Lucas was standing in the next line while healing his damaged arm.
'You really need to learn how to avoid damaging our body.'
'What are you talking about, if I didn't, we wouldn't even reach the top 50!'
'Yeah, you keep creating self-destructive spells, our healing magic can't keep up.'
'Pfff, look at the skin, it's healing fine!'
'Tch, just because it looks good doesn't mean it's healed. The constant throbbing and pain isn't getting to you?'
'No? You wanted to be in control, so deal with it.'
'Sigh, fine, let's see what's next.'
While Lucas tried to focus on the next test and ignore the pain in his arm, he was also distracted by the occasional explosion by the previous test. The prizes were very attractive, so the nobles or vagrants that don't own a fortune can try their luck on Lucas's technique. The pain and suffering that accompanied it was scary, but the knowledge that the teacher would heal them set them at ease.
The failed examples didn't deter the desperate ones to try for themselves knowing that there was no downside in trying. They wouldn't succeed to reach the top 50 in the first place, now they had a chance, although a painful one. Sadly, none would ever achieve a successful attempt.
Looking ahead, he could see the other students stand in a circle. On the ground was a strange magical array. Lucas didn't know what the test was about, but the one who was garnering the most attention was someone who stood in the exact center.
With his short dark blue hair and sharp eyes, Lucas felt like he could see through everything.
"What's with this sloppy array? You ask me to point out the flaws, but that's like asking to point out the flaw in a collapsed building? Everything is wrong about it.", he said with a straight tone of voice, as if it was the most obvious thing.
"If it's so easy, please point out the mistakes in the array, so I can give you a score.", the array was meant to have mistakes in the first place, so while the teacher was a bit annoyed, he didn't get angry.
"Fine, you want me to correct your mistakes? I'll show you. First, let's start with this here... were these lines drawn by a child? And what kind of scribbles did you do to mess this part up so badly. What in the heavens is this even meant to be, are you trying to put magic arrays down or something? I haven't even started with this!"
With each complaint the veins on the teacher's head grew more and more visible. But everything he said was correct, making it difficult to reprimand him. The surrounding students already got lost in his explanation and didn't understand what he was doing anymore.
"And with this little change we completely fixed the array, easy."
The teacher had a difficult time rewarding the student for finding every single flaw. The veins on his forehead started to slowly calm down.
"Cong-"
"Now that we've fixed it we can start improving it. There are still so many inefficient pathways and combinations!"
The students were all amazed at his talent, and they didn't understand a thing. But the teacher who made the array was proud if his creation. It was an original array he forged after years of studying. It could capture someone's movements and create a replica of light. He was extremely proud of inventing such an array, to hear a student badmouthing it, he lost his temper.
"What are you talking about! This array has already been perfected to the absolute, how dare you insinuate anything else!"
The student stopped in his track to look at the teacher. His eyes contained the biggest criticism and disappointing look.
"You think this is perfection? Hahaha, and here I thought teachers were meant to be smart. What a pathetic joke!"
"If you really can find anything that can be more efficient I'll give you first place for this test."
"Hah! That's easy.", he walked to the center before destroying a bunch of magic lines that made up the array. The teacher at first was scoffing at the student's dumb idea. But as more time passed, the more seriously he was looking at the genius in front of him.
"There were too many restrictions in capturing the movements, you put too much effort in the details, making you miss the bigger picture. By removing these lines and connecting the following two pieces we can increase the efficiency by 50% and make it capture not only human figures but also animals and others."
The surrounding students didn't know what was going on, but one look at the teacher, and they knew he was right. The teacher lost all his anger and was genuinely intrigued by the newly displayed array. The intricate design left him speechless.
"Besides that there are still plenty of improvements that can be made. But I won't be giving you any freebies anymore, just give me the highest score and I'll leave."
"Hahaha, of course, you're a wonderful student... Asta, yes of course, Asta the wise. I've heard your name from my colleagues. You're truly a genius in the making. If you ever need help with something don't forget that your humble teacher is always willing to."
Lucas could only watch slack jawed in awe at the sudden turnaround in the teacher's personality. Asta didn't linger for a lot longer, he still wanted to do the other tests. It didn't take a lot longer before the list of light at the test received its new numbers. Number 23 - Asta - 50
All the others barely had around 10 to 20 points, the top was clearly reserved for him. Even Lucas, while quite intelligent was nowhere near the level displayed by Asta. He had trouble barely remembering where the mistakes were located.
"Alright, next contestant, good luck.", the teacher was in a good mood since he gained something quite valuable. The array on the ground quickly changed to something that seemed similar but was completely different.
