"Congratulations to those who passed the second test," Professor Claire said, her voice carrying calmly across the hall.
There was no applause.
No one had the energy for that.
The participants stood scattered, so leaning on their knees, others sitting on the ground while hastily consuming potions. The exhaustion from the previous test still clung to their bodies, and yet, no one dared relax completely. Not with Claire standing there, smiling like she had sothing unpleasant prepared.
After allowing them a short ti to recover their mana and stabilize themselves, she spoke again.
"The third test is a score-based test."
That alone made a few people straighten up slightly.
Claire raised her hand and pointed toward the center of the hall.
At once, dozens—no, hundreds—of small floating spheres materialized out of thin air. They hovered silently at first, their surfaces smooth and reflective, each glowing faintly in one of three distinct colors: red, blue, and black.
"As you can see," Claire continued, "these objects have different colors. In order to pass, you must destroy at least five blue spheres."
A pause followed.
Then ca the reactions.
"Finally, an easy test."
"That’s it?"
"Haha, I can definitely pass this one."
Relief spread quickly, almost too quickly.
Seeing everyone’s reactiy, Claire’s smile widened slightly.
Shadow’s eyes didn’t.
’Rule one’ he thought ’If she smiles, soone suffers’
His eyes remained on Claire, watching her expression carefully. He had already seen that smile before to know it never ant anything good.
As expected, Claire cleared her throat lightly, the corner of her lips lifting into a faint smirk.
"Don’t jump to conclusions so early."
Shadow exhaled quietly.
Of course.
"If you destroy a red sphere," she continued, "your progress resets. If you destroy a black sphere..." her smile deepened slightly, "...not only will your progress reset, but the sphere will retaliate."
The mood shifted.
"But that’s still not that hard," Lucian said, though his tone carried less confidence than before.
"What’s so difficult about hitting the blue ones?" Jane added, narrowing her eyes at the floating spheres.
"Sothing is... missing," Jaden murmured.
Several heads turned toward him.
For once, he didn’t look like he was trying to show off. His expression carried a rare hint of actual thought.
’They’re looking at ... again’
Jaden resisted the urge to nod at them like a king acknowledging his subjects.
’Stay humble’ he told himself.
’...But not too humble’
"He’s right," Shadow said calmly. "It’s not that simple."
Jaden blinked, clearly not expecting agreent.
"Huh? R-really?" he stamred before quickly regaining composure. "I an... of course it’s not. That’s what I was saying."
Shadow ignored him.
By now, most of the participants had turned toward the professors again, waiting.
This ti, it was Professor Paul who spoke.
"These are not stationary targets."
As if responding to his words, the spheres began to move.
At first, it was a light vibration.
Then, suddenly—
They shot off.
The entire space filled with motion as hundreds of spheres darted around in chaotic, unpredictable patterns. They moved at high speed, weaving past one another with barely any collisions, their paths constantly shifting in ways that made them almost impossible to track.
The hall, which had seed spacious monts ago, now felt suffocating.
"I knew it... my luck is terrible."
"I should’ve expected this..."
"They actually expect us to pass this?"
Uneasy murmurs spread again.
Even those who had seed confident earlier now wore strained expressions.
Without realizing it, several participants glanced toward Shadow... and Jaden.
Jaden noticed.
Slowly, he straightened his posture, puffed his chest slightly, and adopted a calm expression as if he had been expecting this all along.
’Yes... this is how it should be’, he thought, barely containing his excitent. ’Recognition. Respect. This is only natural.’
"What’s the ti limit?" Shadow asked.
Paul’s gaze shifted toward him, lingering for a brief mont before he answered.
"Fifteen minutes."
A few participants audibly gasped.
That wasn’t a test.
That was a countdown to failure.
"The test begins now."
A sharp buzzing sound echoed through the hall.
Chaos followed instantly.
Spells were cast, swords were drawn, and attacks flew in every direction. Most missed. So struck the wrong targets. A few unlucky participants hit red spheres and imdiately reset their progress.
