And So, I Blew A Hole In The Wall
The second exam starts, and we move to a larger room. There are magic circles drawn on the walls to strengthen it, as well as sound reduction. There are also practice dummies lined up in a row with targets placed on them, and by the side, there are several orbs on a long desk, that looks exactly like the one in the adventurer's guild. I suppose those are the magic tools that will be used to read our status. They look more state of the art, and of a higher efficiency than the one used at the guild. As expected of such a prestigious school.
A member of staff, most likely a professor, wearing a grey and orange robe walks in and stands in the center of the throng of examinees, and says,
"Please line up. We'll start by determining your individual status with the grading tool,"
The throng do as instructed and form a series of lines behind each grading orb, and one by one, they place their hands on the orb and their status is read. Of course the nobility had lines of their own, and placed themselves ahead of the rest of the common examinees. But this was to be expected, and as such there was no argument.
It was done pretty quickly, as every few seconds a person's level was called out.
"Level 18,"
"Level 20,"
"Level 24,"
"Level 20,"
As expected, the average level of all the noble examinees is about 22. Just like with the system, Larien's level was announced to be 32. Although, another person among the nobility caught my eye as they announced her level.
I turn to steal a glance at the person who could very well be Larien's perfect rival had he not met me. Lunela Mertha Grace Hanglis. The only examinee I've seen so far with a specialty class other than light mage, which all the other examinees had. But it makes sense seeing as this is a magic school. So the only two character classes that could learn anything in this school would me the three different types of mage class and the class she possessed. 'The Magic Knight' class.
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Name: Lunela Mertha Grace Hanglis
Age: 17
Level: 29
Job: Magic Knight
Titles: None
Mana: 22000
Strength: 27
Agility: 28
Vitality: 30
Sense: 31
Endurance: 31
Intelligence: 32
Magic Craft: Tier 2 Light mage
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The magic knight class was one of the few available classes in «Kingdom Crawlers» that allowed a person to mix both magic and attack prowess. The magic knight class in particular could be described best simply as a hybrid of two classes. Basically, a knight class that is able to use magic, and focuses on a particular class of magic, like attack type and healing.
It is an extremely difficult job class to level up with as it blends two classes together, but she's already at level 29 at age 17. And her stats are higher than Larien's, with an equally high mana capacity. She has a lot of potential. Indeed, she'll become a beast in the future if she's trained well. I suppose there is no better school to improve her abilities than here. Another reason why I find her quite interesting would be because, the job class 'Magic Knight' was also the class my rival Jene used. I hope she grows to reach her full potential. It would be a disappointment if she didn't.
Before I know it, it has already come to be my turn. I had been scanning Lunela's status for too long that I didn't notice the noble examinees had all finished, and it came to be our turn. Even though Darius was still technically a noble, he stood behind me on the line, tapping my shoulder to inform me that it was my turn.
I place my hand on the orb, just as I did in the guild, and wait for it to finish reading my status. Like before, I reduce my level to fit what was read in the guild. I would've loved to reduce it even lower, seeing as my level would draw a lot of attention to me, among the rest of the examinees whose average is around 20 all together, plus basically surpassing the nobles and a royal prince himself. But I already made a mistake in the guild and my level has already been officially recorded. If I were to reduce it any lower now, I'd only be stirring up trouble for myself and the guild since currently, there isn't supposed to be any possible method to manipulate the level shown by a grading orb- that is, unless you unlocked the 'tower of the mage' achievement and gained the 'Mage King' title.
This title allows you to manipulate any information shown from your status to others, including high grade grading tools. But revealing that now would put me in a difficult situation and ruin my plans. Therefore, my level will remain...
"L-l-l-level 51! It says level 51!"
The woman reading out the status shown on the grading tool screams in disbelief.
"What?!"
"Impossible!"
"No way!"
"It can't be!"
"Who is he?"
"Is he a monster?! How does he have that level?!"
"There's no way! There has to be a problem with the orb!"
"Does anyone know who that is?"
"Isn't that the guy that was rude when talking to Prince Larien earlier?!"
Immense chatter breaks out among the examinees as they stare in my direction. From the corner of my eye I can see even Larien gawking at me in disbelief with a hint of amazement and intrigue. On the other side, most of the nobles shift their expressions from bewilderment to hard glares and scowls.
"There's no way he has that high a level!" One of them shouts.
"He must have manipulated his level some how!" Another voices.
"Change the grading tool and try again!"
Soon, all the noble examinees start voicing their disbelief and demanded a retry, insisting that I somehow cheated my level.
