Northwest of Axion stood an old-fashioned building of dark gray brick.
The Argent Hall.
It was a place students did not normally visit.
Today’s reassessment would take place in its Resonance Chamber.
Amid the heavy silence, three professors sat atop the chamber’s platform.
The man seated in the center, tapping the table with his fingers, was Alistair Thorn—Axion’s admissions director and a professor of the Faculty of Fire.
“...So.”
Professor Thorn glanced toward the empty seat beside him.
“The person responsible for this whole mess has not even bothered to show his face?”
Only a nameplate remained there:
Professor Calian de Mare — Faculty of Waterflow.
Ronin, the professor responsible for basic theory, gave an ingratiating smile.
“Ah, well... I heard an urgent consultation came up. Something about mana waves during high tide.”
“Hah. He creates a mountain of trouble, then goes off to play in the sea?”
“That must be an excuse, surely. He forced through the admission himself, but now that there is a reassessment, he must be too embarrassed to show up. He does not want to be here when the student humiliates himself.”
Professor Bell, who taught biology, snickered in agreement.
Both men were doing their best to suit Thorn’s mood.
“Obviously. He forced through that acceptance just to give you trouble, Director, but the moment a reassessment was called, he tucked his tail between his legs.”
“Or perhaps he had another motive. The Iskar Family has kept a low profile for a long time, but its accumulated wealth is immense. Maybe he received something in exchange for giving the boy a passing score.”
“That is already causing an uproar. There are even rumors among the students that this was a fraudulent admission.”
Yet contrary to their expectations, Professor Thorn’s response was icy.
“...You two seem to think Calian is some common street thug.”
“Pardon? Ah, no, that is not what we meant—”
“It is true that he is stubborn beyond measure and has no flexibility whatsoever. We are like oil and water.”
Thorn pushed up his glasses and fixed the two professors with a cold stare.
“But when it comes to magic, he is a man who never compromises. He would never cause such a scene without certainty.”
“Ah....”
“He did not run away. Since he has no intention of backing down, this is his way of telling us to verify it ourselves. Arrogant bastard.”
Thorn clicked his tongue in displeasure, but his gaze stayed fixed on Aion’s documents.
A student who had barely passed the entrance examination.
A student Thorn himself had failed.
He remembered it clearly. No one had performed worse than Aion in the third examination.
And yet Calian—the meticulous Calian—had admitted him despite knowing it would create friction with Thorn?
What did he see in him?
Thorn could not understand it. Either his own judgment had been wrong, or Calian had finally crossed the line.
One of the two had to be true.
Ronin glanced at Rodel, who stood nearby.
“Well, we will find out once he enters. I heard there was practically no mana in his body until a few days ago. Is that right, Rodel?”
Rodel adjusted her glasses and recalled the time.
The crystal orb had not reacted at all when Aion placed his hand upon it. The reading had been so low it was almost embarrassing to call it a mana response.
“...That is correct.”
Her voice held neither expectation nor denial.
Without a word, Thorn gestured toward the door.
Creeeak—
The heavy wooden doors opened, and the assistant’s voice echoed through the chamber.
“Reassessment candidate, Aion Iskar. Enter.”
At the end of the dim corridor, Aion walked in wearing a neat academy uniform.
He gave off an entirely different impression from the boy who had lain in the infirmary several days earlier.
Thorn’s eyes narrowed.
“Let us see what truth lies behind these rumors.”
Aion stopped several steps away from them.
“I am Aion Iskar.”
A dry greeting.
Only then did Thorn lift his head and look at him. His gaze behind the glasses was as sharp as a blade.
“So you are Aion.”
“...Yes, sir.”
“...Prove it.”
Unlacing his fingers, Thorn gestured toward the front.
A transparent crystal orb rested on the platform.
Without complaint, Aion approached it. His face reflected in its clear surface.
He closed his eyes.
The past three days flashed through his mind.
He had planted both feet on the earth and emptied every trace of mana from his body.
Each time the pain of mana exhaustion came, he had gritted his teeth and endured it—until the energy rising from the ground filled him again.
He had repeated the process countless times a day.
All while listening to Earth curse at him.
Inhale.
Not through his lungs, but through his entire body.
He could feel the mana scattered through the air awakening every cell within him.
【Earth: Yes. Like that. Do not rush.】
【Life: Focus on your breathing.】
Aion focused briefly on their voices. The beings who had driven him mercilessly during his tasks now sounded different.
Slowly opening his eyes halfway, he raised his right hand over the orb.
“I will begin.”
Tap.
His palm touched the crystal’s cold surface.
Hummm—
Hum....
A faint light flickered at the center of the crystal orb, but it did not flare brightly.
An unstable, blinking glow.
Smirks began to form on Ronin and Bell’s faces.
“See? Just as I said....”
“There is a mana response, but at this level, he is only slightly better than an ordinary person.”
Aion’s brow drew together.
Something was wrong.
