With her eyes closed, pretending to be asleep, Liyakade relaxed upon hearing Alice’s test results.
This testing phase was arguably the hardest to tamper with.
First, it was impossible for Liyakade to interfere with Alice during the test itself. Two teachers stood on stage, so any suspicious movement would surely be caught red-handed.
Second, even if Liyakade had tampered with the crystal ball beforehand, the entire class’s test results would be affected, prompting them to replace the crystal balls and conduct the test again—rendering any cheating ineffective.
Fortunately, Liyakade’s memory and reasoning were flawless. In the original story, Alice’s test result shortly after enrollment was LV.5. Liyakade inferred that the original protagonist had not forced any underhanded tactics during the test.
The facts proved her right: the original protagonist wouldn’t bother with troublesome tricks in a project that was both difficult to manipulate and had a low scoring weight.
“Eh, Miss Liyakade, what’s this?”
After stepping down, Alice looked at Liyakade, who still had her eyes shut, and thought she was sleeping again.
“Just pretending to sleep, that one.” Field stared at Liyakade’s small face with a hint of grievance. “Aren’t you going to wake up? It’s almost your turn.”
“Liyakade!”
“OK!”
Liyakade sprang up from her chair, eager to take the stage.
“Miss Liyakade… what’s going on?”
“Don’t mind her. Who knows what mood she’s in again, hmph.”
After placing her hand on the crystal ball, it immediately emitted a dazzling cyan light. Both the Mage Teacher recording scores and the Grade Director showed surprised expressions simultaneously.
“This is… LV.55!”
“How is that possible!?”
The Grade Director’s eyes widened, and the other students in the audience gasped, all wearing looks of disbelief.
“That one… really is almost as strong as Sistem!”
Field looked gravely at Liyakade’s back while watching the result displayed on the crystal ball.
“Miss Liyakade, you’re so strong!”
Alice couldn’t help but sigh in admiration.
“Is this for real?”
The Mage Teacher couldn’t believe his eyes.
“LV.55, just five levels short of Court Magus rank. Even the kingdom’s number one genius, Her Highness Sistem, didn’t have such a high level when she was a first-year student!”
“Her Highness Sistem’s current student rank is the highest at LV.59, but she is a third-year.”
The Grade Director, witnessing this scene, also found it hard to believe and began to doubt, “Liyakade, you didn’t cheat, did you?”
“No, this is my real level. We’re going to the training ground later, so you’ll see when I shoot the targets.”
Liyakade shook her head. She had expected her strength would be questioned, but she didn’t mind.
“I can vouch that Liyakade’s combat ability matches her level.”
Field stood up at that moment to back her up.
“Alright, alright then.”
After receiving Field’s assurance, the Mage Teacher finally recorded Liyakade’s level.
“Well, thanks.”
After stepping down, Liyakade thanked Field.
“Hmph.” Field snorted in dissatisfaction, seemingly unhappy with Liyakade’s performance and still holding a grudge over her pretending to sleep earlier.
“Alright, alright, Princess Field, thank you so much for your enthusiasm. Don’t be angry.” Liyakade expressed her thanks sincerely.
“That’s better.”
They then headed together to the training ground, where the targets had already been set up. Made of special materials, these targets were nearly indestructible by attacks below LV.50.
Coincidentally, there was a LV.55 Liyakade right there.
This time, the test wasn’t conducted one person at a time like before but involved many people shooting at different targets simultaneously, with results recorded by the Mage Teacher.
“Liyakade.”
Soon it was her turn to shoot. She noticed Alice was also on the other side, which seemed like a perfect opportunity for interference.
Liyakade assumed a battle stance, ready to strike the target fiercely with Wind Blade.
After a while, she was still standing in place, preparing.
“Hm? Liyakade?”
The Mage Teacher asked in confusion. “Why haven’t you attacked yet? Don’t waste the time of the students behind you.”
“Ha!”
The moment the Mage Teacher finished speaking, Liyakade made her move. She had spotted Alice, two or three people away, releasing a Light Sphere.
The powerful Wind Blade shot straight at the target, slicing it cleanly in two through the bullseye. The blade’s shockwave swept over the surrounding mid-air magic, causing all those spells to deviate slightly.
Fireballs, Waterballs, and Wind Blades that were originally aimed at the bullseye were deflected by Liyakade’s strike and ended up hitting other parts of the target.
Alice’s Light Sphere was no exception. However… after being pushed by the shockwave, it wobbled awkwardly and drifted onto the bullseye.
“I measure!”
“Liyakade! It’s just shooting targets, do you need to use that much force?”
The Mage Teacher scolded her, twitching his mouth as he looked at the target split in half and jotted down Liyakade’s attack level in his booklet.
To break a target like this in one hit, there was no doubt Liyakade’s level was above LV.50.
“Teacher! It seems my attack’s shockwave affected the other students. Could they retake the test?” Liyakade said anxiously.
“Yeah! She made me miss the bullseye!”
“My attack was about to hit perfectly!”
The surrounding students complained, wanting to request a retest.
“Enough.”
The Grade Director spoke up.
“No retests allowed. If your attack was interfered with, it means your strength isn’t enough. On the battlefield, if you miss the enemy because of interference, would you ask for a retest? If your control over magic is sufficient, you won’t be disturbed by others.”
“NO!!!”
Liyakade writhed on the ground in frustration, not expecting the old Grade Director to be so strict.
“Alright, Miss Liyakade.”
Alice came to comfort her, reaching out to pull her up. “The Director’s words make sense. Don’t blame yourself. Besides, I wasn’t disturbed by your attack at all.”
Pfft, if your strength were better, I wouldn’t have had to see this so clearly. You were originally going to miss the bullseye, but I shook your attack away!
“Geez…” Liyakade gazed quietly at Alice, utterly unable to understand how Alice’s wildly inaccurate shot had caused such a mess.
Help.
Liyakade already felt the bad ending creeping closer and closer to her.
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