Despite the commotion, Ethella turned her head.
As the students watched, flashes of light continued to shoot from Shirone's hand.
'Active magic.'
That meant that he had successfully strengthened his Spirit Zone.
Ethella approached Shirone.
"Shirone, I see that you've prepared well."
"Thank you. But in fact, this is the first time I've succeeded."
"The sequence method seems to have worked. Would you like to try it again? I'll watch."
"Alright."
As Shirone cast photon output. Ethella touched her lips and fell into thought.
'Hmm.'
It was not simply the Sequence.
'He exceeded the level that can be strengthened with basic skills. Did he combine the modularization from the information department?'
Whether he did it while knowing or discovered it by accident, with Shirone's insight, either was possible.
Organizing her thoughts, she made a suggestion.
"Shirone, you haven't tried hitting a target yet, have you? Would you like to try out the Image Zone?"
"Yes."
The students stopped what they were doing and gathered around to watch Shirone.
"How effective will photon output be?"
"Not sure. It's one of the fastest magics out there, but the accuracy of it depends on the mage."
After checking the safety device, Ethella spoke.
"You may begin."
Shirone nodded and flicked his finger.
The target jumped up and flew around quickly.
The thorns of the Attack form pierced out in all directions, and one of them caught the target.
'Photon output.'
The magic was cast without delay. A flash of light sped toward the target and turned it into ashes.
"Wow."
The students were awed.
While it may not actually be effective in real combat, the flashy lights overwhelmed the viewers.
'Not bad.'
The targets turned to ashes left and right as Shirone fired a series of flashes.
Shirone's performance really emphasized the advantage of photon output in regards to the Speed Gun Test.
'Yes! I can do it with this!"
The Sequence method already exceeded 1,500, and the count on the display board continued to rise.
Currently, Shirone had eliminated 172 targets.
Shirone had 20 seconds left. He could easily break through to 200 points, and with time to spare.
'As expected, he's using modularity.'
Ethella was finally certain.
The realization he had when he crossed the Bridge That Could Not Be Crossed continued to help him with the current exam.
'I was worried for nothing.'
She originally thought it would be better to strengthen Shirone's Spirit Zone through mental training rather than technical training because of his disposition.
'Surprisingly, there is quite a belligerent side to him.'
His desire to obtain victory seemed to have spurred his thinking to become stronger and more fierce.
A minute passed, and when the targeting program ended, Shirone let out one big breath.
The final total was 342 points, which was recorded on the electronic signboard. All gazes were pointed there.
"342 in one minute. But how did he not miss one? Should I just switch to photon output instead?"
"Does that look easy to you? Shirone mastered teleportation. That's why he's at that level."
Meanwhile, away from the group of students, Nade and Yiruki sat side by side and shared their opinions.
"As expected of Shirone. Even though he specializes in defense, he is also good at offense, too."
As opposed to Nade, Yiruki was negative.
"I don't know. 342 points isn't all that great."
"Still, it's a great score for his first time. Up until yesterday, he didn't even know how to output photons."
"The number is not of importance. There's a separate ability to grasp the main point. To have that kind of ability, that is what's actually great."
Nade was surprised.
"Oh, what a surprise. For you to praise Shirone of all people."
"I'm just acknowledging what should be acknowledged. Anyways, it'll be a good experiment anyway. We will get to see who is higher up in this practical evaluation."
"What are you up to?"
Instead of answering, Yiruki headed to the Image Zone.
"Ms. Ethella, I would like to do it too."
"Yiruki, you?"
Ethella looked uneasy.
'There was that last incident as well…'
With Yiruki's personality, Ethella didn't know what would happen if she were to allow him to demonstrate recklessly.
"I'll just do a quick warm-up and come down. The safety device is on anyway."
Ethella was forced to say yes.
It was not fair to restrict a student who was eager to prepare for the exam.
"All right. But keep in mind, don't make a scene."
"Leave it to me."
With Yiruki's appearance, the students' attention focused on him, and so did Shirone's.
Honestly, he was curious.
'Is the Savant Syndrome effective on the Sequence method?'
He may be able to do complicated calculations, but counting numbers quickly was a whole different matter.
While everyone had the same question, Yiruki cast the Deviate form of the Four Way Formation.
"Eh? Is he using the Deviate form this time as well?"
The smallest and most agile form out of the Four forms of the Four Way Formation, but due to that, there was little room to rely on synesthesia.
"Tell me about it. I mean, we're going to hit them using our naked eyes, so wouldn't it be better to use the Attack form?"
Contrary to the skepticism, Yiruki actually reduced his Spirit Zone even smaller. He did so in order to speed things up. When the signal flared, the 60-second countdown was seen along with targets soaring in the air.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The Spirit Zone, which was reduced to 20 centimeters in diameter, moved as fast as a whip and hit the targets.
"Woah!"
Seeing the quick and accurate targeting, not only were the students surprised, but also Ethella.
'To use the Deviate form. It's a pretty unique approach."
The count exceeded 100 points.
Since Shirone went through the same procedure, he was able to gauge Yiruki's skill.
'I see.'
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If the photon output offset the distance, the Deviate form was also activated immediately.
'The downside is that you have to discern the target with your naked eyes. But Yiruki…'
Did not need high dynamic visual acuity. With the help of the Savant Syndrome, he predicted where the targets would be in advance.
Yiruki was smiling.
'You can't be surprised already, Shirone.'
In the next moment, his Spirit Zone began to move at a speed that the eyes could not follow.
"Huh?"
