The open grounds in front of the Jet-Black Dynamics building.
’Fwoosh! Fwoosh!’
A volley of fire erupted from a group of Muspels, monsters ford entirely of fla. Simon deftly weaved through the inferno, striding across the scorched earth before coming to a sudden halt.
"Hup!"
Five skulls materialized, hovering in the air around him. They were Skull Drones, each shrouded in his erald-colored Cloud.
"Now, fire!"
’Water Bolt’
The skulls’ jaws gaped open, unleashing powerful water cannons that easily extinguished the fiery beasts. Simon walked past their smoldering remains, but after only a few more steps, a new threat erged: plant-like monsters resembling massive pitcher plants charged him. The Skull Drones fired another volley of Water Bolts, but the creatures shrugged off the impacts and continued their advance.
[Kehehe! This is a surprisingly tricky test!] Pier cackled in his mind.
’It’s fine, Pier.’
Simon sent his Skull Drones forward and spread his arms, his eyes gleaming with intense focus.
’Simon Original - Magib System’
Skeleton Mages, and the Skull Drones derived from them, were typically limited to a single school of black magic at a ti. The Magib System was Simon’s solution. A large magic circle materialized before him, connected to smaller circles embedded in each Skull Drone by threads of shimring Cloud. The currently registered skill was the Jet-Black Water school’s ‘Water Bolt’.
’Change to the Jet-Black Fla school’s ‘Dark Blaze’.’
As Simon manipulated the central circle, the sigils engraved on the skulls began to shift in unison. His fingers danced in the air as if playing an invisible piano, rapidly reconfiguring the magic of each drone before he issued his next command.
"Dark Blaze!"
This ti, the Skull Drones unleashed torrents of fire. The plant monsters, which had seed so resilient monts before, were instantly incinerated, their charge ending in a pile of black ash. Simon quickly vacated the battlefield.
’Learning to command Skeleton Mages was a great decision.’
Though his own proficiency with Jet-Black Elental magic was lacking, his summons more than made up for it. He could handle any elental monster the Jet-Black Dynamics exam threw at him.
[We’re almost there, boy!]
’Yeah.’
The Jet-Black Dynamics building now lood directly ahead. Simon unfolded the map Dick had given him.
’Dick said there was a shortcut through here.’
He could already hear the cacophony from the main entrance—the roar of students and the percussive blasts of black magic. Following the map, Simon circled around to the back of the building.
’Two old benches in the open area.’ His eyes scanned his surroundings, taking in every detail. ’In front of the callia tree.’
Simon positioned himself so the tree was between him and the building. This was the spot. After a quick warm-up, he broke into a sprint.
Channeling Jet-Black into his feet, he scaled the wall. As the steep incline threatened his balance, he shot out a hand and grabbed a protruding brick.
"Just as I thought!"
A past student had clearly used black magic to create a handhold. Dangling precariously, Simon glanced down. If anyone saw him, they’d likely attack. He calmly planted his feet on the edge of the brick and began a slow, careful ascent.
’But could it really be this easy?’ If so, everyone would be climbing the walls instead of fighting a bloody battle at the front gate.
[Khahaha! It’s a good habit to question everything during a Kizen exam!] Pier’s disembodied grin was practically audible. [Look to your right!]
At Pier’s shout, Simon’s head snapped to the side. A single card was wedged in a crack in the wall.
’Damn it!’
’FWOOSH!’
The card erupted in a blinding light, pulling him into a pocket dinsion. Gravity twisted violently, and Simon, who had been climbing vertically, found himself crawling on what was now the floor. The wall had beco the ground. He pushed himself to his feet and faced his new opponent: a massive, chaleon-like monster. It flicked its long tongue, its skin a stark, unnatural white.
"So a trap was guarding it after all."
Still, if he could get past this with just one fight, it was a bargain. Simon imdiately summoned his Skull Drones. The chaleon’s body was covered in snow and ice, suggesting it was a creature of the northern wastes. The the of the exam was ‘elents’ and ‘type advantages’. Against an ice-type monster, he was in luck; he could probably win without even changing his magic.
’Dark Blaze’
The mont the Skull Drones unleashed their flas, the chaleon’s form shifted. The ice lted in an instant, its body transforming into a shimring creature of pure water.
’What?!’
The fireballs didn’t harm the monster at all; they were simply swallowed by the water and extinguished.
"What is this?"
Flustered, Simon activated his Magib System, preparing to switch to a magic effective against water. But before he could—
’Sssss—’
The chaleon changed again, its body now caked in thick mud.
’Sssss—’
It erupted into a being of pure fla.
’Sssss—’
And then it reverted to its original form of snow and ice.
’A monster that can change its elent at will.’
Now he understood why the other students had avoided this route. This thing was a nightmare to fight.
’The examiner must have intended for a dual-elent user to face this.’ A necromancer like irin, who could wield both fire and ice, could overwhelm it by attacking with both simultaneously. But Simon had a different strategy in mind. A corner of his mouth lifted.
’Sothing powerful enough to ignore elents entirely.’
’Crackle, crackle!’
A spear of pure purple chaos materialized at his waist, and he drew it like a sword.
’A Jet-Black magic with overwhelming destructive power!’
’Simon Original - Chaos Spear’
At the sight of the violet spear, the chaleon’s eyes darted about frantically. It cycled through its elents, clearly confused as to how to defend against such a technique.
