After about fifteen minutes in the Labyrinth, Derek found the exit.
He knew he could have easily taken less time, but the constant experiments he performed ate through his time.
"Oh well..." After taking one final glance at the dimly lit world behind him, he stepped through the door.
Once he walked out, Derek found himself in the same field he had disappeared from at the start of the test.
In front of him was the proctor responsible for this practical test.
The man stared at Derek in shock.
"D-done already...?!"
"Yeah..." Derek muttered while blocking his eyes from the intense afternoon sun.
"I see..." The proctor’s wry smile could not be hidden. "Well done. You can wait here for the others or leave."
"I’ll leave."
Derek respectfully bowed before walking away.
He considered waiting to walk Ivy back to their residence but later decided against it.
Although he was curious about her and certainly wanted to be her friend, he felt staying behind for that reason alone would be too forward on his part.
.....
Nearly twenty minutes after Derek left the Labyrinth, someone appeared in the nearly empty field.
She was a girl with inky black hair.
Her deep purple eyes scoured the area and only found the proctor.
Her emotionless face stirred slightly before she parted her lips. It seemed like she was about to say something, but she decided against it.
"Congratulations on passing." The proctor approached Ivy with an amiable smile. "You appear to be looking for someone?"
"Derek..." She mumbled.
"Oh, that young man. He already finished a long time ago. He left right after."
"I see..."
She mumbled before walking away.
Not long after she did this, Ivy returned and asked the proctor a very strange question while sporting the most stoic expression imaginable.
"What direction is the examinee’s lodge?"
.....
"Today, you’ll be taking your third test. It will also serve as the first cutoff point." The new proctor was a woman, and she addressed every examinee present with a harsh, almost annoyed tone.
She tilted her glasses upward as she spoke, revealing an unmistakable glare.
"The results of this test will be added to the previous two. Only those who reach the appropriate benchmark will advance to the remaining tests."
All of a sudden, the pressure had reached new heights.
Many who hadn’t performed too well in the first and second tests saw this as their last chance.
Derek, unlike them, felt at ease.
Rather than feeling worried, he was actually curious about the next challenge.
The first test was written while the second was practical. They each tested various aspects of a Magus Apprentice to ensure they were well-rounded in both the theoretical and applied aspects of their knowledge.
’What about now?’ Derek didn’t have to wonder for very long, since the proctor went ahead to explain the test.
"The next test is referred to as Magus Investigation. In this examination, you will be shown unique, mysterious cases involving Magecraft, and you have to solve them within the time limit."
Once again, the test was an individual one.
As the proctor explained, the cases shown to each examinee varied. It could be a murder mystery, a theft, a kidnapping, and so on.
The important thing was for each participant to investigate and arrive at the correct answer.
’This examines their intellect as well as a more holistic understanding of Magia application in practice.’ The proctor adjusted her glasses while observing the tense examinees.
She was pleased by the level of worry they showed.
’Hehe... Will you be able to properly analyze the flow of Magia and correctly deduce when your mind is shaken? This is part of the test... hm?’
She discovered a few faces among the crowd that didn’t seem at all bothered by the tense atmosphere.
One was a girl in a gothic dress and black hair. Another was an ebony boy. There were also those from different Magus Households, whose confidence didn’t come as too much of a surprise.
However, one of them stood out in the proctor’s eyes.
—Derek Lewis!
’He finished first in the earlier tests. But this one is quite different from the others. I wonder how he will fare.’
.....
When his turn arrived, Derek entered a room and was faced with his challenge.
Unlike the written and practical tests, Magus Investigation had an unbelievably short time limit.
’I have five minutes to solve the mystery.’
Derek looked around the room and quickly spotted all the elements he had to deal with.
There were two corpses about ten meters from each other, with broken weapons littered around them. The environment was also in disarray, with many small craters on the charred ground.
There were other smaller details, like the damage dealt to their clothes as well as their respective bodies.
"Max?" Derek muttered.
[Analyzing all information... simulating likely events... reaching a suitable conclusion...]
With a calm smile on his face, Derek wondered if he was cheating by involving Max in the test. The source of this chapter is g.com.
’My priority is passing...’ He told himself while recalling his test question.
"How did the two men die?"
Derek had his own guesses. He had vigorously studied the corpses and their surroundings as soon as he entered the room.
The only reason he wanted the Magus Codex’s input was to eliminate any and all margin of error.
[... Conclusion has been reached.]
’It hasn’t even been thirty seconds, and you already have the answer.’
Derek smiled.
[Would you like me to inform you of the answer?]
"No... not yet." Derek shook his head. "I want to try first. If my conclusion is different from yours, you can correct me. If I take too long without arriving at an answer, we will just go along with your explanation."
[Understood.]
Derek walked around the room and did his measurements.
He closely observed how injured Person A was compared to the nearly spotless body of Person B.
He looked at the broken weapons and the burn marks on the ground.
After almost three minutes of continuous observations, he went over everything in his mind and narrowed his three probable answers to one.
At the four-minute mark, he explained it to Max.
"Person A was killed by Person B, while Person B died from overworking his Magia Circuit to the point of collapse."
[How did you arrive at that conclusion?]
"The injuries of the former and the damage to their attire, coupled with the severe damage on their side of the battlefield, make this the likely case. Person A likely conjured those broken weapons using Spells, but they are all broken, with no sign of blood anywhere. Conversely, Person B used some kind of Fire or Lightning Spell, which can be gleaned from the charred ground and the burn marks on Person A. Although Person B’s environment has a lot of broken blades, his body has no injuries, which means his defensive Spell must have protected him from harm. In the end, he killed Person A by causing a powerful explosion, which explains how Person A’s corpse is so far away from Person B’s body. Not too long after, Person B collapsed due to overexerting himself. Although he had no external injuries, his Magia Circuits must have been affected somehow. That’s how he died."
[Your analysis lines up well with mine.]
"Really?" Derek heard this and sighed with relief. "Then it looks like we had nothing to worry about."
[You could have also used Spell #35 to easily identify more clues and arrive at the answer quicker. Why didn’t you resort to that efficient method?]
"Well..."
Derek paused for a moment before answering.
"I wanted to see if I could pass without relying on any of the advantages you provided me."
[I see. But why is that relevant? In the end, isn’t passing the test the most important?]
"Without you, I wouldn’t be able to use [Trace], and I would certainly not have access to such an unreal level of deduction. I guess... I just wanted to see how well I would perform compared to ordinary examinees. I wanted to see if I was worthy of this Academy with my own abilities."
[I believe you are, Host.]
"Thanks for the vote of confidence." Derek laughed before walking out and making his submission.
"I believe so as well."