School of Sages main building, top-floor conference room.
As the third round of the examination commenced today, the instructors of the School of Sages gathered for a meeting just as they had before.
Apart from the magic screens seamlessly joined at the center, the surrounding walls were predominantly minimalist white, complementing the smooth marble floor.
Here, they were watching a live broadcast of the very first match—with Lanqi and Hyperion as examinees and Ferrat as the examiner.
"What luck..."
"These two examinees aren't actually thinking of taking on Ferrat, are they?"
The instructors in the room were either maintaining silence or exchanging a few quiet remarks here and there.
In the exam scenario of the Infinite Phantom Gorge, if an examinee could not evade capture for the full thirty minutes, their only remaining option was to face the examiner head-on.
At times, powerful and self-assured students did indeed choose to intercept the examiner directly.
However...
A full three-person team of Tier 3 examinees might still harbor some hope of stalling an examiner restricted to Tier 4 for a short while.
Yet every instructor seated in the room knew that the examiner for this test—Ferrat Chavinson—was exceptionally strong in his own right.
He was a positional mage who was notoriously cautious and utterly merciless.
Even without using magic cards, Ferrat commanded numerous spells of devastating lethality, capable of easily defeating regular officers of the royal army at the same tier.
Even taking a step back—disregarding tier differences entirely—Ferrat's years of combat experience were more than enough to crush two freshmen.
What was more, he was now permitted to wield Tier 5 combat power.
The two sides were simply not in the same league.
"..."
Vice Dean Ron rested his chin in his hand, quietly watching the projection on the magic screens at the center of the room.
He knew this entrance examination infringed upon the interests of certain high-ranking figures in the kingdom.
An unseen force was influencing this test, determined to bar Hyperion from enrollment.
After those people had exploited Lanqi within the bounds of the rules to spike the difficulty, the only unpredictable variable remaining for them was Lanqi's unconventional cunning.
Yet any room for tricks and stratagems had been firmly sealed off by the flat plain terrain.
Ron could hardly say whether this was mere coincidence or deliberate design.
He could only conclude that from the moment these two freshmen crossed paths, their luck had taken a turn for the worse.
The same held true in the Shadow World.
Those abandoned by fortune could rarely survive, no matter their talents.
...
Across the boundless grassland, dewdrops clung to the tips of blades like crystalline jewels.
As a violent gust swept in as though dropping from high above, the droplets trembled and scattered like shattered glass.
A Tier 5 examiner could even take flight using Tier 5 wind magic.
Lanqi and Hyperion could already spot a black speck of a silhouette drawing closer across the distant sky.
"Do you have a tactic?" Hyperion asked.
Lanqi's unflappable composure baffled her.
Yet she felt that under these circumstances, no amount of brilliance on his part would find any room to work.
"None. What damn tactics can you use on an open plain?"
Lanqi shook his head. When the examiner threw all shame out the window, what else could he do?
It was either an endurance sprint across the flats or biting the bullet to fight.
"Do you have any intel on the examiner?" Lanqi turned to ask the duke's daughter beside him.
Earlier, when Teresa received them in the exam hall and mentioned the examiner's name, Ferrat Chavinson, Hyperion had seemed to recognize it.
After all, she was a native of the royal capital, well acquainted with its tangled web of nobility and prominent figures.
Hyperion nodded.
"Viscount Ferrat Chavinson. A cowardly, despicable, yet cautious petty man who bullies the weak and fears the strong. He's also a hound for the faction opposing House Aransal. Ever since my father disappeared, they've been relentlessly hounding me..."
Gritting her teeth, Hyperion shared what she knew of Ferrat, as if there were long-standing, irreconcilable animosity between them.
"Although he knows many spells of his own, he relies far more on sheer mana capacity to fight with combinations of magic cards..."
"Sounds like a sore loser," Lanqi murmured, nodding as he gazed at Examiner Ferrat speeding toward them.
In the brief span of their exchange, Ferrat had visibly drawn much closer to their position.
A mage flying on wind magic moved at speeds no runner could match.
"Do you have a way to buy time against him and keep yourself safe?" Lanqi asked, as if seeking one final confirmation.
Though life-saving magic cards were rare, a duke's daughter like Hyperion was quite likely to possess one.
"...Self-preservation won't be an issue. How long I can stall, I can't say," Hyperion admitted after a moment's hesitation.
"Then trust me," Lanqi said.
"Our synergy is terrible," Hyperion countered. "Your healing magic is practically useless on me."
"Don't worry. After today, you'll realize I'm the best support you've ever seen—synergy aside."
It was like the final moments of preparation before the real test began.
Mere seconds after their casual exchange, Ferrat halted high in the sky a distance away from them.
Shifting abruptly from a streak resembling a falling star to a dead hover, he made no further approach.
From that distance, he was well within range to bombard and obliterate them with high-output spells.
Suspended in midair, Examiner Ferrat looked down.
He remained silent for a long moment, seemingly assessing their state.
They looked far more relaxed than he had anticipated.
"You may withdraw from the examination now," Ferrat said, slightly raising a hand to point at Lanqi behind Hyperion.
His tone was deep and heavy, brooking no dissent, like an absolute order.
Yet in the next second, all he saw was Hyperion's eyes hardening with intense vigilance as she stepped resolutely ahead of Lanqi like a vanguard.
At this angle, it would be much harder for him to instantly take Lanqi out.
"Why should I withdraw?" Lanqi looked up, genuinely perplexed.
"..."
Ferrat tapped his index finger against the air, finding this irrelevant bystander an utter nuisance.
He had intended to convey certain messages from the higher-ups to Hyperion in private.
It seemed, however, that before he could do so, he would first have to deal with this meddlesome little black rat.
"Did she promise you money? Status? Or something else?" Ferrat asked from on high, his tone dripping with mockery.
To his eyes, any reward this precarious duke's daughter could offer was nothing more than an empty promissory note.
Unless, of course, this fool of a boy had been ensnared by her beauty and agreed to help her out of infatuation.
Yet once he learned what this duke's daughter truly was, he would likely be scared out of his wits.
"Heh."
Lanqi chuckled upon hearing this, as if he had just been asked the most absurd question in the world.
Taking a deep breath, his gaze sharpened slightly as he fixed his eyes on Ferrat and asked:
"According to the examination regulations, she is my teammate, and Article Thirteen explicitly states that I must cooperate with my teammate in combat. As the examiner, didn't you even bother reading the rules before showing up?"
Delivered in the tone of an inspecting superior dressing down a subordinate, the retort left Ferrat utterly stunned in midair.
Chapter 23