Lance stood in the waiting area of the atrium, but his thoughts were elsewhere. He was preoccupied about the Holy Kingdom-style pastries he had attempted to make.
They say the food you taste in the Shadow Realm is just as real as in our world, but the food in this artificial dungeon was merely an illusion. I spent ages baking that pastry, but it turned out to have absolutely no flavor...
He couldn't help but overhear other examinees comparing their completion times. It turned out that most successful candidates needed around forty to fifty minutes just to barely meet the passing requirements. People's awareness of how the law could be used was clearly not adequate.
Just as his mind was wandering, a light, clear voice rang out nearby. "How long did you take?"
Lance turned and saw a tall woman who looked to be around the same age as him. Her eyes were a cool, proud amber, holding a gaze that seemed to look down on the entire world. Judging by her obviously expensive attire and jewelry, she was likely a noblewoman from a prominent family in the kingdom.
She had evidently noticed that there was one examinee in the crowd who appeared remarkably relaxed and at ease. This person treated the exam results very lightly, and it was a rare sight in the testing hall.
Lance remained silent as he decided what to say. It had taken him roughly ten minutes to finish the exam, but he amiably replied, "Less than fifty minutes."
He sensed that this young lady, who clearly exuded an air of high status, was likely a proud and troublesome sort of person. If he revealed that he had finished much faster than her, it would surely displease her. So, playing it safe in his answer was the better choice. This was called being socially savvy.
"I see." With that, the young lady nodded impassively and turned her attention away from Lance. So, he’s just the sort of person who doesn't care much about grades.
Hyperion had been misled by the air of excessive composure he exuded earlier. Since that was the case, she deduced that he likely wouldn't end up as her teammate for the third round of the exam.
As the daughter of Duke Aransar, Hyperion already knew what the third test of the Sages’ College would be: students with different professions would be grouped together to engage in combat against an instructor.
Typically, under this kind of exam format, a team would be assigned a support mage or a healer. However, depending on the ratio of candidates, it was also possible for a team to consist entirely of offensive mages.
A capable healer or support mage could significantly lower the difficulty of the third round for the entire team, whereas an incompetent one would place immense pressure on the other members.
Rumor had it that this year's team assignments would be based on the rankings from the second trial. This meant that top-ranked candidates would likely be grouped together to face off against the stronger instructors.
As someone who had undoubtedly ranked at the top of the second round, Hyperion, an offensive mage, naturally didn't want to be saddled with a lousy healer or support mage when facing the high-difficulty challenge of the third test.
Moreover, there were forces within the kingdom that did not want her to successfully enroll in the university. Being paired with incompetent team members would undoubtedly make the practical test’s difficulty skyrocket. Only by securing a skilled support mage could she improve her chances of passing.
Of course, the powerful people who opposed her enrollment would undoubtedly pull every string to manipulate their lackeys within the university and ensure she was assigned the worst possible teammates from the available pool, or even puppets meant to sabotage her. The mere thought of this stirred an irrepressible killing intent within her that spread outward like ripples across a pond.
Just give me a few more years... And I will settle the score with every single one of you... in as painful a manner as possible...
Despite her vicious thoughts, her expression remained as calm and unruffled as ever.
***
The examination room became gradually more noisy as the scores got settled. At the edge of the atrium was a cold, young man with ash-gray hair leaning against the wall with his arms folded. He had put on a pair of small, round sunglasses, looking both lazy and a little arrogant.
He could clearly hear the conversations of the other candidates. Most of them were discussing the details of the second test and the time it took. He closed his eyes out of contempt and disdain. He really didn’t understand why everyone else’s clearance times were all calculated in minutes.
Frey frowned slightly, musing on this problem. Obviously, this test was examining the applicants’ ability to get cash at a short notice. All you needed to do was sell your belongings in exchange for money, so why did it take everyone else so long?
***
Lawrence was waiting for the terminal to calculate the final scores for the second round of the assessment, so he eavesdropped on the chatter of the candidates. Some of them were smug as they had cleared the test in about thirty minutes, but they were about to have their entire worldview shattered.
