Chapter 022
Chapter Title: A Single Answer
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“Hey, expulsion… Isn’t that a bit harsh?”
Karl said, breaking into a cold sweat, and Chloe asked.
“Nervous?”
“Of course I am! A Lumerne magic test is bound to be insanely difficult!”
“Surely he wouldn't give us problems beyond a freshman's level?”
“Must be nice, top student.”
Karl had barely scraped by on the entrance exam, so the test itself made him anxious.
It seemed he wasn't the only student who felt that way.
“Expulsion?”
“That’s too much!”
“A professor has the authority to expel a student. I’m sure you’re all aware of this fact, no?”
“B-But you can’t expel someone without a valid reason!”
“Of course, expulsion without a valid reason is impossible.”
Professor Ren tapped the test paper with his fingertip.
“However, if you can't even pass a test of this level, you don't deserve to learn magic at Lumerne.”
At that, a male student who seemed to be from another department raised his hand.
“What about students minoring in magic who want to take this class?”
“You can take magic classes other than the major courses.”
“And what about those hoping to dual class?”
“Dual class…”
Professor Ren trailed off with a smile.
“Perhaps you think you might discover a hidden talent for magic during this provisional class.”
The students looked bewildered by his sudden remark.
“It is precisely because of those with such complacent thoughts that non-majors must also take this very same test.”
Flinch— a few students could be seen trembling.
“Isn’t it rude for someone who has never studied magic to try and stand on the same ground as those who have dedicated their entire lives to it?”
Professor Ren was smiling, but his eyes were cold as ice.
Chloe’s eyes sparkled as she nodded enthusiastically.
“The test is out of 100 points. A score of 40 or higher is a pass.”
The students breathed a sigh of relief at the generous cutoff.
When Professor Ren snapped his fingers, a giant hourglass materialized in the air.
“The test is one hour long. Students who finish early may submit their papers and rest outside the lecture hall.”
The students took out their writing instruments.
“Now, begin.”
The hourglass flipped, and sand began to pour down.
The students picked up their quill pens and looked at their test papers.
The test consisted of a question sheet, an answer sheet, and several sheets of paper provided for working out the spell formulas.
Amidst the scratching of quills, Leo’s face hardened as he read the questions.
‘Describe the effect produced when the following spell formulas are combined.’
He felt a headache coming on.
‘What in the world are these formulas?’
If he had to pick the ability that had changed the most since his time as Kyle, it was undoubtedly magic.
Magic was, by its nature, a field of inquiry.
The fundamental runic language was the same, but the application of spell formulas had evolved with each era.
In this era, especially, spell formulas had advanced tremendously thanks to the Hero Record.
Leo, who hadn't looked at a single magic book since his reincarnation, was essentially illiterate when it came to the formulas of this era.
Looking to his side, he saw that even Karl, who had been grimacing, was now solving the problems.
Chloe was writing down her answers at a rapid pace.
‘Kids these days are smart. She's solving these complex formula combinations in her head?’
Leo, looking fed up, took a deep breath.
‘Alright, first, let’s just get a rough idea of what the formulas of this era are like. Even if the formulas are different, as long as I understand the structure, I should be able to make a decent guess.’
Leo steeled himself.
‘I can't get kicked out of the first class! How humiliating!’
He had his pride as the Great Hero who saved the world!
His eyes flashing, Leo began to deconstruct the spell formulas at an incredible speed.
‘Thank goodness! These are all formulas I know!’
Meanwhile, Karl let out a sigh of relief as he worked through the problems.
Contrary to his worries, the test wasn't exceptionally difficult.
He had memorized all the spell formulas that appeared on it.
Combining the formulas was quite complex, but just as Professor Ren had said, if you couldn't solve this much, you didn't deserve to learn magic at Lumerne.
‘As expected of someone at her level, she can just do the formula combinations in her head.’
He couldn't help but be amazed as Chloe wrote down the answers without showing any of her work.
