Chapter 46
Chapter 46
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 46
Chapter Title: Limitless (5)
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"Wait, Amy...?"
Shirone dazedly recalled her face. As a target-type specialist, her targeting speed was indeed incredible.
But a score of 987 was a virtually unbreakable record.
"Amy has incredible focus in real situations. Then again, you're similar in that regard. How else could she have never lost the top spot until she entered the graduate class?"
Just how many monsters were there in the world? No, it was because this was a magic academy. It felt as if the entire world was filled with talented people.
"You don't have to break the record, so just take it easy. Before 987, the highest score was in the 700s. The instructors said it's a score that won't be broken for at least another ten years."
It was a significant gap. Shirone didn't let himself get discouraged and set his initial goal at 700 points. There were three weeks left until the exam. He had to find a way to raise his score by then.
'I won't lose. Absolutely not!'
Shirone clenched his fists.
* * *
Whenever he had time, Shirone immersed himself in the sequence formula. If he couldn't count numbers faster than Iruki's calculation speed, the match would be over before it even began.
Currently, he could group 20 numbers through modularization. In other words, he had reached a stage where the numbers increased by 20 at a time. But even this wasn't enough to keep up with the incredible unit compression power of logarithms.
'Damn it. What in the world am I supposed to do?'
Shirone practiced casting Photon Output in the training grounds all night long. The speed of his Zero-to-100 had improved significantly, but he could only count up to the ten thousands in one minute.
'Iruki reached a million on the first day. I have to count faster, much faster.'
Beyond the sequence formula, he also needed to understand the exam format. If an infinite number of targets appeared from the start, scoring 1,000 points wouldn't be difficult, but there was a set pattern.
In the first step, 10 targets appeared, and only after eliminating all of them would 11 appear in the second step. The number of targets increased with each step over the course of one minute.
Therefore, if he didn't advance through the steps quickly from the beginning, he wouldn't be able to get a high score even with a late burst of effort.
'In the end, this is also about the Zero-to-100. Depending on who passes the steps first, a gap of hundreds of points could open up later on.'
His practice didn't end until dawn. Returning to his dorm, he would sleep as if he'd passed out, and a few hours later, he would head back to the training grounds to practice the sequence formula. This was the beginning and end of his day.
During the practical exam period, there were no integrated classes. Instead, each class took turns, so the training grounds were quiet.
The students shared their know-how or practiced the sequence formula while waiting for their turn in the Image Zone. But Shirone found even the time spent waiting in line to be a waste, so he focused on the sequence formula until he was last.
When it was finally his turn, Shirone entered the Image Zone and unleashed the full extent of his progress. Each time a target touched his Spirit Zone, which undulated erratically like a living creature, a flash of Photon Output erupted.
As he grew accustomed to active magic, he became able to cast Photon Output without the Magical Action. This allowed him to hit targets without even looking back.
His final score was 567. It was higher than the score Iruki had demonstrated before, so Shirone regained his confidence. The other students, on the other hand, lost some of theirs.
"He raised his score by over 200 points in a week. What the hell? No matter how talented you are, this is just cheating."
"He must have adapted to the offensive Spirit Zone. Magical Actions can increase power, but they create a compulsion that makes linking spells difficult. From what I saw, he's casting more than four times a second."
The number of students using the Image Zone dwindled until it was finally empty, and only then did Iruki make his appearance. He had been sitting in a corner the whole time, doing nothing but resting blankly.
"I suppose it's my turn now?"
Smiling at Shirone, he activated the device. His detached Spirit Zone was even smaller than before, now only the size of a fist.
The dazzlingly moving Spirit Zone eliminated the targets. While Shirone's use of flashes was brilliant, Iruki's sense of speed was just as thrilling.
After a minute, Iruki walked away with his hands behind his back, not even checking the score. Final score: 568. Exactly one point ahead of Shirone.
One could dismiss it as a coincidence, but Shirone instinctively knew it was also a calculation of his savant ability.
As it turned out, his prediction was correct. With every training session, Shirone's skills improved by leaps and bounds, but his achievements were always overshadowed by Iruki's demonstrations, which beat him by a single point.
Spurred on, Shirone devoted himself even more to the sequence formula. The number of modularized numbers surpassed 100. The time for his Zero-to-100 was now just an instant, and the performance of his Spirit Zone had improved beyond recognition. He realized that the shorter his Zero-to-100, the less time he could maintain his Spirit Zone, but since durability was his strong suit, he figured he could somehow endure for one minute.
Shirone's score rose day by day. He easily surpassed the Class Five average of 500 and eventually broke into the 600s.
But the winner was always Iruki. Furthermore, the dramatic situation of him winning by a single point made the other students more excited about Iruki's demonstration than Shirone's.
The final training session before the exam arrived.
Since the score obtained in the final check-up often reflected the actual exam result, the students' concentration was higher than ever.
Shirone gritted his teeth and proceeded to eliminate the targets. Flashes shot out in every direction, as if his body had turned into a luminescent substance.
When the brilliant festival of light ended, the students cried out in unison.
Final score: 700. Excluding the record set by Amy, it was a score that approached the highest record in Class Five.
"So that score really is possible. I never thought I'd see a score in the 700s with my own eyes."
"You can't get into the 700s unless you pass the tenth step within 10 seconds. Just how many is he destroying per second?"
Shirone checked the score and clenched his fist. It was a whopping 70 points higher than his score from the last class. Moreover, he had finally reached his target of 700.
As Shirone came down the stairs, Iruki brushed past him and spoke.
"Congratulations. 700 is certainly impressive. Your growth rate is frightening."
"Because I absolutely refuse to lose to you."
