Ch.48Chapter 48 – His Utterly Incomprehensible Ability

# End-of-Term Evaluation

All students enrolled at Glesius Academy must prove how much their skills have grown through the end-of-term evaluation.

However, this didn’t apply to me, who entered through a special admission.

So why am I at the evaluation site right now? Well…

‘Pathos, would you be willing to serve as a temporary assistant for the end-of-term evaluation?’

The Chancellor had requested that I take on the role of temporary assistant for the end-of-term evaluation.

‘During the end-of-term evaluation, students often push themselves too hard trying to show everything they’ve got. Sometimes they miss equipment inspection times and end up damaging their equipment during the test. So I was wondering if you could check their equipment on-site to prevent any damage.’

‘Well, that’s not difficult at all.’

I accepted the Chancellor’s request. Equipment inspection wasn’t particularly challenging—just hitting the equipment three times with a hammer would do the trick.

‘By the way, all the students taking the end-of-term evaluation look so tense.’

I was comfortably seated in a chair, observing today’s evaluation participants.

In the distance, I spotted some familiar faces.

They were Mina Endras and Elena Sandrios.

The two were waiting for their turn at the practical exam site.

“Ugh, I’m so nervous…”

“It’s okay, Mina. I’m sure you’ll get a good score.”

They seemed to be having a conversation, and from their posture, it looked like Elena was encouraging a nervous Mina.

Yes. It’s nice to see friends supporting each other.

“Ah, Pathos. You’re here early?”

While sitting in my chair, I heard someone calling me from behind.

“Hello, Professor Calibro.”

The person calling me was Professor Mia Calibro, the supervisor for this exam.

She was a Glesius Academy graduate who, having her abilities recognized, had become an Imperial Mage of the Gelebrio Empire.

Recently, at the Chancellor’s recommendation, she had stepped down from her position as Imperial Mage to become a professor at Glesius Academy.

‘How did you convince an Imperial Mage to become a professor?’

‘Rock-paper-scissors.’

‘…’

According to the Chancellor, they decided it with rock-paper-scissors, but I wonder if that makes any sense.

“Is there something on my face?”

“No, it’s nothing. Let’s prepare for the evaluation.”

“Hmm, alright. Everyone, please come over here and prepare for the evaluation!”

As Professor Calibro announced the preparation for the evaluation, all the students began walking toward where I was.

Why were the students coming to me?

That’s because a new step had been added before the end-of-term evaluation.

“Line up in the order you’ll be evaluated. Otherwise, I won’t check your equipment.”

This was the equipment inspection time before the evaluation.

Although equipment checks are routinely done, people tend to feel anxious even with prior preparation.

So the academy decided to have a final equipment inspection time before the end-of-term evaluation.

But since only I can do this, what will they do after I graduate from the academy?

‘I’ll think about that later. For now, I should focus on the task at hand.’

I shook my head to clear my thoughts and concentrated on the immediate task before me.

The first student to be tested approached me and held out their wand. I quickly tapped it three times with my hammer.

A very faint light enveloped the wand and then disappeared, and the student walked over to Professor Calibro.

Since the evaluation would have ten students using magic simultaneously, I still had nine more students to go.

I moved my hands quickly to fix the equipment held by students 2 through 10, and all ten students stood before Professor Calibro.

“Let’s begin the evaluation. Each of you should use your strongest magic against the target in front of your lane.”

At Professor Calibro’s instruction to use their strongest magic, students 1 through 10 began chanting their spells in unison.

“Strongest force of nature, pierce through the enemy before me! Lava Spear!”

“Storm, blow away my enemy; Earth, crush my enemy! Stone Bullet!”

“Whip of lightning, tear my enemy to shreds. Lightning Whip!”

The spells and incantations of the students taking the evaluation varied greatly.

Listening to the magical incantations the students were uttering, it seemed like each was trying to describe magic in their own way.

For example, let’s look at the Lava Spear spell cast by the first student.