'I guess they accounted for the students taking notes by giving them a different array each time. Damn it.'
'It's fine, we simply need to unearth the flow of the magic and learn where it gets stuck.'
Lucas wasn't very knowledgeable about arrays, he knew the bare basics and even that was a stretch. He was smart, intelligent even, but learning an entire new subject in minutes wasn't something he could do.
By trying his hardest he barely made it and reached the very bottom of the top 50. Curious about Asta, Lucas looked at the other tests to see if his name popped up anywhere else. Surprisingly, he didn't achieve a high score on the physical test.
Moving on, the tests kept on coming, one for magical power shot from afar, one for pronunciation of certain runes. Another for withstanding pressure, Lucas could only roll his eyes at the test since it wasn't anything compared to what he experienced with Elam.
He was working on his own way to fight against the pressure, but he wasn't there yet. The constant headaches throughout the test was proof of that. After the other tests, Lucas took a final look at the scoreboard that stood at the end and beginning of the tests.
1 - Matheo
2 - Eliot
3 - Asta
....
39 - Conrad
'Not too bad I guess.'
'Some of these tests are simply not our expertise, plus, what's the point of showing off when everybody else can prepare countermeasures?'
Lucas had a field day at the test of magical might since he was copying every single spell he saw. Even if he couldn't recreate it, he would prepare a method to fight against it later.
One of the head teachers took up the space above them, "Since most have done their tests you can leave now. Tomorrow we expect you to be here on time for the duels. Don't be late, or we'll see that as you surrendering. For those below the top 50, don't worry and steel your resolves. In the duels you will be capable of climbing the ranks and reach a higher position. So, everybody, get home, sleep well, and we'll see you tomorrow."
Lucas didn't really have a home to go back to, so he visited Elam's cabin per usual. Once he arrived, he got the message that his guest teacher wanted to speak to him before the duels. Climbing the mountain was nothing to him anymore, the cold was terrible, but manipulating his magic made him stay warm.
Once he arrived at the top, his vision suddenly changed to the calm clearing in the forest. He still didn't understand how it worked and was sure it would stay that way for a long time. He tried to find where the edge of that space started but couldn't find any magical circles or runes. Even when transferring to the woods, there wasn't anything that popped up. If there was something it flashed faster than what he could see.
"You're here, good.", the neatly dressed man stood there once again. Almost as if he never left this place.
"What did you want to talk about?"
"I heard you have to duel tomorrow, so I want to know what you're thinking."
Lucas explained some of his tactics without batting an eye. He knew that his teacher would already know them and he kept some secrets to himself.
"I see, then tell me, what do you think the strongest element is?"
"Dark magic."
"Why? What are its advantages?"
"It has the power to destroy anything and when used correctly can be used defensively as offensively."
"And what are its disadvantages?"
"It's dangerous for the user as the opponent."
"Is that all?"
Lucas didn't know where he was getting at. To him dark magic was always the strongest of the bunch. It had the power to literally destroy everything, though he would need a lot of energy to do so. Still, that wasn't a counterargument to why it wasn't the strongest.
"Dark magic's greatest strength is also its greatest weakness. The ability to destroy everything is quite true, but that also means that anything can be used to defend against it."
He summoned a ball of darkness that seemed to be on giving off its own dark flames.
"You think this is the strongest? This is an advanced level darkness spell, Dark Orb, that can be thrown against anyone or thing to destroy it. And this", he summoned a tiny light, "is the lowest level Light spell. Now, let's fuse them."
He placed them against each other and they both disappeared into nothing.
"Darkness magic has the biggest destructive potential and is also the easiest to block. You should only use Dark magic when you're sure that a hit will land. Don't think you can win by using a few darkness spells."
"Then what would you see as the strongest magic?"
"There is none, each element has its strengths and weaknesses. There are theories out there that say that all magic stems from a single source and that that source is the most powerful element. But nobody has ever discovered it and to my knowledge there's not even a single clue, only theories."
Lucas could understand the system a bit better. At first, he was convinced that Dark magic had to be the strongest and nothing could stand against it, but after seeing how easy it was to block it, he needed to rethink some of his strategies.
"Anyway, all I wanted to do is check how far you've gotten on your control. If you fail to conjure a single attack, you're going to be useless. Besides that I need to check how good you are at analyzing an opponent. So before the actual duels, you'll fight against something I caught not too long ago."
He waved his hand and a large cage appeared out of nowhere. The space blended a bit with the environment for a second before stabilizing again. In that cage was a single wolf with red fur. Lucas had read about a lot of monsters, but he didn't recognize this one, making it obvious to himself he needed to study a lot more.