[I have a feeling Isaac is just faking it]

The seating in the magic classroom was not fixed. Most of the time, it was first-come, first-served—not much different from universities in that distant time and space.

Bolton and his followers sat in the front row. Although this guy looked like a typical school bully, he was one of the few who were exceptionally serious about class. The shrinking Toran sat silently in the corner, wishing his presence could be as minimal as possible.

Lynn and Isaac casually chose an empty spot in the middle, just like how university students getting up early for class were used to sitting with their roommates. They waited together for the teacher who would be conducting the water magic test today to enter the classroom.

The teacher in charge of teaching basic water magic to new students was named Ariel, a water element archmage.

Even across the entire continent, the overall status of archmages was quite high. People with magical talent were already rare, and those who could become an archmage were even more so. In some remote towns, a single archmage was enough to be a guest of honor whom the town lord would greet with utmost respect. Even in Central City, the core area of the empire, the number of archmages was not large.

It was thanks to the public academy’s strong backing and the joint efforts of the royal family and the Holy See that they could assemble a luxurious teaching staff, with an archmage teaching a mere beginner mage class.

In this continent’s classification of mages, only students who had not yet left school were given the “beginner, intermediate, and advanced” titles to distinguish their grades. Outside of school, both mages and swordsmen were given a rank by their respective guilds.

Of course, students could also go to the guild on their own for a personal ranking, but the guild’s ranking had a non-trivial fee. If they didn’t want to pay, they had to wait for the academy’s uniform assessment at the end of each year. Lynn’s financial situation was not good, and he had only recently enrolled, so he naturally didn’t know his mage rank.

But even the most gifted new student had to be obedient under the hand of an archmage, especially since… this archmage teacher was not to be trifled with.

“For today’s test, everyone must successfully cast a Water Ball spell with a diameter of at least one meter. Students whose sole affinity is for the water element must also cast a Water Arrow spell that can pierce a stone slab to pass.”

As soon as Ariel, wearing a Water Element Archmage’s robe, entered the classroom, she announced the rather incredible rules with a gentle tone and a sweet face that matched the characteristics of the water element. The classroom was immediately filled with an uproar, but her expression remained unchanged as she continued gently:

“Any objections will be rejected. If students of the Central City Magic Academy can only cast Water Ball to wash their faces, they might as well drop out and go home to water flowers.”

Seeing the classroom quickly fall silent, she finally smiled and continued in her gentle, flowing voice:

“Students with a single water element affinity do not need to take any other elemental tests, so they are required to cast a spell that can cause sufficient damage. Each student will have ten chances to cast. If anyone runs out of magic power, the academy will provide a mana-restoration potion. Does anyone have any other objections? No? Good, because I would have rejected them anyway. Now, follow me to the test grounds—I hope you won’t disappoint me.”

…

According to the academy’s past traditions, the magic test for new students who had just completed their first month wasn’t difficult. You only needed to successfully cast one low-level spell to pass. The water-element magic test should have been the same, where simply conjuring a water ball the size of a soccer ball would be enough to pass—that’s what everyone had thought.

Aside from Lynn, who had completely overestimated the difficulty of the test because he didn’t know anything, only Isaac had a slightly more serious attitude. After all, he was the second young master of a major noble family and had a wide range of information sources.

“Teacher Ariel is an archmage the academy just hired from the Mage’s Guild. She’s an alumna who graduated a few years before us and was very famous at the academy, known as a genius in water magic.”

While walking a short distance behind the teacher in the light blue water-element robe, Isaac raised a hand to the side of his face, bent over slightly, and whispered into Lynn’s ear:

“My older brother made it into the elite magic league in his second year at the noble academy, and back then, Ariel was already one of the main players on the Central City Magic Academy’s team. It’s only been a few years since she graduated, and she’s already been promoted to archmage. I had a feeling something was up when I heard a genius like her was going to be our teacher. Sure enough, she’s increased the difficulty of the new students’ test by many times.”