Mana was clearly flowing from his fingertips, yet the crystal remained coldly unresponsive.
It felt as though the mana entered it but could not spread any farther.
...Why?
With the mana he had built up through three days of Grounding, lighting the crystal should not have been difficult.
【Fire: Idiot. The more anxious you get, the more unstable your flow becomes.】
Aion did not ignore those words.
Whether the problem was the crystal or himself, there was only one thing he could do right now.
“Then, that will be enou—”
Just as Ronin raised a hand to cut him off, Alistair Thorn slightly lifted his own.
Ronin immediately fell silent.
Aion gritted his teeth.
There was only one answer.
Push more into it.
“Haaah....”
He took a deep breath.
Drawing together every shred of mana scattered through his veins and cells, he poured it into one palm.
Hummm....
Then—
Crackle—!
The crystal orb reacted explosively.
Flash—!
“Urgh!”
A blinding white light consumed the chamber.
It was excessively bright.
“Hmm...?”
“The light....”
The two professors frowned and raised their hands to shield their eyes.
Only Alistair Thorn remained motionless, watching the scene through the intense light reflected in his glasses.
A moment later, Aion withdrew his hand, and the light faded.
Heavy silence filled the room.
Ronin and Bell stared at one another with blank expressions.
Thorn was the first to break the silence.
“Assistant. Are you under Professor Ronin?”
“Pardon? ...Yes, sir!”
The assistant, standing at the side, jolted in surprise.
“Check the crystal orb’s resonance reading.”
“...What?”
“The light was far too bright. Check it.”
“Y-Yes, sir!”
The assistant hurriedly manipulated the mana calibrator. A moment later, all color drained from his face.
“Uh, ah...? Why is it....”
“...It is misaligned, is it not?”
“Well....”
The assistant froze, unable to continue. Ronin hurriedly stepped in.
“Director Alistair? The student has been staying up late for research. It seems he made a mistake.”
“Yes. And that mistake nearly sent an innocent Axion student home.”
“That is....”
Ronin fell silent at Alistair’s tone.
“What were you doing, failing to check it properly?”
At Alistair’s rebuke, the assistant bowed his head deeply.
“I-I am sorry! I was inspecting the equipment this morning and failed to restore it to its original setting...!”
“...Tch.”
Alistair clicked his tongue, then turned to look down at Aion.
A boy who had kept forcing mana into the crystal until the end, without knowing that the orb was malfunctioning.
A boy who had made it shine anyway.
“...This is why I do not particularly like freshmen at this time of year.”
He muttered in a very cold voice.
“It was all needless fuss. All that talk of rumors....”
“D-Director? Then this student is...?”
“He is an Axion student.”
Tap—
Thorn closed the documents.
“He is still at the crawling stage, but if he keeps walking that path diligently, he may someday amount to something.”
Scrape—
The sound of his chair sliding back rang loudly through the chamber. He turned away as though he had no lingering interest.
“Let us go. What a waste of time.”
He paused.
“Ah, and one more thing.”
Alistair turned back and took something from within his robe.
A small silver brooch.
He lightly pressed it against the crystal orb.
Chiiing—
With a clear resonance, Aion’s mana signature was recorded in the brooch.
Whoosh.
Alistair casually tossed it toward him.
“Catch.”
Aion caught the object.
It was a silver brooch engraved with Axion’s emblem: five stars.
“Your student identification brooch. It was fortunate we prepared it beforehand.”
“...Thank you.”
“Save your thanks for later. At your current level, you could die and come back to life and still fail to graduate.”
With that, Alistair left the Resonance Chamber without looking back.
“Ahem....”
“Then....”
The remaining two professors awkwardly followed after him.
Rodel was the last to leave.
Just before stepping through the door, she stopped.
Click—
Adjusting her glasses, Rodel slowly turned around.
Her gaze rested on Aion for a moment.
A student whose failure she had anticipated—only for him to shatter that expectation before her eyes.
“Strange things do happen. To think my prediction was wrong.”
She adjusted her glasses again. It was a businesslike habit.
But at this moment, that small gesture seemed like an attempt to conceal her feelings.
“You proved yourself.”
That was all.
Rodel did not look at Aion again.
She turned and quietly closed the door behind her.
Thud—
Her footsteps faded into the distant corridor.
A little later, Aion slowly walked outside.
The cold feel of metal in his hand.
A silver brooch bearing Axion’s emblem.
He looked down at it for a long time.
Three days ago, he had nearly been expelled from this very place.
Now he held this in his hand.
It was only a small piece of metal, but its weight was not light.
He carefully pinned the brooch to his academy robe.
This time... it truly begins.
【Fire: ...That was too damn close. I seriously thought we were getting expelled....】
【Life: Oh my. Were you not speaking so confidently earlier?】
【Fire: ...I was just saying it.】
Then, as if it had been waiting for this exact moment, Yggdrasil’s notification sounded.
Ding!
***
[!] Task complete.
[!] Reward granted....