The Magic Armament Compatibility Test (1)
News of the Coutelli Count family and Adele spread like wildfire, and the past few days passed much faster than usual in the resulting furor.
Before anyone realized it, the festival had come to a close. It was time to return to their everyday lives as students.
A great deal had changed compared to the previous year.
The festivities had wrapped up in grand success. In the once-lively streets, merchant caravans could now be seen packing away their stalls, alongside folks from the provinces bundling up their luggage to make the journey home.
A lingering sense of wistfulness hung over the thoroughfares, people muttering that the celebration could have stood to run a little longer—a sentiment worlds apart from the year before. Once upon a time, students had grown bitterly demoralized as the festival morphed into an exclusive playground for nobility, praying only for the gaudy spectacle to end as quickly as possible while walking on eggshells. By comparison, this was a profoundly positive shift.
Yet if one were to pinpoint the single greatest change of all, it was the atmosphere within the academy itself.
Though the night markets were dismantled and the boisterous festival avenues fell quiet, the students' fighting spirit burned hotter than ever before. Stepping into a new academic year, a new semester, and newly assigned classes, they clung to high hopes, determined to seize the opportunities ahead.
However, precisely as anticipated, an issue reared its head.
"Showing up without mana stones! How in the world do you expect to take the Magic Armament Compatibility Test empty-handed?!"
Students had flocked to purchase mana stones, only to find the vendor stalls utterly cleaned out. Even so, most hadn't worried overmuch at first, assuming the academy would provide the usual loaner stones as it always had. But this year, reality proved cold and unforgiving. Not only was the market completely drained, but the academy's own reserve supply was entirely depleted. A wave of helpless panic swept through the crowd.
"Heh heh heh."
"Lowborn trash thinking they can manifest a Magic Armament."
"They ought to know their place."
While an entire throng of students stood empty-handed because supplies had run dry, a handful swaggered about with an air of smug superiority, having somehow secured the precious stones beforehand. Among them, several flaunted gems of such exquisite, brilliant luster that they clearly commanded exorbitant sums. Predictably enough, every single one of those sneering voices belonged to the upper crust.
"As you well know, manifesting an armament without a mana stone is an impossible pipe dream! Scram, the lot of you!"
"P-Professor...!"
"You came entirely unprepared, yet you dare block the line for those waiting to be tested? Follow me outside at once!"
The professor bellowing at the students was clearly cut from the same cloth. He was seizing upon their lack of mana stones as a convenient pretext to disqualify them from even taking the test in the first place. At this rate, the empty-handed students would be driven out on the spot, forced to wait months for the next evaluation just to visually gauge their own progress.
Well, if I was just going to let that happen, I wouldn't have bothered coming.
What would be the point of wasting steps? Junon had already planned for this.
"...Professor Chiffon. Are you truly grabbing a student by the collar to drag him out?"
"Professor Dahlia...?"
Watching Professor Dahlia make her entrance, Junon's lips curved into a quiet smirk.
"Step away this instant. You have no authority to exert such force here, where a student's Magic Armament is meant to be awakened."
"Pfft. With all due respect, I am the professor in charge of administering the Magic Armament Compatibility Test at this academy. Regardless of your standing, Professor Dahlia, proper protocols and qualifications must be observed."
"Which is precisely why I am telling you to leave."
"What on earth are you talking—"
Stepping forward with unwavering resolve, Professor Dahlia thrust a single document into his hands. Whatever was written upon the parchment remained known only to the two of them, but every single student present clearly caught sight of the Grand Duke's personal seal stamped at the bottom.
"Tch!"
Upon reviewing the paper, Professor Chiffon could muster no rebuttal. His face contorted with mortified fury, he threw open the back door and stormed out without another word. Reading between the lines, the decree had undoubtedly granted Professor Dahlia unilateral authority over this compatibility assessment.
"Professor! Even if that's the case, isn't it an undeniable fact that those students failed to bring mana stones?"