Lynn was confused by the phrase “increased the difficulty by many times.” How was casting a water ball with a diameter of over one meter a lot more difficult? Couldn’t anyone do that? Last night, when he was testing his new staff, he almost flooded the dorm, and he didn’t see any sign of shock from Isaac. He had assumed that summoning a water ball the size of a house was completely normal. In fact, Isaac’s expression was more nuanced when he saw him pick up the staff with one hand…

But he didn’t let on about any of that. Instead, his expression froze when he heard an unfamiliar term: “Elite Magic League?”

“To be precise, it’s the All-Continent Elite Academy Joint Competition. Before the mixed-profession matches, there are separate professional competitions. The magic group is what everyone calls it.”

Isaac hadn’t expected Lynn to be completely clueless about such a public event that any kid on the street could talk about. He thought his roommate was curious about other things, so he continued:

“This major competition is held once every three years, and the prizes are incredibly generous. Both the Holy See and the royal family send people to participate. We happen to be able to catch one this year, and students from participating academies have the right to watch live, though the location isn’t guaranteed. My brother is definitely a participant, and he can get me a few inner-ring tickets. We can pick a good spot to watch.”

Lynn nodded, not planning to ask any more questions. When they reached a clearing surrounded by trees, the large group stopped. Teacher Ariel, who was leading them, gently raised a hand, and a half-human-tall potion rack appeared beside her. Glass bottles filled with light blue mana-restoration potions were neatly stacked on it, and a rough estimate showed there were about thirty to forty of them.

A regular mana-restoration potion was priced at ten gold coins on the market. Lynn earned twenty gold coins by subbing for a whole month. Just one casual wave of Teacher Ariel’s hand was enough for Lynn to work tirelessly for over a year—at this moment, Lynn was deeply aware of his poverty.

Poverty, no matter the world, was a lifelong enemy of humanity, and this great enemy had always been by his side.

Thinking this, Lynn couldn’t help but clutch the cuff of his magic robe in frustration. His sadness over his empty wallet was so intense that it caused his normally stagnant magic to unconsciously fluctuate for a moment.

Ariel seemed to sense something subtly and glanced over with a hint of confusion. Toran, who was at the very end of the line with his head down, flinched sharply. His neck tensed, and his already hunched back sank even lower.

…

The sudden increase in the difficulty of the new student magic test naturally led to a chorus of complaints. However, even though most of the students in the magic academy were nobles, no one dared to say anything to Ariel about her raising the test difficulty without warning. After all, the number of nobles among mages was very high, and Ariel was also a noble from a prominent family.

Among the students taking the test, only Isaac’s family might have had the influence to challenge Ariel’s family, but Isaac was not an idiot. Why would he offend someone over such a small matter? Besides, the Ventus family had been training their second young master since childhood, so he wouldn’t fail a simple test like this.

Of course, there were plenty of students who did fail.

“…”

After finally controlling his magic to output just the right amount, keeping his water ball to a diameter of less than two meters and successfully passing Ariel’s magic test, Lynn stood clutching his gray staff and watched the other students continue with their test. He couldn’t help but fall into silence.

Some students’ faces turned red as they struggled to release a water ball the size of a washbasin. Others, after failing to cast a proper water ball spell three times in a row, looked pale and rushed to chug a mana-restoration potion, as if they were completely exhausted. Still others’ water arrows were like a watering can, leaving an embarrassing, wet gray streak on the thin stone slab…

‘Uh… so, is everyone actually serious about this?’

Isaac passed the test smoothly, but Lynn, watching his overly dramatic shift in expression from “nervous apprehension” to “striving hard” to “giving his all” to “utter surprise” to “looking completely drained,” couldn’t help but feel that the guy was just faking it.

As he was deep in thought, a very soft voice suddenly came from behind him without warning.

“B-because everyone’s magic power is limited, the spells they cast will also be limited by the magic power they provide. That’s why Teacher Ariel provided the mana-restoration potions…”

Lynn subconsciously turned around and saw Toran, the student who had been bullied by Bolton earlier, had quietly appeared behind him. His black hair was a mess, the bruise on his face hadn’t faded yet, and his dark green eyes were fixed on his own shoelaces. He didn’t dare to look up, still appearing sullen and timid. He said in a very low voice:

“N-normally, ten water ball spells are the limit for a new student with standard magical power.”