The first semester midterms had finally begun.
Since this was the first large-scale written exam since entering the academy, everyone walked into the lecture hall tense with nerves.
“To prevent cheating, I will now deploy magical partitions.”
Ten minutes before the first exam began, Professor Klein, who came in as the proctor, snapped his fingers.
Partitions sprung up around each desk, blocking the students from seeing their neighbors’ papers.
“The first period exam is Introduction to Magic Theory. I hope you all achieve good results.”
“Yes…!”
Soon, the bell rang throughout the lecture hall…
And the midterms began in earnest.
‘He says he hopes we all do well, but since it’s graded on a curve, there’s no avoiding winners and losers.’
Klein looked around at the students working diligently on their exams with a bitter smile.
Everyone here in the Top Class had scored top marks in the entrance exam. So high scores were expected here, but once the tests were actually taken, it wasn’t uncommon for some of them to score lower than students from the lower classes.
‘The entrance exam only assessed basic academic skills. It didn’t weed out students lacking in magical talent.’
That had already been confirmed through their practicals.
There were several students in the Top Class who lacked “magical talent.”
They might do fine on basic memorization questions, but they’d struggle with problems requiring deep understanding and insight.
‘Getting ahold of past exams and practicing beforehand might earn you a decent score—but it won’t last.’
Even within the Top Class, gaps in ability would gradually widen.
That was inevitable in a meritocratic academy.
Some students would end up dropping out before the semester even ended.
‘On the other hand… some students are already standing out.’
Klein scanned the room, eyes landing on students he’d been keeping an eye on.
‘First, Senia Artian… I was worried whether she’d have talent in magic, being from a famous swordsmanship family, but she’s exceeded my expectations.’
Seated near the corner, Senia was working through the questions with a serious expression.
One of her defining traits was always being studious and focused. She didn’t stand out much on the surface, but as shown by her top-four placement in the rookie tournament, her abilities were excellent.
Klein expected her to place at least in the top ten for the written exam as well.
‘Then there’s Cain Trigger. Unlike Senia, his classroom behavior is often poor, but his practical skills are nearly on par with hers. He probably just knows how to work smart.’
Cain was calmly solving the exam with a relaxed demeanor. That air of ease was very much his trademark.
It was too soon to say what his test results would be, but somehow, Klein had a feeling he’d score well.
‘Charis and Milia… the twin daughters of Count Morpheus also perform well. And then there’s—’
As Klein’s gaze wandered, it eventually landed on a boy sitting at the front.
‘Monarch Orson. Can’t forget about him.’
Monarch was writing his answers with a confident expression.
A heir of House Orson, a ducal family, Monarch had shown leadership from the very start, becoming something of a central figure in the Top Class. Though he’d made a few mistakes, his fundamental skills were solid, and his position remained secure.
‘He seems to have done a lot of prep work in advance and has good theoretical understanding of magic. He’ll probably do well on this test too.’
It was likely he had plenty of past exams to study from.
Considering the influence of House Orson, he could have easily obtained them from older students without needing to trade anything in return.
‘But still…’
Klein’s gaze shifted away from Monarch.
That was because sitting behind Monarch was a true prodigy who outshone even him.
‘Eriol Valencia… I wonder what kind of results he’ll produce this time.’
He had already taken the top spot in the entrance exam.
And he had shown outstanding performance in every practical assessment.
A standout talent in both academics and magical ability—Eriol Valencia.
How would he perform on the midterms?
‘Huh…?’
Klein discreetly glanced at Eriol’s desk to see how far along he was.
But Eriol had already written answers to every single question.
‘He’s already finished everything?!’
The others hadn’t even gotten halfway through.
But Eriol had completed every question from start to finish.
“…”
Without breaking his calm expression, Eriol flipped back to the first page of the exam and began reviewing his answers.
There was still plenty of time left.
‘As expected… Eriol Valencia!’
A truly coveted talent.
With a smile, Klein resolved once again to bring him into the Transcendental Studies department .
After the first exam period ended…
The students gathered in small groups to discuss how it had gone.
Though the second period would begin right after the break, not many people were studying in preparation.
“How was it, Monarch? I think I bombed it.”
“Wasn’t that hard. Almost all the questions were familiar.”
“Ah, as expected of you, sir!”
While casually chatting with his followers, Monarch Orson glanced in Eriol’s direction.
Eriol was still sitting at his desk, looking over a notebook. Then suddenly, as if going to the restroom, he got up and left.
“…”
Monarch quietly stood as well.
He was curious about what Eriol had been reviewing just before the test.
‘It’s probably a summary notebook.’
Pretending to pass by, Monarch casually approached Eriol’s desk.
Then subtly peeked at the open page.
‘What the hell?’
Monarch couldn’t help but be shocked.