This student thought that lava was the strongest force from nature and wanted to use it to pierce through enemies.

So they created lava in the form of a spear and sent it flying toward the evaluation target.

The Lava Spear that hit the target pierced through it, then melted and stuck to it.

Eventually, the burning target turned to ash and disappeared, and simultaneously, a new target was created with a bright flash of light.

I turned my head toward the targets placed in lanes 2 through 10.

Some targets, like the one for student 1, disappeared after being hit by magic and were replaced with new ones, while others were just tattered or slightly damaged.

‘Hmm, does one need to make the target disappear to pass?’

Since I didn’t know the evaluation criteria well, I thought that students who could destroy the targets might receive passing scores.

“Huh?”

“W-what’s going on? Why are there so many broken targets?”

But seeing Professor Calibro’s reaction, I felt that something was going wrong.

She looked extremely surprised at the sight of the broken targets.

I approached her and asked what had happened.

“Professor Calibro, is there a problem?”

“Ah, Pathos. Well…”

As I approached, Professor Calibro explained in detail what had happened.

“So, you’re saying that first-year students shouldn’t normally be able to destroy the targets?”

“Yes, that’s right. That’s why I keep thinking something’s strange. Even when I was at the academy, at most only one person per year could destroy a target.”

Wait, only one person per year could destroy a target?

Then how tough are these targets?

“Normally, first-year students get full marks on the practical evaluation if they can leave a mark on the target, but this is a problem. At this rate, everyone will get perfect scores…”

Professor Calibro seemed worried that all students might get perfect scores.

“Isn’t it good if many students get perfect scores?”

“No. According to the student management window I’m looking at, none of these students should be able to meet the perfect score criteria. Elena Sandrios shows some potential, but the rest should be limited to around 80 points at best.”

Listening to Professor Calibro’s explanation, something seemed very strange.

But there’s no reason students would take performance-enhancing substances before a practical exam.

“Is there a possibility they used prohibited substances?”

“Pathos, our academy prohibits the possession or use of illegal substances under any circumstances. The magical barrier covering the entire academy makes it impossible for illegal substances to work.”

So that’s how it is.

“There are substances that can bypass the barrier, but they would cost enough to buy a mansion. And none of the students here have that kind of money.”

At that moment, I recalled something someone had mentioned in passing before.

‘When I use equipment you’ve maintained, training somehow goes better. Even expensive potions don’t improve my skills as noticeably as equipment that’s passed through your hands. In that sense, five silver coins isn’t expensive at all. If anything, it seems too little.’

A noble student had said that training went better when using equipment I had inspected.

I wonder if my ability somehow influenced the students’ skill improvement.

“Excuse me, Professor Calibro.”

“Yes? What is it?”

I told Professor Calibro about anecdotes related to my ability, and her eyes sharpened as if she had found an answer.

“Just a moment. Let’s do a test.”

She pulled out a magic staff from somewhere.

“You there, come here.”

And she called student 1.

The student who had used Lava Spear to burn the target rushed over at Professor Calibro’s call.

“Use this magic staff to cast Lava Spear at the target.”

“Yes, Professor!”

Student 1 answered energetically, stood in lane 1, and used Lava Spear toward the target.

And the result was… truly surprising.

“The target…?”

“It’s fine…?”

While the Lava Spear used during the evaluation had burned the target, when using the staff provided by Professor Calibro, the power seemed to have decreased.

Even though a magic staff has greater amplification power than a wand, the magic’s power was weaker than when the student used their own wand.

The target hit by Lava Spear was only slightly scorched on the surface but otherwise intact.

Professor Calibro retrieved the staff and handed it to me.

I took the staff she offered and swung my hammer, and a very faint light lingered on the staff before disappearing.

Professor Calibro told student 1 to cast Lava Spear again, and the student cast Lava Spear toward the target once more.

—BOOM!

“Now I understand the secret behind that formidable power…”

Saying this, she grabbed my hand firmly.

“It was because of Pathos’s ability.”