Chapter 9: Magic Detection

"This place is created by a virtual machine, and it's not a dream," Zhuyan Yu said with a smile. "The staff in charge of the controls are adjusting it right now. You can wave to them."

"Monitoring?" Luo'er looked up to the sky. Although all he could see were blue skies and white clouds, he knew there must be someone watching him at that moment, including the person he despised the most.

"Alright, enough chit-chat, it's time for class to begin," Zhuyan Yu clapped her hands and cleared her throat before continuing, "Today we'll be conducting a Magic Resistance test. The detectors are on your right hands."

"Right hand?" Tangmo shook his empty right wrist, looking utterly confused.

"Sorry, my mistake...." Zhuyan Yu coughed awkwardly and snapped her fingers, and suddenly an object resembling a wristwatch appeared on each student's right wrist.

"This is the Resistance Detector. When you use magic, it will automatically check the magic that passes through your body and display the results as a percentage. This result is your Magic Resistance. However, keep in mind, this is a virtual Magic World constructed on Earth, the data might not represent the actual values in Otherworld. So, even if someone has high Magic Resistance, they shouldn't be discouraged."

Magic Resistance, inherently, is similar to the principle of electrical resistance. Bodily Human Magic World enables magic to flow, but magic dissipates while flowing through the body. Thus, the magic released by mages is often less than the magic absorbed and processed by their bodies.

Based on this principle, people with lower Magic Resistance have to expend less energy to absorb and process magic, and the magic they release will be nearly equivalent to the magic they have absorbed. In the Magic Academy of Otherworld, students with Magic Resistance between 1% to 5% are considered to be genius magic prodigies; compared to others, they lose less magic in transition, hence they can cast more powerful spells. On the other hand, those with about 50% Magic Resistance are considered mediocre; they might only be able to use level-one magic throughout their life. And those with more than 50% Magic Resistance are deemed incapable of learning magic.

These distinctions are made because the loss of magic in bodily transition can have adverse effects on the body. Mages with low Magic Resistance sustain less physical damage when releasing large spells compared to those with high resistance; a mage with around 50% Magic Resistance attempting to force level-one or higher spells could cause irreversible damage to his body. Even genius mages with about 1% Magic Resistance can only perform the Forbidden Curse a few times in their lifetime, with each occurrence causing irreversible damage.

Associated with Magic Resistance is magical affinity, the ability to release spells quickly, which is another benchmark for an excellent mage. Typically, a mage with high magical affinity can absorb atmospheric magic faster and release it swiftly. As long as they utter the Spells swiftly enough, they can achieve instant-cast magic.

Overall, the Elf Race has higher magical affinity than the Human Race, which in turn is higher than the Dwarf Race, and the Dwarf Race is higher than the Beastman Race.

Then, Zhuyan Yu snapped her fingers again, and a commonly used magic wand mysteriously appeared in each student's hand. The wand acts as a medium for mages to release the magic circulating in their bodies; without it, they cannot cast spells. In Otherworld, the form of the wand is not restricted and can range from swords to other designs; however, wands also have Magic Resistance. Generally speaking, wands made from the Otherworld Sky Tree have lower resistance.

"You may begin using your magic now, and you can also cast it on your classmates. The damage mode is not yet activated, so your attacks on each other will be ineffective," Zhuyan Yu added with a smile.

Luo'er was about to speak when suddenly he heard Tangmo's voice from behind: "Luo'er, take this move of mine!"

Before he could react, he felt something overwhelming press down on him, leaving his body feeling paralyzed and his vision blurred, even the sounds around him became increasingly muffled.

Zhuyan Yu was surprised; according to the classification by the Magic Research Center, Tangmo had used a second-level Freeze Domain spell. This spell reduces the temperature of a nearby area below freezing, causing severe frostbite or even freezing the enemies within. But Tangmo's Freeze Domain was evidently broader and more powerful, nearly affecting her as well. By classification, such power should fall within third-level magic, yet it was only a second-level spell.

More importantly, according to the Research Center's studies on Otherworld magic, initiating such a spell should require incantation guidance of more than three seconds, but Tangmo seemed to have triggered it directly, implying she instantly cast this second-level spell.

Even among mages, there is a range in the time it takes to initiate spells. Even skilled mages need time to guide a level-one spell. Only genius mages can instantly cast a level-one spell, but Tangmo's ability to instantly cast a second-level spell clearly indicates that her qualifications have reached the ceiling defined by the Research Center.

