"Oh? Why would you think that the equipment is broken? The measurement''s result seems pretty much correct to me, though...?"


    Student Zoemi tilted his head even more with an innocent expression, well, as innocent as the scars were allowing him to make.


    "Eh?"


    "Huh!?"


    "Pardon...?"


    All three examiners eximed in shock and student Auequas started fidgeting from the embarrassment.


    "The truth is, that I actually shouldn''t have even awakened in the first ce. It just so happened that I was present when the first prince Horeo awakened and - in words of lord Lazaram – that event forced my dormant magic ability to awaken because of the corrtion between the attributes of light and darkness."


    "Ah! I see I see! Very intriguing indeed!"


    The blue-haired teacher started writing something on the papers in front of her with incredible speed and with a flushed face.


    The red-haired teacher sighed and took only a short note – at which, Kros nced over his shoulder.


    Extremely weak mana - the note said.


    |Well... as expected... only one three times the amount of amoner... Maybe this won''t be so bothersome as I thought. What could he possibly disy with only this much?|


    The elderly teacher nodded to himself.


    Although, something wasn''t sitting well with him about what the boy has said.


    The ck-haired student might have not realized it himself but the words of the royal magician weren''t as simple as he took them for.


    First of all, the darkness was the absence of light – that''s the only corrtion, even with the element created by mana, the only thing those two attributes had inmon was that they were the opposites of each other in nature.


    Another example of that could be water and fire – but there was no evidence of a fire magician''s awakening prompting the awakening of the water magician...


    "Let''s start with thebat exam."


    "...!"


    Kros flinched as his red-haired colleague who certainly did not share his curiosity waved his hand dismissively and hasten the boy.


    He clearly wanted to be over with that, unimportant student as – just as Kross and the young Perserios - he was far more excited to see the transcended wind magician, and this weak boy was dampening his mood.


    "Before we start. Am I allowed to use something called mana potions?"


    The ck-haired student straightened his back and asked in a cautious voice.


    "Hmm...?"


    Kros raised his brow.


    Mana potion?


    Wasn''t that just the recent fad - a useless gimmick that could only replenish a minuscule speck of mana?


    |Ah... no, wait, for him even that would be a lot...|


    The elderly magician realized and leaned back on his seat.


    "There''s no rule forbidding them explicitly, hence they are allowed. Feel free to use as many as you want. Now start already."


    "Lord Shuze...!"


    The elderly light magician waved his hand dismissively, but his red-haired colleague seemed o mind that for some reason.


    "Oh, shut it. If this was someone from the important family you would have licked his boots already."


    "...!"


    "...pffft..."


    Kros scoffed and didn''t allow the red-haired teacher to reject the aid of a mana potion – which left said red-haired teacher speechless while also getting a chuckle barely concealed chuckle of the blue-haired woman from the Perserios family.


    ...the red-haired teacher wasn''t particrly liked by either the elderly light magician or the water-magician...


    "..."


    Since it seemed that there was no problem, after all, student Auequas nodded to the trio of teachers and walked towards the closebat dummy d in enchanted armor.


    Since the tuition costs were high the academy hasn''t skimped on the equipment either.


    Every armor that will be used in today''s evaluation could withstand a moderate spell with only a scratch and would only dent when faced with a strong spell – to make it even more urate, the damage that the person wearing such armor would be indicated by the light emitted by the mana crystal the equipment had installed on the inside.


    White light – no damage.


    Yellow light – a scratch or light-wound at most.


    Orange light – a serious wound very much likely to distract or even incapacitate the target.


    Red light – instant death.


    Thest one was expected to be seen only during the tests of the fire and light attribute students - and the transcended wind magician student too, of course.


    "..."


    Student Auequas breathed out and closed his eyes concentrating on the mental image of the spell he wanted to use.


    "Darkness de."


    The scarred boy muttered, barely loud enough for the examiners to understand him.


    "...this is the feared darkness de...? I expected more..."


    After the incantation, the ck-haired student''s attack spell activated and a pitiful four-inch de emerged from the base of his right palm – prompting the rather unnecessaryment from the red-haired middle-aged teacher.


    "...?"


    The other two might have not noticed anything strange, but Kros had far more experience than both of thembined.


    As far as he could tell, student Auequas''s darkness de looked...


    ...defective...


    Kros Rul Shuze had encounters with the darkness magicians in his prime – far more than he ever wished for – and each time any of them would call forth that terrifying spell, it would leave a deep impression on the light magician.


    The pitch-ck darkness that looked like the most intense jet-ck silk.


    Anyone looking at it would inadvertently start fearing that their soul might get sucked out if they would not turn away.


    It was the very spell that the treacherous Ghosts used to massacre the royal family and all the important figures of the Bellcephora kingdom three centuries ago.


    That spell which was actually supposed to be a condensed darkness attribute mana pushed out of the body of the magician –pletely ignored any and all magic defenses of its target and well as most o the physical ones too - and the shape it would take could even be influenced by the magician themself - but that required a much greater amount of mana than an average darkness magician possessed.


    Kros Rul Shuze had seen with his own eyes as a much bigger darkness de cuts through the enchanted armor as if it was paper – and it was a horrifying sight that he wished to forget since the live demonstration he unwillingly witnessed was not done to a test dummy like the one they had prepared for a test, but rather performed on an unexpected living human who happened a dear friend of Kros.


    ...and it was a ''demonstration'' that resulted in the death of that friend of his...


    "..."


    The elderly magician shook his head to get rid of the unpleasant vision of the past and focus back on the student in front of him.


    The ck-haired boy''s darkness de wasn''t anywhere near as dark as the one in Kros''s memories.


    Its color was murky and it seemed to fluctuate and it almost seemed that the de itself would wobble at times as if the mana had troubles staying condensed enough...


    |Is it because he has so little mana...? Will he even be able to deal any damage at all...?|


    The elderly teacher furrowed his brows, resting his chin on his fist.


    As far as Kros knew, the secret behind the destructive power of the darkness de was the corrosive nature of darkness attribute mana that was extremely hard - basically impossible - to counter at close range - but it had to be concentrated - and one created by student Auequas was imperfect in that regard....