental shaping—reality anchoring,” and prove that it still satisfies closed-loop self-consistency under a non-steady state spellcasting environment.】
“...?”
After carefully confirming that they recognized every single word, but still couldn't understand what it meant when put together, the freshmen silently turned to the second question.
【A Tier 2 fire element mage, in an environment with 73% humidity, wind speed of 4.2 meters per second, and free water element concentration at 1.6 times the standard value, releases a standard Fireball spell with a radius of 12 centimeters using a double compression structure. Given that their mental power depletion rate, elemental dissipation rate, and spell entropy increase coefficient are as follows, please calculate the core temperature, explosion radius, and actual lethality efficiency of the fireball after flying 37 meters and passing through a Tier 2 protective barrier.】
Below the question, three dense rows of formulas and a magic power decay curve graph were listed.
Their eyes were vacant, and their wide-open mouths made it look as if their souls were about to escape their bodies.
Looking at the faces in the exam hall that were gradually losing all hope, the proctor, Siss, narrowed his eyes in satisfaction.
Excellent. This is exactly the expression I wanted to see, ribbit!
At this moment, he felt that the seventh edition of the Magic Theory Research Reference Book he had worn out, the four all-nighters he had pulled... all of his blood, sweat, and tears—were completely worth it!
Yes, just like that, despair a little more!
Just as he gloomily adjusted the glasses on his aquiline nose, an out-of-place figure in the back row of the exam hall suddenly caught his attention.
The blonde boy had his head lowered, the quill in his hand moving so fast it practically left afterimages.
Scribble, scribble, scribble—
There was no hesitation, no pauses, and he didn't even use scratch paper.
It was as if the questions were so simple that they required absolutely no thought.
“Hmm?” Siss frowned slightly.
Another show-off...
He had seen too many of these freshmen who pretended to know what they were doing.
When they encountered questions they couldn't answer, they would pile jargon all over the exam paper, wishing they could write permutations of “magic power,” “spiritual sea,” and “elemental resonance” eight hundred times in an attempt to move the grading teacher with sheer word count.
How naive!
I, Siss, am not the kind of soft-hearted teacher who lets things slide! Even if you write a hundred “solutions,” you'll still get a flat zero from me, ribbit!
He gave a sinister chuckle and, with his hands behind his back, silently walked over to Lynn's side.
Let's see what kind of nonsense this kid can make up...
“!!?”
Rate on N.U.
