Chương 81: The Invincible Exam Proctor

Ryland let the students get on with it at first. Magic of all sorts was popping up over the entire exam hall. One young man in the front row had created a bright blue bird out of mana. Farther off, someone else was juggling fireballs. Yet another student was encased in solid rocks as she wrote out her answer to the test with weighted slowness. More and more kinds of mana manifested with the aid of all sorts of Glyphs flashing to life. It didn't take long for the first cheater to show themselves.

Ryland caught on to it quite quickly. The thing with Mana Manifestation was that it would be difficult to separate what was cheating from what was a legitimate answer to one of the exam questions. Certain problems required students to manifest their magic, as the class's name implied. This was further intensified by their instructor trying to prevent cheating via setting the students more or less individual questions.

All this meant that it would be difficult to determine what was magic for the midterms and what was magic for cheating on said midterms. But that was why Ryland had taken on the challenge of proctoring such an exam. Why he had decided that, unlike most of the other Academs who had decided the exam was a lost cause, he could ensure the exams were fairer than they had ever been. It was going to take some work, though." [Omniscience]," Ryland cast. Everything became crystal clear.

With perfect clarity, Ryland could now take in what was happening in the entirety of the room, from the beginning of the hall to the far back end. He could now see every single Glyph that was coming to life all across the exam hall. And he could catch every single student at the rear who had decided they were distant enough to cheat with impunity. They weren't even bothering to use magic.

Believing they were too far to be observed—and it was a fair belief, with how tremendously large the hall was—they had mistakenly believed they could get away with anything. Well, Ryland put a stop to that notion very handily." [Translocate]," Ryland said, not even bothering to go over there. The papers he had so easily deposited onto the students' tables now returned back to him. Just for the ones he had caught cheating, of course. For a moment, they were flabbergasted. Then they remembered they had voices.

"We object to having our papers taken!" one of the students exclaimed, not even caring how he might have distracted the other students from taking their tests.

"You've got no proof—"" [Rewind]," Ryland cast, this time letting his voice echo throughout the hall. The neat little record of time clearly showed the students cheating brazenly. Several of their peers smirked or shook their heads, before returning to their exams. Or their own, more subtle methods of cheating. Ryland forgot all about the students who had underestimated him and paid attention to the rest. Another [Translocate] took him to a group of students who had raised his hackles.

[Omniscience] hadn't revealed whether they were cheating or not, but as soon as Ryland appeared, he cast [Mindscape]. While he couldn't move his eyeballs while time was slowed, he was already positioned perfectly to take in everything as needed. Which was how he was able to catch just what they were doing. Rather brilliant of them, if he was being honest. They weren't cheating directly. Instead, each of them was casting each other's magic that they were good at.

One would cast something like a complicated fire spell, but it wouldn't work. So then someone else would cast that same spell in a vicinity close enough for the original caster's exam to accept that as the right response, especially since students were allowed multiple attempts." [Dimensional Lock]," Ryland said.

"Sorry for the bit of spatial sickness but you'll survive." They looked at him very blankly, even when his barrier spell encased them in a seemingly effectless blanket. And then Ryland cast [Translocate], sending away the local students and bringing in a bunch from elsewhere to replace them. In the brief instant before they were transported, it had been almost a bit comical to see their expressions morph into wide-eyed surprise, and then they had disappeared.

Similarly, the ones who were teleported in looked around in shock. Several quickly turned to Ryland with the questions in their eyes about to come out, but he put a stop to it.

"Now, now," Ryland said.

"You don't want to be wasting time, now do you?" Then he disappeared before they could question him further. Ryland browsed around all across the exam hall and took away various students' papers here and there. A lot of them were highly displeased, but quick casts of [Rewind] always quieted them down. Time was an undeniable proof, after all. The more interesting part, for Ryland at least, was discovering all the various ways that students were capable of cheating.

If he was being honest, then he had to admit it was mostly interesting because Ryland could treat it as an exercise where he could test just how well he could discover new magic. There was one group of students who were communicating via Inscribed Glyphs. Ryland had at first thought that they were merely muttering to themselves, but a closer inspection with the help of [Mindscape] had revealed that they all brought their Inscribed hands close to their mouths before speaking.

