What incident? Was she talking about when Mizuchi went on her rampage?
Or maybe that attack on the grand cathedral in Dalenos?
I wasn’t sure how the latter would have impacted the class schedule, but maybe the professor had family nearby that had been injured?
The professor didn’t elaborate. Instead, she simply continued with, “I apologize for the inconvenience. The test will be a simple one. I hope you have all adequately prepared.”
She reached into the box and retrieved an object I recognized — a practice shell for making mana crystals.
“Your objective is to take one of these shells and to focus your mana inside, creating a basic gray mana crystal. You will have one hour to complete this test. I realize this may be too difficult for some of you, since we haven’t practiced doing this in the class yet. I will do my best to grade leniently because the test is being run earlier than usual.”
…I had been nervous about nothing.
I almost laughed, but I managed to restrain myself.
“Please form a line. You may each take one case to practice with. If you are capable of filling one in less than the required hour, you can return for another after you’re done filling the first one.”
I didn’t stand up immediately. I ignored the nervous whispers and complaints around me, waiting to get at the very back of the line.
When I finally reached Professor Edlyn, she handed a case to me.
I held it in my right hand, closed my eyes for a few moments, and then handed it back to her.
“Is something wrong with the case?” She blinked. “Oh, this one is already full. Let me get you another one.”
I couldn’t help myself from chuckling that time. “It wasn’t already full.”
“What do you mean?” She dug another case out of the box, then handed it to me.
“Watch.” I closed my palm around the crystal, focusing my mana.
A week ago, it had taken me ten seconds to form a crystal of this size in one of the practice cases, but I’d been practicing making crystals of a higher degree of density in the open air since then.
I’d gotten it down to four or five seconds.
I handed the filled crystal back to her with a grin.
“…Are you using some sort of slight-of-hand trick?”
I grinned. “Nope. I’ve just been practicing.”
Professor Edlyn pushed up her glasses, looking down her nose at me. “Practicing.”
We were starting to draw some attention from the nearby students now, and I was beginning to regret making a scene.
But only just a little.
It was fun being ahead of the class for a change.
Professor Edlyn glanced me up and down, and I noticed her attunement mark was glowing — a subtle sign that she was using it to look at my aura. “A second attunement? Precisely how long have you been hiding that, Master Cadence?”
I really hadn’t wanted that to come out in public, but in retrospect, it was unavoidable. Plenty of people could see auras, and I had no way of suppressing mine. Maybe I should have looked into something like that as soon as I’d left the spire, but it was far too late now.
“I’ve only had it for a week, professor. I apologize for failing to mention it.”
My teacher sighed, shaking her head. “It’s fine. You’ve passed the test. Congratulations. You can head on home.”
“…Would I get a higher score if I can make a crystal without the case?”
“Show me.”
I did.
Professor Edlyn congratulated me for it, and told me to expect to hear about the “results of my test soon”.
She probably didn’t intend for it to sound ominous, but it definitely did.
I ignored the glares from some of my classmates as I left the room.
I didn’t think my early success would hurt anyone else’s score.
Probably.
The rest of the day was easy. I was still in good spirits from both the world’s easiest final exam and the Haste spell experiments, so I was a little more social than usual.
Of course, “social” for me largely meant that I was willing to involve other people in my experiments.
The first was a bit of sparring with Patrick on the rooftop, while I tried to use Haste magic to dodge his attacks. He used it to practice aiming attack spells more accurately at a moving target, so it was good for both of us.
Well, relatively. I was still terrible at moving with a Haste spell active, but practicing in a combat environment — and with more space than a tiny bedroom — helped me get used to it a little bit more.
We had to stop every couple minutes because I was getting seasick from all the sudden movements, but overall, it was both useful and fun. I think Patrick was happy just to get to spend a bit of time training with just the two of us, too.
I had another practice session with Marissa and Keras in the evening.
That went about the same as the last one. I did try attacking with the Haste spell active as a surprise, but Keras was still faster than me. And he wasn’t even using whatever his pseudo-Haste spell was — I didn’t see the telltale change in his aura that indicated that he was getting serious.
I needed a lot more practice before I could catch up to someone like him. That was fine, though. I was making progress, and so were my friends.
I had dinner with everyone. After that, I got back to work.
If I’d learned anything from the conversation with Jin, it was that I needed to verify important information on my own.
Everything he’d told me about the god beast attunements fell into that category.
I paid Researcher a visit.
“Greetings, Arbiter. How may I be of service to you today?”
She was in a different outfit today. It was still a suit, but it was mostly white, closer to our student uniforms. The change was jarring enough that it derailed my train of thought. “What’s with the new clothes?”
“Oh, this? A recent study found that humans in Valia have an easier time empathizing with people who physically resemble them. For example, humans — at least in this nation — appear to be more likely to select mates who have a physical appearance that approximates their own. This study has yet to be fully peer-reviewed, but I am eager to test it on my own! My hope is that by appearing more similar to one of the students, they will be more likely to see me as a reliable information source.”
“That’s… I’ll be interested to hear what you find.” It sounded to me like she was extrapolating from the study in a different direction from what I might have, but it didn’t necessarily mean she was wrong, per se.
It also wasn’t what I was there to discuss, though.
Researcher seemed happy about my indication of interest, at least. “I would be quite pleased to share! Now, what can I assist you with?”
I shook my head, clearing my thoughts.
“I need some additional information related to Project Q-STN and Vera Corrington.”
Researcher’s lips tightened. “I’m afraid the project designated Q-STN is still classified information.”
I’d prepared for that. “It’s directly related to the assignment I was working on for Katashi.”
Researcher seemed to consider that, then nodded with renewed cheer. “Yes, of course. I will be happy to provide you with everything you need.”
It didn’t take long for Researcher to direct me to the appropriate documents. She wouldn’t let me take them home, so I spent a few hours reading at the Divinatory.
Everything Jin had said was accurate, including my mother’s name being on the list of people who had approved the god beast attunements being tested in the Serpent Spire.