"Keke, I see. But don't let your guard down. The exam hasn't even started yet."
Shirone scoffed and descended from the Image Zone. When he turned around, Iruki had already started the Speed Gun.
The students let out a series of exclamations.
"Wow! It's a skill in itself to make the zone that small."
Iruki had shrunk his Spirit Zone to the size of a marble. It moved so fast that it was hard to even see the afterimage.
Pop-pop-pop-pop-pop-pop-pop!
As if the targets were exploding on their own, a series of popping sounds echoed from the center of the Image Zone where Iruki stood.
When Iruki's demonstration ended, Shirone's face turned pale. Final score: 701. He had once again beaten Shirone's score—a score that Shirone had given his all to raise by over 70 points—by a single point.
Caught up in Iruki's showmanship, the students couldn't contain their excitement and roared. Their own exams were just around the corner, but the rivalry between the two was so intense they forgot all about it.
'701? One point again?'
For the first time, Shirone felt anxious. His palms grew sweaty and his mouth went dry. If Iruki had just gone all out and gotten his best score, he wouldn't have been this tense.
But it was a one-point difference again. This meant that if he went all out, he could achieve an even higher score.
The exam period was next week, but Class Five's schedule was the earliest, so there were only three days left. Could he close the gap in that time? Weighed down by all sorts of anxieties, Shirone listlessly left the training grounds.
* * *
It was the students' favorite day: a holiday. On a day like this, young men and women would normally be wandering around in pairs, but with exams just around the corner, the central park was quiet.
Seriel, on the other hand, hummed as she crossed the park, as if thinking a day like this was perfect for a stroll. Having submitted her application for the graduate class, the advanced class exams were no longer her concern.
"Amy! Over here, over here!"
Amy was reading a book by the fountain. She was as beautiful as ever, but up close, her eyes were sunken, and her already slender body had grown even thinner.
"Whoa! You've gotten so thin since I last saw you. The graduate class must be tough."
Amy chuckled and handed her a document.
"Welcome to hell. Here, the graduate class materials you asked for."
It was a document detailing the grades and specialties of the graduate class students. Anyone in the graduate class could view it, so it wasn't cheating.
"Thanks. Let's sit down first. Want something to drink?"
"Let's get coffee. I feel like I'm living on it these days."
The two went into a café, got two cups of coffee, and sat on a bench. Then, without much conversation, they idly killed time watching the birds fly by.
Unlike other girls, Amy wasn't the talkative type. Besides, this kind of silence was the greatest form of rest, something she could never experience in the graduate class.
The reason the chatty Seriel said nothing was that Amy gave off the air of a weary warrior. Though she was thin, she exuded the unique aura of the graduate class.
They say the class makes the person. Every day might be hell for Amy, but while enduring it, she had already opened up an immense gap between herself and the advanced class.
'That must be part of it. I need to get promoted soon, too.'
Amy, who had been sipping noisily at her empty iced coffee, was the first to speak.
"How's Shirone these days?"
"I was wondering when you'd ask. Have you really not seen him at all? Haven't you heard the rumors?"
"I don't know. I don't have time to see him, and the graduate class's curriculum is completely different from the advanced class. I did hear Sanuel went there as a teaching assistant last time."
"I see. Actually, something interesting has been happening in Class Five lately."
Amy, a straw in her mouth, turned her head with a questioning look. Like a fish in water, Seriel began to chatter away. The gist of the story was that an exciting rivalry between Shirone and Iruki was unfolding ahead of the Speed Gun exam.
"He used logarithms to reduce the units? That's novel. Then again, I guess that's just like Iruki."
"Huh? You know Iruki?"
"Of course, I do. We were classmates. Though I didn't see him for long since I was promoted quickly. He's the one with... what was it? Savant syndrome."
"Oh? You really do know him? Have you talked to him? He doesn't seem to get along with people."
"Yeah. When I first entered Class Five, he came up and talked to me."
Seriel's eyes widened as she exclaimed.
"What? You mean he hit on you? Oh my god! Then this is a battle between rivals over the one they love! This is a total scoop!"
"Don't be ridiculous. He's a bit strange, isn't he? What he says seems to make sense, but I can't relate to it. He probably tried to do the same thing to me that he's doing to Shirone. He was confrontational from the moment we met. I just ignored him. He probably lost interest because I'm a girl."
"Hmm, I see. So he's a so-called genius hunter? Looks like Shirone was unlucky enough to get caught in his web."
"It's not that unlucky. It's a hurdle he has to overcome eventually. Still, it must be tough. Since it's a targeting exam, and if Iruki is using logarithms, he'll probably get a pretty high score."
Seriel shot her a sharp glare.
"How can you say that? Your boyfriend is in a crisis. Even if you can't help him, you should at least cheer for him in your heart. What are you going to do if Shirone loses to Iruki?"
"You can lose in a competition. Why are you making such a fuss?"
Amy seemed to feel little emotion, unlike before. It was probably because she was fighting a war every day that couldn't even be compared to the advanced class.
Seriel found that fact deeply disappointing.
"But you've never lost before! I want to see the two undefeated legends dating! So hurry up and tell Shirone to hang in there. I'll deliver the message myself."
"Forget it. Are you going to exaggerate it in some weird way again? This isn't a promotion exam, it's a practical evaluation. Shirone's goal is the graduate class, too. This will be good experience for him."
"Then at least tell me the secret to getting a high score on the Speed Gun. You're the record holder, after all. 987 points."
"Hmm. But any advice I could give, Shirone has probably already figured out. It's not that I'm not interested, it's that Shirone is truly exceptional. You said he already broke 700. I'm just specialized in the target-type, so I had an advantage over others."
