The First Mage Examination Begins

New Era of Xin—21 years prior

[Northern Countries]

In the blink of an eye, half a month had passed.

When the old hermit pushed open the monastery's gate once more, he was astonished to find that the entire monastery, from top to bottom—including the tables, chairs, and bookshelves—had been cleaned until not a speck of dust remained.

Even the books displayed on the shelves bore traces of having been reorganized.

But what caught the old man's attention most was a stack of notes deliberately left in a conspicuous spot.

Stepping forward, he picked them up and flipped through them. The notes clearly recorded the sequence of the reorganized books and pointed out which volumes had already been transcribed by the visitor.

Seeing this, the old hermit shook his head with a smile. "I never expected that during my absence, this little monastery would welcome a kindred spirit as a guest."

"A fortunate turn, indeed."

At the end of the notes, the mysterious visitor also apologized for the presumptuous visit and offered the cleaning of the monastery as payment for lodging over these days.

Gazing at the spotless surroundings, the old man nodded repeatedly.

Following the guidance in the notes, he pulled out a book transcribed by the mysterious visitor from the shelf and compared it with the original text to verify the quality of the transcription.

"Not bad. Complete content, neat handwriting, correct annotations."

"All transcription requirements meet excellent standards. Even by the criteria set by senior hermits, this is an outstanding work worthy of being passed down through the ages."

"It's just a pity that I couldn't meet this kindred spirit face to face."

The old hermit sighed with regret. "My lifespan is already running short. This monastery must find a kindred spirit to inherit it."

Wandering through the streets of [Oysaster], Guter restrained his magical fluctuations as much as possible.

The city, already bustling due to Serie's announcement of the [Continental Magic Association]'s establishment, had grown even more heated after this period of fermentation, as if celebrating some festival.

Magical fluctuations that had once been rare to spot on an entire street could now be sensed by Guter even within his field of vision—four or five of them.

To achieve such an effect, Serie, this "Magic Old Timer," truly possessed astonishing influence.

Guter pressed down slightly on the brim of his hat, nodded politely to the mages who had also sensed his magical fluctuations, and quickly moved on.

Now that he had finally managed to preserve the [Detached from the World] trait, Guter could not afford to slack off at this moment.

Relying on his familiarity with the roads of [Oysaster], Guter swiftly ran toward the designated examination location.

In truth, he didn't even need to know the roads, because most of the city's population was converging in one direction.

Among the gathered crowd were mages participating in the examination, but the majority were city residents coming to watch the excitement.

Thanks to his physique, honed to warrior standards, Guter managed to pull ahead of most people and arrived at the examination site designated by the [Continental Magic Association] relatively early.

Even so, looking at the overcrowded scene before him, Guter couldn't help but let out a soft sigh.

The sun had only just risen not long ago—what time had these people arrived?

Fortunately, the vast majority of those surrounding the area were [Oysaster] residents. After Guter revealed his identity as a mage, they consciously made way for him.

After expressing his thanks, Guter quickly passed through and finally reached the venue for the [First Mage Examination]—an extremely grand hall within the city.

At this moment, the examination had not yet begun. Several armored guards stood outside the hall, blocking the path leading inside.

And before Guter, there were already over twenty mages waiting in line.

This was by no means a small number.

In the future, when Feren took the First-class Mage examination, the entire continent had only about two thousand mages at most.

Now, because the Demon King had only recently fallen and the war between humans and demons was still raging fiercely, the number of mages was slightly higher than in later eras.

But Guter estimated that even so, it wouldn't exceed five thousand.

Moreover, the majority of mages were still Apprentice Mages.

Truly independent, mature mages were never numerous in any era.

Yet the twenty-plus mages ahead of Guter were generally not weak. Only four or five were Apprentice Mages, and they were all positioned very early in the line.

These few must have queued up in the dark of night.

Guter shook his head with a smile, more or less guessing their motives.

They simply wanted to arrive first, to show Serie their sincere attitude, hoping to compensate for their shortcomings in strength or talent.

In truth, it wasn't just them. The twenty-plus mages ahead of Guter likely harbored similar thoughts to some extent.

But unfortunately, their little schemes would probably fall through. After all, Serie's criteria for taking disciples mainly focused on talent.

Those at the front of the line, who had come before dawn and were still standing at rigid "attention," would be better off sitting down to meditate for a while, restoring their body and spirit first.

Paying no heed to the gazes of those around him, Guter plopped down cross-legged on the ground and silently closed his eyes to rest.

Unlike their mindset of "diligence compensating for weakness," Guter had come early for only one reason: to end this long wait as soon as possible.

If he didn't start socializing soon, his personality might really develop problems from being stifled.

Still, Guter was somewhat curious.

This time, every mage with ambition from the entire Northern Countries and most of the Central Countries had gathered here.

Even if these mages only accounted for one or two tenths of the total number, that was still a force not to be underestimated.

With so many mages, would Serie personally interview every single one of them?

After all, this was the First Mage Examination, and the Continental Magic Association had yet to establish numerous branches to filter out Apprentice Mages, nor did the old man yet have many reliable disciples to share the burden of examiner duties.

What would Serie do?

The answer to this question was revealed quickly enough.

About half an hour later, at the time Serie had announced for the First Mage Examination to officially begin.

As the guards waiting before the hall stepped aside to clear the path leading inside, before the Apprentice Mage at the front of the line could even rush forward in excitement, a hemispherical barrier rapidly expanded from within the hall.

In the blink of an eye, it covered the entire hall.

Even the several guards waiting before the hall were pushed back a few steps by this gentle yet irresistible force, standing outside the barrier.

"What is this thing?"

The few Apprentice Mages at the front of the line swallowed their saliva and murmured unconsciously.

Yet among the line, there were no shortage of experienced mages with broad knowledge who recognized the spell enveloping the hall.

"This is the Barrier Magic developed by the human mage ancestor, Lady Frieren."

"It's the same kind used by many cities to defend against demon invasions."

"However,"

one mage said with a bitter expression, "this is the first time I've seen a barrier that can isolate people like this."

I've been busy lately, so this update is a bit late.