Luke couldn’t help but ponder why his name was being called.
Isn’t it unreasonable to call him out just because he did exceptionally well on the exam?
If that were truly the case, they could simply award him a perfect score and say, “Congratulations.”
Then, it must mean there’s something unusual about his answer sheet.
“Could it be that the workings I wrote got smudged or torn by sweat? Or did I make a critical mistake somewhere? Or, did I unknowingly use magic due to overwhelming discomfort and got caught for cheating without realizing it?”
All three possibilities were feasible.
With no time and lacking proper concentration, it was certainly possible.
But what if that’s the case?
What if they called him out to disqualify him?
Thinking that way made Luke feel distant and lost.
As he contemplated this, he opened the door to the examination room, where the examiners were actively grading the papers.
Luke watched the scene for a moment before timidly approaching one of them, poking him in the back and saying, “Um… I heard someone called for me…”
The examiner looked down at Luke with a rather indifferent expression.
Thinking that perhaps his tone might have been inappropriate, Luke quietly added, “…Where should I go?”
There was no choice.
He couldn’t afford to use a casual manner of speaking in this situation.
He was called for an unknown reason, and it was best not to do anything that might offend the other party.
The examiner silently looked at Luke, raising an eyebrow as if to acknowledge him.
“Are you Luke Irushi?”
Luke nodded quietly.
The examiner then pointed casually to one side and resumed grading the sheets quickly.
He seemed very busy.
Seeing that, Luke hesitated to ask any more questions and took a quick glance in the direction the examiner had pointed.
What caught Luke’s eye was a white, box-shaped structure.
On top of the structure was written “Objection and Adjustment Management Committee,” and it was even enchanted with the “Silence” spell.
It almost resembled an interrogation room.
Well, it likely served a similar purpose.
As Luke cautiously entered the box-shaped structure, he saw a small chair and, sitting opposite him, a middle-aged man with his hands clasped neatly on the table.
It seemed some sort of consultation would take place here.
The man’s serious expression while looking at something on the table made Luke quite nervous, causing him to tremble.
After all, the serious object he was gazing at was his own answer sheet.
“Why on earth is he making that face?”
Luke couldn’t help but think deeply about it.
It became clear that something was indeed wrong with his answer sheet.
It was quite strange that even after sweating profusely, he was now drenched in cold sweat.
It seemed he wouldn’t dry anytime soon.
How much capacity does the human sweat actually have?
“Um, I’m Luke Irushi… you called for me.”
“Ah.”
As Luke spoke up to make his presence known, the examiner finally noticed he was standing right in front of him. He lifted his head and gestured to the chair in front of him, inviting him to sit.
“Nice to meet you, Luke Irushi. I’m Roman, the supervisor and a mage for the exam.”
“…Hello, Roman.”
“Alright then, please take a seat there for a moment.”
“Yes.”
Luke complied with the examiner’s suggestion, carefully sitting down and neatly placing his hands on his knees.
However, perhaps due to his anxiety, no matter how straight he tried to sit, his ears drooped indefinitely, and his tail unconsciously wrapped itself around the cold, metal legs of the chair, revealing his nervousness.
Roman, observing this, felt quite sympathetic as the child seemed to be very anxious.
“Oh dear, it seems you’re really tense. How unfortunate.”
After all, anyone would naturally feel nervous if they were suddenly called during the grading.
Furthermore, isn’t this little girl younger than the others?
In this situation, it made sense for the child to be even more on edge.
Trying to reassure the child, Roman wore his most gentle smile and said, “Luke, you don’t have to worry too much. It’s not that serious.”
“Pardon?”
One of Luke’s ears perked up out of curiosity.
How could it not be serious when he had been called out during grading?
Then what on earth was going on?
Luke asked, “Not serious? What do you mean by that?”
In response to Luke’s question, Roman chuckled lightly and replied, “What I want to ask about are the various symbols you wrote on your answer sheet. I need to confirm that you truly understood and answered them.”
Upon hearing Roman’s response, Luke’s tense expression began to gradually soften, and soon he was almost shouting with excitement, “So, you’re not calling me out to disqualify me? You mean, it’s not because my workings were smudged or torn due to sweat, or that I made a critical error, or that I was caught for cheating against my will? Is that not the case?”
