Chapter 54
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 54
Chapter Title: The Mage of the Final Exam (3)
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Elterion Academy's Magic Department and Ma Engineering Department freshmen majoring in their required core subject, Basic Concepts of Magic Theory.
There was a hidden problem on that course's final exam.
This fact came to light on Tuesday, a day after most of the first-year students had turned in their exam papers.
The unusual news spread quickly inside and outside the academy.
In particular, the mages from the Mage Tower couldn't hide their curiosity this time either and all flocked to the academy.
Soon, the front of the Magic Hall's main building was packed with visitors from outside.
"Wow~ It's been a while since we had such an amazing exam question!"
In front of that massive crowd, Raymond, the Magic Department Head, unusually held an impromptu briefing and took the stage himself.
"Heh heh. Yes, exactly. What more is there to say? For the 'upper mage' who just enrolled this year, the department went out of its way to put some special care into it."
There was no other reason for him to step up personally.
This guy had just come out to show off.
"Elterion Academy! No matter what student comes our way, we are the greatest educational institution in history that can provide teachings worthy of them!"
Even if a grand mage showed up, we could teach them—that's what Raymond boasted loudly with laughter.
"Now, I see a lot of you have questions, so I'll take a few~"
Hands shot up here and there soon enough.
Raymond savored his sense of superiority while looking at the anxious faces, then pointed to one person.
"You there, go ahead and ask."
"Isn't that student in the Ma Engineering Department, not the Magic Department?! I'd love to hear from Lilliana Gearheart, the Ma Engineering Department Head!!"
"...Looks like a troll snuck in. That guy. Drag him out right now."
There was a brief commotion.
Troll, removed.
Raymond cleared his throat with a hem-hem and pointed to someone else.
"I've heard the exam period is set for a full week—is that true?"
Fortunately, this was a normal question.
"Yes, it's true. We wanted the students to feel the problems without being rushed by time, so we got permission from the professors in the other departments as well."
Raymond nodded and continued.
"I wanted to give them two full weeks, but that would just be torturing the students."
If the examinees weren't first-years, such a radical exam format never would have been approved, Raymond added with an ohohoho laugh.
"Department Head, I heard from my kid that you deliberately hid the problem. Isn't giving some students a chance and not others unfair?"
"Hmm~ Unfair, you say?"
What? There were still trolls left?
But this was a relatively mild troll he could handle himself, so he decided to let it slide for now.
Kicking out every single one like this would hurt his own reputation.
"It was consideration for the students."
He hoped they wouldn't waste time unnecessarily, Raymond said with a smirk.
"If they can't even notice something's off about the exam paper, they don't deserve to touch the seventh problem in the first place."
In other words, untalented kids should stick to the basic problems.
"By the way, as of 24 hours after the exam started, a total of ten first-year students are tackling the seventh problem."
Among those ten were.
Princess Celestina Belhart.
Edwin Belka, heir to a renowned magic family.
And.
"The youngest grand mage candidate you all know well is still wrestling with the problem too!"
At those words, the crowd buzzed all at once.
"Whoa, what kind of problem could it be..."
"From the midterm answers, her talent wasn't ordinary..."
"I'm not sure if they even included a problem solvable with first-year curriculum."
"Exactly. They didn't just slap in one of the seven demonic riddles registered at the Mage Tower, did they?"
"Even if they did, that wouldn't make it a good exam."
Amid the murmurs, an upper mage dispatched from the Mage Tower asked excitedly, unable to contain himself.
"Do you plan to release the exam questions later?"
"Of course! Naturally."
Raymond nodded as if he'd been waiting for it.
Having personally reviewed the questions, he had no qualms about making them public.
Everyone who saw them would probably be as impressed as he was.
"Before that, we'll give our academy students the first chance, though."
Of course, it wasn't an opportunity for every academy student.
It was only for those who scored in the top 10% or higher in at least one magic course last semester.
"We've set aside private rooms in the Magic Hall main building, so give it a try. Oh! And if any challenger solves the problem within the exam period, I'll award extra credits at my discretion."
As the crowd stirred at Raymond's bold proposal, the doors to the Magic Hall main building suddenly swung open.
Soon, a student stumbled out.
It was Claire, her face haggard.
Her hair was soaked with sweat, clinging to her cheeks, and her eyes were bloodshot red.
"Student! Student!"
"Are you a first-year Magic Department student? Just finishing the exam?"
"How's the problem? Solvable?"
Quick-witted mages swarmed Claire, bombarding her with questions.
They didn't care that her condition made answering impossible. Mages were selfish by nature.
