"Very well."
Ferrat's expression showed neither pleasure nor anger, though the veins on his forehead twitched twice.
He nodded.
Ferrat did not know whether this youth truly failed to comprehend the disparity between them or was deliberately baiting him.
It did not matter.
Vaporizing him first would suffice.
High in the air, Chief Examiner Ferrat slowly spread his palm, every fraction of his fingers' movement carrying the weight of an immutable, unquestionable rule.
Instantly, his eyes turned as fathomless as the starry sky. Around his body, tremendous mana coalesced, heralding the inception of a grand magical rite.
As Ferrat's lips parted and closed, chanting a string of intricate, archaic incantations in a ringing voice, the surrounding air heated up rapidly, thick with the violent aura of fire mana.
An unseen ripple of magical power swept across the vast grassland, howling into a massive gale.
In that single breath, the green tips of the grass beneath him began to yellow and smoke, scorched by Ferrat's blistering mana.
Even without magic cards, the spells Ferrat possessed were more than enough to obliterate the two of them in an instant.
However, underestimating an opponent weaker than oneself was never wise.
Ferrat knew this well.
When lower tiers fought higher tiers, the sole turning point lay in "special mechanics."
Lethal triggers such as massive damage reflection could easily overturn even a high-tier combatant.
Before arriving, no matter what intelligence resources Ferrat tapped, he had found zero record of Lanqi participating in actual combat.
The boy's history was as clean as a blank sheet of paper.
Coupled with Lanqi's habitually unorthodox train of thought, Ferrat could not help but be on guard.
That was largely why he had been reluctant to take the initiative to attack Lanqi at first—he feared triggering a special-mechanic magic card like damage reflection.
Persuading him to back down with words would have been ideal.
Yet since this brat was determined to muddy the waters, there were plenty of ways to handle him.
For instance, granting this youth named Lanqi a memorable brush with death, leaving him to perish slowly and agonizingly amid scorching flames.
Moreover, Ferrat was certain the duke's daughter possessed a temperament that would rather die than surrender.
In this artificial Shadow World where death carried no mortal consequence, once Lanqi, the unpredictable factor, was burned to ash, Ferrat would have all the time in the world to deal with her unilaterally.
Down on the distant grassland.
Sensing the approaching, perilous heat and seeing Ferrat finally make his move, Hyperion's eyes flickered as though she had noticed something.
"Ferrat was probably on guard against you running a reflection build, but we won't last long against his Tier 3 magic either!" Hyperion whispered hurriedly.
She realized the spell Ferrat was currently chanting was not a lethal Tier 5 area-of-effect spell, but a Tier 3 sustained area-of-effect spell with lower burst damage!
"Don't worry, I told you I'm a utility-specialized white mage."
Even as Lanqi spoke, a magic card had already appeared in his hand.
The moment Ferrat began chanting, Lanqi had already formulated a countermeasure.
This spell card, crafted using the principles of Demon Realm toxins taught to him by Talia, could finally be put to good use.
...
In the conference room.
Even though most of the instructors saw little suspense in the outcome of this exam, their attention was now entirely captivated by the battle.
"Is that Lanqi fellow finally making a move?"
The instructors had long been curious about what role Lanqi could possibly serve.
A white mage only received professional certification when healing spells comprised over seventy percent of their spell loadout, meaning they were almost always specialized healers. The few remaining slots would be used to provide various forms of team support.
If one's spell composition leaned toward specialized utility, they typically would not be classified as a white mage during certification; instead, the ratio of their spells would assign them to other support roles.
Thus, the instructors only knew Lanqi carried an abundance of healing spells, but had no idea what archetype he followed or what filled his non-healing card slots.
"Even if he brought a spell with hard crowd control, it could only interrupt Ferrat's casting once."
"And at his tier, it's very likely he won't be able to affect Ferrat at all."
The instructors conversed while keeping their eyes glued to the magic screen.
Generally, the harder the control effect, the harder it was to apply.
Hard crowd control such as [Stun] or [Freeze] could never take effect against Ferrat at Tier 5 when cast by a Tier 2 like Lanqi.
The only soft control with any hope of interrupting the incantation was [Silence].
Yet any [Silence] Lanqi could place on Ferrat would last only a split second; Ferrat could simply restart his chant immediately afterward.
On the screen, the battle progressed.
The instructors knew this clash would very likely decide the outcome.
If Lanqi and Hyperion weathered it, there would still be room for tactical play.
If they had no answer, everything would end right here!
"O Fire Deity dwelling deep within the earth veins, grant me the fury of molten rock—"
Just as Ferrat chanted his incantation in the ancient human magical tongue, the sound of his voice came to an abrupt halt.
His gaze shifted coldly, only to see Lanqi holding a magic card radiating a purple haze.
Evidently, Lanqi had used this [Purple Rare] spell card to disrupt his incantation.
Ferrat's expression remained icy, untouched by the slightest ripple of emotion.
...
"He really did use a silence spell."
"It interrupts Ferrat once, but it's just drinking poison to quench thirst," a senior professor watching in the conference room remarked with a sigh.
Even with a Tier 2 purple-quality card, attempting to silence a Tier 5 Ferrat would last only a fleeting moment before dispelling itself.
Furthermore, spell cards capable of applying [Silence] generally had long cooldowns.
Ferrat would be able to cast again in no time.
When that happened, the outcome would remain unchanged!
Just as the instructors were about to look away...
One second passed.
Two seconds passed.
Five seconds passed!
Ferrat still could not utter a sound!
Lanqi even stood far away at his leisure, one hand propped on his hip, watching Chief Examiner Ferrat in the sky like a retired bureaucrat leisurely observing the scene.
"???"
"Why has the silence lasted this long?"
"What card could possibly inflict such a potent [Silence]? That's impossible!"
It was merely a Tier 2 Purple Rare spell card. Even if it defied the heavens, it could never control Ferrat in his Tier 5 state like this!
At this moment, it was not just Ferrat on screen who looked utterly shocked.
Even the instructors watching the feed in the conference room finally realized the gravity of the situation.
"Holy f***!!"
Amid the chorus of gasps, the instructors finally saw the monitoring terminal successfully appraise and display the attributes of the card Lanqi had just played!
On the magic screen's projection:
"Ugh... ergh!!"
Ferrat tried to demand answers from Lanqi, but could only produce bizarre groans.
In that instant, he understood.
The reason he could not continue chanting his spell lay entirely in the strange spell card Lanqi had used to disrupt him!
It wasn't f***ing [Silence] at all.
It was—[Mute]!
[Friendly Communication]
[Category: Spell Card]
[Quality: Purple Rare]
[Tier: 2]
[Effect: Inflicts minor damage to the enemy's throat using poison magic, applying the "Muted" status: causes excruciating, razor-sharp pain in the throat, rendering the target unable to speak. Cooldown: 15 seconds.]
[Remark: You have violated the user agreement and have been permanently muted.]
Chapter 24