That was what had tipped him off that something was wrong. Yet another group was using fakes to bypass his invigilation. Basically, they had created copies of their answer sheets at some point and then used those, while their real sheets were being answered by the lone student who appeared to be the only one who had actually studied. Ryland had been forced to give them props for being able to create convincing copies right under his [Omniscience] -fuelled nose.

But focusing [Omniscience] properly had revealed the little trick quite well. Ryland had duly congratulated the students for nearly getting one over him before promptly taking away their papers. He had just started wondering which one of them possessed a Soul Glyph of Copying or something similar, but a different distraction materialized first." Argh!" someone cried right after a loud thud. This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Ryland turned to see, completely expectedly, how several students had collided with the invisible barrier he had erected between the exam-takers and the confiscated papers he was storing on his desk. It was the group at the far back he had taken the tests from first.

"Good luck with that," Ryland said before returning to his invigilation of the rest of the students.

"Sir," one of the students said. Ryland recognized him as the fellow who had questioned him.

"Can we make a deal?" Ryland glanced at him.

"A deal?"

"Right. A deal." He knocked on Ryland's invisible barricade around his desk.

"If we can get our papers back from within this barrier of yours, then you won't be able to confiscate them again." Ryland blinked. Now that was a brazen deal. It felt like half the exam hall had turned at them to check the exchange. If nothing else, Ryland could respect the boy's gumption.

"Alright, then," Ryland said.

"I agree to your terms. Get past my barrier, and you can cheat to your heart's content on your test." Now half the exam hall was distracted at seeing how the students could go about getting their papers back.

"Half your time is up," Ryland said.

"Chop, chop." That got them focusing on their tests quite quickly. The tides were shifting a bit. Ryland felt like he had been a bit too relaxed earlier about all the chicanery going on, so he now applied himself a little more. Which meant that he kept catching more cheaters and confiscating more papers.

"Holy mother of…" one of the students trying to break through his barricade said as the pile of papers within Ryland's zone of safety just kept getting taller and taller. He only heard them briefly. After all, he was far too busy going around the entire hall, preventing cheating all over. The more he went about countering the students, the more he felt almost excited at having to block all kinds of magic.

There was one location where a student was using a unique Glyph of Projection to write answers on multiple other students' answer sheets. Yet another case had Ryland dealing with a bunch of illusions, where the papers he confiscated were fake, and the students initially kept writing again before he finally caught them.

"Alright, that's it." One girl got off her seat to stand before Ryland. Her papers had been confiscated a good while ago.

"Sir, I officially challenge you to a duel." Ryland blinked.

"You want to duel for your exam?" She nodded. And she wasn't alone, several other students who had gotten their sheets confiscated were all rising to back her up.

"If we win," another student said.

"Then you have to return our exams to us."" We?" Ryland asked. Several Glyphs burned in the air, magic casting a chaotic spray of light all around.

"You're not afraid of taking us all on, are you, sir?" the girl asked.

"No," Ryland said.

"I merely stand in awe of your boldness and am also worried about distracting the students who are taking their exams normally." That made a couple of the challengers look around guiltily, but most were far too determined and self-absorbed to be worried about others. Not when their own grades were on the line. The little duel started without warning. Over a dozen shouts rang out at nearly the same time, the recalcitrant ones joining their comrades in short order. Ryland couldn't blame them.

He had allowed them to pursue any means necessary to achieve their desired goal. Yet at the same time, he couldn't just let the tidal wave of magic distract the other students from their exams." [Eternal Bastion]," he cast on himself." [Silence of the Void]." The first spell, powered by his Soul Glyph of Aegis, had no trouble protecting him against the opposing magic. His second, one driven by his Soul Glyph of Energy, sucked in all vibrational sonic energy in the nearby vicinity.

Sound was one of the chief disturbances during exams, so Ryland was doing his best to negate it. For a brief moment, he paid a little attention to the kind of magic actually being used against him. It was explosive.

There were fireballs galore, a flood of liquid that electrocuted before exploding, even several monstrous beings of mana also smashing against him hard enough to detonate with furious blasts. Ah. They were doing their utmost to keep him distracted." [Basilisk's Glare]," Ryland incanted. Several of the spellcasters froze. They were perfectly safe. All Ryland had done was add an additional Subglyph of Petrification to his Soul Glyph of Aegis's spell circle to essentially create an encasing barrier around his targets.

