Chapter 41

“Jacqueline Carroll-sensei?”

“Ah, it’s Name student. You can call me Jackie. What brings you here?”

“Jackie-sensei, I don’t have an EMR (Etheric Mark Recognition) pen. Could I borrow one?”

“Perfect timing, I have one. Just return it after the test.”

I had no idea there would be a test on the first day of school.

Fortunately, I was able to easily borrow an EMR pen from Jackie-sensei, who is the homeroom teacher of the 2nd Grade A Class.

Out of small curiosity, I asked why it’s ‘E’ instead of ‘M’, and she explained that in the Anglophone world, mana is referred to as ether, so they use the term ‘etheric.’

It would have been nice if terminology had been standardized a bit, but they always decide such things however they like, including the units.

“Nameya, fighting…!”

Sori whispers from a distance.

Though her voice didn’t quite reach me, I could understand her intention just by looking at her lips.

I smiled back, responding to her encouragement.

Even though it’s an important test, there was no need to separate from my desk mate.

The test itself had a special coating that made it impossible to see the contents unless viewed from the front.

The content written with the EMR pen was also like that.

Sori, who had been chattering a lot during recess, closed her eyes and prayed, showing how much mental pressure the aptitude test exerted on the kids.

Seohri next to me, Hyejeong in front, and even Yuna behind me.

None of them made a sound, only the quiet rustling of breaths filled the room.

With 25 questions in 30 minutes, it certainly wasn’t a lot of time.

Especially since these young kids are sensitive to their peers’ gazes, they would be conscious of their ranks.

“The test time is from 1:10 PM to 1:40 PM. Do not pass your test papers until instructed through the broadcast. When it hits 1:40 PM, there will be another announcement for the end of the test, at which point everyone should raise their hands above your heads. Understood?”

Jackie-sensei conveyed several precautions.

“EMR cards cannot be modified, so if anyone marks incorrectly, simply raise your hand quietly, and I will come and change it for you.”

The test time was approaching in five minutes.

“I hope you won’t be too tense since this is just an aptitude evaluation. There may be content that you haven’t learned at school, and if many questions are difficult, it’s absolutely not because you can’t do it, so I hope you can gain some confidence.”

Several kids quietly nodded.

It’s natural for a homeroom teacher to say such comforting words, but I thought it was a test that couldn’t be ignored from the kids’ perspective.

The academy system is truly ruthless like this.

Not only does it divide the entire student body based on unlearned curricula, but students who don’t meet expectations are also forced to change classes altogether.

This aspect is something that Kaizen Academy also had to improve.

Children who have already been tempered and accustomed to this pressure for a year were staring at the ticking second hand with determined eyes.

Would the little first graders I saw today also change like the kids in our class?

[Huff, huff. Ah, we will begin the first aptitude evaluation of Seviron Academy in 2051.]

Schhhhhhh

With the cover page aside, the test had a total of three surfaces from page 2 to 4.

Suddenly, an old memory came to mind; it reminded me that the CSAT science exploration test used to look exactly like this.

Even though the CSAT in this world had been abolished for decades and replaced with KGSAT, a graduation standard test for college, it was still a memory.

I picked up the pen and slowly skimmed through question 1.

[1. Find the rule and write the appropriate rune in the blank.]

It was a particularly simple multiplication problem.

And just finding the corresponding rune to write the answer was all that was required.

Since 17 multiplied by 7 is 119, the answer is option 4, ‘Zignitrecentcha.’

Well, what was I expecting from a 2nd-grade problem?

I quickly moved on to other questions.

[6. [Image1] and [Image2] are the joint casting forms of the 1st circle spell ‘Light.’ If the mana required for ‘Light’ spell casting is set at 10, which is correctly paired with the mana required for each casting?]

The answer is option 1, 20-35.

[15. Below is a magic circle with the runes from ‘Nul’ to ‘Exaylon’ improperly arranged. How many correction developments are minimally required to cast an arbitrary spell?]

Four times, so option 5.

[Subjective 1. Write the correct angle in the blank.]

45 degrees, 15 degrees, 225 degrees.

“Hah… Hah…”

Just like that, I had finally reached the last question.

The current time was 1:23 PM.

In fact, much more time remained than I expected, and I could have taken my time, but there was a reason I was hurrying like this.

‘Bathroom…’

I had foolishly drunk too many potions during lunch…

Thinking back, I had only gone to the bathroom once in the morning.

Thanks to that, my weight was probably close to 19kg rather than the 18kg range.

Assuming our body’s liquid ratio is 70%, I could estimate that it has increased by 1.88%.

Why is my metabolism so fast…? I resented my young body while glancing at the last problem.

[Subjective 5. Record all the magic circles that satisfy the following conditions and are of 2nd circle or lower.]

