"So what do you think, Zedem?" The Headmistress asked, glancing at the cloaked man seated to her left, his head resting against one of his gauntlets. If the various professors and academy staff constituted the academy's body, then these four were its council, wielding the greatest authority. Any significant decisions affecting the academy were theirs to make.
"Hmm, now I understand why you summoned me back so suddenly... Who would have imagined an ancient magic user appearing within the academy so unexpectedly? And without any of us knowing. I assume that's why you're suspicious of him, Vlaslor?" Zedem inquired, turning to Vlaslor, the Vice Headmaster, who nodded solemnly.
"Exactly. It seems implausible that an ancient magic user would find his way into our academy by mere chance. I've delved into his background, and even Major General Arbarath has no leads on his origins or how he arrived. All I've uncovered is that a unit under his command discovered the boy near the eastern border." Zedem narrowed his eyes at Magnus upon hearing this.
"The Eastern Border, eh? I've heard unsettling rumors about that area." Listening to Zedem, Eveline spoke as well, seeming to have recalled something.
"Oh right, weren't we dispatching mages to assist with the Kryle situation there? I heard many of them mysteriously vanished." Her comment prompted Vlaslor to fall into contemplation.
Right, I nearly forgot about that. Whether it be Adpet-level knights and mages or even mages at the Master-level, the northeastern region suddenly had a spike in causalities and Kryle activity. I know the Headmistress plans to take advantage of the disappearances during the next City Council Meeting, but... It's still concerning; we don't know the cause. And considering this boy is from that region as well, there may be some correlation.
As the Vlaslor continued to ponder to himself, Zedem voiced another thought.
"Still, it's strange. Even though the boy does seem to use a form of ancient magic, I can't pinpoint what it does exactly." It was a point to which the Headmistress agreed.
The Headmistress nodded in agreement.
"Indeed, it appears quite... versatile. Unlike any other known forms of ancient magic, subtler yet multifaceted. I wonder, which Supreme Mage created such a thing, and why?" Her query seemed idle, but there was a glint in her eye that Magnus might have recognized—a curiosity akin to Eveline's occasional gaze.
An intrigue, a restrained desire to dissect and understand. But unlike Eveline, there was something else in her stare, an edge of malice. Even within the confines of the Alternate Space, Magnus sensed it, feeling a shiver down his spine as he turned his head, puzzled by the sensation.
How the hell do I have a chill when I'm in the middle of a desert?
After beating Reimun and his subsequent surrender, the two of them weren't sent out of the Alternate Space right away, not that either of them cared about that. Reimun was simply lying on the sand, catching his breath, while Magnus cast a glance up at the projection in the sky. It had only been a little over twenty minutes, but aside from their own match, Magnus saw that nearly half of the other matches were grayed out, which meant they had finished.
Hmm, it looks like Seraline and Velis, along with Zilen and Syrna, have finished their matches already. Hmm, if it was just a head-to-head fight, I think I could probably guess who won each match, but who knows what kind of environment they were all put into? I mean, the fact that so many matches are still going when the previous rounds finished their matches in under fifteen minutes is proof of how much environments change things.
Still, there were a few matches Magnus was surprised were still going on, for example, Blair and Jalud. Although Magnus didn't know much about Jalud outside of their brief interaction when all the factions met up to come to an agreement, he was still a faction leader. That was the only reason why Magnus wasn't questioning why Luden's match was still ongoing; he was up against another faction leader after all.
Oh, well, I guess it doesn't really affect me either way.
Taking his mind off the matches for a moment, Magnus refocused on the glitch he had just encountered while battling Reimun.
Codebreak-006, huh? This makes it the third glitch I've faced, though it might be more accurate to say the second, considering I caused the Mana Sphere one. But it's odd. Although the Command Console detected the glitch, it didn't start the Debugging Protocol.