"He's right! This is a Magic Armament Compatibility Test. Without mana stones to consume during the process, how can they possibly be evaluated?"
"Professor Chiffon may have been blunt, but on the matter of them obstructing the testing area, there is simply no excuse!"
Deeply unsettled by how swiftly the tables had turned, the noble scions swarmed forward, scrambling to pick flaws. In principle, their argument held weight. Without a mana stone calibrated to measure an individual's affinity, conducting the test was fundamentally impossible. That is, unless one possessed the theoretical mastery of a specific discipline to shatter that standard rule to pieces.
"You are correct. A Magic Armament Compatibility Test does require mana stones."
"See? Then as expected, those commoners should—"
"You seem rather eager to insist they leave for lacking stones. But what should we do about this? Personally, I would much prefer that those of you who already possess mana stones vacate this hall instead."
"Pardon? What could that possibly mean..."
"The compatibility test will not be taking place here. Though His Grace's authorization was granted only recently, taking into account the total number of examinees, the venue has been relocated to Mizar Hall."
Just as I thought.
They were currently standing inside Dubhe Hall, which housed the magic workshops and research laboratories—the single most ideal location for synthesizing mana stones from scratch. Professor Dahlia was not merely versed in alchemy; she was universally recognized as the foremost authority of the modern era. It took little deduction to realize the mana stone shortage would be resolved right here in this room.
The real headache comes after this, though.
Once the stone problem was solved, there would be plenty of disgruntled aristocrats who couldn't stomach the outcome.
The discontented nobles were directed to the newly assigned testing grounds under Professor Dahlia's orders, leaving the remaining students behind with instructions to wait while she retrieved the necessary materials. When she returned a few minutes later, she carried the very substance Junon had anticipated. The moment the others realized what it was, sheer horror would inevitably follow... but it remained the quintessential catalyst for this test.
"Professor...? What is that?"
"Monster blood."
"Wh-What?!"
As Professor Dahlia had previously noted, a mana stone was fundamentally little more than a natural mineral imbued with atmospheric mana. That being the case, if one could condense and materialize an organic substance similarly saturated with wild mana, would that not yield an artificial mana stone? That was precisely what processing entailed.
"Monster blood...? What are we supposed to do with that...?"
"Won't we die if we touch it?"
"No, wouldn't that only happen if you drank it?!"
"Either way, it doesn't change the fact that it's toxic, does it?!"
It was a dense, purplish fluid drawn from the carcass of a beast. Confronted with the grotesque substance, the students began to tremble in place. Professor Dahlia gently raised a hand, soothing their frantic panic in a measured, calm cadence.
"There is no need to be so terrified. If mere contact were fatal, how could I have carried it in simple open glassware? While swallowing it would certainly cause severe harm, I trust none of you intend to drink it. Inhaling the vaporized fumes is not particularly beneficial for the body either, but at this minor concentration, it poses no danger to your health."
"Y-Yes, ma'am..."
Hearing that it was safe brought some relief, though it did little to completely dispel their unease. Because the majority had never experienced genuine life-or-death combat, monster blood remained something inherently repellant and dreadful. The quickest way to ease their reservations was simply to demonstrate the practical reward it offered.
"I understand your hesitation, but watch closely."
She decanted a measured amount of the liquid into a crucible, blending it with precise ratios of complementary reagents. Finally, as Professor Dahlia channeled her mana into the thick, viscous concoction, the fluid steadily contracted, solidifying into a translucent crystal before their very eyes.
"There is nothing better suited for producing the catalyst required for your test."
"Whoa...!"
"H-How do we make it?!"
"I want to try! Please teach us!"
Having witnessed the birth of an artificial mana stone firsthand, the students clamored forward, all eager to jump in. Yet rushing into alchemy with blind haste was a surefire recipe for failure, not to mention a direct hazard to everyone in the room. Monster blood was still a volatile reagent, after all. Dahlia, of course, had already factored that into her approach.
"I will not permit anyone who disregards safety protocols to attempt synthesis. That applies tenfold to those who push forward out of sheer impatience."
