Ch.8282. Riding Aptitude Test (3)

Even monkeys fall from trees sometimes.

No matter how excellent a student may be, mistakes can happen to them too.

Contrary to expectations, two people had to consume mana stones without being able to manifest their magic armor during the Magic Armor Compatibility Test.

‘Two of them.’

This was unexpected even for Goden.

Senia, being in a vanguard position, mostly uses mana only for weapons, so she might not be familiar with this aspect.

This was something that could be corrected over time, and with enough practice and trial and error, she would eventually manifest her magic armor.

Failing wasn’t particularly problematic.

However, the other case was different.

“…”

“Don’t be too disheartened, Erika. Everyone fails sometimes.”

What Goden hadn’t anticipated was Erika’s failure to manifest magic armor.

Though other members offered such words of encouragement, for someone in a buffer position like a healer, this was a more serious issue.

In any case, one needs to know the cause to find a solution. If I had to pinpoint a cause, could it be the mana stones?

“Hmm… it might be because of the artificial mana stones. Only Erika and Senia used those.”

“What’s wrong with artificial mana stones?”

“They’re lower grade compared to naturally formed ones. That’s probably why you two got different results than the others.”

At the mention of the mana stones being the problem… one person naturally lowered her head. It was Charlotte.

“I’m sorry. I should have prepared more…”

“No, no. Mana stones were being hoarded anyway, and just getting these was already impressive.”

“Still…”

As Charlotte blamed herself for not securing enough mana stones, the members immediately stopped her and comforted her.

“Getting any mana stones at all in this situation is remarkable. Without them, we couldn’t have even taken the test.”

“That’s what Senia says. What do you think, Charlotte?”

“I’ll listen to you, Sister Aris.”

“That’s right, our good youngest.”

Of course, comforting the youngest didn’t immediately solve the problem at hand.

‘Actually, that’s not the real issue.’

Senia knew why this result had occurred.

Even though Goden pointed to artificial mana stones as the cause, the real reason lay with Erika herself.

On the day Aris knelt before her, after hearing everything, Senia realized that Erika was also connected to Junon.

“Just go ahead with the next step without worrying about us.”

“How can we? You two should come along…”

“If you keep worrying about us, it’ll just put more pressure on us. Don’t you think, Erika?”

“Uh, yeah? Um… that’s right.”

Her timing in responding was a beat too slow.

Seeing the slight teeth marks on her lips that quickly disappeared, it seemed she had found the earlier scene quite frustrating.

“Come on, Erika? We need to go make mana stones for the next test, right?”

“Y-yeah…”

“We’ll be back soon. Don’t worry, just proceed without us.”

Though Senia smiled warmly to ease the members’ concerns, her inner thoughts were different.

After pushing Erika toward the academy and walking far enough that the members couldn’t hear them anymore, Senia promptly initiated a conversation.

“Erika. Don’t you have something to tell me?”

“Something to tell you?”

“You know what I mean. Or should I describe the expression you had in that laboratory?”

Based on what Aris had told her, Erika must have had a similar experience. Aris had suspected as much.

Senia didn’t overlook this and volunteered to accompany Erika.

The claim about giving up her mana stone due to shortage was a lie. She needed to find out if Erika had any connection to Junon.

So they headed to a laboratory in Dube Hall where Professor Dalia was making artificial mana stones, and Senia could directly observe that Erika’s condition wasn’t normal.

“…”

Erika hesitated, avoiding an answer. Senia advised her with a serious face.

“If you keep chasing after that guy, you’ll fall apart first. Focus on your own tasks.”

“What? Senia, what are you talking about?”

“Junon. The guy you kept staring at throughout the synthesis.”

“…!”

Erika had failed multiple times at creating mana stones because she was too distracted by Junon.

Of course, that could happen. The final step of synthesis, mana injection, is complex enough that all students except Junon struggle with it.

As a result, each student typically had to repeat the synthesis at least five times, but the issue was that Erika’s conditions were different.

Healers must go through a process similar to mana stone synthesis when converting mana into holy power. Isn’t it ironic that Erika, who had done this routinely, struggled with mana stone synthesis?

In other words, Erika should have completed the mana stone synthesis easily, but her failure indicated that something was bothering her.

