Chapter 36
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 36
Chapter Title: Comprehensive Evaluation Week (3)
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Advanced Magic Studies professor Arona Tempuris,
always greeted the cadets with a faint smile,
and her speech carried an unmistakable kindness.
She was a professor who boasted considerable popularity, adored by most of the Advanced Magic Studies cadets.
Isabel Helm,
having felt that faint smile and unmistakable kindness many times herself, knew it all too well.
Her kindness toward the cadets is genuine.
She truly cherishes and values them.
However...
"Haha! Isabel, you can't just keep blocking!!"
Unlike before, she wore a smile brimming with madness,
and even with the chairman's protection magic active, she was unleashing spells as if she were thoroughly enjoying herself. Seeing that made Isabel wonder if her judgment had been off after all.
"Opening!"
Right now, in the brief moment she'd looked away,
a threatening fireball hurtled toward her. She blocked it with a barrier and pulled back to create distance.
'What power...!'
The incoming spells were nothing but basic magic with enhanced potency,
but the level of reinforcement was anything but ordinary.
The embedded spell formulas were definitely basic,
yet their power clearly transcended basic magic levels.
There was no room to catch her breath or launch a counterattack amid the barrage.
She could only barely hold on by endlessly deploying barriers to fend off the spells flying at her.
But of course, holding out like that forever had its limits.
Eventually, a mistake slipped through in the nonstop barrier spells.
She'd hastily drawn the barrier formula without properly distributing her mana,
and the deployed barrier couldn't withstand the enhanced basic magic—it shattered.
The professor didn't miss the opening and closed in on her.
A remarkably swift approach,
basic magic: {Haste}.
Isabel knew it and could cast it herself,
but as expected, the version from the professor far exceeded basic magic levels.
With speed bolstered by {Haste} beyond basic limits,
she allowed the approach before she could redeploy her barrier.
Boom—
She took a direct hit from the professor's close-range spell.
"Guh—"
A burning agony erupted in her abdomen, drawing out a pained groan,
but she gritted through it, quickly redeployed her barrier, and blocked the follow-up spells.
"As expected, you've got some chops!"
With faint admiration, more spells came flying.
She kept deploying barriers to block them,
but at this rate, it would never end.
If the situation dragged on, either her mana would run dry,
or all of the chairman's protection magic would be destroyed—one or the other.
'I need one big hit...!'
So she needed one decisive blow.
A spell that could reach Professor Arona,
one powerful enough to etch itself into her mind.
Just then, a spell came to mind.
'First time trying it in real combat...!'
It was her first time using it in battle,
but nothing else occurred to her.
With resolve steeled, she deployed a spell once more.
This time, not a barrier, but something else.
Whoosh—
Her spell deployed precariously from her hand,
and an ice wall surged from the ground, blocking the enhanced fireball before melting away.
It had only stopped a single shot,
but that bought her enough time to prepare another spell.
The spell she cast during that window: {Haste}.
She'd enhanced the same basic magic the professor had just shown her, using the exact same method.
Of course, she couldn't match the professor's level of reinforcement, but it was plenty to evade the incoming spells.
Leveraging her {Haste}-boosted speed,
she narrowly dodged the merciless barrage while beginning to prepare yet another spell.
'Not used to moving my body like this...!'
As someone who'd lived as a mage, physical exertion wasn't her forte,
but the survival instincts drilled into her during Practical Combat Studies let her body evade spells unnaturally well.
The spells she prepared while dodging: {Ice Spear} and {Magic Engraving}.
Once the two formulas completed in sequence, an elegant spear of ice formed in her hand.
Gripping it, she swung at the incoming spells.
And in that instant,
the swung ice spear touched the spells, causing them to lose their power and disperse.
"Ah...?"
'It worked...!'
Seeing the professor react with genuine surprise for the first time,
Isabel knew her gambit had succeeded.
It was overlaying one deployed spell's result with another spell.
Using the technique she'd been practicing lately,
she'd imbued a dispersion formula onto an ice spear conjured by magic—a sort of disposable artifact.
'Only possible because it was basic magic...'
Of course, it worked because the professor's spells were just reinforced basics, making nullification feasible,
but that alone was enough to imprint her magic in the professor's mind.
Overlaying another spell formula onto an already activated one,
it might sound simple at first glance, but it was no easy task—no, it was insanely difficult.
You had to pinpoint space for a new formula within the activated one, demanding overwhelming mastery of spell structures.
And weave in the new array without disturbing the original, requiring peerless talent to freely manipulate and convert mana.
Plus the focus to pull it off mid-battle.
She'd succeeded a few times in practice, but never in combat,
so the success alone filled her with elation.
But it was short-lived.
The duel wasn't over yet. As she gripped the spear and moved to close in on the professor—
Arona, who'd been firing spells indiscriminately, suddenly halted.
"That's enough! Isabel passes."
She declared passage and ended the duel.
"Perfect score. No need for further testing after a spell like that."
It was more or less what Isabel had expected,
so she nodded, canceled the ice spear, and looked to the professor.
The manic smile had already vanished from her face,
replaced by her usual faint smile as Professor Arona continued.
"By the way—that ice spear! Engraving a formula onto a magic-made material? Incredible!"
The pure, heartfelt praise followed,
her eyes gleaming with pride, her reaction exaggerated as she gushed over Isabel's ice spear.
'So embarrassing...'
Isabel knew there was no malice in it,
but the praise that seemed to pierce the heavens left her flushed.
As Arona kept up the effusive praise, she soon opened her mouth as if regretting the lack of time.
"Hate to cut it short, but I've got the next cadet coming. Head to the next professor! Catch you later, Isabel."
"Yes, goodbye, Professor."
Hearing that, Isabel tamped down her embarrassment, left the arena, and headed for the other entrance.
'Keep this momentum going.'
Her duel with Professor Arona: perfect score.
If she kept this up, she could definitely surpass Libia's ranking.
With her mind set, she entered Entrance A,
where the waiting room came into view once more.
Unlike before, it was filled with many familiar faces from the S-Class classroom.
'Aden hasn't arrived yet.'
She scanned for her two closest friends first,
spotting only Libia—Aden was nowhere in sight.
After glancing around the room,
she approached Libia and greeted her warmly.
"Libia, hey."
"Oh...? Isabel, hey!"
Libia turned at her voice and welcomed her happily.
Neither had any intention of wasting energy on pointless bickering right now.
From here on, it was all about the results—the outcome that would show in the rankings updated at week's end.
So they exchanged light, casual chat—
[Cadet Libia Clawit, please enter.]
Libia's name was called first.
She entered the passage at the announcement.
And after a few more cadets were called,
[Cadet Isabel Helm, please enter.]
Finally, her own name was called. She stood and stepped into the passage.
Just like in Advanced Magic Studies,
passing through the black passage thick with mana revealed the familiar dueling arena.
And at its center...
'......?'
Something utterly incongruous...
A bed that had no business being in a dueling arena sat there.
"You're here...?"
Sitting atop it was the familiar figure of the Dungeon Practice Studies professor, speaking in her usual tone dripping with annoyance.
Dungeon Practice Studies professor—Robel Leona.
She welcomed Isabel to the arena in a pose that was profoundly out of place, yet somehow fitting for her.