It was a thought that had crossed his mind while he was still in that smoke screen that Reimun created. The Command Console had detected the glitch the moment Magnus heard the music, which naturally made him think the music itself was the glitch. However, when Reimun shot him with one of his bolts, the music seemed to be emanating directly from it, or at least in its general direction. Yet once he dodged it, the music's source became omnidirectional again.
The Debugging Protocol is based on my distance from the glitch itself. Based on what happened with the Knockout Brick, I would say it activated when my body came within about half a foot of the glitch, though its detection range seems to be a bit farther than that.
Of course, that just made things even more confusing for Magnus. There wasn't a doubt in his mind that the bolt Reimun shot at him had come within half a foot of his body, yet the Debugging Protocol didn't activate. And even if he was mistaken about that, there was no way he didn't get close enough to activate the Debugging Protocol while he was fighting Reimun himself, who was constantly acting as the source of the music.
This doesn't make any sense...
[Master, there is one possibility.]
Huh, what do you mean, Basker?
[Master, don't you remember what happened when you created the Precognitive Teacup for the first time?]
At first, Magnus was confused at what exactly Basker was getting at, but with their minds being similar and close to one another, he quickly had the same realization that Basker did.
Right! The Command Console only detects the glitches themselves, not their derivatives.
Magnus had pondered this question before: why did the Command Console detect not only the abnormal script he created, but also the mana sphere derived from it? Yet, when he crafted the Precognitive Teacup, the Command Console remained silent, despite the fact it was clearly born from an anomaly it had already detected?
There were multiple possibilities, but one theory he had latched onto was that perhaps the Command Console didn't count them as glitches because instead, it saw them as naturally occurring. He wasn't exactly sure of why and how, but if the Command Console saw glitches as unnatural but some of their derivatives as natural, then it would explain a lot.
After all, the Command Console hadn't detected the mana sphere itself—it didn't exist yet. Instead, it had detected the script and what it intended to create. Either way, figuring out whether I'm right about that or not will take a bit more experimentation and research, and it doesn't change the fact that the music I heard is likely a derivative of a glitch and not the glitch itself. As for what the actual glitch is, I must have come close to it, or it came close to me since the Debugging Protocol detected it, but at the same time, we came close enough for it to begin analyzing it.
This fact, of course, raised even more questions, but Magnus decided to table them until after the second round of the Live Examination.
"Hmm?" Magnus snapped out of his thoughts, noticing the space around him shifting, reminiscent of their entry into the Alternate Space.
"It looks like we're heading back," Reimun said as he sat up off the ground.
"Hmhm," Magnus nodded, noticing Reimun was staring at him.
"What is it?" He asked.
"I was just wondering... is your faction accepting members?" The question caught Magnus off guard, though that didn't show since he was wearing a mask. Instead, it just looked like he paused before answering.
"You want to join our faction? Haven't you come this far without being part of any faction?" Being factionless didn't necessarily carry a positive connotation—it could simply mean no faction wanted the student or that the student in question preferred staying clear of faction politics. However, it was notable when solo students reached this stage in the Live Examination.
People like Fardeir and, of course, Reimun were prime examples of this. They hadn't made any agreements with any faction to avoid severe injury, meaning their opponents didn't hold back. They also didn't have the opportunity to skip certain matches either. After all, if two people in the same faction go up against one another, then the weaker one just has to surrender, so the stronger member moves forward.
Yet, despite these challenges, both had made significant progress. Magnus didn't doubt that after Fardeir's match, offers from various factions must have flooded in, with more to follow for Reimun. Still, reaching this far without joining a faction usually meant a lack of interest, prompting Magnus's question.
"Don't misunderstand; I'm not asking just because you defeated me. If strength alone determined my faction, I wouldn't be without one now. But I have a feeling there is something different about your faction's goals—or at least yours." Those words caused Magnus to recall his conversation with Luden in the carriage.
Back then, Luden had said something similar to him. Saying that, he could tell Magnus wasn't after the same thing he was, nor what any other student wanted either. Their interests were completely distinct from one another, and because of that, Luden wanted him to join his faction. Now, the exact same thing seemed to be happening again, but this time it was happening in reverse.