Under normal circumstances, such a time would be considered excellent. Having monitored the candidates' progress on the screens throughout the exam, Lawrence had a rough idea of what their completion times would be. Other than two particular individuals, the fastest among the rest of the candidates had taken twenty-five minutes and three seconds.
Lance, however, had met the mission objectives at the nine minute and fifty-three second mark. While the average examinee was just getting started on the investigation, he had already arrested the entire target family.
Frey, on the other hand, took a mere seven seconds. He had resolved every issue right at the very start.
In a Shadow Realm dimension with mechanics as straightforward as this one, completion speed carried the most weight in the scoring. Frey had undoubtedly secured an absurdly high base score for his speed, and the testing terminal had visibly stuttered when calculating his result.
However, since he had bypassed the puzzle-solving process entirely in this mystery-oriented dimension, he would receive almost no bonus points. As for Lance's score, even Lawrence couldn't predict how the terminal would calculate it.
If a candidate successfully cleared the second and third tests, their results from both would be weighted and combined to form a final score. The ranking based on this total score would influence subsequent class assignments within their respective colleges, priority for exemption recommendations regarding official Shadow Realm Challenger Registration, and selection for first-year representative spots in inter-collegiate exchange events.
The terminal controlling the artificial Shadow Realm was operating as usual, calculating the candidates' scores. Just as the calculation reached a certain point, arcs of electricity suddenly crackled across the mithril and magic crystals of the Artificial Shadow Realm Activation Terminal, followed by a series of electrical discharges bursting all around it.
The image on the magic display connected to the terminal froze abruptly, and all visuals and indicators ceased moving. The very next instant, a chaotic flurry of pixels caused the image to become repetitive and blurred. This anomaly immediately drew the attention of every examinee, and a wave of panicked murmurs rippled through the hall.
Lawrence frowned. Without a moment's hesitation, he performed a forced shutdown of the terminal. Although doing so risked damaging the expensive magical apparatus, ensuring the safety of all students and staff present was his absolute priority.
The erratic electrical sparks on the terminal dissipated. Many examinees breathed a sigh of relief, though they remained visibly shaken.
However, when Lawrence attempted to restart this experimental device from the College of Magical Engineering using the access key, he discovered that it was entirely unresponsive. The earlier surges had broken it.
"No..." Lawrence shook his head in distress and rubbed the bridge of his nose.
He was already exhausted from proctoring this test and had absolutely no desire to face an enraged Professor Boralo. Even without summoning the resident expert from the College of Magical Engineering to repair it, Lawrence already had a rough idea of what had gone wrong.
After all, the artificial Shadow Realm was not a divine creation like the genuine Shadow Realm. Evaluation and scoring within this artificial dimension relied entirely on pre-programmed algorithmic models. Frey’s method of clearing the stage, while unconventional, was straightforward. Even with a few parameters missing, a score could still be calculated.
Unfortunately, the system’s designers had never anticipated a clearing method like Lance’s, one that completely upended the algorithmic model. This guy had actually introduced a heap of anomalous parameter inputs! Consequently, the terminal malfunctioned and froze.
In terms of completion speed, Frey from the Knights' College should have taken first place, with Lance from the Sages' College coming in a close second. Yet, thanks to the latter’s bizarre actions, it became impossible to finalize the specific scores for any of the candidates.
The mere thought of having to explain the situation to the College of Magical Engineering and arrange for urgent repairs made Lawrence’s splitting headache even worse. Finally, he let out a long sigh.
While pointedly ignoring Lance’s existence, the harried dean looked out at the gathered candidates and said, "We will manually evaluate the results of the second round based on the test records. The third test, the practical combat assessment, will take place the day after tomorrow. All candidates will receive a notification regarding the specific schedule before the end of the day."
Out of sight, out of mind. It was all a trial set by the Goddess. As a High Priest, he must not lose his temper so easily...
After announcing these important details, Dean Lawrence ushered all of the candidates out of the central atrium, effectively sending them on their way.