Levitation Stone (1)
Levitation Stone (1)
The ability evaluation was exactly that: an assessment that quantified each student's individual capabilities in objective, numerical terms.
It was also commonly referred to as Star Rank measurement, because the evaluation determined one's Star Rank grade.
A Star Rank defined an ability user's tier. Whether you became a knight, a mage, a priest, or a scout—your level and your worth were all decided by your Star Rank.
As such, the grade assessment was one of the most critical events for any student.
Its influence extended far beyond the students.
For professors, a rise in their students' Star Ranks directly reflected the quality of their instruction, making it a key metric for evaluating faculty performance.
Beyond that, the countless guilds constantly on the lookout for promising talent also kept a close eye on the grade assessments.
In short, a student who produced strong results in the assessment inevitably saw their reputation skyrocket several levels at once. They became the immediate center of academy attention—the hot topic overnight.
"Though, naturally, the star of this assessment will be Sharon Pierce."
The Lichten Academy Grade Assessment Division—the administrative body responsible for evaluations and all related student ability assessment affairs—wielded enough influence that its head, the Section Chief, was treated on a par with a vice-dean.
"Ahh. I wish I could've been in the same year as Miss Sharon. If only I'd been born five years later. Don't you agree, Chief?"
That didn't mean the work was easy, however. Right now, the Section Chief had a hand pressed to his throbbing temple. The primary cause was the periodic nonsense-spouting fits of his subordinate, Deputy Ann Brita.
"Deputy Ann. Less nonsense. Get back to work."
"But Chief! Just look at this photo!"
"What now?"
"Sharon Pierce, of course."
"Good grief..."
"Look at that beautiful, cool, aloof elegance! That kind of style is always hugely popular with other women, you know. I am absolutely certain Miss Pierce will be the star of this assessment! Eheheh!"
The Section Chief nearly flicked the back of the giggling deputy's head. If this immature woman weren't the daughter of a count, he probably would have.
Suppressing the twitch in his fingers, the Chief let out a quiet sigh.
"Hoo."
Moments like this called for patience.
The assessment schedule was right around the corner. His staff had already been pulling all-nighters for days on end, so the occasional loss of sanity was to be expected. The Chief himself had dark circles so deep they'd nearly reached his jawline.
"There really isn't any other student worth getting excited about besides Miss Sharon, anyway."
"That much is true. Lately, most of the kids' growth has been stagnating."
In the past, there had always been a few students whose Star Ranks advanced by a full tier. But recently, the growth curve among the students had noticeably flattened. Even the number of mana awakeners was declining.
This wasn't a problem limited to Lichten Academy. Other academies were in largely the same boat. Various theories had been floated to explain it. Some said most students now entered the academy having already pushed their potential to its limit through private tutoring. Others blamed the withering World Tree in the Great Forest, claiming the quality of mana had deteriorated. Still others suspected the demonkin were up to something.
A flood of pessimistic analyses had emerged, and there were even whispers that both the Empire and the Holy Kingdom had launched covert investigations.
It wasn't that there were no capable ability users now—but if the trend continued, shortages would become inevitable. Grim news, all around.
"... I'd love for at least one student to pop up this time and show some real, proper growth."
"I'm telling you! Miss Sharon. Sharon Pierce!"
"Deputy Ann, as I've said before, Sharon is a child sculpted entirely by her family's hand. Don't be so dazzled by the surface. Not that there's any doubt about her ability."
"Then what's the problem? What's wrong with being sculpted? Do you even know what's popular in the Imperial capital these days, Chief? Idols!"
"Idols?"
"Yes! Singers who dance and perform. They're so pretty. Personally, I'm a fan of a group called Magical Girl! Hehe. I wish Miss Sharon would start some knight-girl group."
"So even the Empire is going to ruin."
The Chief shook his head in dismay. Sharon Pierce. She was, without question, a student worth watching. But by his standards, Sharon wasn't the "real thing."
In his long experience evaluating countless students, the real surprises always came from unexpected places—an obscure elemental awakener, someone who had mastered unforeseen abilities.
'Come to think of it, it's been quite a while since we had an earth-element graduate, hasn't it?'
The Chief was rolling that thought around when he snapped back to attention. Right now, he had work to do.
"Any issues with the Stage 1 and 2 preparations?"
"None. David and Jane are out there running themselves ragged as we speak."
"Good. That's handled, then."
The Stage 1 and 2 items, now imminent, had already been finalized and set up, but the decision on the final Stage 3 component remained deadlocked. An evaluation proposal drafted by the Grade Assessment Division had to pass through the four deans, the headmaster, and an external auditor before being approved as an official assessment item.
"What about Dean Yan Bommell? Still no comments?"
Professors and outside experts were involved in drafting the assessment items. The faculty representative on this assessment's task force was Professor Yan Bommell.