He glanced over at Leo and saw his quill moving at a tremendous speed.
But despite that speed, nothing was written on his answer sheet.
‘What? That guy Leo. He said he wanted to dual class, but is he lacking in formula knowledge?’
At this rate, it was obvious Leo wouldn't be able to take the magic major courses.
Karl looked disappointed at the thought of not being able to take magic classes with him.
“Thirty minutes left.”
‘Yikes, this is no time to be distracted. I need to focus on my own problems first.’
Meanwhile, Leo, having filled an entire sheet of scratch paper, stopped his quill.
‘What kind of bastard made these formulas so damn complicated!’
If he had enough time, he could definitely decipher them.
The problem was the severe lack of time.
He checked the next question and, sure enough, it was plastered with formulas he had never seen before.
Tearing his hair out, Leo scanned through the problems until his eyes landed on the final question.
There were a total of 50 questions on the test.
Questions 1 through 49 were about combining formulas, while the final question required interpreting a formula to find the result.
The formula itself was not nearly as complex as the previous ones.
After calculating the answer in his head, Leo wrote it on his answer sheet and stood up.
The other students’ eyes were fixed on him.
‘He gave up. Well, he couldn't even solve the first problem, so anything more would be a waste of time.’
Karl smacked his lips as he watched Leo hand his answer sheet to the teaching assistant.
‘I’ll just have to give up on magic classes.’
How was he supposed to take a class when he only knew one out of fifty problems?
‘I’ll have to study on my own or something.’
He blamed his own complacency as he walked out of the lecture hall.
After he left, the hourglass continued to run.
But no other students stood up to leave.
Even the non-majors, despite their complacent attitude, had a basic understanding of magic, having chosen it as a minor.
“Time's up. Everyone, please submit your answer sheets to the assistants.”
“Ugh, that was tough.”
Karl stretched and asked Chloe.
“Hey, what was the answer to the last question? I couldn’t figure it out for the life of me.”
Seeing Karl shake his head, looking completely drained, Chloe scowled in frustration.
“I didn’t have enough time, so I couldn’t finish it either.”
“Really? Man, it was ridiculously hard.”
“What about Leo?”
“From what I saw, he couldn’t solve a single problem.”
‘So that’s why he left.’
Nodding, she got up from her seat and walked over to someone.
Curious, Karl followed Chloe.
“Brother! This problem is correct, right?”
“Yeah, that’s right!”
“Yes!”
Chloe had approached Abad and Chelsea.
“Hey, Chelsea.”
“Huh? Karl? Who’s that girl?”
“This is Chloe Müller.”
“The top student from the North?”
Chelsea’s eyes widened.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Abad Llewellyn. By any chance, did you solve the last problem?”
“I ran out of time, so I couldn't. You?”
“Same here.”
Chloe took out her test paper.
“I’m curious how my solution differs from yours. Could we compare?”
“I was just wondering the same thing. This is perfect.”
Chloe’s scratch paper was densely filled with her attempt at solving the final spell formula.
Abad’s was no different from Chloe’s.
Karl clicked his tongue.
‘The top students are on another level. If they’d had enough time, they would’ve solved it completely.’
“Where’s Leo?”
“He hasn’t been seen since he left earlier; he might have left the Magic Building entirely. It looked like he couldn't solve any of the problems.”
“That makes sense. It’s not a problem a knight could solve.”
Chelsea, who knew Leo as an outstanding knight, nodded in agreement.
Just then, Professor Ren returned to the podium, and the students quickly went back to their seats.
“You all worked hard on the test.”
Professor Ren offered a clean smile.
“The assistants will finish grading shortly. Until then, I will give you a brief overview of my Magic Theory course.”
Professor Ren’s lecture began.
As they listened, the students couldn’t help but be impressed.
The content of his lecture was incredibly easy to follow.
They knew instinctively that they had met one of the best professors.
‘To think I’ll be able to take this man’s classes from now on!’
The students were filled with anticipation.
