A short while later, Gallo arrived in the room, where a group of people was already waiting.
Five were on the verge of elimination after losing points for poor academic performance. To ensure they could remain in the Mage Tower next month, their only option was to take a risk and earn points by participating in arcane experiments.
They all looked tense, their fear impossible to hide.
They were about to become test subjects.
The other five were apprentice students with better grades and more points.
They had also chosen to participate in the experiment, but they were paying to observe and learn, and would serve as assistants.
Their expressions were therefore excited, touched with a thirst for knowledge.
"Begin."
Gallo gave the order without so much as glancing at them.
Under his direction, members of the school had already designed a series of experimental procedures. They immediately set to work.
"Volunteers, come this way and enter the restraint chambers according to your numbers.
"Assistants, arrange and combine your rune components according to their assigned groups..."
The system designed by the Orthodox School resembled movable-type printing. To avoid the risk of intellectual property infringement, however, they used an earlier wheel-based method for manual typesetting.
This invention, which "brought the characters to the operator and selected them by rhyme," had naturally also been pioneered by Roland. Its broad applicability meant they could use it too.
After a long time, the tedious preliminary preparations were complete, and several middle-tier mages cast their spells simultaneously.
"Aah!"
With a piercing scream, volunteer number three began struggling violently.
His whole body shook. Before long, he convulsed, curled up, and died on the spot.
Volunteer number two seemed trapped in a nightmare, trembling from time to time, his entire body stiff and cold.
Gradually, his vital