Intrigued, Zhuyan Yu summoned Tangmo's magic usage data, and the figures astounded her. According to the data, Tangmo's Magic Resistance ranged from 1% to 2%, with an affinity as high as 99%—figures that, even in Otherworld, would mark her as a top-tier prodigy destined for intensive training.FLAG_END

With her thoughts, Zhuyan Yu waved her hand to turn off the data panel. She watched Tangmo, who was anxiously pacing around Luo'er, and sighed softly. She didn't dare to judge whether the Origin Project of the country was right or wrong, even if Earth and Otherworld were no longer in a state of war, they still needed a communication hub between the two realms, and to some extent, the birth of the sub-races had become the communication hub between them.

"Luo'er, Luo'er, are you alright?" Tangmo circled Luo'er anxiously, almost bursting into tears. She had intended to make a joke, but she hadn't realized her own strength and had frozen Luo'er solid. Now he stood there, his body exuding cold air, motionless, even his expression had frozen.

"Using magic from the Flame System to attack him should thaw him out," Zhuyan Yu couldn't help but walk over and remind her when she saw how at a loss Tangmo was.

"But, Luo'er might..." Tangmo began, her voice filled with sobs of grievance.

"He won't, the sensory system hasn't been activated yet, he won't feel it," Zhuyan Yu said somewhat helplessly.

"Really?"

"Just touch him, and see if his body is cold, then you'll know."

Upon hearing this, Tangmo reached out and touched Luo'er's arm. She didn't feel any cold, or rather, she couldn't feel any temperature at all.

"I'm so sorry, Luo'er, I'll rescue you right now." Tangmo said as she wiped the tears from her face.

Believing Zhuyan Yu's words, Tangmo stepped back a few steps and raised her magic wand. No sooner had she silently recited a spell than a huge fireball appeared in front of her and roared towards Luo'er, instantly engulfing him in a blaze. Suddenly freed, Luo'er was caught off guard and collapsed onto the ground.

"Luo'er," Tangmo ran towards him joyfully, but as soon as she reached him, she immediately showed a shameful expression, squatting down in front of him with tears streaming down her face, she apologized, saying, "I'm sorry, Luo'er, I always end up hurting you, last time as well, and this time too, I am always so reckless... sorry, sorry, sorry, I, I will reflect on this. So, can you... can you forgive me?"

Having just recovered from his daze, Luo'er was still thankful that this was just the virtual world; otherwise, Tangmo could have nearly killed him again. Not knowing quite what to say at her pitiable appearance, he heaved a deep sigh and said sternly, "After such an apology, what more can I say."

"You forgive me?" Tangmo asked joyfully.

"But you really must fix your careless mistakes," Luo'er added.

"Okay, okay, okay," Tangmo nodded excitedly and suddenly lunged onto Luo'er, asking, "So, Luo'er, will you still leave us?"

"When did I ever say I was going to leave you guys?"

"That means, you're still one of us then," Tangmo said happily, clutching Luo'er's chest tightly.

"All right, stop it." Luo'er said impatiently, clearly overwhelmed by Tangmo's enthusiasm.

After resolving their conflict, Luo'er also tested his magical qualifications. His Magic Resistance was below 10% but not lower than 6%. His Magic Affinity was around 90%. Although he couldn't compete with a prodigy like Tangmo, as a mixed-blood of the Elf Race, his qualifications were quite excellent.

When he found out about Tangmo's qualifications, he felt somewhat downhearted. After all, in terms of magic, talent was a clear indicator, and no matter how hard he tried, he could not surpass Tangmo. However, when he saw the data of others, he felt relieved. Overall, the class average's Magic Resistance was around 10% and Affinity was about 80%. There were many with a Resistance higher than 50% and Affinity less than 20%.

Among the other members of the team, Cheng Ziang's Magic Resistance was about 15% and his Magic Affinity about 80%, which could be considered mediocre. But he seemed not to feel ashamed, maintaining a proud demeanor nonetheless.

In comparison, the Half-beastman Hu Daoke's qualifications were much poorer, with his Resistance around 45% and his Affinity below 30%, practically saying goodbye to magic. But this was within reason, as the Beastman Race's magical qualifications really weren't high, with one mage emerging from hundreds of thousands of Beastmen being considered quite good.