'H-How could…'
Shirone, frozen in shock, turned his head away as Amy walked towards him with her friend.
'Please, just pass by! Just go!'
Shirone hoped earnestly that they'd just ignore him for, in his eyes, nothing good could come out of them meeting. Thankfully, the two girls gave him no attention and were about to walk past… Or so he thought. Due to being in the moment, Shirone had totally forgotten that he was pretty attractive. And due to this, he did not notice that he had already caught the attention of one of the girls.
"Amy, Amy! Did you see the boy we just passed by? Is he new? He seems a bit too old to be a new student… Maybe he's a transfer student? Oh my god, he's totally my style."
Amy couldn't answer back even though she was listening to her chatty friend. It was because, like Shirone, she felt something weird.
"Strange… He looks familiar. Where have I seen him before?"
"Wait, are you interested in him? You, who never bothered to look at a guy before?"
"No. I really have seen him somewhere before."
"Enough with the lies. Be honest, you have a crush on him, right? Right???"
"Seriously, I'm telling you, it's not that."
Amy sped up her pace to escape the persistent rambling. And when her friend started to catch up to her, she started running.
"Hurry up and spill it! I won't drop this until you tell me the truth!"
"No! I said it's nothing like that!"
Boys who saw Amy running away from her friend watched in envy.
Although she was the most popular girl in school, she rejected the love calls of every junior and senior to confess to her.
The only one who knew she was once a vicious girl who dominated the back alley was Shirone.
The Magic Academy's 3rd Test Site.
The spacious hall had a mirror-like smooth floor.
Letters were engraved on the floor, but it was too difficult to understand.
Five teachers were seated side by side behind a table on the north side of the hall.
Upon his arrival, Shirone saw six students taking the test, and all of them were young kids.
"I see it's still not over yet. That's good. Watch carefully what those children do."
Considering he looked a bit old for a newly enrolled student, he paid no mind to the stares he received.
Alpheas explained the letters on the floor.
"If you enter the Spirit Zone, these letters will look and feel different. And depending what you feel through them, we will analyze the size, strength, flexibility, and propensity of your Spirit Zone. You just have to answer the instructors honestly."
Shirone, who got the gist of it, watched the test from a distance.
"Okay, Camie. Can you use magic?"
"I can levitate objects into the air."
The examiners did not check each individual claim to see if they were true. It was because they knew that if the students were to uselessly bluff their way through the academy where they came to learn, they would ultimately be the ones at the losing end.
"I see. Then shall we go right to the Spirit Zone?"
"Yes."
When the child named Camie entered the Spirit Zone, a young instructor sitting at the far right asked. With slicked-back blond hair, he was a handsome man who made a sharp impression.
"What is the farthest number you can see?"
"Six."
"Oh? A six…"
The man wrote down the number on a paper approvingly.
It meant that his Spirit Zone reached a sphere of six meters in diameter.
To have that degree of skill as a newly enrolled student, he was on the level to join Class 9 at minimum.
The next question was asked by an elderly instructor sitting next to him.
With a buzz cut and a forehead full of fine wrinkles, he habitually raised his eyebrows which made him look like an owl.
"What is the most clear color you can feel?"
"Mmm… I feel like I've entered a red world."
"Red. A divergent type. That explains why your Spirit Zone is large for your age."
The instructors nodded in agreement.
The third and fourth instructors also asked questions they were specially in charge of.
One instructor asked whether the large tower stood on the left or the right. This was done in order to find out which side of the brain they typically used. Another instructor then asked how many balls were shaking. This was to check the density of the students' Spirit Zone.
"What is the temperature you feel right now? Is it on the cold side or the warm side?"
The last instructor to ask was a young woman.
Her eyebrows were thin with sharp eyes that gave her a cold appearance. But she was certainly beautiful nonetheless.
"I think it's a little hot. It's to the point I'm sweating."
If one was to feel hot, it meant that their Spirit Zone was variable. If someone's application skills increase, their durability would decrease, so having a high application level was not necessarily good or bad.
"Okay, good job, Camie."
The remaining students were also tested one after the other.
Teachers were satisfied that the average standard was quite high this year, and even Alpheas was impressed when a child announced the number 12.
It was finally Shirone's turn.
Alpheas gently placed his hand on Shirone's back and pushed, taking him to the instructors.
"Now, don't feel pressured and show off your skills."
"Yes, I'll try."
Shirone was not pressured. Since he started out at zero anyways, he wanted to start his study from the basics in order to ensure the best learning experience.
The examiners observed Shirone carefully.
He was the special admission student whom Alpheas had already notified them about.
In his resume, there was a unique status that said he was a guest of the Ogent family, and under the special notes, it stated that he had a high possibility of development.
Time to time, there were kids like Shirone. Children who only realized their talents later on.
However this magic academy was called the birthplace of geniuses.
No matter how much of a genius they were outside of the academy, there were many who realized that they were below average when compared to the real geniuses in the academy.
Perhaps that was why the instructors did not have big expectation.
The blond man sitting on the right asked a question with an unenthusiastic voice.
Fire mage Thadd. He was known to only sweeten his voice in the presence of women.
"Shirone Arian. You are 17 years old, correct? Can you use magic?"
"No. I haven't learned any magic yet."
"I see. Well… A person should be able to do a few things, even without formal teaching."
There was a hint of sarcasm in Thadd's tone, but he wasn't totally wrong.
The Spirit Zone was what allowed knowledge in one's brain to be released into reality.