This meant they could blink and breathe fine, just couldn't move or cast annoying spells. Then someone leaped over the first group of students, Glyphs forming around her as her spell sprung into being. Ryland frowned just a little. That young woman hadn't been a part of the original group of challengers.

"Don't give up!" she shouted.

"He can't take much more of this."

"Really now?" Ryland asked. She answered by attacking with exploding, magically-summoned flails. What was with these explosions? Ryland dealt with her in short order, then with several more students. Though, these latter ones changed up their tactics some more. While flashes of magic kept flooding everything, they stopped abruptly. Ryland saw why. One of the students was flying straight at him with what looked like a giant, glowing staff.

"Take th—" He disappeared into a rift in front of Ryland and popped out through another behind him. There was an audible thud of the airborne student smacking into the barrier protecting all the confiscated scripts. Then a softer one as he slid to the floor. Hopefully, he hadn't broken too many bones at that impact. Apparently, none of that daunted the rest of the attacking students. If anything, they grew even bolder.

"We've got him cornered," a shorter, slighter boy said. He really didn't look like the cheating type, but that just went to show looks should never be relied upon.

"Now!" yelled another, like they'd had it all planned from the beginning." [Pit of Clawing Depths]!" several of them shouted at once. The floor began trembling a second before everything turned into a sand pit. More spells were being cast, more magic churning up a sandstorm and calling up sand golems and serpents to assault Ryland directly. He sighed. Had he really confiscated the papers of all these students, or had several just jumped in at the opportunity to get at him?"

[Alchemic Reconstruction]," Ryland said through the din." [Basilisk's Glare]." All the sand just turned to glass. Lots of students screamed as things started crashing and splintering everywhere. But Ryland had already cast powerful barriers, so no one was truly hurt. It just turned out the whole thing had been a distraction.

"We did it!" someone cried farther back.

"We've broken through!" Ryland glanced back in surprise, just to see the student who had flown at him unlocking his barrier. Oh, so the lad hadn't fainted after colliding with the barrier? Several of the youths who had challenged him were rushing in, almost leaping for their prized papers. Only to see them disappear with another rift.

"Rather brilliant distraction," he said over their collective groan of disappointment. He peeked at the spell circle gleaming at the end of the flying student's staff.

"All this hullaballoo just for someone to use a Soul Glyph of Unlocking to turn my barrier into a door and open it. Quite ingenious." It was probably more of a shot in the dark, but it was clear the students had luck on their side. [Eternal Bastion] was a spell protecting against most forms of hostile, aggressive magic. A spell circle that combined a coaxing transmogrification with the caster's influence was a very brilliant bypass.

"Seize the papers!" one of the students screamed, lunging for him. Another rushed in hot on his heels.

"He can't stop us all!" Ryland calmly began [Translocating] the students back to their desks. Unfortunately, there was indeed a few too many of them, so he himself had to rift away along with the papers he was carrying. It was a little troublesome, but he was managing. Until, eventually, all the students were back at their seats, with not a single one of them having received their exams back. Technically speaking, Ryland had successfully safeguarded the exam against cheating. Mostly.

He certainly wasn't feeling triumphant, though. The looks of determination giving way to despair on the students' faces, the fighting spirit dying in their eyes… they made him wonder if he had gone a bit overboard. Well, they had challenged him. The outcome wasn't unexpected. And yet, it didn't sit right with him to end things this way. So, as the clock kept ticking, as the allotted time for the exam neared an end, Ryland returned all exam scripts.

"I think I've held your exams for long enough," he said, as the students gazed in wonder at their scripts and sheets floating back onto their desks.

"You don't have much time left, so I suggest making good use of the time you have left." He smiled.

"And just out of respect for your gumption, I will turn my back on you. Just for a few minutes." They all straightened at that, several students unable to stop themselves from looking at each other meaningfully. The students got furiously busy as they attempted to finish their exams with the few minutes they had left. Ryland meant what he said, so he turned around, facing the direction of the entryway. Where Alaric had poked his head and was staring with his mouth agape.

Then he jerked his head back out and slammed the door closed, like he had been caught watching something he really shouldn't have. Hmm. What was that about?