In truth, although the foundation of the barrier appeared to be pretty simple in theory, he had no choice but to acknowledge that the design was absolutely exquisite. The barrier that was carved behind the wooden door was actually fairly vivid and distinct. Anyone could see it clearly by just using a little Psychic Energy. The overall layout was well-defined and standardized. Every single magical line was drawn on precisely with a clear function and there wasn’t a single part that was misleading or confusing. The degree of difficulty was appropriate as well because it was within the students’ capabilities to solve it. It was as if the whole barrier was a standard textbook set up.
If one were to think about it carefully, one could get a feeling that the inventor of the formation had no intention of making things difficult for the students. Instead, it was actually a type of screening test for the students and it was also designed to pique the students’ interest in Magical Formations. Compared to the simple and convenient Magical Runes, the complex and refined Magical Formations were not part of the major subjects that the students had to take in the school. By using such a method to give rise to their interest was actually a pretty clever approach.
"As expected from a prestigious academy with a long history of excellence. This is a brilliant teaching method!" Baiyi exclaimed with a hint of admiration in his voice. As he said that, he swept a glance towards Mia who was standing at the end of the line. The little girl seemed to be agitated and nervous as she fidgeted and twirled both of her ponytails with her fingers.
It would be almost impossible for Baiyi to explain the whole concept of the formation to Mia in such a short time and so all he did was explained to her the technique to break the barrier. As for the rest of the details, now that he had the entire layout of the formation memorized, he planned to explain the formation in detail to her at night. It was a good opportunity to use this formation as an example to teach her more about Magical Formations.
All I need to do now is wait. As he put his mind to rest, Baiyi opened up one of the geographical magazine and started reading. However, after a while, the commotion that was taking place by the barrier drew his attention. Turning his head, he saw that a few more people had failed and had given up. Oh? It's Mia's turn now?
Flipping her ponytails over her shoulders, Mia took a few deep breaths and flattened the hem of her skirts repeatedly. Her small hands were fisted together as if she was trying to give herself a moral boost but just as she was about to take a step forward, voices of suspicions could be heard around her.
"Oi oi oi! You are only a sophomore, don't you think this is a little out of your league? You'd get hurt easily you know! On top of that, you're a girl! It won't be a pretty scene when you are repelled by the barrier!"
"Yeah, exactly! It's better if you don't force yourself to do this. We don't really want to see a cute junior being bullied by the barrier, you see."
"Hmmm… although you do have a point there, I beg to differ. You see, the girl’s summer uniform are pretty short and thin. Not only that, it's white as well. If the barrier so happened to release a Water element attack and drenched her with water, her wet and semi-transparent uniform would stick to her body. Don’t you think that would be quite a thing to look forward to?"
"Oh yeah, you have a point! But even though she's quite cute but with that Loli body type, it would be more suitable if she was attacked by a Nature element instead. I can't wait to see such a cute and petite girl with her four limbs tied up by vines and all! How exciting is that?"
There was no doubt that Mia heard every word they said. Her little face flushed red with embarrassment and she could not stop her hands from pulling on the hem of her tiny skirt. She looked awkward as she stole a glance at the surrounding students. The courage that she had summoned earlier had dissipated when she heard them talking.
It was not only the younger students whose heads were filled with such indecent thoughts. As it turned out, even some of the Walkers were adding fuel to the fire as well.
"Now that I think about it carefully, they do have a point right there! Oh I can't wait to see that too!"
"The pitiful look on Mia-Chan’s face would be quite alluring too, don't you think so? With her stockings torn or something like that..."
"Listening to all these makes my blood boils with excitement now! Ah how I wish to lick the body of a girl fully drenched in water…"
Without wasting any time, Baiyi immediately prohibited three of those perverted men from continuing their discussion. Then, he picked up a piece of paper from the table and crumpled them up while infusing some magic into it at the same time. With a perfect parabolic curve, he threw the paper towards the door, triggering a reaction from the barrier.
However, the receiver of the attack was not Mia who was standing the closest to the door. Instead, it was the two boys who were standing behind her.
"Ouch! My god! Why did it attack us suddenly?!" The two brats were tied and lifted up by vines that appeared out of nowhere. They were swung around a few times in the air before they were thrown away and landed with two loud 'bang'.
"I thought you were gonna kill them..." The Apprentice let out a sigh of relief as he said to Baiyi.
Your academy needs to educate its students on common decency, Baiyi replied coldly.
At first, Mia was taken aback by that incident and she instinctively turned her head towards Baiyi who was still sitting calmly in a composed manner. In turn, he did not forget to encourage her and even gave her a thumbs up.