“I don’t know what grudge you have against Junon, but remember this. Manifesting magic armor is necessary for strengthening our team. This isn’t the time to fail at mana stone synthesis or magic armor manifestation because you’re preoccupied with someone else.”

After patting Erika’s shoulder a couple of times, Senia headed to the laboratory, leaving Erika alone to mutter frustratedly.

“…What do you know to say such things? When you don’t even understand properly.”

In a corner of Erika’s heart, that voice kept echoing.

-‘You. You’re so weak and stupid that you’re not even worth comparing to Senior Junon.’

***

The group that finished the test early moved on, but somehow their steps didn’t feel light.

Their heavy footsteps led their exhausted and disheveled bodies to the mansion, where they immediately cleaned up and gathered in the social hall.

“Tch. That old-fashioned professor bastard…!”

Cayden Nevel, the eldest son of Count Nevel, cursed Professor Jake who had mercilessly confronted him and his peers.

Everyone seemed to dislike Professor Jake, as Cayden suggested.

But now wasn’t the time to just be angry.

“What did the other factions say?”

“Professor Jake was assigned to us, and other instructors from the Empire handled them.”

“And the results?”

“Pretty similar, I hear. They all manifested magic armor, but those people just ruined their mood.”

“Why are there only such old-fashioned people in the Empire?”

“I don’t know. Why do we have to suffer like this on such a good day?”

“Exactly! Shouldn’t we formally complain to the academy about this?”

Out of frustration, they all began to voice their complaints. Of course, this wouldn’t change anything, but as nobles responsible for rear positions, they had their pride.

“We agreed to participate because they said they’d check how much stronger we’d become with magic armor, but what kind of professor pushes students so ruthlessly?”

“Exactly. I wonder if he was just trying to break our spirit.”

“Why would a professor try to break students’ spirits?! Especially those in rear positions!”

“How should I know? I was really upset when he called us pathetic. That professor is really strange.”

“He should have just evaluated how much stronger we’ve become with magic armor, but why did he need to measure our progress? Seriously.”

Professor Jake had selected students who successfully manifested magic armor, but he didn’t show a positive reaction.

He even raised his voice and sternly rebuked them after detecting that they had used shortcuts instead of the proper method for magic armor manifestation.

This was why Cayden’s group was in such a mess.

“Ah, Cayden. I’m not sure if I should say this, but…”

“What is it?”

“I heard the commoners are taking the test with something called artificial mana stones…?”

“What? Why should I care about that?!”

“I don’t know the details, but apparently there’s no problem with proceeding.”

“Then… what the head of the family and the professors talked about…”

“Be quiet for a moment!!”

Cayden shouted, slamming his fist down.

He didn’t care about being scolded by Professor Jake or being in a mess because of it. Those things would be forgotten with time.

‘But why…!’

He didn’t care about anything else, but this was different.

It had been secretly spread among nobles and lords that the commoners wouldn’t be able to take the test because mana stones had run out.

But to their surprise, a woman named Professor Dalia, who taught the insignificant subject of alchemy, had emerged and was creating artificial mana stones.

And worse, they were apparently taking the test normally.

It was quite displeasing to hear that they were proceeding with the test under conditions equal to their own.

“So, how many of them manifested magic armor?”

When asked how many had succeeded, the noble who had inquired about the information answered with a sneer.

“Not many, they say. At most, you could count them on one hand.”

The young lords and ladies gathered there finally laughed.

Of course. Those commoners couldn’t possibly succeed. How could such incompetent people create magic armor?

They continued with various insults and slander.

“So… that’s how it is?”

The Magic Armor Compatibility Test was an excellent opportunity.

Commoners without mana stones couldn’t participate, while they, as if chosen, created magic armor.

Isn’t that a good scenario?

They could perfectly establish the hierarchy and even push those worthless people into the abyss. There couldn’t be a better opportunity.

“Everyone, prepare to go to the academy.”

“Huh? Why?”

“Remember that time? The Welcome Duel Replica or whatever it was called.”

“That…”

They couldn’t forget. But they wondered why Cayden was bringing this up.

It was a shameful past for the nobles, so why mention it?

