Jia Xiu Gives Larven's Audience an Eye-Opener

Nico Hohenheim, the forty-second headmaster of Saint Delro Academy, was possibly the strongest spellcaster of the age, a top-tier prophet and alchemist, and a master magitech engineer.

He hummed a tune as he carried a cup of celery juice toward the academy square with light, brisk steps.

As a dwarf, he did not drink, smoke, fight, or stay up late. He was devoted to healthy living and spent his free time researching how to eat more healthily. He could be called a very undwarflike dwarf.

That was also the main reason why he remained healthy at the ripe old age of 386.

He did not even often use his dwarven clan surname. Headmaster Nico only used his clan name, Hearthfire, on especially formal occasions.

Yet such a person possessed one very dwarflike trait.

He held grudges like nobody's business.

So when he discovered that Instructor Gudrian had placed his family's orders above the academy's interests and intended to tamper with the entrance examination over such a trivial matter, he had wanted to deal with him.

However, dealing with someone from the Reinhardt family was troublesome. They held a seat on the academy's board of directors, one bought with hard cash.

To find a more appropriate solution, Headmaster Nico chose to make a prophecy.

Prophecy spells sounded wonderful, but in truth, they were nowhere near capable of clearly foretelling the future. They could only provide vague information.

The information he received this time pleased him greatly: Gudrian was going to suffer a disastrous defeat during the examination.

Thus, Headmaster Nico had come eagerly to watch Gudrian suffer that disastrous defeat.

Otherwise, he would not have bothered watching the entrance examinations. He had worked at the academy for a hundred years; no matter how entertaining it was to watch instructors beat up students, he had long since grown tired of it.

He arrived at a third-floor window in the laboratory building on the outskirts of the square. This was the faculty's "reserved seating" for watching the show.

"Ha, Instructor Margaret. So you were here."

By the window, Margaret anxiously chewed her nails, wondering how Jia Xiu and the others would perform.

She was like a parent watching her child compete, even more nervous than the actual "children" about to take the field.

"Headmaster."

"Have Jia Xiu and the others started?"

"They just did."

"Woohoo, then my timing is perfect."

At this moment, although the audience was not particularly enthusiastic because the examinees were unknown, the commentator still did his duty and spoke with great passion.

"Alright, we can see that this examination arena features plains connected to a forest. Examiner Gudrian is an arcane archer with superb marksmanship. In this terrain, the wisest choice for the examinees would be to quickly enter the forest and use the trees as cover.

"Now the examinees are communicating among themselves. Are they discussing tactics? Alright, they've finished discussing. Oh, heavens! This group of examinees is actually moving closer to Examiner Gudrian.

"I don't think that's a wise choice. I believe the examiner will soon teach them a painful lesson. Perhaps this round will end even sooner than expected. Come on, can't you last a little longer? That way I can get overtime pay..."

The commentator's teasing drew laughter from the audience.

Margaret was the complete opposite of the cheerful crowd. She looked like a gambler who had bet a fortune on Jia Xiu. Chewing her nails was no longer enough to ease her anxiety, and she had begun tugging at her hair.

"What are you doing? Dodge! Don't you love using your brain? Use it already..."

Headmaster Nico remained utterly calm, happily sipping his freshly squeezed celery juice.

He was very curious what tricks this boy, whom even prophecy could not predict, would pull.

The commentator sped up his speech. "Examiner Gudrian has already nocked an arrow. Which reckless examinee will this first arrow take out? Wait! Jia Xiu from the group has begun casting a spell. What he's using is...

"Uh, it should be, perhaps..."

The commentators were all veteran professionals who had spent many years in the spell-dueling circuit. Regardless of how skilled they were at spells themselves, they had certainly seen an exceptional number of spells.

Yet faced with the spell Jia Xiu was channeling, he was at a loss for words.

What kind of spell was that?

Although it looked highly similar to spells he had seen before, there were subtle differences in the details.

He could not even tell whether it was a mistake or a spell deliberately cast that way.

Until Gudrian reacted.

"Oh, Jia Xiu's spell has taken effect. Examiner Gudrian has shut his eyes and turned his head away. This is a spell that affects vision. It should be Blindness, but it's not a big problem. The examiner has Purification with him. Alright, he's used Purification. He opens his eyes... and closes them again!"

With her hair now in a total mess, Margaret stared in astonishment at what was happening in the projection.

What had Jia Xiu used? She had not recognized it.

She could not sense mana, and visual observation alone was not enough to identify it.

"It's Darkvision," Headmaster Nico said from beside her. "More precisely, it only retains vision in darkness. Under normal lighting, it causes blindness."

Headmaster Nico's abilities were indeed formidable. He had roughly identified it from the effect visible in the projection alone.

"Darkvision that blinds someone under normal lighting?"

Margaret was surprised, but it also felt familiar.

That familiar feeling came from her memory of seeing Jia Xiu use a healing spell for the first time several months ago.

Absurd—but when it came to Jia Xiu, it did not seem quite so absurd.

Meanwhile, in the Phantom World.

Gudrian struggled to open his eyes. Everywhere he looked was a vast expanse of blinding white.

It was as dazzling as could be.

He had already realized that he had been hit by Darkvision.

He had never imagined that one day, Darkvision would be described with the words "been hit by."

More urgently, none of the spells he had brought could remove this Darkvision. It was a beneficial transformation spell, so Purification was useless.

Through his flashing white vision, he could vaguely make out a tall silhouette charging toward him.

It was probably Ram, the biggest one on the team.

Gudrian was indeed a seasoned veteran who had fought countless battles in adventuring parties, and he immediately changed tactics.

If precise shooting was impossible, then he would widen the strike area.

He planned to apply an Explosion spell to the arrow and detonate it in midair near that silhouette to inflict damage.

Nocking and drawing an arrow had become muscle memory and required no visual assistance. As he drew the bow, he began chanting the incantation for the explosive enchantment.

"We can see that Instructor Gudrian, unable to see clearly for unknown reasons, has chosen to use an explosive arrow for a wide-area attack. He is channeling the incantation.

"Oh, Jia Xiu has begun casting again. What he's using this time is, uh... some kind of, it should be some kind of Mage Armor."

The commentator felt that he was facing the greatest challenge of his career. He had not seen a single spell used by this examinee named Jia Xiu.

"Is he trying to apply armor to his charging teammate and take this explosive arrow head-on? I'm not sure whether confronting the examiner directly is a good choice, but at least his courage is commendable. Gudrian's explosive arrow is about to finish being enchanted..."

Before he could say "finished," an unexpected change occurred.

"The enchantment was interrupted. Did he cancel it himself? That's impossible."

The commentator was completely unable to continue. He could not think of any words that made logical sense.

At that moment, the director in charge of broadcasting the projection came to his rescue.

The Eye of Detection zoomed in on Gudrian's front and gave his face a huge close-up.

The commentator also caught the anomaly in the image.

In a voice cracked by shock, he shouted, "Mage Armor! It's Mage Armor! Examinee Jia Xiu attached Mage Armor to Gudrian's tongue—he can't pronounce the incantation clearly!"