"...Yes. He's supposedly 'making an effort,' but you know how much that man hates this sort of grunt work. Looks like we'll have to figure it out ourselves."
"Tch. That man, seriously..."
He'd had no expectations from the start. The man was practically a wild beast; there was little chance he'd take any interest in "grunt work" like this.
Just as the Chief's sigh deepened—
—Knock knock!
Deputy Ann shot up from her seat, trotted to the door, and accepted something from outside. In her hands was a document envelope. As she read the writing on the front, her eyes widened.
"Huh? It's from Dean Yan Bommell."
"...Excuse me?"
"Sh-shall I read it? 'Regarding the upcoming Star Rank assessment's Stage 3 ability evaluation, I propose the following: The evaluation should emphasize mobility techniques. Both explosiveness and unpredictability must be incorporated into the assessment criteria. I recommend the following evaluation format. A severed bridge atop a cliff...' Wow! He sent an entire evaluation plan in meticulous detail. The handwriting's nearly illegible, though."
A look of disbelief spread across the Chief's face. He might belong to the administrative division, but he'd served at Lichten long enough to know its people—and the Yan Bommell he knew was never this cooperative.
"What on earth...?"
What had gotten into the famously difficult Yan Bommell?
Alongside the relief that one problem was solved, curiosity flooded the Chief's mind.
◆
A clearing near a dormitory on the north side of Lichten Academy.
"Myaaa—!"
A cat was sailing through the air.
Well—"sailing" wasn't quite accurate. The distance between her snow-white paws and the ground was barely a centimeter. Held aloft by a patch of magnetized soil, Danya hovered at a height that seemed to both touch and not touch the earth.
"Eek! This is so fun!"
A grin on her face, Danya planted her little paws against the air as if walking.
Ian, on the other hand, exhaled a quiet sigh.
"Hngh."
Another failed experiment. He marked an X in the notebook in his hand. What he was currently researching was a "mobility technique." The problem was how difficult it was to create anything usable. Earth-element magic, by its very nature, specialized in tanking and physical damage, which only made it harder.
That was precisely why he'd called Danya over to test this and that. The first approach he'd tried was magnetism. Of all things tied to the earth, it was the property closest to movement—possessing the forces of attraction and repulsion, at least. The idea had been to magnetize both the ground and the soles of his feet, then walk while floating buoyantly above it.
—Thud!
—Nyahahahaha!
Ian's results so far: a lump on his forehead and reddened, inflamed skin. Magnetism was difficult to control and pushed back more than he'd anticipated. He couldn't hover anywhere near as high as he'd hoped, and standing atop it and keeping his balance had been impossible in the first place. The way Danya trotted across it with gleeful little shrieks—her sense of balance bordered on admirable. Cats really were cats, he supposed.
"Ian! Let me do it again! It's so much fun!"
Though she did seem a bit immature.
Anyway. Ignoring her request, Ian prepared the next test. This time, what he created was a large, cannon-like cylinder.
"What's next, meow! ...Huh?"
Danya trotted over excitedly, then her face went pale.
"W-wait. You're not planning to stuff me in there and launch me, are you?"
"Yes. With a little gunpowder mixed in."
"Are you insane, you idiot!"
Tch. No good after all. Another idea was to construct something like a spring mechanism to receive a physical-force assist. But...
'The time it takes to construct the mechanism is too long.'
That made it practically unusable. At this point, a thought was beginning to creep up on Ian.
'Am I even a mage?'
Wasn't he closer to an alchemist or a magical engineer at this rate?
...In any case.
Sure enough, it always came back to levitation. The core principle was floating above the ground—eliminating friction in the process.
'If I can just manage that, the unpredictability factor is guaranteed.'
Why was he so fixated on unpredictability? Because unpredictability was the heart of any mobility technique. Take knights, for example—they had to read their opponent's movements and react. Against them, unpredictability would be devastatingly effective. That element of surprise in close-quarters combat was, to a melee-oriented mage like Ian, practically a matter of life and death.
If only there were another method, something like magnetism...
It was difficult. Truly difficult. To the point where Ian even started toying with the idea: What if he just rolled? Curl his whole body into a ball, coat himself in a metallic shell, and sprout spikes all over the exterior like a turtle ship. Then just roll around everywhere. It'd function as both a mobility technique and an attack at the same time—wasn't that a win-win? He could name the ability something like "Roll."
"...As if that'd work."
With a sigh, Ian moved to stand up—
—trip.
His foot caught on a root and he staggered. He felt something slip out of his pocket.
A moment later, Danya's startled voice rang out.
"I-I-Ian...!"
There, hovering above the ground as if it were the most natural thing in the world, was a stone. The stone the girl had dropped when they bumped into each other.
He felt it on instinct.
This was the stone he had been searching for.