༺ Countdown ༻
It’s been a month since I started intently preparing for the admissions test with the help of Professor Heerlein.
The meetings took place early in the morning before Professor Hasfeldt got to work. Thanks to that, I became a perpetually exhausted lump of flesh.
Heerlein taught me Combat Magic about once a week. I already had some training and stamina from taking down low-level Magic Beasts, but her way of combat was more refined and sophisticated.
“I keep telling you this but you’ll be fighting against another student for the practical. You can’t fight them the same way you normally would against a beast, alright?”
It was weird. This was a school for learning how to take down beasts so why were we supposed to battle against each other?
Were some beasts anthropomorphic…? The only ones I’ve encountered so far were reptilian or amphibious so I wasn’t certain.
“Okay, stay sharp. Let’s see how much you’ve improved from last time.”
Heerlein pulled out a scroll from her robe. I say scroll but it was more like a roll of paper about a meter long. Mages of the Earth Magic variety tended to use such lengthy ones.
“Manifest, High-Grade Golem, Riot.”
Shortly after Heerlein recited the spell, some gym bro-looking golem with an insanely pumped torso emerged. It looked human in an imperfect, awkward kind of way.
“I thought it was supposed to be man-to-man. Why don’t you be my opponent, Professor?”
I’ve already asked this five times.
“I have to go teach. If you can beat this guy, I’ll think about it.”
Bam, bam, bam. The earth shook from the anthropomorphic golem slamming its arms down. It was behaving like one of the Magic Beasts.
In fact, there wasn’t much of a difference between golems and Magic Beasts. The Magic Golem was the product of the Earth Mages’ research on turning the beasts into allies which led them to combine their carcasses with alchemy.
So technically, I was fighting against a beast’s corpse.
[Manifest ─ Staff]
I also summoned my trusty steel staff. The reality of smoking this early in the morning and reciting spells was rather depressing. Maybe the mana grass was breaking down my mental health.
“Do your best~”
It wasn’t long until my body went flying.
**
“Ugh.”
It was significantly better than the first time, though. I was now capable of taking out one of the golem’s arms with just the staff.
“Why are you so strong? Who on earth uses a staff to destroy a golem’s arm!”
“What. It’s not allowed?”
Heerlein looked down at me disapprovingly as I lay sprawled on the large field.
“Do you know what the subject of the practical test is? It’s Combat Magic. It’s magic in every aspect, magic I tell you! They evaluate your ability to subdue your opponent using magic at the opportune moments, so how would the examiner grade you if you don’t use any?”
Mm, it was a logical argument so I couldn’t refute it.
“But they don’t allow scrolls in combat.”
The Golden-Eyed was a race that couldn’t circulate mana naturally so they needed the external help of many items such as mana grass or scrolls.
In order to use magic, it couldn’t be just one or the other. Their main method of using magic was to smoke the grass until sufficient mana flowed within their bodies and pour that into the scroll to activate it before time ran out.
Yet scroll usage was forbidden. How was I supposed to conjure Elemental Magic with just mana grass?
“So you need to reach a level where you can use magic with just mana grass.”
Was that even possible for the Golden-Eyed…?
Of course it wasn’t. There was never going to be a day when a Golden-Eyed would be able to exercise Elemental Magic on their own even if their life depended on it.
Yeah. If that was ‘Elemental Magic.’
[(Definition) Innate Magic : Rare magic that can be used without an Elemental’s blessings or a scroll.]
There were always exceptions.
[Ultimate Innate Magic ─ Element Operation]
I’d be stupid to not use this hard-earned hidden skill from that one all-nighter.
I had continuously researched Innate Magic every chance I got since the day I first messed around with the transistor. This was the only magic I could conjure with just mana grass during the practical exam.
After the sparring session, I returned to the shed and researched methods on manipulating the elements like usual.
I did make some progress in the past month but it needed more work to be able to put it into practice.
The hardest part was reconciling the concept of the ‘Eightfold Way’ with the magic theories of this world.
Eightfold Way.
Normally, it referred to the eight right practices that led to enlightenment in Buddhism (Eightfold Path). But if this was coming from a nuclear physicist, it had a completely different meaning.
The Eightfold Way was the arrangement of classified hadrons in nuclear physics. It was usually in the form of a hexagon or an equilateral triangle.
If the particles were organized a specific way on the figure, then you could see at a glance what kind of properties they had. It was even possible to predict undiscovered particles.
While exploring my first acquired Innate Magic, I discovered that there was a clear correlation between the Eightfold Way and the transistor.
An electronic component used for semiconductor fabrication being correlated to nuclear power was unheard of.
Because the transistor was operated by electromagnetic forces and the Eightfold Way was a depiction of strong nuclear forces. The two were fundamentally different.
