Proficiency Test VI

Alec took the chance to take a break.

The three remaining candidates had drawn lots to decide the order that they were going in, and Alec had drawn last, while the other two had rejoiced that they were before Alec.

It's not that they were being petty, but even someone who was blind would have noticed that the bunch of questions from the seven star difficulty and above had been solved – the ones with eight, nine and ten stars were completely cleared out. There hadn't even been a single one remaining.

Since the screen showed them the difficulty of the questions that had been solved, they had been soundly and powerfully face-slapped by the child yet again. Just when they thought that he only had knowledge and not the practical know-how, they were proven wrong so quickly and soundly.

All thoughts that they had that he wouldn't be able to solve anything had been long thrown out the window.

Not willing to accept it?

Do you think the facts would change even if you were unwilling to accept it? No.

In that case, it was in their best interest to just accept the face slap from the kid with grace and humility and move on. Or better yet, make a connection to him.

There was no way that he wasn't going to soar above them, so why not make friends while you were at it?

Thinking up to this point, the stinging continuous slaps on both sides of their that Alec had given them didn't seem so bad suddenly. Since they couldn't fight it, then they just had to go with the flow.

Right now, they were already slapped up down left and right until they didn't even know which direction was which. Since the results weren't concealed by Edward, they saw that Alec firmly sat on the top position. The second place wasn't even near toppling him.

The more they tried to compete, the harder they were smacked down with the boy's results. Even if they couldn't accept it, they had no choice. This boy who was younger than their own grandsons had thoroughly and utterly trounced them in both knowledge and solving skills.

Even so, they weren't ashamed. Alec was so far away from them, they couldn't even begin to compare themselves to him, so not only did jealousy not form, they were admiring.

Currently, Alec seemed so far out of reach to them that they viewed him as a figure that was to be worshipped instead of jealous of. What had they been doing when they were eight years old? Some of them hadn't even known that arrays and runes existed yet!

When the first candidate entered the room, the other candidate moved closer to Alec, but seeing the boy close his eyes, he sighed. He'd lost any chance to make a good impression, but he also wasn't willing to disturb the other's sleep, so he instead psyched himself up and went over his presentation.

Alec's eyes remained closed, but he wasn't sleeping like the other candidate thought. Instead, he was consolidating the various arrays that he'd solved earlier, adding them to his repertoire of arrays.

It was only when the second candidate had entered the room that Alec took out his notes and made a few changes to his array that he'd previously thought was completed.

His pen flying over the paper, Alec made major and subtle changes to the Magnitude Seal. Now, it worked a lot better than before, which satisfied him.

It was only when he was sure that he could no longer modify and improve it did he stop, a sense of satisfaction seeping into his bones.

Alec felt great joy. He felt like his knowledge had improved to a different level, and his way of thinking was now non-linear, instead having more flexibility.

The attendant opened the door, calling for Alec to enter.

When he did, he was greeted with the sight of four array masters sat in a row. One of them was Edward Little, but the other three he didn't know anything of. Three males and a female made up the panel of judges.

Alec's eyes lingered on the collar of one man in the middle, which wasn't a gold pin like the rest, but instead a frosted white pin. Alec could see the array that made up the pin, but he couldn't decipher what array it was just yet.

So there was still a level above array masters that he didn't know about!

Faced with that knowledge, not only was Alec undaunted, he was even more fired up than he'd been before.

"Begin," said the man with the silvery-white pin.

Alec approached them and handed them the notes that he'd made showing the journey that he'd made whilst making the new array.

The middle-aged looking man with the glasses and the frosty white pin pushed his glasses up as he started reading.

The other three array masters silently stared at Alec.

Alec had not missed the surprise that appeared in their eyes when he had entered the room, which meant that Edward had not told them. There had been a hint of glee in Edward's eyes as he entered.

Quinn quickly flipped through the pages that the boy's writing spanned over. The earlier parts were easily digested, but from around three-quarters in, Quinn had to stop and seriously ponder before nodding continuously.

He himself didn't think that he was able to create something that could surpass this.

By the time he reached the end, Quinn had entirely lost himself within the writing and grace that the author solved the various problems with. He was completely enraptured and only returned to his senses when Edward coughed lightly.

"Ah, yes," Quinn said without any shame, passing on the notes to Oscar.

Quinn studied the boy closely. By now, he was sure that this was the elusive genius who had not shown his face in their circle. Quinn had previously thought that it was some hermit who hadn't yet shown his worth to the world, but never had he expected that it would be a young kid that looked like he should still be clinging onto his mother's lapels!

With delicately cut features, black hair and the crystalline blue eyes that were the signature of the Neil Clan, when the boy smiled, Quinn felt like he could see the flowers that bloomed behind him.

But still, even the aura that he gave off wasn't able to hide the quick intelligence inside the boy's eyes. Quinn felt excited.

An eight-year-old array master!

If his magic rank was up to par, Quinn had no doubt that he would be able to directly break into the ranks of grandmaster!

The institution had to sponsor him, or they would be sinning! Even if he didn't pass the last stage of the exam, Quinn would still be willing to use the institute's resources to boost Alecris up.

It would be such a waste for this once in a millennia talent to go to waste!

Quinn couldn't allow that to happen.

The way that the child approached the problems facing the completion of the array was seasoned. Quinn almost felt like he was reading some other grandmaster's works.

The thing that separated a grandmaster from a master wasn't as difficult as everyone else thought. It was just that the arrays that the array master produced had to be wholly of their own style. To describe it better, it was like Magitypes and Societypes. The two existed and worked in harmony together, but the magic that a person used was something that belonged only to themselves.

Basically, array masters had to create something completely new and pave the way for future generations.

However, that was easier said than done.

How many aspiring grandmasters had ultimately failed in the end, never ascending in their lifetime? How many grandmasters were stuck at the last step, unable to breakthrough even if they did have the necessary magic rank?

It wasn't something that only hard work could conquer. One needed talent as well. And just a bit of luck.