The massive classroom was excessively quiet.
The sudden silence stood out in stark contrast to how lively the dwarf jokes had made the atmosphere earlier.
Grom looked down at the crystal, then looked up at Lynn.
Then, he looked down again.
It was as if he believed that if he checked a few more times, the glaring number would roll back down to seven out of sheer embarrassment.
Unfortunately, even though he stared with his round, bulging eyes until they were dry, the crimson glow remained quietly stationary at the peak of the ninth mark. It was a mere hair's breadth away from the theoretical limit.
What kind of dwarf joke is this?! (Inexplicable screeching!)
Looking back at the enrollment records of the Sacred Capital Academy over the past millennium, the number of monsters who could surpass nine marks in a single element... couldn't even be counted on one hand.
Much less a freak like this, who was undeniably at the very top of the ninth mark!
‘Holy crap (dwarf profanity), those sly old bastards like Sanlais...’
‘How is this merely having the potential to surpass the Golden Generation?’
‘No wonder none of them wanted to teach this first class of the term. They were all waiting to set this old man up, weren't they?’
Meanwhile, below the podium.
The subtle glances regarding the “connected student” underwent an extremely delicate shift at this moment.
Someone opened their mouth, and only after a long while did they whisper:
“I recall... Reinhardt didn't take the admission exam, right?”
The person next to them nodded with a complex expression. “Indeed, he didn't.”
“Then how did he...”
The voice cut off abruptly as the two exchanged a glance.
They seemed to realize something simultaneously. Was it possible... that it wasn't a matter of him lacking the qualifications to participate?
But rather... there was simply no need for him to participate at all?
Thinking about it this way, the previous rumor of “the Grand Duke abusing his power to force his son into the Red Garden” suddenly seemed rather ridiculous.
“Ahem.”
Grom was an old-timer who had lived for countless years after all, and he quickly suppressed the strange expression on his face.
He picked up his quill and slowly wrote down a number behind the name.
【Fire Element Affinity: 9.9】
The quill paused for a moment before the old dwarf spoke in a forced, nonchalant tone:
“Not bad.”
Lynn: “...”
That's it? He blinked.
‘Old geezer, when you looked at Irene just now, you practically wanted to plaster “This old man has high hopes for you” right on her forehead.’
‘Talk about double standards for white-haired lolis.’
‘The dwarf tribe needs to go extinct already.’
“Next.”
Grom's gruff voice interrupted Lynn's thoughts.
Lynn stepped aside, and at this moment, whether it was Grom on the podium or the seventy-plus students below, everyone's gaze fell in unison upon that small, white figure.
‘Here it comes... the real main event.’
Irene Durandal.
The only White Garden resident to be admitted by exception in decades.
If even Lynn, the “Red Garden connected student,” could test with a near-monstrous value of nine marks...
Then what about the White Garden student standing at the very pinnacle of the freshmen?
“...”
Irene tilted her little head up, looking at the crystal, then stealing a glance at Lynn, thinking she was being stealthy.
The white-haired dumpling, who had been a bit self-conscious earlier due to her answer, felt a spark of light gradually reignite in her eyes.
Even her slightly droopy ahoge began to perk up bit by bit.
‘This bad guy seems to be pretty amazing...’
Bad guy -> Red Garden, Me -> White Garden!
White Garden > Red Garden!
Rounding it up, doesn't that mean I'm even more amazing than this bad guy?
Then my mana affinity... shouldn't be too bad either... right?
Rate on N.U.