"We're sorry..."
Chastened by her firm rebuke, the students quickly bowed their heads and stepped back.
"First, I will need one student to come forward and demonstrate under my direct supervision."
At the mention of a demonstration, eager anticipation flared through the crowd once more. Dahlia broke into a subtle sweat beneath her composed expression.
I'm sorry, but I cannot possibly select any of you when you're wearing your impatience so openly on your sleeves.
One slip of the hand could trigger a minor accident, doing nothing but driving the entire room deeper into terror.
Let's see... Who among them has remained completely calm this whole time?
Her eyes drifted over the assembled youths before coming to an abrupt halt. The boy mirrored in her gaze looked entirely unchanged from the day she had first seen him.
"You there at the back. Would you mind demonstrating for the class?"
"At the back...?"
"Isn't that Junon?"
The dark-haired boy raised a hand, pointing a finger at his own face with an expression of mild disbelief.
"...Me?"
Why the hell me out of nowhere?
"Why look so hesitant? Are you frightened?"
"Not particularly, no..."
Good grief, I'm just baffled as to why you singled me out of all people.
Junon couldn't comprehend why, amid a sea of students that included several who had actually attended alchemy lectures, she would pick him.
"I understand you may feel pressured with the compatibility test right around the corner, but please remain steady and follow my directions to the letter. Understood?"
"...Understood."
He soon grasped what she was doing. The other students were jittery with anxiety over the looming exam. On top of that, they were encountering a bizarre method utilizing a hazardous material like monster blood. If someone fumbled out of haste and botched the mixture, panic would unravel the entire room. Furthermore, if the first volunteer failed, it would only breed superstitious dread rather than deliver workable mana stones. Looking for someone who wouldn't lose his head under pressure, her thoughts had clearly drifted back to the defense of Alkaid Hall during the Orthoptera incursion.
"Where should I begin?"
There was no reason to dawdle. Better to finish the task quickly and step aside.
At first, Dahlia had considered the students' aversion to monster blood entirely natural. Yet even for an experienced academic and seasoned physician, what unfolded before her eyes was something she had never witnessed before.
"Whoa..."
A chorus of breathless gasps rippled through the room as Junon completed the synthesis of an artificial mana stone. Yet a mere collective gasp hardly did the feat justice.
He pulled it off on his very first attempt?
The mixing ratios could easily skew, and stirring too quickly or slowly was an extraordinarily common mistake. If one inspected the process closely, minor miscalculations inevitably crept in, making an initial failure practically guaranteed. Above all, channeling mana into the mixture required razor-sharp focus and delicate micro-control. So how on earth had he replicated the entire sequence flawlessly after seeing it demonstrated just once? What was more, as an ordinary vanguard formerly assigned to Class E who had never once attended an alchemy course, he should have been taking his very first stumbling baby steps in the craft. Yet his movements carried an eerie, practiced precision, as though he had rehearsed the formula a hundred times over.
"Professor?"
"Y-Yes? What is it?"
"You trailed off in the middle of your explanation."
"My explanation... Ah, right."
She had been so utterly captivated by the sight of Junon effortlessly crafting the stone that her mind had gone completely blank. Where had she even left off?
"You were explaining that after natural mana condenses into a stone, a portion of it naturally refines within the core to establish an internal balance."
"...Thank you. It seems Student Junon succeeded so effortlessly that it caught me slightly off guard."
"It was only because your instructions were so clear, Professor."
"Ahem. In any case, to continue: the objective is to condense the ambient mana of the beast alongside human-refined mana according to an exact proportion. While Student Junon managed to succeed on his very first try, please understand that repeated trial and error is entirely standard. Do you understand?"
Though she maintained her gentle, poised composure while delivering the rest of the lecture, Dahlia's internal thoughts were in utter disarray. She had tried desperately to dismiss the chilling dissonance she had sensed during the Orthoptera defense as mere coincidence. Yet the scene she had just witnessed left an indelible mark—one that no amount of rationalization could ever wash away.