After the three-hour written test came to an end, we began the practical exam.
“The written test really lived up to the school’s reputation. Can’t believe how hard it was!”
“Hm? You think so?” I glanced at Ted as he stood next to me, looking as though he was on the verge of death.
Apparently, he hadn’t done too hot on the test. Given that he wasn’t exactly the sharpest tool in the shed, though, I wasn’t about to take what he said about the difficulty of the test to heart. More than likely, all the test takers here today would easily get full points in most of the subjects.
“Examinees one to forty, please follow me,” a proctor called out.
My number was twenty-seven and Ted’s was twenty-eight. It seemed that the next test would evaluate the strength of our magecraft abilities, but I wasn’t exactly sure how they intended to do that.
“Master, let’s go!”
Ted hurried me along to the next test area, and not too long after, we exited the building into the extremely spacious grounds behind the school. This area was probably used mainly for testing out spells. Upon closer inspection, I saw that there were some targets set up, most likely for practicing one’s aim with spells.
“In this test, you will use the Regalia we’ve prepared for you. Please select the Regalia that corresponds to your eye color.”
Various weapons had been prepared for us in a tent, including swords, guns, and manifers—a type of gauntlets. Going in numerical order, everyone selected the Regalia matching their eye color. I wasn’t surprised in the least to discover that they hadn’t prepared any weapons that were compatible with Amber Eyes, though, so I ended up choosing a red sword. Out of all the items available, it had the most basic, standard shape. Also, although people with Amber Eyes were able to use any magecraft at the highest level as long as they had enough training, each individual would still have personal affinities for certain types of magecraft.
In my case, I was a little bit on the weaker side when it came to the healing magecraft of Ashen Eyes, but I was proficient at all elemental magecraft. That being said, I was still good enough at healing magecraft to have realized something as unprecedented as reincarnation magecraft.
“Hey, look at that kid with Inferior Eyes.”
“Ha ha ha! He just picked out something random since there’s nothing there that matches his eyes.”
I could feel the glares of the other examinees on me. Good grief. I hadn’t chosen this weapon at random. It seemed like everyone present at this test was prejudiced against Amber-Eyed mages too.
“Allow me to begin the explanation for today’s exam, which will focus on gauging the raw strength of your magecraft.”
Interesting. Measuring the strength of the examinees wasn’t anything too surprising. Since they’d provided everyone with Regalias, it wouldn’t be possible for them to judge everyone’s ability to compose spells. In essence, rather, they would be measuring how efficiently one could output magecraft, using the mana pool they were born with.
“The targets we’ve set up for this test are very durable, so there’s no fear of them breaking. With that in mind, please do not hold anything back when you fire your spells at them.”
Considering the fact that we were being told the targets were unbreakable, they must have been tampered with in some way to make them so. Oh, how fun. It was another perfect chance to gauge how strong modern mages were.
“When you’re ready, please step forward.”
“Oh, me! Me! I wanna go first!” Ted insisted, enthusiastically raising his hand.
Judging by how fired up he was, it was probably safe to assume that he wanted a chance to make up for how poorly he may have done on the written exam.
“Okay, then we’ll start with applicant number eighteen.”
“Yeah! I’m first!”
Are you going to be okay? Sure, he was under my tutelage, but he was still basically an amateur. According to Lilith, this academy was a gathering place for elites from all over the country. At this rate, he was going to spectacularly embarrass himself in front of all of them.
Ted moved to the designated spot and readied his fists, wielding the manifers he’d picked out.
“All right, begin.”
“Fireball!”
Ted swung his fist forward and let out a ball of fire. Yeesh, that’s pathetic. The spell he’d released was, objectively speaking, extremely low-level. In other words, it was a disaster, but that was to be expected. He was not that high-level of a mage, plus he was using a Regalia that he wasn’t familiar with. It was only natural that the magecraft he produced was low-level too.
“Ding!”
The spell he’d fired was absorbed into the target. I see. It has ore in it that absorbs magecraft. So they’re using Dark Matter, huh? It made sense. If they made the targets with dark materials, they could ensure that the impact of the spell was mostly absorbed, thereby preventing any serious damage. In my days, there wasn’t a reliable supply of the stuff, but it seemed like they’d overcome that in the present day.
“Huh?!” Multiple applicants exclaimed with surprise.