Thank goodness.

It’s really, really fortunate.

The last problem was a magic circle drawing problem.

Though there were three conditions given, it turned out I only needed to draw two magic circles.

There are many ways to quickly draw a magic circle, but the method I used most often was to record using symmetry.

By grouping the common areas, I set the axis of symmetry and appropriately mixed the symmetry matrix and rotation transformation matrix to complete a beautiful magic circle extending in eight directions.

After that, aligning with conditions 2 and 3 to record corrections, I could draw the magic circle in the shortest time.

Completed!

“Teacher!”

“If you keep your hand raised quietly, you’ll be out soon.”

“That’s not it… I need to go to the bathroom…!”

Despite raising my right hand steadfastly, I desperately gripped my skirt with the other hand.

The previously focused kids turned their gazes toward me.

How could I signal in just ten minutes like this?

I felt embarrassed in front of the others.

Jackie-sensei knelt beside me and whispered softly.

“If you’re going to the bathroom, you need to be accompanied by another teacher for anti-cheating reasons. Are you okay? Can you hold it just a little longer?”

“I’ll just submit it as is, so I can go right away, right?”

“Uh? Uh… yes, you can go…”

“I’ll excuse myself…”

Damn potion.

I really need to figure out a different form of this liquid instead of just these potions when I get home.

Clank clank

Why won’t the classroom door open like this?!

* * *

“Name, are you okay…?”

“Why?”

“You didn’t finish the test…”

“What do you mean I didn’t finish the test, Sori?”

Since it was the first day of school, there was no sixth period, and as soon as the test was over, we headed straight for home.

I felt embarrassed as the entire class looked at me with pity, so Sori and I quickly dashed out of the school.

Ji Hye, who looked completely drained as if the test had been too difficult, widened her eyes when she heard the news.

“So you just went to the bathroom? You could have waited a bit and gone back in to complete it.”

Yeah, that’s true.

I usually wouldn’t do that, but was I unconsciously nervous?

But at that moment, it was a truly urgent situation that I just couldn’t hold.

“But I’m sure I wrote down all the answers and submitted it, so it should be fine.”

“That’s a relief! Like Ji Hye said, the test was hard, so if you mark them in a line, you can make up for it in the next test.”

“Huh? No, I answered everything.”

Even so, it was just an elementary school test.

“You answered them all in 15 minutes? But there was hardly any time left?”

“Are you serious?”

“Then what was the answer to question 15? The one with the correction development?”

“I think the answer was option 5, four times.”

“What about the answer to the 20th multiple-choice question?”

“Option 2.”

“Sori, is that correct?”

“I couldn’t solve it, so I actually don’t know. Ah, what about subjective 5? Did you draw the magic circle?”

“It was a simple wave synthesis problem, so I’ll just show you directly.”

In fact, doing it in mid-air in three dimensions was much easier for me than recording it on the test paper.

“Condition 1 has an amplitude of 2m, so let’s assume it’s 20cm here at a scale of about 1:10.”

Setting the three axes of symmetry, I complete the outer boundary of the magic circle.

“Condition 2 meets at 135 degrees, so you can use the rotation transformation matrix of 180 minus 45 degrees or break down each term into a 1:1 ratio as an elementary school level.”

However, the reason subjective 5 was tricky was because of the third condition.

“Condition 3 uniquely presented the loss of mana during the synthesis process, and in such cases, you can assume the loss rate from each source initially and record corrections to get the right value.”

I stopped at the step of injecting mana after finishing the records so that the magic circle would be more visible.

The distinctive humming sound of wave magic echoed in my ears.

Since it hasn’t activated, it should disappear in ten seconds.

“Wow, that’s amazing…”

Sori gasped in admiration.

Clap. Clap. Clap. Clap.

Ji Hye just sat there blankly, showing a dry reaction as she clapped.

Thinking about it, it really did seem like a problem that would be quite difficult based on the elementary school curriculum.

While there might not be a lack of methods, it would be clearly unreasonable to shorten recording time so drastically.

By relying too much on overly technical skills, I found myself pondering how to explain it more easily.

“By the way, what was the answer to question 1…?”

“Option 4, Zignitrecentcha.”

“Phew, that’s a relief… I learned that in the first semester but forgot it for a moment…”

“Oh, right.”

“Damn it, will I get at least 30 points on this test…?”

Tears welled up in Ji Hye’s eyes.

In her mind, the 20th multiple-choice question or the 5th subjective question didn’t matter at all.

It was already a struggle from the very first question.

“It’ll be okay.”

Sori made an effort to comfort her, but Ji Hye didn’t seem to feel at ease either.

“Name, was this test easy for you…? Please answer honestly…”