Assessment

Terra Calendar, 1589.3.4.

An enormous floating city was moving slowly over the Britannia Strait. It was none other than the supernatural enclave-Three Portlands.

After remaining in the Fog City region for a month, Three Portlands had finally set off toward the Youyang mainland.

As a supernatural enclave, Three Portlands naturally possessed [Dimensional Traversal] and [Fold Ability], but each use consumed vast amounts of resources. Since there was no hurry, it maintained a constant cruising speed without even activating its acceleration engines.

Deer College · Wing D (Basement level two)

Esoteric Studies Group classroom-Lecture Hall 4.

Scratch, scratch, scratch-

Professor Laugen sat at the lectern, reading a book and drinking coffee, while the students below scribbled furiously through their exam papers. Their pen tips danced across the pages with a steady scratching sound.

Today was the Monthly Exam for Deer College's first-year students, and the young deer's first assessment.

The purpose of this assessment was to check whether the young deer were keeping up with their professors' lessons. If they failed their first Monthly Exam, all that awaited them afterward would be endless homework.

For every exam, Deer College activated a screening field to block the students' lineage connections, while professors from the study groups personally invigilated.

They were now taking the final subject of this Monthly Exam: a mathematics paper set by Professor Dylan, who taught Numbers and Science.

Professor Dylan was practically a demon in the students' eyes. Not only did his classes run overtime, but his fucking questions weren't even meant for humans.

[The exam has ended. Candidates, please stop writing!]

When time ran out, a circular warning in red letters popped up before every student taking the exam. They could only put down their pens helplessly as their papers flew automatically toward Professor Laugen in orderly succession.

"All right, the exam is over." Professor Laugen stood and caught the papers flying toward him, then addressed the students.

"Everyone, get ready. Next is the Practical Assessment. I already assigned the homework earlier, and now it's time to test your progress. In a moment, follow me to Training Ground 4 in the Grand Hall of Wing A for your Practical Assessment."

So exhausted-

After the torment of the mathematics exam, most of the young deer could barely muster any energy. Seeing this, Laugen smiled and shook his head. He waved a hand to dispel the Binding Field, then headed to the training ground first to prepare the assessment equipment.

"Camille, I can't take it anymore. My head feels like it's about to split open. Professor Dylan's questions were so hard! The stuff on the exam was nothing like what he taught in class." Ushas, the Three-Eyed Girl, clung to her best friend with a haggard expression.

"...There really were a few especially difficult questions. Xiu, how did you do?" Camille asked Xia Xiu, who was sitting nearby.

"Hmm, pretty well, I guess."

Xia Xiu had finished the questions long ago and had been idly spinning his pen ever since. When he heard Camille's question, he answered reflexively.

"...Were you spacing out...? Didn't you think the paper was hard?" the Three-Eyed Girl asked enviously.

"Let's go get ready for the Practical Assessment." Xia Xiu changed the subject to avoid dealing another blow to her weary soul after its mathematical ordeal.

"Come on, Ushas. Look, the other students are leaving too." Camille took hold of Ushas, who had only invited humiliation upon herself, and led her toward Wing A.

Poor students were better off not looking too closely at how top students handled exam questions. It would only stab their already battered hearts all over again.

Wing A (Basement level one) · Grand Hall-Training Ground 4.

Under Professor Laugen's direction, the students formed several columns and began taking the Practical Assessment in order.

Professor Laugen brought the students onto the Thaumaturgy Range, then called them forward one by one.

"Billy Porter!" Laugen read from the roster.

"Here!" A boy with glasses and freckles immediately stepped forward.

"Don't be nervous. Relax," Laugen told Billy Porter gently.

"...Yes." Billy Porter took a deep breath, and his gaze grew determined.

"All right, we'll begin the practical test now. A thaumaturgic target will appear ten meters away in a moment-ten meters is the college's accuracy requirement for you.

"You must hit that target ten meters away. There is no casting time limit for this assessment, nor any field suppression requirement. Take your time, and don't be nervous," Laugen patiently told the student before him.

"Yes!"

"All right, it's all yours." With that, Laugen stepped aside for Billy Porter.

Billy Porter took a deep breath, fixed his eyes on the thaumaturgic target that appeared ten meters ahead, and raised his right hand. A Blue Book with a reindeer depicted on its cover floated above him.

The surrounding temperature began to rise. A swirling fireball formed in Billy Porter's hand, then shot out with a bang, grazing the thaumaturgic target.

External lineage manifestation required to assist casting.

Volume adjustment time: 3.3 seconds

Timbre determination time: 4.6 seconds

Frequency adjustment time: 3.2 seconds

EVE released: 80 spirits

Accuracy: poor.

Overall rating: below average

After recording Billy Porter's Practical Assessment results in his student file, Laugen gave the uneasy boy an encouraging look and said:

"You did very well for a new student. Remember to practice your aim more. The college's training grounds are open to students around the clock."

"Yes, thank you, Professor," Billy Porter replied excitedly.

"All right, next."

The testing continued, and the results Laugen recorded afterward proved that his words to Billy Porter had not merely been consolation.

Fail

Fail

Poor

Fail

The students who followed all took more than ten seconds to cast, and their volume and frequency were both flawed. Although their spells did not backfire, their aim grew more absurd with each attempt.

"Camille Siffney!" Laugen called the next student, watching expectantly as Camille stepped forward. She was the top student among this year's first-years from Deer College's own lineage, so she was worth looking forward to.

"Hello, Professor." Camille greeted him politely.

"Begin the assessment."

"All right."

Camille took her position, raised her right hand, and pressed her left hand against her forearm. A ball of water swiftly formed in her hand, then launched like a cannonball, striking the target dead-on.

Bang-

The target shattered on the spot.

The students around her stared in astonishment as Camille lowered her arm, their expressions those of poor students looking at a top student.

External lineage manifestation not required to assist casting.

Volume adjustment time: 1.02 seconds

Timbre determination time: 1.53 seconds

Frequency adjustment time: 1.2 seconds

EVE released: 50 spirits

Accuracy: good.

Overall rating: good+

She's broken the five-second mark, but she's still not quite proficient. A few too many unnecessary movements.

Laugen felt a twinge of regret, but he was very satisfied that Camille, a genuine new student, had managed this much.

"Next, Ushas."

"Coming, Professor!" the Three-Eyed Girl hopped forward happily.

"Begin."

"Take this-[Sand and Soil Spell]!"

Bang-

Looking at Ushas, now covered in dust and dirt, Laugen silently wrote "Fail" on her score sheet. Only three students remained.

Laugen looked down at the roster in his hand with a complicated expression. The names of these three students, and the lineages they represented, were anything but ordinary.

Name: Muji (Photo: {A frog sitting on a flying carpet, wearing black formal attire})

Race: Traveling Frog Tribe.

Lineage: Dimension Express

Name: Lifenel (Photo: {A handsome, black-haired young man in Deer College clothing, smiling shyly for the camera})

Race: ghost

Lineage: Haunted Spirit Street

Name: Xiu Abraham (Photo: {An extraordinarily handsome man with blond hair and golden eyes, wearing a radiant smile})

Race: human

Lineage: Heaven! {Written in red ink}

Their backers just get more troublesome one after another.

Laugen kept that thought to himself, his expression unchanged as he continued reading the names in order.

"Muji!"

(End of chapter)