Claire blinked vacantly.
As if she couldn't even see the crowd, her unfocused eyes stared into space.
Then, in a cracked voice, she muttered.
"Just... going to eat something..."
The pitiful voice silenced the surroundings.
"Need to... replenish nutrients..."
Claire staggered through the crowd.
"Gotta go back in... and solve the problem..."
The mages who'd been firing questions moments ago could only gape, unable to speak to her.
How long had it been since I'd immersed myself so deeply in something?
It was daily life in my previous life, but in this one, this felt like the first time.
Sure, I concentrated pretty hard when crafting magic tools, but that never exceeded half a day.
This was definitely the first time I'd focused on something for days straight.
The last time I'd checked the clock was around two days into the exam.
I hadn't come out at all, so the TA must've thought I'd collapsed and peeked in to check if I was alive—then freaked out at the state of the room and bolted.
Right now, my body wasn't sprawled on the classroom floor or slumped in a chair.
I was floating in midair, manipulating the mana filling the space this way and that.
Around me, disassembled exam papers, letters, and magic circles floated scattered like a vast nebula.
All of it was the process of solving the final seventh problem.
To be honest, I hadn't touched problems one through six.
Well, more precisely, they'd solved themselves.
The key to revealing this hidden seventh problem was writing the answers to the first six.
But I'd bulldozed straight into number seven from the start.
Like smashing the lock and reverse-engineering the structure to forge a new key.
As I worked through it, I figured out why this problem was so tricky.
Albert, the vice-captain, had messed with it.
No wonder the illusion magic in the classroom gave me that weird sense of déjà vu.
Was that guy bored lately? How much free time did he have to make a problem just to torment kids?
My head was starting to feel foggy.
At this point, I couldn't tell if I was solving the problem or if the problem was solving me.
More importantly... why was I tackling this problem so obsessively?
I'd already perfectly figured out the answers to the other six.
I could just write those on the paper and leave.
Even for the last one, organizing what I'd done so far would lock in partial credit.
This should be more than enough for Linea Hall admission.
Yet I couldn't stop working on it.
It wasn't pride over a stuck problem.
And definitely not some ambition to grow as a mage.
It was just... hard to explain.
I couldn't put it into words, but...
Solving this problem felt like it would let me understand myself—'Lunaris'—better.
That was my gut feeling.
For someone who'd relied on hunches for so much already, following one more wasn't a stretch.
This problem right in front of me? I was solving it purely on instinct too.
With that, I scrawled another key equation.
This made ten equations forming the magic's framework already.
Over twenty large supporting magic circles too.
Countless equations and circles interlocked like gears, turning with exquisite precision.
Yet the answer to the final problem still wouldn't manifest.
What more did it want here...?
"Ah, this is annoying..."
A complaint slipped out unbidden.
...Maybe I should just quit.
A wave of deep fatigue crashed over me, sweeping away my will.
It felt like some curse of sloth had hit me.
Right now, all I could picture was the heavenly bed in Princess Celestina's room.
I could probably pass out there for a week straight.
Thinking of her bed naturally brought back that night.
The moment I'd tried recalling Grandfather, tears had just started flowing.
I didn't even feel sad—why was that?
So, what exactly was Grandfather to me in the end?
If I could just meet him once, even in a dream, it'd feel less stifling.
...Wait, dream?
Just one word.
That insignificant syllable sparked in my mind.
I snapped to attention and looked around sharply.
"Storage, oblivion, and dreams..."
The equations and magic circles I'd woven suddenly looked entirely new.
Until now, I'd just been drawing empty shells, failing to infuse their true meaning.
I'd been writing the problem's answer, not casting magic.
This grand magic's purpose was to project the subconscious mind.
A spell to show dreams before your eyes.
"A grand mage is one who knows why magic must be used... and then uses it."
Now I finally got a glimpse of what that meant.
Though the problem's creator probably hadn't intended that.
New equations began forming at my fingertips.
At the same time, the half-crumbling wall in my mind turned to utter ruin.
The scattered papers swirled around me once more.
Two newly added equations infused with meaning.
One more grand magic circle encompassing all equations and circles under the keyword "dream."
The very moment I etched mana-woven equations and circles into every margin of the exam paper.
I felt the magic power drain from my body in a rush.
-Whoosh!
The classroom scenery shifted at once.
In a dreamlike space dyed with iridescent colors.
The floating answer sheets had become transparent mirrors reflecting me.
No, more precisely.
They reflected my childhood self.
Captured in the mirrors were none other than 'Lunaris's' memories.