Book 1 Chapter 23
“Hey, expulsion… isn't that a bit much?”
As Karl said, sweating, Chloe asked.
“Are you nervous?”
“Of course! The Lumeron magic exam will undoubtedly be incredibly difficult!”
“Surely they wouldn't give problems beyond a freshman's level?”
“Lucky you, honor student.”
Karl, having barely passed the entrance exam, was anxious about the test itself.
It seemed he wasn’t the only student feeling this way.
“Expulsion?”
“That’s too much!”
“A professor has the authority to expel a student. Everyone knows that, right?”
“But you can’t expel someone without a just cause!”
“Of course, expulsion without a just cause is impossible.”
Professor Len tapped the exam paper with his fingertip with a 'tak-!'
“However, if you can’t pass a test like this, you don’t have the right to learn magic at Lumeron.”
Then, a male student who appeared to be from another department raised his hand.
“What about students who want to take magic classes as a minor?”
“You can take magic classes other than major courses.”
“What about those who wish for a dual class?”
“Dual class….”
Professor Len trailed off and smiled.
“You might discover hidden magical talent in a temporary class.”
The students looked puzzled by his sudden remark.
“It’s because there are those who think so casually that we give this exam to minor students as well.”
A slight flinch – a few students visibly trembled.
“Isn’t it disrespectful for someone who has never learned magic to try and stand in the same position as someone who has dedicated their life to it?”
Professor Len was smiling, but his eyes were chilling.
Chloe nodded enthusiastically, her eyes sparkling.
“To pass the exam, you need to score 40 or above out of 100.”
The students breathed a sigh of relief at the lenient passing score.
As Professor Len snapped his fingers, a giant hourglass appeared in the air.
“The exam time is one hour. Students who finish all the problems can submit their papers and rest outside the lecture hall.”
The students took out their writing instruments.
“Now, begin.”
The hourglass turned once, and sand began to pour down.
The students picked up their quills and checked their exam papers.
The exam paper consisted of the question paper, the answer sheet, and several pages for solving spells.
As the sound of quills echoed, Leo’s face stiffened upon seeing the exam questions.
‘Describe the effects when these magic spells are combined.’
He felt a headache coming on.
‘What kind of spells are these?’
If there was one ability that had changed the most compared to his Kai era, it was undoubtedly magic.
Magic is fundamentally a realm of exploration.
The basic runes are the same, but the way spells are used has continuously evolved over the ages.
Especially in the current era, magic spells have developed tremendously due to the Hero Record.
Since his reincarnation, Leo, who hadn't seen a magic book, was bound to be illiterate in the spells of this era.
Looking beside him, Karl, who had been making a sad face, was also working on the problems.
Chloe was rapidly writing down the answers.
‘Kids these days are smart. Solving these complex spell combinations by mental calculation?’
Leo, who had been looking bored, took a deep breath.
‘Okay, for now, let's just get a general sense of what the spells of this era are like. Even if the spells differ by era, if you know the structure, you can roughly guess.’
Leo steeled himself.
‘I can’t be kicked out of the very first class out of embarrassment!’
As the great hero who saved the world, he had his pride!
Leo’s eyes sparkled, and he began solving the spells at an incredible speed.
‘Thank goodness! They’re all spells I know!’
Meanwhile, Karl, who had been solving the problems, let out a sigh of relief.
Contrary to his worries, the exam wasn’t excessively difficult.
All the spells on the exam were ones he had memorized.
Combining spells was quite complex, but as Professor Len said, if he couldn’t solve even this, he had no right to learn magic at Lumeron.
‘As expected, at this guy’s level, he can do spell combinations by mental calculation.’
Leo marveled at Chloe, who was writing down the answers without any process.
Turning his head towards Leo, he saw him moving his quill at an incredible speed.
But despite the speed, there was nothing written on his answer sheet.
‘What? That Leo guy. He wants a dual class, but is his spell knowledge lacking?’
At this rate, Leo clearly wouldn’t be able to take the magic major classes.
Karl looked disappointed that he wouldn’t be able to attend magic classes together.
“Thirty minutes left.”
‘Oops, now’s not the time. Let’s solve the problems first.’
Meanwhile, Leo, who had filled up one of the solution papers, stopped his quill.
‘Who the hell made the spells so complicated!’
If he had enough time, he could have deciphered them.
The problem was the severe lack of time.
Checking the next problem, he found it was also filled with spells he had never seen before.
While scratching his head and checking the problems, Leo’s gaze stopped at the last question.
There were a total of 50 questions on the exam.
From question 1 to 49 were spell combination problems, and the last question was to interpret a spell and find the result.
The spell itself was not as complex as the previous problems.
Leo, having calculated the answer by mental arithmetic, wrote it on his answer sheet and stood up.
The students’ eyes were fixed on him.
‘He gave up. Well, he couldn’t even solve the first problem, so this is a waste of time.’
Karl licked his lips as he watched Leo hand his answer sheet to a teaching assistant.
‘I should quit magic class.’
With only one question he knew out of 50, how could he possibly take the class?
‘I’ll have to study on my own.’
Blaming his own complacency, he left the lecture hall.
The hourglass continued to flow.
However, no other students stood up.
Even if the non-major students had come with a casual attitude, they had a basic understanding of magic as they had chosen it as a minor.
“Time’s up. Everyone submit your answer sheets to the teaching assistants.”
“Ugh~ That was tough.”
Karl stretched and asked Chloe.
“Hey, what was the answer to the last question? I just couldn’t solve it.”
Seeing Karl shake his head as if exhausted, Chloe frowned displeasedly.
