Ch.18Black Magic Professor (3)

Lael blinked her eyes.

As if she couldn’t believe she had met me.

I quickly averted my gaze from her and began moving between the desks again.

If someone noticed us making eye contact for too long, we might be suspected of cheating.

Whether she failed the exam or not was none of my business, but I didn’t want my professor position to be at risk.

What was the point of making eye contact with her anyway?

Our relationship was already over.

Even after walking through all the examinees, I couldn’t sense any mana.

Fortunately, it seemed there was no cheating.

When I returned to my original position and nodded, Professor Anette spoke loudly again.

Loud enough for everyone to hear.

“Now, we will begin the written exam. No questions will be accepted. The time limit is 1 hour!”

“Begin!”

The students flipped over their exam papers and began solving the problems.

Tension filled the examination room.

The kind of tension where you feel like you’ll be devoured the moment you let your guard down.

There were 100 questions in total.

Considering I had solved it in about 30 minutes back then, I thought the students would probably finish in about the same time.

But as the hour drew near, no one seemed to have finished.

Of course, there were examinees who were lying down or spinning their pens, but it was hard to believe they had completed everything.

Professor Anette looked at the magical device on her wrist and began counting down the remaining seconds.

“10 seconds, 9 seconds, 8 seconds, 7 seconds…”

“1 second. Time’s up! The exam is over. Stop what you’re doing.”

At Professor Anette’s words, everyone took their hands off their desks.

As if declaring their innocence.

But there was one person.

One examinee who was still writing something on the exam paper.

Naturally, everyone’s attention, including Professor Anette’s and mine, turned toward him.

“J-just a moment! I’m… I’m almost done!”

Despite his desperate plea, Professor Anette was merciless.

She strode toward him, snatched the exam paper he was working on, and burned it.

With her specialty, fire attribute magic.

“Ah, no!”

The examinee desperately reached out his hand, but the exam paper had already turned to ashes.

Professor Anette delivered the final blow to the stunned examinee.

“This is cheating. Any objections?”

He didn’t answer and just hung his head low.

There was no room for objection since it was clear that he had cheated.

Having served justice, she returned to her position and addressed the frozen students.

“Everyone, stand up and leave the room. Then follow the instructions of the professors outside to move to the practical exam site!”

The students rushed out as if terrified.

To be honest, I was a bit surprised too.

I knew she would take away the exam paper, but I didn’t expect her to burn it right in front of him.

Professor Anette, you’re quite scary.

Second only to my master.

After confirming that all examinees had left, Professor Anette let out a deep sigh.

“I don’t like doing this either. They must have prepared so hard. To enter the Academy.”

They might have prepared, but I’m not sure about “hard.”

I got a perfect score after studying for just a week.

Anyway, with the written exam over, the practical exam was next for the examinees.

As a Warlock professor, I headed to the practical exam site to evaluate them.

Of course, I helped Professor Anette collect the exam papers before leaving.

It was fortunate to have a legitimate reason to escape what seemed like a day full of self-pity.

Unlike the written exam site, the practical exam site was quite noisy.

But the atmosphere was similar.

They were nervous.

Depending on who their mock battle opponent would be, their acceptance could be determined.

Everyone probably hoped for a weak opponent.

That way, they could fully demonstrate their abilities.

“Ah, Professor Crow, you’re here?”

When I arrived at the spot with the best view of the mock battles, Professor Febric, the earth attribute magic professor who had arrived earlier, greeted me.

Actually, other professors were already there too, but they weren’t exactly welcoming.

Why hide it?

Except for Professor Anette and Professor Febric, everyone viewed me negatively.

The headmaster’s parachute appointment, unclear background, a Warlock.

The reasons varied, but their behavior was the same.

Since Professor Anette had to leave to grade the written exams, if it weren’t for Professor Febric, I would probably be standing far away.

Professor Febric, I’ll treat you to a drink sometime.

“Professor Crow, you don’t need to be so tense. No one’s going to eat you.”

No, Professor, I think someone behind you is trying to eat me.

When our eyes met, the water attribute magic professor behind him quickly turned her head away.

What was her name again?

I think it was Ophelia.

Well, she’s not someone who treats me well, so it doesn’t matter if I can’t remember.

The practical exam was divided into four groups.

Each group moved to one of four small arenas under the guidance of teaching assistants for mock battles.

In the end, I had to evaluate four mock battles simultaneously, which was dizzying.

As my master said, Warlocks were too weak in mock battles.

No, they weren’t prepared for mock battles.

In the upper right of the four arenas, a mock battle between a warrior and a Warlock was about to take place.

The warrior, true to form, wore full-body armor with a shield and a one-handed sword.

The Warlock wore leather clothing and carried a dagger.

The defeat was already evident from here.

To pierce that armor with a dagger, one would need to get very close, but mild curses couldn’t completely stop a warrior’s movements.

Could the Warlock handle the dagger exceptionally well like a rogue and strike at the joints where there was no armor? That wasn’t the case either.

Actually, while preparing for the practical exam evaluation, I thought about various strategies for Warlocks in mock battles, but only one came to mind.

Using black magic spells that require minimal mediums, like Slow, Weakness, and Blackout, to restrict the opponent’s movement, and then subduing them with a mastered primary weapon.

That’s the only way a Warlock could win in a mock battle.

Of course, this is limited to mock battles. In an actual battle, as long as there are potions, Warlocks are nearly invincible.

And if you add the ability to turn dead Warlocks into undead?

Honestly, I can understand why the Church fell.

The result of the mock battle in the upper right was, unsurprisingly, the warrior’s victory.

As they left the arena, the next person to step up was…

Lael Gideon.

Lael’s attire wasn’t armor, but rather luxurious casual clothes designed for ease of movement. And in her hand, instead of a shield and one-handed sword, she held a massive greatsword.

She didn’t really look like a warrior.

Opposite her stood a man in light clothing with a dagger.

It seemed Lael’s opponent was a rogue.

But even with her opponent present, she was looking in this direction.

Honestly, my attention was drawn to her, but I couldn’t keep staring.

Or rather, from my position, there was no need to pay attention to the battle in the upper right since there was no Warlock involved.

Until I heard the exclamations from the examinees.

“Wow. That’s unbelievable.”

“Is she really a freshman?”

“Hey, that’s the daughter of Duke Gideon. The A-rank party leader.”

When I glanced toward the source of the noise, there was Lael, staring blankly in this direction, and the rogue already lying on the ground.

How many seconds had passed? 10? 15?

For the Academy examinees, an A-rank party leader was in a different league.

After that, many more mock battles took place, and the practical exam concluded.

I closed my eyes and rubbed my eyelids.

Honestly, I couldn’t take my eyes off for a moment.

I didn’t want the examinees to suffer because of my mistakes.

In this practical exam, only two Warlocks caught my eye.

One of them also had talent in fire attributes, so he didn’t use black magic often, but when he did, it was always at the right time and place.

His combat sense was excellent too. He was still a rough gem, but with proper polishing, he would definitely become a jewel.

The other one used a primary weapon other than black magic, just as I had thought.

Although he lost the mock battle due to lack of proficiency, I highly evaluated the fact that he had already reached such a conclusion.

It showed that he had analyzed and prepared for the mock battle to that extent.

The rest were truly a motley crew.

There was even one who had self-taught black magic and created such a large wound that he voluntarily surrendered.

Did all the excellent Warlocks die in the battle with the Church?

What’s going on?

I wrote down two numbers in the acceptance column and put down my pen.

Hoping for a higher level of Warlocks next year.