A little bit arrogant
The knight-like examiner looked at me in shock, entirely ignoring my question.
I guess my show was, well, quite overwhelming, to say the least.
From what I had seen, there were a few people capable of wielding mana amongst the other applicants.
Most of them were those with martial cores, but they were clearly beginners when it came to handling mana.
It was to the point that if their opponent was skilled with a weapon, they could easily end up losing.
But...
From their perspective, I had used an extremely advanced technique
Mode was not something a mage at my level should be capable of, after all.
"Uh, great work, applicant seve- no, your name is Outis, right? Great work, Outis, and don't worry about the, ahem, sword."
All of a sudden, I felt his tone was more respectful.
I nodded my head and headed over to the area where the rest of the applicants were gathered.
When I approached, they all took a step back, as if afraid that I'd suddenly strike them.
"...I got a little lucky, with him giving me the first hit and all."
Looking at their faces, it seemed nobody believed my explanation.
"Hey, drag out this fool, he fails for underestimating his opponent."
The knight shouted towards some other association emploees, any my fallen opponent was unceremoniously thrown out of the grounds whilst groaning in pain.
I felt pretty pleased with my result, although upon giving it some thought..
'I didn't really show any swordsmanship, did I? I just cut the guy down.'
Hopefully they'd mark me based on the overwhelming strength I'd shown.
"Hey, Mai, you said he was a third layer, right?"
Mai was a generally expressionless individual, but even she was surprised at this outcome.
"Yes. At least. That's what his. Paper said."
"There's no way, the examiner couldn't tell... but that's not a martial technique at all, you know too, right Mai?"
Mai had told her that the kid was fourteen.
But Kara struggled to believe that was the case.
As a sixth layer mage, she knew damn well that a third layer mage wouldn't be able to use a technique advanced as mode.
"Mode. Right? It's like. Yours."
She nodded to Mai, noting the similarity between Kara's mode and the one she had just seen from Outis.
"Hm... I was only able to pick it up when I was a fifth layer mage. I honestly can't imagine a third layer mage being able to perform it."
"See? Told you. Interesting, right?"
"Yeah, interesting, now, let's see the magic test."
Even as the remaining matches continued, the examiner knight continued to glance at me.
Most likely, he'd approach me afterwards.
It wasn't problematic in my eyes, as I knew I would inevitably end up attracting attention.
Even so, it'd be under a fake alias, so who cares?
I was curious about the magic test.
The association receptionist lady was still standing around, healing anyone who had been injured in their fights.
[Alina Isa]
Threat Level: High
Part time receptionist, part time mage.
...Based on that description and her threat level, it was likely she'd be testing me.
Maybe that was why she looked at me with such scrutiny when I was filling out my application?
My guess was that she was either a fifth or sixth layer mage.
It was probably a little presumptuous to think this, but I felt that a fourth layer mage would not be able to pose a 'high' threat level to me.
Sure, I was severely lacking in defensive techniques, but my firepower was incredible.
Looking over to the rafters, I saw Mai and her friend staring at me whilst discussing something with fairly serious expressions.
When they noticed I was looking at them, Mai looked away and her blonde friend started waving.
I could not analyse her friend at this distance, but I could guess that she was also an S rank.
'Hm... there's nothing to lose by being friendly, I guess?'
I waved back at them.
...
"Right, let's get this out of the way, I might be a receptionist, but I'm also an adventurer in my own right. Currently, I'm on the verge of breaking through to the sixth layer, so I'm more than qualified to judge both of you."
I was standing next to a plain looking boy who was perhaps two or three years older than me.
The receptionist, Alina, began explaining her exam.
Many people were watching us, with only a few going over to watch the separate ranger exam.
"So to begin with, I'd like to ask you what kind of mage you are."
Of course, to farm parties, adventurers had many ways of classifying themselves.
Mages were a versatile lot, so it helped to subcategorise them.
Support mages, barrier mages, unsealing mages, wide-area mages, etcetera.
To be honest, I wasn't sure what exactly I could be called.
'Maybe a backline mage? Sitting back and shooting bullets sounds good.'
Well, that idea wouldn't work amazingly considering I was planning to go solo.
I decided to just be generic.
"I'm a battle mage specialising in the spell 'magic bullet.'"
The receptionist raised her eyebrow at my statement, but quickly shifted her eyes onto the other applicant.
"Uh... I don't... really know? I just started learning magic recently..."
At the other boy's nervous response, she gave a warm smile.
"That's fine, you put down that you were a first layer mage, so you just have to show the bare minimum."
'What a difference.'
Her way of speech towards me was laden with suspicion, unlike the guy next to me, who she took a kind big-sisterly tone with.
Since the guy next to me was an earlier applicant, his test was conducted first.
"All you have to do is show me a single spell, alright? Doesn't need to be impressive, so don't worry."
His faced scrunched up, and it seemed that he was focusing immensely.
It made me wonder for a moment whether or not I was talented.
Since I begun learning magic in isolation, I had nobody to measure myself against.
Measuring myself against my master...
Not even worth thinking about.
Perhaps it was to do with the Notary art, but memorising spells and movements came easy to me.
Even back when I had first cast magic bullet, it only took me a few minutes to learn the spell.
I never had to go through any struggle like this guy.
My thoughts were interrupted when a magic circle appeared in front of his palm.
"...It's an oval, though?"
The receptionist shot a glare at me, but luckily it seemed that my words failed to reach the other applicant, who remained in a focus state.
A clump of mana slowly gathered in the misshapen circle.
'What's he trying to do?'
I had a good idea of many beginner spells due to my months of studying them, but I had no idea what he was doing.
After the clump formed, he brought his hand to the air and threw the ball forwards.
'Seriously?'
The clump flew a few meters before hitting the ground like a slab of wet meat.
Looking around, many of the applicants who were watching nodded their heads as if appreciating what had just happened.
'They really are... noobs, huh?'
It was probably a good thing that this guy went ahead of me.
If he had went after me, well, it'd probably be a bit embarassing.
"Hm, since you've only recently started learning, I suppose this is decent. You pass as a first layer mage, but I want you to know that once you get your association license that you can enter the first floor of Babel Library, you should absolutely head there as soon as possible."
Babel Library, better known as the Tower of Babel.
I wondered if I'd be able to get anything out of it.
The boy seemed happy at her declaration, and said he'd definitely go to the library once he got the chance.
He returned to the other applicants, and I vaguely heard some chatter about his spell being impressive.
'...Have I become arrogant?'
Honestly, I felt as if I was looking at trash.
Perhaps that showed in my gaze, as examiner Alina's tone as she spoke to me was quite a bit colder.
"Your turn, let's see what you're capable of, hm?"
LOG 30 - TOWER OF BABEL
A legendary library consisting of centuries worth of magical texts and martial scriptures that have been gathered by the adventurers association. It is known to consist of seven floors. To enter floor one, you must be at least an F rank adventurer, for floor two, an E rank, and so on till floor seven for which one must be an S rank adventurer.