“Ah. I know. Because of that bastard Junon.”

Cayden immediately resolved their doubts with a vile smile.

“So this time, we need to pay them back. It should be easy to deal with people who don’t even have magic armor, right?”

Their lips curled up into smirks, just like Cayden’s.

***

In the Magic Armor Compatibility Test, time acceleration occurs, making the perceived time much longer. This is to prevent the flow of mana from becoming too rapid.

So even at its longest, the test doesn’t exceed 15 minutes, and afterward, they tell you the internal time you experienced in the measuring device.

I heard that the time taken for the first magic armor manifestation isn’t particularly important, but since a comparison is needed here, I recalled my memories from before the regression.

“Their first magic armor manifestation times… Senia took 1 hour and 22 minutes. Erika took 1 hour and 30 minutes. And lastly, Michelle took 40 minutes, I think.”

Except for Michelle, they all seemed to take quite a long time, but that’s not really the case.

When considering the entire year, these three rank in the upper tier. There’s a reason they’re members of the Tembris Party.

I haven’t heard the first manifestation times of Goden, Charlotte, or Aris, who had already been on the battlefield, but I think they probably weren’t as short as this.

“10 minutes.”

That was the time it took for my first magic armor manifestation.

“Actually, this is more troubling…”

99%, an ideal figure. This means that the magic armor I manifested has a very close compatibility with my mana. At least I didn’t fail at manifesting magic armor.

“The question is… can this even be called a weapon?”

Right after manifestation, all I saw before me was some kind of mana line wrapping around both my hands, which was hard to consider a weapon.

Magic armor usually takes the form of a weapon. At most, staffs or wands used by mages might be considered somewhat distant from typical weapons.

Ironically, what I handled best was a shield with over 30% compatibility, but this is far too different from that.

“Knuckles…? No, not that. Should I use it like gauntlets? Ugh…”

What, am I supposed to fight bare-handed? I wonder if it’s even possible to defeat magical beasts with this.

I don’t think there’s anyone with a similar case… sigh.

I could have found the answer by entering Mizar Hall right away for a simple mock battle, but now wasn’t the time, so I had to move on.

“Besides, shouldn’t they be here by now?”

At this time, there should be people coming this way after confirming less than 10% compatibility and deciding to try again.

Even checking the clock, it seemed well past the time they should have arrived, considering the maximum test time of 15 minutes and the distance between Mizar Hall and Dube Hall.

“Well… they might just be a little late. It also took time to make mana stones.”

So I thought they would arrive soon if I waited a little longer. There was a time when I had such groundless reassurance.

“…What’s that? Why is there smoke coming from over there?”

Smoke was rising from a strange place, neither Mizar Hall nor Dube Hall.

What made me uneasy was that it was a path I often used to avoid people. As a result, it wasn’t easily visible to others, and due to the size of the buildings, smoke rising wouldn’t be noticeable unless from specific locations.

I suddenly checked if I had heard any sounds, but I hadn’t heard anything in this quiet place.

That means… a sound-blocking barrier had been placed there.

With a sinking feeling, my body was already running toward that place.

***

“Congratulations on your manifestation!”

“Congratulations, seniors!”

“I thought John and Noel were nothing special, but you guys are amazing!”

“Ahaha…”

“I’m embarrassed…”

Among a group that came out of Mizar Hall, two people had manifested magic armor.

John. Noel. After witnessing Junon’s achievements and continuously working hard, these two became the only representatives in this group to manifest magic armor.

Due to the treatment they had received, each time someone failed in the test room, they couldn’t help but feel negative, wondering if it wasn’t meant for them.

So they secretly hoped that at least one person would succeed, and dramatically, the last two people succeeded in manifesting, fulfilling their wish.

Seeing this, who would want to give up?

Not a single person here thought of giving up.

When the two successful ones encouraged the others, saying they could do it too, the group headed toward Dube Hall with renewed determination to make more mana stones.

And at that moment.

“How ridiculous. Commoners talking about magic armor?”

“Hey, is the sound barrier complete?”

“It’s done. Nothing will be heard outside no matter what we do.”

“Good. Let’s go hunting.”

Inevitably, troublemakers appeared.