“Haha—. Of course not. Kid, you were worried about that?”
Seeing the child’s excited demeanor, Roman couldn’t help but feel pleased and laughed heartily.
Unlike Luke’s concerns, minor issues like a slightly damp answer sheet or a few unusual workings wouldn’t lead to disqualification.
The purpose of the magical contest was to compete in magical thinking among participants.
While cheating would naturally result in disqualification, Roman was well aware that Luke, with his unique appearance, had attracted a lot of attention from other students during the exam and had not cheated at all.
Thus, Luke had no reason to be disqualified whatsoever.
“Hah… I’m glad…”
Luke sighed and showed an expression of relief.
“Haha, were you that surprised? I apologize.”
It was indeed a regrettable situation for the child.
Most calls were indeed made for disqualification purposes, so it was understandable.
Had he known, Roman thought he should have announced the reason for the call beforehand.
Still, observing Luke, Roman felt he had reaffirmed the child’s “passion.”
To be disqualified after long preparation for the exam would undoubtedly be a frustrating and empty ending for the child.
Luke smiled brightly. “No, it’s alright.”
However, Luke wasn’t actually putting in great effort on the exam as Roman expected.
Still, the thought of having the prize and reward vanish right in front of him felt equally unfair.
——-
Realizing that the reason he was called was not related to disqualification but rather an explanation of his answer sheet, Luke stood before Roman’s table, adding supplementary explanations while looking at his answer sheet.
The issue at hand was, of course, the several mixed equations and formulas that Luke had abbreviated and coded to save time.
Although he had written it in detail to make it as understandable as possible for others, the solution ended up being so long and complicated that it caused some confusion.
In fact, Luke always pondered how to present the multidimensional calculations he effortlessly performed in a way that others could understand.
When he wasn’t accustomed to modern magic, extracting all the information he had in his head was practically impossible.
He had knowledge but didn’t know how to express it.
To be precise, in the past, Luke had neither the reason nor the means to express it.
In the case of past circle magic, there weren’t many ways to directly convey personal realizations to others, and even if one attempted to convey their thoughts to someone, it often found no meaning for the other person.
However, as Luke became accustomed to modern class magic, which is based on absolute understanding to yield the same results, and gradually got used to modern magic and its expression methods, he became more adept at laying out his thoughts in equations and descriptions.
It was as if a child who didn’t know how to write learned to do so and could finally organize his thoughts into written form.
And then Luke had this thought.
“Is it perhaps possible to further develop the existing calculation notation system?”
When solving simple and easy problems, the explanations were not much different from the existing methods, making them insignificant, but when it came to the problems of the International Academy Magic Contest, such ambitions arose.
“What if I implemented that method to solve the problems this time?”
“So, these symbols are based on the annotations I provided, combining the Fileman formula and the Osphan equation, simplified for my understanding. Displaying it this way makes it easy to read, reduces the time taken to write, and simplifies mental calculations. And when using this formula, simplifications can be made like this.”
Listening quietly to Luke’s explanation, Roman couldn’t help but be astonished.
Originally, the reason he called Luke was because of the “excessively difficult and leapfrogged way of solving the problem.”
But as the answer made sense, he thought there must be some intention behind it, wanting to hear how it all came to be.
However, upon hearing Luke’s explanation, it was clear he hadn’t just mindlessly laid it out.
He had identified common elements from seemingly unrelated formulas, fused them into a grand theory, and used them to simplify the proofs and find solutions?
That thought was fundamentally the basis for the immense challenge of modern magical theory, the “Theory of Everything.”
“Kid, did you genuinely come up with this method without someone teaching you?”
“Well…?”
Oh my, what on earth was happening inside this young girl’s mind?
Roman felt as if he was facing something unfathomable.
He asked Luke, almost spellbound, “How old are you now?”
“I’m 10… years old?”
“…What?”
Roman was shocked once again.
A 10-year-old girl and a magic contest.
And with incomprehensible magical achievements.
The implication of those three was painfully obvious.
Roman felt as if another Theory of Everything was being established as he spoke.
“Do you perhaps know about Shayeh’s Miracle Method?”
“…”
Luke turned his gaze away without answering.
She seemed to be giving off the impression that she didn’t want to answer.