“I didn’t have enough time to finish it either.”
“Really? Well, it was damn difficult.”
“What about Leo?”
“From what I saw, he couldn’t solve a single problem?”
‘So that’s why he left.’
Nodding, he got up and walked towards someone.
Karl felt curious and followed Chloe.
“Brother! Is this answer correct too?”
“Yes, it is!”
“Awesome!”
Chloe headed to where Abad and Chelsea were.
“Chelsea, hello.”
“Huh? Karl? Who’s that girl?”
“This is Chloe Müller.”
“The top student from the North?”
Chelsea’s eyes widened.
“Nice to meet you, Abad Rewalin. Did you happen to solve the last question?”
“I couldn’t because I ran out of time. You?”
“Me too.”
Chloe took out her exam paper.
“I’m curious how much my solution differs from yours, can we compare?”
“I was curious too, so it’s good.”
Chloe’s exam paper was densely filled with spell solutions for the last question.
Abad’s exam paper was no less than Chloe’s.
Karl clicked his tongue.
‘As expected, top students are different. If only I had more time, I would have finished it!’
“What about Leo oppa?”
“He left earlier and I haven’t seen him around the Magic Society at all. It seems he couldn’t solve a single problem.”
“Well, it’s not a problem a knight can solve.”
Chelsea, who knew Leo as an excellent knight, nodded.
Just then, Professor Len returned to the podium, and the students quickly returned to their seats.
“You all worked hard on the exam.”
Professor Len gave a clean smile.
“The teaching assistants will finish grading soon. Until then, I will briefly explain the magic theory class I teach.”
Professor Len’s lecture began.
As they listened, the students could only express their admiration.
Professor Len’s lectures were incredibly clear and easy to understand.
They instinctively knew they had met an excellent professor.
‘To be able to attend lectures from someone like this from now on!’
The students were filled with anticipation.
As Professor Len finished speaking, a male teaching assistant came up to the lecture hall.
“Professor. The exam results are in.”
“Shall we all check the exam results?”
Other teaching assistants brought a bulletin board with the exam rankings to the front of the lecture hall.
“Actually, this exam consisted of forty-nine questions worth 1 point each, and one question worth 51 points.”
As the students murmured, Professor Len continued his explanation.
“This exam is also the core of my class, even before selecting students for the magic major.”
“In recent centuries, magic spells have rapidly advanced. Thanks to that, spells that originally required complete understanding to use can now be cast by simply memorizing the activation conditions.”
Professor Len spread his palm, and a spell woven with magic was activated.
Professor Len clenched the spell with a 'kwak-!'
The spell shattered, and fragments of magic scattered everywhere.
“Such advancements have caused wizards to degenerate!”
The students were startled by his sudden exclamation.
“The recent trend among wizards is to memorize more spells! It’s certainly an easy way to cast magic… but! That cannot be called a true wizard! The essence of a wizard is exploration and understanding, not memorization! But what are young wizards doing now? They are busy memorizing, neglecting the understanding of spells! The advancement of spells has led to the regression of wizards!”
Professor Len spread his hands above his head.
A vast amount of magic spells unfolded in the air.
“This is the essence of the magic spells I created. Not activation formulas that anyone learns, but my own spells created from beginning to end. Are there any wizards these days who research their own spells?”
It was, quite literally, the essence of an individual’s unique magical world.
To the eyes of a wizard, Professor Len’s magical world was incredibly beautiful.
“A battle between magic and magic is a battle of who can understand and counter the opponent’s spells faster, even before the magic power struggle! You cannot reach a high level with just activation formulas, so!”
Srrr-!
Professor Len’s magic spells disappeared.
“I will conduct classes to improve your understanding of magic spells! So that you can be reborn as true wizards!”
Professor Len spoke passionately to the students.
The students, moved by his passion, began to clap.
The words "true wizard" were enough to resonate with the young students.
Professor Len nodded at the enthusiastic response from the students and pointed to the bulletin board.
“Check your scores and rankings. And students with less than 40 points, unfortunately, please leave the lecture hall. That is all!”
The students gathered in front of the bulletin board.
As Professor Len gazed at the students with a deep look, a male professor approached him.
“Professor.”
“Why do you call me? Vice Professor.”
“There is a student who got question 50 correct.”
“There’s a perfect score?”
Professor Len was genuinely surprised.
‘Such talent has arrived! Abad? Chloe? Ah! Finally, I have a disciple for life!’
“It’s not a perfect score.”
“Not a perfect score?”
Professor Len’s face changed strangely.
A student who could solve the last question would clearly find the preceding 49 questions not difficult.
But it wasn’t a perfect score?
“Ah. It seems they skipped some problems while solving the last one.”
“That’s not it. Except for the last problem, the rest are all blank. Look here.”
The Vice Professor handed the answer sheet to Professor Len.
Professor Len, who was looking at the pure white answer sheet, asked with a serious expression.
“……Who is this student?”
***
Chloe, checking the bulletin board, naturally directed her gaze towards the top ranks.
And she was flustered.
2nd place. Chloe Müller, Abad Rewalin. (49 points)
3rd place. Chelsea Rewalin (48 points)
No matter how she looked at it, Chloe and Abad were tied for 2nd place.
And the name at the very top was.
1st place. Leo Flov. (51 points)
Chloe, who was checking the rankings with a stern face, looked at Leo’s empty seat in the front row.
There lay the problem sheet Leo had been working on.
She rushed over and checked the problem sheet.
‘Wha-what is this?’
Chloe’s face contorted in shock as she looked at the spell solution for the first problem that Leo had given up on.
‘Leo Flov… what kind of guy are you!’