‘Why is this notebook… full of useless stuff?’
It wasn’t a summary at all.
If anything, it was an “irrelevant points notebook.”
It was packed with obscure, marginal details that clearly wouldn’t appear on the test.
‘Why was he reading this right before the exam?’
Monarch flipped through the notebook on impulse.
Every page was the same—filled with trivial, unimportant content.
As he stood there, dumbfounded—
A sharp female voice suddenly called from behind him.
“Monarch Orson. What do you think you’re doing?”
“…!”
The girl who often hung out with Eriol—Senia Artiang—was the one who had spoken.
“Ah, th-there was a bug!”
“A bug?”
Tilting her head in confusion, Senia watched as Monarch hurriedly left the scene.
‘Does that guy Eriol really not know what’s important and what’s not?’
Monarch scoffed inwardly.
All that showing off, and he didn’t even know how to study for exams. What a country bumpkin.
There’s no way he could score well like that.
‘He doesn’t even get the basics—that you have to focus on the important stuff. What an idiot.’
But—
A faint unease crept into Monarch’s heart.
This wasn’t just anyone—it was Eriol Valencia.
Could it really have been that foolish?
‘There’s one thing I realized while going over the past exam questions.’
After returning from the bathroom, I sat down and looked at my notebook again.
It was the one I’d written—my “unimportant points” notebook.
‘In every exam… there’s always at least one or two questions on completely trivial material.’
Questions that covered obscure details, glossed over or barely mentioned during lectures, always seemed to sneak in.
Why were those questions there?
‘Probably to prevent anyone from getting a perfect score.’
After reviewing four years of past papers, I’d figured it out—the academy deliberately inserted a few incredibly difficult questions to control the distribution of scores.
Some were just genuinely complex and hard.
But others were obscure to the point of being unfair.
‘There’s only one way to get those right too.’
Studying only the important stuff wasn’t enough.
So what could you do?
‘You study everything, even the stuff that isn’t important.’
It was a wildly inefficient approach.
Over 90% of exam questions came from obviously key topics.
To get a good score, it made more sense to focus there.
But to get the best score, inefficient studying was necessary too.
‘If I want the top results, this is the only way.’
This was separate from the group study—I’d done this part alone.
I had shown it briefly to Cain and Senia, but their reaction had basically been, “Yeah, no thanks.”
‘If my predictions are right, just studying this way should be enough for today’s and tomorrow’s tests.’
I’d thoroughly reviewed past exams and memorized the lecture content.
That alone should be enough to secure a solid result.
‘The real problem… is the third day’s exam.’
That’s when the Basic Elemental Theory and Applied Elemental Theory exams would happen.
Lots of difficult application questions were expected, and it was hard to predict what might show up.
‘I prepped with past exams, but there’s no guarantee the difficulty won’t spike this year.’
I pictured Professor Horizon’s face.
He was not someone to take lightly.
‘Anyway, I just have to give it my all.’
With that in mind, I started preparing for the next test.
The second day of exams passed as smoothly as the first.
The questions from the Producing Department were straightforward, just like those on day one.
Even without reviewing past papers, anyone who had paid attention in lectures and studied properly could do well.
As a result, the atmosphere among students was relaxed.
“See? Midterms aren’t so bad after all.”
But then…
“Looks like everyone’s been doing well on their exams.”
On the morning of the third day, Professor Horizon appeared, and the lecture hall immediately grew tense.
No one had expected the department head to personally supervise.
“Let’s begin the Basic Elemental Theory exam. Clear your desks.”
Soon, the bell rang and the papers were distributed.
And immediately, the entire class gasped in shock.
“Huh…?!”
“What the hell?!”
This was supposed to be Basic Elemental Theory.
It was supposed to be easier than the next test, Applied Elemental Theory.
But… the very first question was a brutal application problem.
“The following ritual is designed to artificially recreate the flame emission of a subspecies of Salamander native to the Eustapio volcanic region. Simplify the ritual so that it achieves at least a Tier-2 efficiency rating on the Kefton Evaluation Scale…”
It was similar to past application questions.
But the difficulty was far higher.
‘They’re asking this kind of question on the basic exam? Then what the hell are they planning for the applied one?’
Without thinking, I looked up.
Beyond the anti-cheating partitions, I caught sight of Professor Horizon’s face.
“…”
The old man was smiling.
As if to say, “Go on, try solving it.”
There was no doubt this was his doing.
‘So that’s how it is.’
I looked back down at my test.
This was a challenge—a slap to the back of the head for anyone who got complacent.
‘In that case… I’ll take it on.’
I picked up my pen.
Unraveling the densely written ritual formulas on the page would take time.
I wouldn’t even have a moment to breathe.
The suffocating test had begun.
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