After the written exam concluded, there was a short break before the practical exam.
The practical exam was conducted separately for each department.
Rest was taking the Magic Department exam.
Following the examiner's instructions, they moved to the grounds.
"Ho ho ho. Now then, let us begin the Magic Department practical exam."
What greeted the roughly one hundred examinees who had moved to the grounds was an old man clad in a magnificent robe.
He had long, white facial hair, and the top of his head was bald.
He had to be well past seventy, but he stood with a straight back, radiating a vigorous, spirited impression.
"My name is Verroid Hahn. I suppose you could say I'm the headmaster of this academy."
"Verroid Hahn... A sage and academy headmaster, what's he doing here...!"
One of the examinees blurted out in a voice of sheer disbelief.
Verroid Hahn.
Rest knew that name too. He had come across it in a book he'd read while studying for the exam.
He was a member of the Council of Sages, the world's most elite magical society, and the strongest magician in the nation.
Though he was said to have been born a commoner, he was on first-name terms not only with the country's most powerful figures, but even with royalty from foreign lands.
He had been given the title of "Honorary Duke," making him one of the most powerful figures in the nation, second only to royalty.
"Normally, another instructor was supposed to serve as the exam proctor, but that person suddenly had something urgent come up and has left the royal capital. Apparently, it was something along the lines of, 'My adorable little sister got a boyfriend — there's no way I can sit around proctoring an exam right now!' What a headache."
The old man stroked his beard and chuckled, but his eyes held not a hint of amusement.
Inwardly, he seemed quite furious at the subordinate who had abandoned his post.
"Regardless, it doesn't matter who the proctor is — the task remains the same. Allow me to explain the practical exam."
The academy headmaster gestured with the staff in his hand toward a spot some distance away.
White lines had been drawn across the ground of the field, and a circular target-like object stood approximately ten meters away.
"You will stand on that line and launch attacks at the target. That target has the ability to measure power output as a numerical value, and that number will serve as your score."
The exam content was the same as what he had heard beforehand. Just like every other year.
"However — you may only attack once, but you may cast as many spells as you like. Think carefully about which spells to use."
Most of the examinees tilted their heads at the headmaster's explanation.
They could cast multiple spells. But they could only attack once… It was a confusing explanation.
(Oh… I see.)
Rest, however, nodded inwardly.
(In other words, it means I'm free to combine multiple spells into a single attack.)
A composite magic — multiple spells cast simultaneously and layered together.
It was an extremely advanced technique, and even among court magicians, there were many who couldn't pull it off.
Casting multiple spells simultaneously was difficult to begin with. Combining them was naturally even harder.
(But… Diebl-sensei did say that even lower-tier spells, when combined properly, can exceed the power of a higher-tier spell.)
Rest's teacher, Diebl, had also mentioned that he himself could hardly use any advanced spells.
It was precisely because Diebl's use of magic was extraordinarily skillful and he could employ composite spells that he had been able to become a court magician.
Of course, over the course of the past year of training, he had been taught how to use composite spells as well.
(How fitting for this kind of exam… So this is what it means to have an excellent teacher.)
"Now then, I'd like you to cast your spells in the order of your examination numbers. First up, Jack from Rosand Village."
"Y-yes!"
A boy who looked rather naive stepped forward to the line.
He took a deep breath, then activated his magic.
"Wind Blade!"
What was launched was a wind-attribute junior-tier spell.
A blade of wind flew straight toward the target and struck it dead-on.
"Hmm, 57 points."
A white number appeared on the target.
Letters had materialized out of empty air — was that some application of light-magic illusion?
"Next, Selsey from the royal capital."
"Yes…"
The examinee called by the academy headmaster stepped forward, and the students took turns casting their magic one after another.
Judging by the scores of more than half the examinees, the average hovered around 60 points.
Most of them used junior-tier spells, though a handful had activated mid-tier ones.
"Continuing on… Yuri Cattleya."
"Here!"
She gave an especially energetic answer, and the girl I'd met before the exam… Yuri stepped forward.
Since she was using the name of the prestigious Cattleya marquis house, I naturally assumed she was taking the Knight Department exam, but… contrary to Rest's expectations, she had apparently taken the Magic Department test.
(Just a moment ago, she showed the same physical ability as me when I used [Body Reinforcement] without magic… Could it be that her magical skills are also amazing?)
"Hey, Cattleya means…"
"Yeah, the marquis family…"
"Why is she… in the Magic Department, no, why is she even taking the exam in the commoner bracket?"
Murmurs rippled through the other examinees.
Once again, I wanted to point out that if she wanted to hide her background, she shouldn't announce her family name.
"Alright, here I go! [Stone Bullet]!"
Yuri channeled magic, casting the spell with a wave of her hand.
The spell she used was [Stone Bullet] — a basic magic that hurls a stone pellet at the target.
"Haahhhhhhhhhhh!"
Yuri took an exceptionally long time, focusing her energy… and slowly, so very slowly, a stone began to form in the air.
It took a full five minutes or more, but she finally managed to produce a small pebble, barely large enough to fit in her palm.
"…Seriously?"
Rest couldn't help but mutter.
It was glaringly obvious she lacked mana.
To create a stone that small, Yuri had been wringing every last drop of mana from her entire body.
It wasn't just her mana reserves — her casting speed and output were below average as well.
There was no way she could enroll in the Magic Department with skills like these.
Rather, enrolling would only lead to more hardship.
(With skills like these, as pitiful as it is, there's no way she's passing...)
Rest shook his head sympathetically.
However, immediately after, something no one had anticipated happened.
"Alright... here goes!"
"Huh!? No way!"
Witnessing the impossible sight, Rest's voice cracked.
Yuri had grabbed the small stone generated in midair and hurled it with all her might.
The thrown stone let out a sharp whistling sound as it struck, cracking the target that had never broken before.
The number displayed on the target... 175. It seemed that one hundred wasn't the maximum score after all.
(W-what kind of brute strength is that... wasn't this supposed to be a magic test...?)
"I did it! Top score!"
Leaving the stunned group behind, Yuri thrust her fist triumphantly toward the sky.