Great Mage Camilla spoke with perfect calm, but to the other four Great Mages, her words were like a thunderclap out of a clear sky.
"What? Camilla, you've actually advanced a rank?"
"Gods above! Camilla, after all these years, you've actually advanced!"
"This is unbelievable! You really have advanced!"
President Allen's reaction differed slightly from those of the other three Great Mages. Beyond his shock, he felt even greater joy. He sprang from his seat, seized Great Mage Camilla's hand, and shook his head excitedly, his face alight with delight. "Wonderful! Wonderful! Our Lampari Kingdom has grown stronger again!"
As President of the Lampari Kingdom Mages' Guild, President Allen was a Great Mage himself, but he clearly placed greater importance on improving the standard of the kingdom's mages as a whole.
And the most representative measure of that standard was the strength of its Great Mages.
Although Great Mage Camilla had advanced only one rank, raising a Great Mage's rank was countless times harder than raising a Low-Rank Mage's rank.
Moreover, Great Mage Camilla had gone nearly ten years without advancing. President Allen had thought her magical abilities had already reached their peak and would probably be difficult to improve any further. Now that she had suddenly advanced a rank, he was naturally delighted.
After everyone had congratulated her, Great Mage Eisenka asked, "Camilla, judging by what you just said, your magical abilities improved rapidly after you began concentrating on studying magic arrays-so much so that you advanced a rank?"
The other three Great Mages all stared at Great Mage Camilla. This was a question that mattered greatly to them.
Great Mage Camilla pondered briefly, then nodded with a smile. "That's essentially it. I can't say that concentrating on magic arrays was the sole reason my magical abilities improved, but