Luca was presently sitting at a table in the middle of an enormous library with shelves that stretched up for 10m, some of the books floating in and out of their placements and around the area, resting his burning eyes after four hours of rushed studying, breathing heavily. A constant influx of knowledge was being directly downloaded into his mind via the System, who had told him to just put his hand on each shelf and run up and down to touch every book so it could scan it. As the headquarters of the Mages Guild, one of the major organizations that influenced the world, the books housed within its archives were almost innumerable. Even after three-and-a-quarter hours of running through the halls, using the rolling ladders to reach the higher shelves, the bookshelves of which were magically built to never fall, he knew he'd only managed to scan a portion of the total. According to the System, the exact number of books he'd touched and scanned rounded out to 22,397. Of course, these were just the non-spell/skill books. For those, nearly 4000 had been accounted for.
The currently unending information flow to his brain had given the poor lad a borderline-debilitating migraine, a consequence he himself brought about as he decided to go ahead with the information download rather than leave it to the System. The emotion of regret heavily overshadowed any positive emotions brought about from the new knowledge and spells.
Once ten-some minutes remained before his 4hr deadline, the painful download finally came to an end, granting the youngling a reprieve of his cranial aches. After grumbling to himself about listening to the System's recommendations when it came to knowledge downloading, he took the opportunity to go through the excessive amount of information and organized it. To his surprised glee, the imported knowledge also included a variety of journals of old mages and their experiences, which, when combined with the System and his intellect, brought his [Spell Mastery] from its original Lv. 1 to Lv. 4 in one go. With this, he suddenly shot up from being only a Lv. 1 Mage directly to a Lv. 4 in less than four hours.
Of course, he also discovered a surprisingly high number of new passive abilities on top of his old ones.
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Elemental Control - Allows for minute control of magic
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Dragonskin (New) - Physical damage is reduced by 50%, Magic damage is reduced by 25%
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Spell Mastery (Lv. 4) - Mastery of Lv. 4 and below spells has been achieved, effects increased by 10%.
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Mirror Scales (New) - Some of most magic spells' effects are reflected naturally.
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Magic Proficiency (New) - Atmospheric mana absorption rate increased by 1% per 20 casts.
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Long-Range Expertise (New) - Spell distance increased up to 200%.
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Devourer's Touch (New) - Items in direct contact of the user are capable of devouring souls.
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Several more existed but only these stood out as important. Most of the remaining ones were pointless in the long run. Using the help of the System and his own inferences, Luca understood that [Mirror Scales] and [Dragonskin] came from his bloodline awakening, while his [Spell Mastery] had increased upon the intake of information earlier. He'd long since had [Elemental Control] way back in Greenfield Town, but the new additions of [Long-Range Expertise] and [Magic Proficiency] had to have come from the old journals in the archives. The one that truly surprised him, though, was [Devourer's Touch], as it almost immediately made the requirement of enchanting weapons to do the same thing obsolete. According to the System, it happened by accident after the acquisition of alchemy, magecraft and various profession-based pieces of knowledge had been shoved together with the tightly-wound unique physique of the Spirit Eater Class, or its particularly one-of-a-kind magic to be specific.
After most of his confusion over the new passives had been cleared up, he went through the knowledge he'd originally been tasked with studying. When it came to memorization, the System saved him the trouble of constant recollection, marking the first exam as cleared almost right off the bat. As for the simulated disassembly and reassembly of a simulated spell, he'd done it enough times with the System to do it blindfolded, thus clearing the second exam. He had no worries about the Enchanter License exam due to his familiarity, but he could not say the same for the alchemy exam that followed it, as he'd never once performed alchemy, even in the game. The mock duel also worried him, though not as much as the prior exam, so his stress over it was far less.
Now that he'd managed to straighten out his mind, the Dragonkin boy departed from the library and quickly headed towards the frontmost rooms on the ground floor office area, where the exams were usually held. One had been specifically reserved by the Head Guildmaster, who had made sure to have someone remind the boy earlier. As he arrived, having steadied his breathing on the way over, he saw Elizabeth Tudor and three unfamiliar faces seated at the very front of the room. Luca quickly glossed over that part and walked up to stand before the four and bowing respectfully, "I have completed my assignment, Guildmaster."
"Good. The six of us here are considered as being of the best in our respective fields, so each of us will, in turn, ask three questions for a total of 12 answers. So long as your answers are correct, you will pass the first exam." The Tudor Destroyer's stoic expression remained unchanged as she gestured to the three that sat beside her. "Grandmaster Edgewick will preside over the topic of alchemy, while Grandmaster Runette will preside over the topic of magecraft. Questions on the topics of magic theory and spells will be asked by myself, and Grandmaster Athers shall cover the questions based on arrays and formations." The three nodded in turn upon being addressed, leading to Luca respectfully bowing to each before declaring that he was prepared. "Then, let us begin immediately. Grandmaster Edgewick, would you like to begin?"
The alchemy grandmaster, the beard of which bore numerous singe marks, not to mention the half-burned brows, cleared his throat before staring down the young lad and beginning the test with a rather straightforward question, "What person do we credit the discovery of what we refer to as alchemy today, and what was their greatest achievement?"