"Silence!"
The voice of the professor presiding over the second stage of the exam echoes in the room, calling everyone's attention back to him. He turns towards me then to the woman who read my level and asks, "Is his level really 51?"
She nods her head rigorously in response, still shocked herself. He sighed before turning back to gaze at me, staring intensely before sighing again. "Change the orb and redo the reading."
I guess he found it hard to believe too. The woman did as instructed and directed me to the orb the noble examinees had used. It was of the same quality grade, but it looked newer than the ones the rest of the examinees, including me, had used.
Peeking up to look at me she said, "Please place your hand over the orb."
This is a waste of time. No matter how many times you run this, my level will always come out as...
"51! It says level 51 again!"
She exclaims as soon as my hand is placed over the orb. I really should have done more research before going to the adventurer's guild to get my level graded.
Again, the crowd of examinees and staff around break out in whispers and chatter.
"For real?"
"You can't be serious!"
"Is he some kind of beast?"
"It's supposed to be impossible right?!"
The noble examinees still look very much bewildered, and are about to voice their dissatisfaction at the grading when they are stopped by the single clap from the professor.
"Well that's that. We will carry on now,"
He says, and the nobles disperse with audible grumbles. I suppose they are more upset by the fact that 'it was the rude commoner who received Prince Larien's acknowledgement earlier today' than the fact that 'a commoner dared to have a higher level than them'.
Once that section of the second stage is over, we are asked to move on to the other side of the large room, where we are to each stand in front of a target dummy.
The professor begins to explain, "You will now be required to hit the target in front of you with your mana. You may choose to use a low level spell, or simply just shoot out a burst of mana from your hand and hit the target. You will gain a passing score as long as your target receives satisfactory damage. Your grade will be determined based on just how much damage the target sustains. You may begin."
At that, the examinees each aim at the target ahead of them. With not much of a surprise, the nobles each choose to hit their targets with various low level spells. From Atruso- magic arrow, Meniva- ice arrow, to Gestry- fire arrow. They were basically showing off. While the rest of the examinees who weren't from noble lineages chose the most basic form of magic, Lestrada- mana ball, which is basically just forming a ball of mana in your hand and then shooting it at the target. Unlike the spells the noble examinees used, it had no stylish flair. Even Darius chose to go with Lestrada, as he hauled his mana at the target beside mine.
Well, I've already drawn attention to myself for being level 51. Which means my performance in practical magic would have to match my level and stats or they'll notice something is up. And with that, I form a ball of magic in my hand. Even with the amount of control I'm putting in, I still don't exactly know how strong a level 51 should be in this Elrev, so I just try to match Larien and add in a little bit more.
I would do a spell but I'm supposed to be a commoner, and I've drawn enough attention to myself for one day. I shoot the formed ball in my hand towards my target but immediately regret it when dust scatters into the air as the sound of an explosion goes off. I've just blown a hole in the wall through my target.
These dummies were reinforced with high level magic and I just blew a hole through the head off one. I should have looked at the other examinees to see how much mana I needed to form in my hand. Since I have an abundance of mana, I formed more than I should have.
This time I can clearly see Larien grinning as he looks at me and then the hole in the wall, and unconsciously the word "Oops," slipped out of my mouth.
"What a monster!"
"What kind of power does this guy have?!"
"So he really is at level 51!"
"Amazing!"
And like that, I've just drawn more attention to myself. I guess this is fine. I'll need to revise my plans but I can actually use this attention to my advantage. Actually, this is perfect. If anything, I think it would be good if I drew more attention to myself. Right now I'm Hishaku Alice, not Aeolus. Which means, I can use my identity as Alice to my advantage as Aeolus. But the first step has changed so, I guess my new approach should be... getting closer to that kid.
I turn to gaze at Larien who is also staring at me. I was already going to play the role of his rival, but now it seems I should go into it a bit more enthusiastically. However, what I need is for us to be more friends than rivals though, but we can be both if it turns out the way I want.
Okay, the first order of business, somehow, before graduate from this school in two or three years, I have to get Prince Larien to take me on as his personal royal knight. That's the first step to the beginning of my grand plan. It sounds a bit haphazard and sudden but, in a split second, I think I pieced together how my plan is going to go. And for it to work, I need to create a name for myself.
Unexpectedly, blowing a hole in the wall of a magically reinforced room and leading everyone to believe I'm at level 51 on my first day has worked to my advantage. I just have to be the best at everything. I can do that.
"Darius," I call out to Darius who had been staring at me in amazement all the while.
"Hm?"
"Let's do our best."