But this was a different world. The transistor-shaped mana stone conducted magic elements, not electrons.
There was no need to complicate things. I came to a simple conclusion.
“The transistor could probably fuse magic elements together.”
Although I haven’t even experimented with mixing them together to see what happens, fusion or otherwise. Would the collision of two fire elements cause a nuclear explosion?
……Ow, my brain. Let’s not think that far ahead right now.
There was only one hypothesis I needed to focus on. If my assumption was correct, then it would be possible to nullify mana through fusing elements.
For example, the mana would be neutralized when water and fire elements were forced together. Then using that neutralized mana in a circuit would render it ineffective.
Once I ran it through my head, I immediately got ready to test it out.
I gathered all the papers and stones that Hasfeldt gave me to complete a different magic and constructed my own circuit. Sorry, Professor!
I felt guilty as I was doing this, but what could I do? I’d rather die than flirt with a Prince whose face I didn’t even know. It was far better to have Hasfeldt beat me like a dog for slacking off rather than play bedroom games with a man.
Anyway, the experiment didn’t take long. I constructed the circuit with a transistor positioned in between an aquamarine and ruby. Interestingly, it didn’t activate when I supplied the mana.
“Oho.”
In that moment, I thought of a brilliant idea.
A way to pass the practical with just a single use of mana grass.
**
Two more months passed. The framework was slowly coming together.
There were two possibilities. Nail it or get fucked. It would all be okay if I passed but on the off chance that I didn’t, I was going to be sold off to the Prince after a beating of a lifetime from Hasfeldt.
Not even the Goddess was going to know my fate before they announced the passers. I could imagine how Schrödinger’s cat felt as it entered the box.
In the meantime, I obtained some information about the Prince. One of those was that he was an extreme womanizer. Apparently, he even cured his fiancée’s low blood pressure.
When I heard that, it hardened my resolve to pass the exam. And the closer it got to the exam date, the more turbulent my heart became. It hadn’t been this bad even the CSATs in my last year.
The written was relatively set. I was also pretty good at the alchemy and scroll fabrication necessary for the practical. As long as I did well in Combat Magic, then I should be able to scrape by.
The problem was the magnitude of work Professor Hasfeldt threw on me over the last three months. I once almost died of a heart attack when she barged into the shed asking about my progress.
I was able to make up something at the time, but I didn’t have the confidence to handle the aftermath.
Should I go into hiding if I botch the exam…? I’ll run away to the nation of Elves and start over again. But if I did that, then I’ll have to teach myself the magic so it’d take a lot longer to get back to my original world.
Anyway.
Hasfeldt did award the occasional carrot but her default mode was the stick. If I did well, then she fed me good quality food, and if I performed poorly, then I wasn’t allowed lunch that day. That was the pattern.
This kind of asshattery continued throughout all three months.
“Did you hear?”
Hasfeldt, who had been fabricating scrolls close by, said to me with a contemplative hum.
“They’re spotting more Iron Drakes that have come down the back mountains.”
“That’s strange.”
“It’s disturbing the people of the state. They’re concerned about the safety of rearing mid-level beasts in the capital area for mere practical purposes for the students.”
“I’m sure the country will take care of it.”
Our conversations during the day were mainly about news topics. Hasfeldt must have been feeling bored with her classes being over for her to be chatting with me.
“Haaaahm─.”
“Are you tired?”
“A bit. It must be from all the all-nighters I’ve been pulling recently.”
“There’s just one more week. I will let you rest once ‘Flare’ has been completed.”
Lies.
“Excuse me. I’ll go get some fresh air and come back.”
Once Hasfeldt nodded, I stepped out of the research wing. A bone-chilling cold seeped into various parts of my body even through the thick robe.
There were 36 pillars that were holding up the research wing. A woman who was standing at one of them stared at me with her one eye.
“Aether.”
“Professor Heerlein.”
We regarded each other in silence for a moment. Heerlein broke it first.
“Klais and I will be away for three days on a trip starting from tomorrow. The Emperor asked us to go investigate a situation at the northern front.”
I know.
“Your application form was accepted. You now have an examination number.”
I know.
“The practical is from eight o’clock to noon, a total of four hours. It’ll be held at the Louvterre Water Magic Cultural Center. Then after lunch until one o’clock, you’ll immediately gather at the large field.”
I know.
“Aether.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Go show my stupid friend who doesn’t appreciate talent what you’re made of.”
I nodded, gazing at the Water Magic Cultural Center in the distance.
[Louvterre Cultural Center ─ The 17th Designated Examination Hall of the 1024th Tilette Magic Academy Admissions Test]
Yup.
It was tomorrow.