"Phew… Since he has such high hopes for me..." Turning back towards the front, she patted her face lightly. Without paying attention to another word of dissuasion from the other students, she determinedly took a long stride forward and walked to the door. She then shut her eyes lightly and began to use her Psychic Energy to probe the barrier behind the door.
"Wow, it is just as Mr. Hope had described. Well, I guess I will try to use my Psychic Energy to stimulate this point first..." Recalling Baiyi's teaching, Mia carried out the first step of the plan. First I need to use my Psychic Energy to initiate the node that's responsible for detecting Mana and when the light shows up indicating it is ready to attack, I'll need to use a little bit of Mana to make a precise point on that one particular magical line to stop the attack ability of the barrier. Then, I'll use the remaining Psychic Energy to disrupt the node that's in charge of gathering Water element.
Even at her level, those three simple steps was easily carried out by Mia in no time. The attack ability of the barrier was rendered useless by Mia. In the time it took for the barrier to restart its system, Mia turned the door handle without wasting any time and pushed open the wooden door, earning many sighs of disappointment from the crowd of surprised onlookers.
As the door was pushed open, the barrier immediately deactivated and Mia was standing there in perfectly good condition. Staring at her own hands in astonishment, she had an incredulous expression on her face. "I.. I d-did it? B-but, this is such a complicated barrier..." Mia muttered underneath her breath.
"WHAT? She really did it? The barrier that was personally set up by the President was shut down just like that? I didn't expect this little girl to be so amazing! Why have I not heard of the existence of such a genius in the sophomore year? Or could it be that it was the barrier that was malfunctioning?"
"And what is most important is that she took such short time to undo it! How could it be so easy? I've personally witnessed another person who'd successfully deactivated the barrier before but he'd taken quite a long time to do it! Besides, I asked him and he told me that the process was very complicated. Not a slight mistake is allowed to be made at all, there’s no margin for error. How did she manage to make the whole process appear so effortless and simple?"
"It's pretty much impossible for the barrier to malfunction. Looks like this junior of ours is quite gifted! Now that I have a clear look of her, don't you think she's pretty cute? Why didn't I notice such a little genius cutie earlier?"
As she saw the envy and amazement on the faces of the surrounding crowd, Mia was still stuck in a daze as she could not believe the situation herself. It was the second time that she had experienced success in front of the eyes of so many people. Unlike the Appraisal, this time she was the main character from the start till the end. It was also her first time enjoying the attention of being in the spotlight.
Even though Mia did not show an overly joyful expression on her face due to her shy nature but she felt elated and thrilled by the situation in her heart. Well, she was a girl after all.
Turning her head once again to look at Baiyi, she saw that he was nodding his head in a satisfied manner and she quickly flashed a grin towards him as she nodded her head as well. Then, without wasting any more time, she took a huge stride with her white-silk-stocking clad legs and ran up the staircase.
After her silhouette vanished from the gaze of the crowd, nobody else went up to try to undo the barrier anymore. Everyone's attention was focused on Mia instead. The loud and boisterous voice that they were using just now became hushed as they discussed how Mia was able to undo the barrier in such a short time and there was also few of them who were commenting on Mia's looks and body…
Seeking for approval is the nature of every female. I believe that she will fall in love with this feeling eventually and it would be one of the reasons for her to seek for more power, said Baiyi to the other Walkers. But, of course, this is only the first step. Mia's still a little too soft at the moment. We need to do more for her in the future. I plan to turn her into someone who is kind and gentle but determined and powerful at the same time.
"Oh? This the most perfect girl a person could ask for, you know. What a big ambition you have there, Sir Hope!" the Lich replied out of nowhere. "I like this kind of girl too, sincerely from the bottom of my heart."
Hmmph, I think you just like transforming them into a skeletal mage or a lich, don't you? Baiyi remarked sarcastically.
"Well it's true that such a girl would be perfect but I think the kitty-like Mia right now is pretty moe too! Hmmm what a tough choice to make. Why do I suddenly have this paternal feeling like I'm watching over my own daughter? Why am I even starting to feel blue with sadness now?" a Walker with the title Thane lamented.
She doesn’t even have a boyfriend yet and you're feeling sad already? Are you really imagining the scene of her being married to some other guy now? But anyway, don't you worry about it, if any guy wants to hit on Mia, he would have to pass my test first! Baiyi responded.
"Ah? Wait a minute! Doesn’t this mean that Mia would never be able to get married? Don't you think that this is a little over the top, Sir Hope?" cries of objection could be heard immediately as soon as Baiyi announced his decision.
Just as Baiyi was about to refute their cries of objection, the Paladin interjected, "Let's not talk about the future first. We should focus on one of the main problems that Mia have right now and that is the growth of her body-dy… Urghhh…..."
Before he could finish his ‘hentai' remark, Baiyi had immediately stopped his speech without any mercy.