"Good."
Ferrat's expression showed neither joy nor anger, but the veins on his forehead still throbbed twice.
He nodded.
Although Ferrat did not know whether the boy truly did not understand the immensity of heaven and earth or was deliberately provoking him,
it did not matter.
He could just evaporate him first.
High in the air, Examiner Ferrat slowly opened his palm. Every movement of his fingertips was like an unquestionable, unchangeable rule.
In an instant, his eyes became as deep as the starry sky. Powerful magic gathered around him, preparing for a grand opening ceremony.
As Ferrat's lips parted and closed lightly, he loudly chanted a string of obscure incantations. The surrounding air suddenly began to heat up, filling with the violent aura of flames.
An invisible surge of magic swept across the entire grassland, howling as it rolled up waves of air.
In that brief moment, even the tips of the green grass beneath him began to turn yellow and give off wisps of smoke, as though they had been overwhelmed by Ferrat's high-temperature magic.
Even without Magic Cards, the spells Ferrat himself commanded were enough to easily kill the two of them instantly.
However.
Underestimating an enemy weaker than oneself was not a wise move.
Ferrat knew this very well.
When a lower tier fought a higher tier, the only chance to turn the tables was a "special mechanic."
For example, instant-kill mechanics such as high damage reflection could easily cause even high-tier opponents to stumble.
Before Ferrat came, he had used every intelligence resource at his disposal, yet he had been unable to find any record of Lanchi's actual combat experience.
He was as clean as a blank sheet of paper.
On top of that, Lanchi's way of thinking was often rather unconventional, which made Ferrat instinctively wary.
That was why he had not been willing to attack Lanchi first. A major reason was his concern that he might trigger a special-mechanic Magic Card, such as one involving damage reflection.
It would be best if he could persuade him to withdraw through words.
But since this brat was determined to muddy the waters, Ferrat had plenty of ways to deal with him.
For example, he could give this boy named Lanchi a memorable death experience and let him slowly die in agony beneath the flames.
Ferrat was also certain that this ducal lady had the sort of temperament that would rather die than admit defeat.
In this Artificial Shadow World, where killing someone would not actually kill them, he would have plenty of time to deal with her after burning Lanchi, this unpredictable factor, to death.
On the grassland in the distance.
Feeling the approaching, dangerously scorching aura and facing Ferrat, who had finally made his move, Hughberlian's eyes flickered as if she had noticed something.
"Ferrat must have been guarding against you being a damage-reflection type just now, but we can't withstand his Tier 3 spell for long!"
Hughberlian quickly spoke in a low voice.
She realized that the spell Ferrat was currently chanting was not a Tier 5 offensive area spell.
It was instead a Tier 3 sustained area spell with relatively low damage!
"Don't worry. I told you, I'm a White Mage specialized in utility."
As Lanchi spoke, a Magic Card had already appeared in his hand.
The moment Ferrat began chanting his spell, Lanchi had already formulated a countermeasure.
This Spell Card, created using the principles of Demon Realm toxins taught by Talia, could finally be put to use.
Inside the Conference Room.
Although most of the teachers had never thought there would be much suspense surrounding the outcome of this exam,
they had now become intensely focused on the battle.
"Is this guy named Lanchi finally going to make his move?"
The teachers had actually been curious for a long time about what Lanchi could do.
White Mages, because more than 70% of the magic in their spell structure had to consist of healing magic for them to receive that class designation, were usually mages specialized in healing.
Their few remaining Spell Card slots provided various forms of assistance to the team.
If one's spell structure was specialized in utility, one usually would not be classified as a White Mage during class designation. Instead, based on the proportions of one's spells, one would be classified under another support-oriented role.
Therefore, the teachers only knew that Lanchi carried a large number of healing spells.
They did not understand what kind of school Lanchi belonged to, nor what occupied his slots besides healing spells.
"Even if he brought a spell with a powerful control effect, he could only interrupt Ferrat's casting once."
"Moreover, given his tier, he might not be able to affect Ferrat at all."
The teachers discussed this while staring intently at the Magic Screen.
Generally speaking, the stronger the control effect, the harder it was to apply.
For example, hard controls such as stuns and freezes could not possibly affect the current Tier 5 Ferrat when used by a mere Tier 2 Lanchi.
The only soft control that might be applied to interrupt his casting was silence.
But even if Lanchi managed to silence Ferrat, it would only last an instant. Ferrat could simply cast the spell again.
The battle continued on the screen.
The teachers all knew that this was very likely the wave that would decide the victor.
If Lanchi and Hughberlian could get through it, there would still be room for further exchanges.
But if they had no way to respond, it would all end here!
"Flame deity hidden deep within the earth veins, please bring forth the wrath of the lava—"
Just as Ferrat was chanting the incantation in ancient human magic tongue,
his chant abruptly came to a halt.
His indifferent gaze shifted, and he saw only that Lanchi was holding a Magic Card emitting a purple haze.
Clearly, Lanchi had used this Purple Rare Spell Card to interrupt his incantation.
Ferrat's expression was cold, without the slightest ripple of emotion.
"He really did use a silence spell."
"It can indeed interrupt Ferrat once, but this is merely quenching thirst with poison."
A senior professor watching from the Conference Room sighed.
Even with a Tier 2 Purple Rare Card, silencing Tier 5 Ferrat could only last for an instant before automatically dissipating.
Cards capable of applying silence usually also had relatively long cooldowns.
Ferrat would soon be able to cast again.
When that happened, the outcome would not change at all!
Just as the teachers were no longer planning to keep watching,
one second passed.
Two seconds passed.
Five seconds passed!
Ferrat still could not make a sound!
Even Lanchi stood calmly in the distance with one hand on his hip, like a veteran cadre watching Examiner Ferrat in the sky.
"???"
"Why can the silence last this long?"
"What card can add such a powerful silence effect? Impossible!"
It was clearly only a Tier 2 Purple Rare Spell Card. No matter how absurdly powerful it was, it could not possibly control someone in a Tier 5 state like this!
At this moment, it was not only Ferrat in the scene whose expression was shocked.
Even the teachers watching from the backstage in the Conference Room finally realized how serious the situation was.
"Holy shit!!"
Amid the exclamations,
the teachers finally saw the terminal's backstage successfully identify and display the attributes of the card Lanchi had just used!
On the projected image of the Magic Screen,
"Ugh—ugh!!"
Ferrat wanted to question Lanchi, but he could only make strange sounds.
At this moment, he understood as well.
The reason he could not continue chanting his spell lay in that strange Spell Card Lanchi had used to interrupt his casting!
It fucking wasn't silence at all.
It was—Mute!
Friendly Exchange
Category: Spell Card Quality: Purple Rare
Attributes: Curse/Poison
Tier: 2 Effect: Lightly damages the enemy's throat with curses and poison, applying the "Mute" status: causes excruciating pain in the throat, as if it were being scraped by a knife, preventing speech. Cooldown: 15 seconds. Note: You have violated the user agreement and have been permanently muted.
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