They ultimately missed the train to the Magic Council.
As they were about to depart, Makarov pulled Natsu, Gray, and Mira out of the luggage one after another. Erza dragged the first two away, one in each hand, while Mira refused to be dragged and followed behind, protesting all the way.
"Lin Yuan, come back soon!" Lisanna waved from the doorway.
"Don't forget our bet!" Mira called back. "If the Magic Council holds you, that counts as your loss!"
Lin Yuan boarded the train. "Then you'd better hope they can't keep me."
After arriving in Era, the two were quickly taken to an interrogation room at the Magic Council.
The three examiners first confirmed Lin Yuan's name, age, and origin. Aside from "Lin Yuan," the only answers they received were "about ten," "amnesia," and "I don't know."
The female examiner on the right put down her pen. "Are you sure this isn't a refusal to cooperate?"
Makarov pushed Porlyusica's examination records across the table. "When he first filled out his Guild application, his name was all he could write then, too."
After reading the records, the oldest examiner dropped the matter and instead had someone bring in a transparent measuring column that stood chest-high.
Twelve ring-shaped markings were etched into the column, and three backup Magic Crystals were connected to its base. Protective spells also lit up on the walls around the interrogation room. The equipment was clearly designed to test high-level mages.
"Place your hand on top and keep channeling magic power into it," the young examiner said. "There's no need to cast magic. The instrument will automatically read the total."
Lin Yuan looked at Makarov.
The old man nodded but stayed beside the table. His right hand had already grown larger, ready to shield the examiners at any moment.
Lin Yuan pressed his palm against the measuring column.
The first marking lit up.
Almost without pause, the second and third followed. The young examiner had only just picked up his pen when the light passed the sixth marking.
The air in the interrogation room suddenly grew heavy.
No wind stirred the papers on the table, yet they pressed flat against its surface one by one, as though weighed down by an invisible force. The glass ink bottle trembled faintly, and the protective spells on the walls lit up at the same time.
The eighth marking.
The female examiner's hand began to shake around her pen. This was not her first time taking part in a test for a high-level mage, but the magic power radiating from Lin Yuan was not violent. Instead, it was frighteningly still. It felt like standing at the bottom of a deep sea without a single wave. Though she knew everything around her was calm, the boundless water pressed against her chest, making it hard to breathe.
The clerk responsible for recording the spell was the first to give way, his fingertips drawing a crooked streak of ink across the paper. He tried to bend down and pick up a ruler that had slipped, but his shoulders and back felt as though an entire stone wall were bearing down on them, making it difficult even to lower his head. The two staff members watching from beyond the protective door also held their breath instinctively. No one regarded the test as an ordinary registration anymore.
The tenth marking.
The young examiner took half a step back, knocking over his chair with his calf. He tried to tell Lin Yuan to slow down, but his throat felt blocked by something, and he could not get the first word out.
Makarov's clothes were also pressed tight against his body by the magic power.
He did not stop Lin Yuan, only stepped forward. His giant palm shielded the three examiners from most of the pressure, but his expression grew more and more astonished.
He had long known that Lin Yuan's magic power was immense.
But the measuring crystal at the Guild had shattered after lasting only an instant. No one had truly seen just how deep that magic power ran.
When the eleventh marking lit up, all three backup Magic Crystals activated at once.
The next moment, black-and-silver light shot through all twelve markings in one burst.
Boom!
Invisible pressure swept through the entire interrogation room. All four corners of the long table sank into the floor at once, the documents on the bookshelves fell backward in unison, and ripples spread across the protective barrier under the pressure. The magic lamps overhead flickered, and a piercing overload alarm rang through the corridor.
Hurried footsteps sounded outside the door.
The female examiner's face went pale, and she had to brace both hands against the table to keep from falling to her knees. The young examiner had already retreated to the wall. As he watched the needle continue to rise, disbelief was all that remained in his eyes.
"Stop!" The elderly examiner sprang to his feet. "Stop channeling magic power immediately!"
Lin Yuan withdrew his magic power.
The weight bearing down on everyone vanished in an instant. Air flowed again, and papers rustled as they flew across the room. All three examiners gasped for breath at once, like people who had just returned to the surface from deep water.
Makarov shrank back to normal size and looked up at Lin Yuan. "Did you use it all?"
"No."
"How much did you release?"
Lin Yuan felt the magic power inside him, which had barely changed.
"Less than half."
The interrogation room, which had only just begun to fill with sound again, fell deathly silent once more.
The young examiner looked at Lin Yuan, then at the measuring column that had nearly cracked. His lips moved several times, but he could not speak.
The elderly examiner was silent for a long time. Finally, he crossed out every preset rank on the record sheet and wrote down a conclusion the Magic Council had never prepared for.
Total magic power-impossible to measure.