Simon stomped his foot and hurled the spear. It shot forward like a bolt of lightning, plunging straight down the monster’s throat and piercing clean through its body.
With a sound like a bursting balloon, the monster’s body exploded into a shower of flesh and viscera. A single shot was all it took.
"Oh." Simon, who had already been forming a second and third spear, paused, surprised by his own power. "Well, I guess the first shot did the trick."
The dark dinsion around him shattered, and he was back in reality. A mont too late, he realized that gravity had returned to normal and he was still standing on the vertical face of the wall.
Before he could react, gravity reasserted its claim, and he plumted.
"Gotcha!"
’Thump!’
A hand shot out from a third-floor window and snatched him out of the air. He was left dangling, held fast. Looking up, he saw a female student with one eye squinted in a grin.
"Class President!"
It was Jamie Victoria.
"I told you, I’m not the class president anymore!" she yelled, grunting with the effort of hauling him up.
Simon scrambled through the window, panting. "Th-Thanks."
Jamie just chuckled. "Consider us even for the BMAT, got it?" With that, she turned and headed down the stairs.
"Wait!" Simon called after her. "What about registering for Professor Jane’s class?"
"Already done! You’d better hurry!" her voice echoed back. "There are probably only one or two spots left!"
Her words sent a jolt of panic through him, and he bolted up the stairs.
’Tatadat!’
He took the steps to the fourth floor in a single bound. The staircase was littered with monster corpses, a ss Jamie had clearly just made. The mont he passed, he saw new monsters being resummoned by Endolas Bordeville’s cards.
’That was too close.’
He sprinted down the hallway. Just as he reached the end, a student was exiting Jane’s office.
’Thud!’
Panting, Simon caught the door just before it closed. He wiped the sweat from his brow and stepped inside.
"Ah!" Jane’s head teaching assistant, a stack of files in her arms, smiled brightly. "Mr. President! Oh, I an, Simon!"
Simon gave her a cheerful nod and continued into the office. At the far end of the room, Jane sat at her desk, looking as if nothing was amiss. As always, she was calmly focused on her paperwork, a picture of tranquility in stark contrast to the chaos raging outside. This office felt like a different world entirely.
"You’re late."
Her quiet words made Simon flinch.
"irin, Kamibarez, and Dick have all co and gone. In fact, most of the key mbers of Class A have already been here." She lifted her head, her gaze eting his. "I’m surprised my class wasn’t your first stop, Simon."
His entire body went rigid, as if he’d been hit with a petrification curse. A cold sweat trickled down the back of his neck.
"P-Professor Jane! I...!"
"I’m joking." A rare smile touched her lips as she held out her hand. "You are the last student for my class, Simon."
"Ah...!" A wave of profound relief washed over him, and he clutched his chest. ’Thank goodness. That was way too close.’
Through the doorway, he could hear the head TA turning away other students, their shouts of shock and despair echoing down the hall.
"Here! My registration form!" Fearing she might change her mind, Simon hastily presented the form with both hands.
Jane took it, added her elegant signature with a quill, and placed it on the stack of papers beside her. "Let’s have another good sester."
"Yes, Professor! I’ll be in your care!" Simon bowed repeatedly before leaving her office with a spring in his step.
’I’ve cleared the biggest hurdle!’
Now, only one course remained.
---
"Professor Hongfeng’s Combat Magic registration is infamous for a reason! It’s the hardest of all the classes."
Simon recalled Dick’s warning as he left the second-year campus. The standard procedure for registering for general courses at Kizen was to visit a professor and submit the form in person. Hong Feng, however, was never on campus. Though she was assigned an office and quarters, she preferred to live in a small hut in the wilderness. It was why all her classes were held outdoors.
To find her, he would have to...
’Search the entire island of Roc?’
But the Hong Feng he’d co to know over the past year wasn’t so unreasonable. She was from the grasslands and spoke the continental language with a thick accent, but she was also incredibly sharp and wise.
As he left the Kizen grounds and scanned the surrounding area, he imdiately spotted sothing suspicious. One region of the island was shrouded in an unnatural, gloomy haze, a place where an ominous red mist swirled. Simon headed straight for it.
’Ah.’
The air grew dark, as if under a storm cloud, and the reddish mist blanketed the forest.
—’Krrk!’
As he stepped into the gloom, an orc-like monster lumbered toward him. It wasn’t native to Roc Island; it was clearly a creature placed here for a test.
’So, Professor Hongfeng is sowhere in this mist, and I have to find her?’
—’Krarararak!’
The orc raised its axe and charged. Simon reached for his subspace.
’Huh?’
It wouldn’t open. He then tried to channel Jet-Black into a magic circle, but the red mist seed to interfere, causing the nascent spell to dissolve into nothing.
’I see.’ A grin spread across Simon’s face. As expected, the test for Combat Magic was...
Simon’s fist slamd into the orc’s face, sending it staggering back before it crashed to the ground.
"...to fight with Combat Magic alone."
He dusted off his hands as he approached the downed creature. It wasn’t just orcs; the forest was teeming with monsters, their eyes glinting in the dim light. A pack of five lunged forward.
’Hongfeng Original – Chakgeom’
With a deceptively simple swing of his arm, Simon unleashed a blade of force that sliced clean through the charging monsters. The beasts behind them skidded to a halt, flinching.
"Professor Hongfeng’s Combat Magic registration is infamous for a reason! It’s the hardest of all the classes."
Recalling Dick’s words, a confident smile touched Simon’s lips.
"This is pretty easy."
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