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On the other hand, it was something impossible for Shirone to cast any magic since he had no opportunity to receive formal teaching.
That's why he put aside all other things and was so hung on obtaining a Core of Knowledge. Hence why he knew nothing in terms of how to apply and cast magic.
"Okay, let's take a look first. Stand in the circle over there and activate your Spirit Zone. Ah, you can do it, yes?"
If he was a special admission student who couldn't even do that, they would have questioned the morality of the headmaster.
Thankfully, that did not happen because Shirone nodded while heading over to the circle.
"Then… I'll try."
When Shirone closed his eyes and focused his mind, his synesthesia unfolded.
'Wow!'
Once he entered the Spirit Zone, Shirone was overwhelmed by the countless pieces of information.
Most of the knowledge from reality was blocked, and he felt as if he had fallen into a whole new dimension.
'This was what it was like.'
When he felt the world through synesthesia, the letters engraved on the floor appeared three-dimensionally.
Thadd asked.
"What is the farthest number you can see?"
Amongst the countless numbers orbiting around, Shirone took note of the farthest one.
His eyesight was not important because, through synesthesia, he saw things without needing to see them with his eyes.
However Shirone could not answer.
"Shirone, what is the farthest number you can see?"
Even as Thadd kept urging him, Shirone made no move to open his mouth. That led the instructors to think that Shirone was embarrassed over whatever number he saw.
It was natural to be intimidated after watching kids younger than him show off their talents.
Alpheas spoke softly.
"Shirone, you can be honest. We are not trying to rank or judge you. We're only trying to figure out the right education level for you."
Shirone spoke with a small, doubtful voice.
"Um… I do see a number, but it's impossible to read it because it's so long."
Thadd asked again.
"You can't read it? Are you saying you can't see it?"
"No. I do see it, but it's too long. And even at this very moment it's still getting longer."
Thadd was getting annoyed.
The magic characters that calculated the size of the Spirit Zone could only output integers. He thought that Shirone was stalling because he was ashamed of his lack of skill.
"Then just tell me the first few numbers in front of you."
"Mmm, 3.14."
"Eh?"
The eyes of all the instructors popped wide open.
The number Shirone was seeing was the circumference/pi. Since it was an irrational number that was not divisible by an integer, it went on indefinitely.
The woman sitting on the far left shot back, raising her glasses.
"Shirone, I'm sorry, but there is no such thing as 3.14 in the numbers we designated. Are you sure?"
Siena specialized in freezing magic, and like her magic, she had a cold temperament which did not go along with Thadd's. Due to this, they were always at each other's throat.
Shirone frowned, bothered.
"Mm, is that so? But that's what I'm seeing."
'It's true…'
Siena had lied.
Of course, it was true that pi was not engraved along with the other magic characters… But there was one… Just one situation in which pi could appear.
It was when the area of the spirit zone exceeded the range that could be measured.
This meant that the Spirit Zone, which Shirone extended, had a diameter of at least 30 meters.
The accuracy and precision measurement for the 3rd Test Site, which evaluated freshmen, was set to be quite low.
This was because if the instructors were to push the young children, who had yet to mature, too hard by starting off too extreme or intense, the experience could traumatize them for life.
Due to that reason, the diameter range of the Spirit Zone was also limited to 30 meters.
However, no matter how late they entered the academy, there were a few who did exceed this limit. Though it was so minimal that one could count with only the fingers of one hand.
If a person's Spirit Zone were to exceed over 30 meters in diameter, that person would typically be assigned under Class 5 at minimum. And if comparing the level of Spirit Zone alone, it could go neck to neck with an uncertified Grade 10 mage's Spirit Zone.
The old man sitting next to Thadd asked the next question.
"Then what color do you feel most clearly?"
"Blue. Everything is shaded blue."
The old man's lips stuck out, and a commotion began among the instructors.
'If he's blue, that means he's a convergent type… A type that has an advantage in the durability of the zone rather than the size of the zone.'
'Over 30 meters in diameter… And he only sees blue… His development must have been amazing.'
Alpheas, too, was surprised. He finally understood why Klumph had been boasting nonstop about Shirone.
However, as a headmaster who had encountered numerous, varying students, he became rather critical.
If Shirone just had an adequate amount of talent, then there would have been space for his compliments… But Shirone went beyond that level.
And above all, since Shirone had yet to step foot into the world of magic, he definitely hadn't yet tapped into even half of his full potential and talent.
'This is a bit dangerous.'
Too much praise could ruin a talent.
With Alpheas too engrossed in his thoughts to say anything, Shirone continued to diligently answer the questions.
'The development of his brain is bi-hemespheric… '
This meant that Shirone used both sides of his brain at the same time.
This was also unique, but the real surprise had yet to come.
"How many balls are floating around?"
Since synesthesia was applied, he could sense the number of balls all at once. He did not have to count each ball one by one.
After a while, Shirone opened his mouth.
"867."
"867…"
The instructor who had asked the question lost all emotion and went blank. And Siena, who had been watching with a collected attitude, had to pull in her chair for the first time to fix her usually flawless posture.
The ball-counting segment measured the density of one's Spirit Zone. This was done in order to measure how evenly spread the caster's mental strength was.
Being able to sense 867 balls meant that Shirone's mental strength covered 86.7% of his Spirit Zone.
'A kid who only recently turned 17?'
Having such an evenly spread mental strength meant that his mind was extremely stable, so his probability of succeeding in the field of magic was high.
PR/N: Density = How well spread one's mental strength is.