Just as Professor Ren finished speaking, a male assistant came up to the lecture hall.
“Professor. The test results are in.”
“Shall we all check the results?”
Other assistants brought a board to the front of the hall with the test rankings written on it.
“In truth, this test consisted of forty-nine one-point questions and one fifty-one-point question.”
As the students began to murmur, Professor Ren continued his explanation.
“This test is not only to select students for the magic major course, but it is also the core of my teaching philosophy.”
“Over the last few hundred years, spell formulas have advanced rapidly. Thanks to that, formulas that once required complete understanding to use can now be cast simply by memorizing their activation conditions.”
Professor Ren held out his palm, and a spell formula woven from mana activated.
He then clenched his fist—CRUSH!
The formula shattered, and fragments of mana scattered in all directions.
“That advancement of spell formulas has caused mages to degenerate!”
The students were startled by his sudden shout.
“The recent trend among mages is to memorize as many formulas as possible! It’s certainly an easy path to using magic… but! That is not what a true mage is! The essence of a mage is not memorization, but inquiry and understanding! But what are the young mages of today doing? They neglect to understand formulas and are busy just memorizing them! The advancement of spell formulas has led to the regression of mages!”
Professor Ren spread his hands above his head.
A vast array of magical formulas unfolded in the air.
“This is the essence of the spell formulas I have created. Not the activation sequences everyone learns, but my very own formulas, created by me from start to finish. Are there any mages these days who research their own unique formulas?”
It was, in the truest sense, the essence of an individual’s unique world of magic.
To a mage’s eyes, Professor Ren’s world of magic appeared breathtakingly beautiful.
“A duel between mages is, before a battle of mana, a battle of who can understand and dismantle their opponent's formulas faster. You cannot reach a higher state with activation sequences alone. And so!”
Swoosh—!
Professor Ren's spell formulas vanished.
“I will be conducting classes that will enhance your understanding of spell formulas! So that you may all be reborn as true mages!”
Professor Ren spoke to the students with passion.
Inspired by his fervor, the students began to applaud.
The phrase “true mage” was more than enough to stir the hearts of the young students.
Nodding at the students’ enthusiastic response, Professor Ren pointed to the board.
“Check your scores and ranks. To those with scores below 40, I’m sorry, but I must ask you to leave the lecture hall. That is all!”
The students gathered in front of the board.
As Professor Ren watched the students with a profound gaze, the male assistant approached him.
“Professor.”
“What is it, Assistant Professor?”
“There is a student who answered question 50 correctly.”
“There’s a perfect score?”
Professor Ren was genuinely surprised.
‘To think such a talent has enrolled! Abad? Chloe? Ah! Am I finally getting the disciple of a lifetime?!’
“It’s not a perfect score.”
“Not a perfect score?”
A strange expression crossed Professor Ren’s face.
A student capable of solving the last question should have found the preceding 49 questions to be no great challenge.
So why wasn’t it a perfect score?
“Aha. They must have missed a few questions while focusing on the last one.”
“That’s not it either. Besides the last question, the rest is completely blank. Here, take a look.”
The assistant professor handed the answer sheet to Professor Ren.
After examining the pristine white sheet, Professor Ren asked with a grave expression.
“...Who is this student?”
***
When Chloe checked the board, her eyes naturally went to the top of the rankings.
And she was taken aback.
2nd Place. Chloe Müller, Abad Llewellyn. (49 points)
3rd Place. Chelsea Llewellyn (48 points)
No matter how she looked at it, she and Abad were tied for second place.
And the name at the very top was.
1st Place. Leo Flove. (51 points)
Her face hardening, Chloe looked toward the front row, at the seat where Leo had been sitting.
Leo's scratch paper was still there.
She rushed over and examined it.
‘Wh-what in the world is this?’
Seeing Leo’s work on the first problem he had given up on, Chloe could only look on in utter astonishment.
‘Leo Flove… Just who in the world are you!’