The faces of the students were stained with astonishment. The sound of exploding targets could be heard from all directions.
POWPOWPOWPOWPOW!
Since the power of the Atomic bomb was minimized, it took little to no time for it to detonate.
When the count reached 200 points, Shirone could tell what was going to happen without having to see the final results.
'The score will be higher than mine.'
Shirone was not bothered by it, but he was curious as to how Yiruki was strengthening his Spirit Zone.
"Perhaps modularization?"
"No."
Nade said.
Although he was often caught in between the arguments of the two, he wasn't the type to hate pure competition.
"Yiruki wants to beat you through his own method. Yiruki is not counting in the thousands."
"Not in thousands? Then?"
"A million."
Shirone's mind went blank. Was it possible to count to one million in a minute?
One minute passed by in an instant, and Yiruki came down after using up that minute to its fullest.
The final score was 548 points.
It was a score that far exceeded what Shirone had gotten.
"That's insane."
Seeing Yiruki, who was seriously engaged in class for the first time, made the students murmur amongst themselves.
"548 points using the Deviate form? Is he really human?"
"He calculated the equations of motion for all the targets using his savant ability. Honestly, isn't that cheating?"
Ethella was puzzled.
'Hitting the target using the Deviate form is the result of coordinating between mathematical calculation and the usage of his Savant Syndrome. However…'
That alone did not explain how his Spirit Zone moved much faster than the targets.
'How did he strengthen it?'
Her eyes twinkled as she pondered.
'No way? That child…?"
Yiruki, who came down from the Image Zone, approached Shirone while looking at him inquisitively.
"How was it? Worth watching, wasn't it?"
Shirone admitted honestly.
"Yeah, that was amazing. I never thought you could use the Deviate form in the way you just did."
"Hmm, that's it? Well, that's disappointing."
"What?"
Shirone frowned, but Yiruki couldn't care less and continued to talk.
"To modularize numbers to speed up. I guess it was a method that utilized your strength."
Shirone winced.
"Want me to teach you how I strengthened it?"
"Are you allowed to tell me so carelessly? Even though you seem to want to keep me in check?"
"I don't care. It's not something you can just do by knowing."
As expected, Yiruki was skilled in getting under people's skin.
"Actually, it's nothing big or amazing. While you speed up by expanding your units using modularization, I speed up by reducing the units through algebra."
"Huh? Algebra?"
Shirone's mouth gaped.
'Such a way exists…? No, he's right, what he performed was just algebra… Albeit really quickly.'
Yiruki wasn't lying when he said that knowing how to use the method did not equal to being able to use it.
"With logarithms, even astronomical numbers can be expressed in a simple way. This time, I just tried it out for practice. After all, the real competition is the practical evaluation."
Shirone chewed on his lips.
'Through the power of log, one could feel the numbers intuitively, no matter how big…'
'I'm guessing even ten billion wouldn't make him sweat. After all, logarithm was created to easily calculate and express difficult expressions.'
Therefore, if it was applied to a simple number play like the Sequence method, the whole operation would become extremely complicated.
'But he did it. He developed his own Sequence method using the Savant Syndrome.'
What was Yiruki's limit?
Amy Karmis, the members of the House of Ogent. Shirone had met many geniuses in his life, but it was his first time coming across someone with an extremely tilted pendulum of talent like Yiruki.
"What do you think? You still think you can beat me?"
"I'm not trying hard to beat anyone. If they try their best, it doesn't matter who wins."
"What a classic answer. Alright, we'll see when the time comes. Maybe I was wrong, maybe you aren't that guy. Maybe you never were to begin with. But next time, watch what you say. It's unpleasant to hear an idealist with no skills say what life is all about."
Shirone gritted his teeth
'What in the world is wrong with him?'
He just wanted to say that everyone's life was precious. But if even that was Idealism, at least according to Yiruki, then Shirone had no choice but to show him he was worthy of saying such things.
"Fine! If you think that way, then let's compete. I will beat you for sure on this exam."
"Haha! Now you're talking. Though, the winner will still be me."
"You…!"
The moment Shirone was about to go at him again, their classmates gathered around Yiruki.
"You were amazing! How did you do it? Can you teach me, too?"
"You had such a skill all along! Why did you hide it? Why don't you join our research group? We might be able to finish our project within a month if you were to join."
Compliments rained down, but not once did Yiruki's expression change. Instead, he turned to Shirone.
"Shirone, the insight you showed during the Bridge That Cannot Be Crossed was a sight to see. However…"
He gave an ominous smirk and turned away on his heel.
"My calculation is faster than your insight."
Shirone gulped.
He had faced lots of competition ever since he entered the magic academy, but it was his first time against such a powerful opponent.
Nade patted Shirone on the back.
"Cheer up. While this might sound bad, as a spectator, I can't help but find this competition exciting. Of course, I don't care who wins since you guys are both my friends."
"Competition is what I want, too. But not this kind of competition. Yiruki just flat out hates me."
"What can we do? That's the guy he is. But not just him. To make him go all out like that, you bastard? You're something yourself too. You two are probably the only ones who have the potential to break the highest targeting record."
"Huh? What's the score?"
"Let's see. From what I know, it should be 987?"
"What? 987?"
Shirone was astonished.
Aside from his score, even Yiruki, who used log, scored only 500 points.
How fast did one have to be to earn a score of 987?
"That's incredible. Who is it? They must have graduated already, right?"
"Eh? What are you talking about? How do you have no clue even though you guys are dating? The person who scored the highest was Amy."