"I want to become strong! So strong that I can overcome every difficulty with my own power!"
"So after graduation, I’m going to train—and I won’t leave my seclusion until I reach B-rank!"
Miko Kedar clenched her fists, her eyes blazing with fiery determination.
Clap! Clap! Clap......
The other two in the room broke into applause.
"Miko, that’s amazing—I never knew you had such resolve!"
"Absolutely! We’ll cheer you on!"
"Really?"
Miko scratched her head shyly at their words.
"Hehe, stop praising me like that—I’ll get embarrassed!"
After the applause died down,
Alicia Serions slowly lowered her hands, her voice tinged with melancholy:
"We all have our own paths to follow......"
"Alicia......"
Seeing her expression, Hulim Heyerar wanted to comfort her.
"But——"
Alicia suddenly perked up again, smiling at Hulim, then at Miko.
"Before that, we still have time to do things together!"
"......Are you talking about the team tournament, Alicia?"
"Yes! Exactly!"
"Hmm, that’s right......"
Hulim thought for a moment, then said,
"How about we go to the labyrinth together? We haven’t explored one as a team in ages—it’ll be training for the tournament."
"Great idea!"
"Count me in!"
The two agreed to Hulim’s suggestion at once.
"Then let’s waste no time—let’s head out now while it’s still early."
"Yeah!" Miko raised her fist and cheered. "Today’s goal: conquer a labyrinth!"
"No, no—I don’t think we can conquer one in the time we have left today......"
Alicia smiled and waved her hand.
"We can if we hurry."
"Huh?"
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"If we move fast enough, it’ll work."
"Huh? Hulim—we’re not racing; we’re exploring a labyrinth, right?"
"Don’t worry—it’s practically the same thing."
How is it the same thing......
The three then headed straight for a labyrinth, not even bothering to prepare proper gear to save time.
But in the end——
Boom!
As the labyrinth’s master collapsed to the ground,
the labyrinth was officially conquered.
"We did it——!"
Miko stood atop the fallen labyrinth master, cheering in victory.
"I can’t believe we actually pulled it off......"
Alicia still looked stunned—even a beginner’s labyrinth was rarely conquered in just a few hours.
"Alicia," Hulim patted her shoulder, "this is just the start. Starting tomorrow, why don’t we conquer every labyrinth in Langard together?"
"Absolutely! I’m in!"
Miko shouted her agreement immediately.
Looking at the two in front of her, Alicia finally smiled and replied:
"Alright—let’s use the time we have left to clear every labyrinth in Langard!"
In the days that followed,
the three spent each day exploring different labyrinths.
Their teamwork grew more and more seamless,
and labyrinths fell one after another—first beginner ones, then increasingly difficult ones.
And with each passing day, graduation drew closer......
......
......
Tap, tap......
In a pitch-black underground corridor,
the sound of footsteps echoed through the once-silent space.
The footsteps advanced along the corridor at a steady pace.
Tap——
Then suddenly, they stopped.
The entire underground chamber fell into silence......
After a long while,
"This is what you must do."
A voice spoke from the darkness.
After a moment,
another voice replied:
"No problem."
"......"
In the darkness,
a figure glanced at the one who’d answered, said nothing, and turned to melt into the shadows, vanishing without a trace.
Only the figure holding a document remained.
In the pitch-black environment, only their rough outline was visible.
Before long,
Tap, tap......
The same footsteps echoed through the dark corridor once more,
fading away in the direction they’d come from,
until they finally disappeared into the underground passage.
......
At Manacos Magic Academy,
Grisa stood on the podium with his usual cold expression.
He scanned the classroom.
"It seems everyone is here today."
"Now that you’re all present, I have something to say."
"I don’t care how you’ve spent these three years—whether you studied hard, slacked off, or wandered around outside the academy all day."
"......"
"Right now, I only want to ask you one question——"
Grisa paused, then fixed the classroom with a sharp gaze and asked:
"Have you become qualified mages?"
"......"
No one answered, but every single person stared intently at Grisa, their eyes unwavering.
"It seems you’ve given your answer......"
Grisa’s gaze softened again.
"But I hope none of you are pretending—that’s the stupidest thing you could do. Admit it now, and you can leave, then come back next year to answer this question again."
"......"
Still, no one moved.
"Good. It seems even if you haven’t become extraordinary over these three years, you haven’t become fools at the very least."
There was a hint of approval in Grisa’s voice, though his face remained expressionless.
"Since you’ve all chosen to stay, listen carefully to what comes next."
"In one month, you will leave Manacos."
"Like your predecessors before you, you will go out into the world and begin your new lives."
"Where you go after that is your freedom—but before you start your new lives, you must submit a final report on your three years at Manacos."
"In other words, the graduation exam."
Snap!
Grisa snapped his fingers.
A projection screen materialized in the air out of nowhere,
displaying a series of images.
"This is the exam you will take next."
As Grisa began to explain, the images on the screen stabilized, then slowly shifted under his control.
"First, the written theory exam."
Grisa pointed his wand at the screen.
"All the theoretical courses you’ve studied at Manacos Magic Academy—Magic History, Magical Biology, Magic Analysis...... and so on."
"You will take an exam in each course, and your final score will be a weighted average of these exams and your regular assessment grades. That will be your final theory score."
After explaining the first part, Grisa waved his wand at the screen.
The images flickered rapidly, showing different arenas with two students dueling in each.
"Second part——"
"The individual practical exam."