After a brief pause as space continued to distort around them, Magnus thought about Reimun's request before giving his response.
"I'm not the faction leader; Luden is. If you're interested, you'll have to talk to him. I can recommend you, though."
"That's fine with me," Reimun said without much fuss as they vanished from the Alternate Space in a flash of light. Magnus blinked, adjusting to the sudden brightness fading into the familiar buzz of the student crowd.
Man... I didn't think I would miss not being surrounded by sand so much.
Glancing around, Magnus spotted a large, warped sphere resembling a distorted soap bubble or a glass dome bending light.
I guess that's the Alternate Space we were in. It definitely looks smaller from the outside, though I guess that's what happens when you compress space.
Not seeing Reimun, Magnus assumed he'd exited from the opposite side. Turning away, he started to head toward one of the field entrances. As he was doing so, he glanced up at one of the floating screens surrounding the Alternate Space.
I know Seraline and Syrna's matches are over already, but I wonder how they went.
=====================================•=====================================
I know knights can enhance their physical strength, but how is she swinging that massive spear around so easily? It must weigh over a ton.
These were Velis's thoughts as she watched Seraline through a visual sensory magic spell. In the clearing where Velis had first tried to ambush her, Seraline twirled her spear as if it weighed no more than a twig. Her fiery aura, a manifestation of her sheer will, hadn't faded; in fact, it was growing more intense, transforming from an inferno around her body to an uncontrollable blaze.
From all directions—behind trees, under bushes, and through the canopy—hundreds, if not thousands, of sharpened water spears shot toward Seraline. Each spear was small, probably the length of an arm, but they moved at nearly half the speed of sound, with enough force to pierce through solid stone.
But the sheer number of projectiles didn't slow Seraline down. Her spear glowed like neon as it cut through the air, and the shaft spun so quickly it was like an impenetrable wall. The result was either the evaporation of countless water spears on contact with her aura, which had spread to her spear, or their deflection by the spear's rotational force. Still, even while focused on defense, Seraline's mind didn't pause.
Velis... She's an Apprentice-level mage. She wouldn't have the mana capacity to create this many projectiles with water elementrix magic alone, which means...
She must be using elemental magic. They were in a rainforest, after all, so there was plenty of water in the environment for Seraline to manipulate instead of creating it herself. This allowed her to achieve feats that would be impossible with her own abilities alone and for less mana.
Still, it doesn't matter how much water I have available; it's just a waste of mana to keep attacking her like this. I'll have to switch things up and use all the water around me to my advantage.
Taking a deep breath, Velis raised her staff and held it out in front of her, focusing. A moment later, she began to speak, her voice so soft that her words hardly made any noise. Yet with each word, mana poured out in waves from her mana core, and the formation of a massive spell began to take shape in her mind.
"From depths unseen, the ancient waters rise."
"Echoes of primordial power, boundless and wise."
"Serpent's coil and Leviathan's breath."
"Unleash the flood, herald of watery death..." As Velis chanted, outside the Alternate Space, one of the professors watching Magnus's match noticed what Velis was doing. He immediately showed a look of interest and muttered to himself.
"That girl... She's casting a Master-level elementrix spell using water elemental magic to reduce the normally absurd mana cost. No, it's a simplified version; her mana control isn't precise enough to cast the real thing, but it could still be classified as an Adept or maybe even a Pseudo-Master level spell. I didn't know the Mestor Family had such a talented young mage. Though I have to wonder where she learned a Master-level spell like that..."
Back in the clearing, Seraline sensed something was off as the water spears suddenly stopped. They didn't just stop moving; all the water around her, even the steam generated from her aura, came to a standstill. Stopping her defensive movements once she saw the offensive had halted, Seraline looked around cautiously. It was as if time for the water had stopped. And, in that moment where all liquids stood still, Velis finished her chant.
"Master Class Magic, Abyssal Deluge."