Jane moved first among the more capable ones.
She dashed forward with impressive speed, flas igniting along her blades. Her movents were precise, controlled. She leapt into the air, her sword cutting cleanly through a blue sphere.
But her expression shifted imdiately.
Another sphere—red—had been caught in the sa strike.
"...This isn’t ideal," she muttered as she landed. "There’s no space to control the swing properly."
Nearby, Lucian raised a small platform of earth beneath his feet, elevating himself slightly. He moved forward with it, attempting to close the distance.
Each ti he reached a sphere, he struck.
Each ti—
He missed.
"...I refuse to believe the problem is ." he mumured as he stared at his fists.
"They’re too fast," he said under his breath, adjusting his approach. "This might actually be worse than the last test."
Sowhere in the hall.
"I HIT ONE—"
"That was red—"
"...I quit."
Different voices echoed, each resulting in a failure outco.
Then ca Jaden.
"This is my chance to shine..." he said, stepping forward dramatically. "Move aside, all of you. Let a true talent show you how it’s done."
No one moved.
He didn’t care.
He brought his hands together, gathering energy between them before thrusting them forward.
A compressed wave of sound erupted outward, tearing through the air in a straight line.
Dozens of spheres were wiped out instantly.
For a brief mont, it looked impressive.
Then everything went wrong.
"Are you stupid," Talia said flatly, before tilting her head slightly, "or do you wake up every morning and decide to be a public hazard?"
Jaden’s smirk froze.
The black spheres he had struck... hadn’t been destroyed.
’Wait.’
’Why are they not breaking?’
’...Why are they looking at ?’
’...Why are they all looking at ?’
Jaden panicked as he watched everyone else looking at him weirdly after not being able to destroy the black spheres.
The balck spheres had absorbed the attack.
And now—
They were aiming at him.
All of them.
"...Oh."
Dozens of compressed sound waves launched back at once.
Not just at Jaden.
At everyone.
"Shit," Lucian cursed.
"You fucking moron, I’ll kill you!" Jane snapped.
"That’s assuming we survive this," Shadow replied, his tone calm but edged with urgency as he looked at the incoming attack.
The air itself distorted under the pressure. The ground cracked beneath invisible pressure.
For a split second—
Everyone understood the sa thing.
’This will knock us all out.’
There was no ti to argue.
Seeing everyone’s panicking expression, Shadow shook his head.
’They are all strong individually yet, they are about to fail.’
...Pathetic.
"Don’t just stand there."
Shadow moved first.
"Don’t just stand there," he said sharply. "If you don’t want to pass out, help."
Lucian reacted imdiately, raising a thick wall of earth in front of them.
Jane followed, releasing a wide arc of fla from her blade.
Talia lifted her hand, and layers of dense paper folded together in front of them like a barrier.
’Sound travels. Water carries it.’
’So let’s drown it.’
Shadow stepped forward.
Both his hands moved at once.
Water surged outward—not as a shield, but as a forward force, eting the incoming sound waves head-on.
Then—
Impact.
A deafening explosion shook the entire hall.
The ground trembled beneath their feet as the collision sent shockwaves through the space. Water scattered into the air, fragnts of earth cracked apart, flas dissipated, and the paper barrier tore under the pressure.
But the attack... stopped.
Barely.
For a mont, no one spoke.
Then the aftermath settled.
Shadow lowered his hands slowly, droplets of water sliding off his fingers.
While others staggered—
Shadow was already thinking.
’That was strong.’ he said calmly.
’At least A-rank.’
’Good power...Terrible owner.’
His gaze shifted slightly.
Toward Jaden then toward the mory of the spell itself.
’...Good.’
Unlike the others, there was no frustration in his expression.
No jealousy.
Only quiet calculation.
’It’s mine now.’
Just like that, Shadow has aquired the spells of Talia, Lucian and even Jaden’s.
Professor Paul narrowed his eyes slightly.
’That boy...’
He didn’t look at Jaden.
He looked at Shadow.
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