Chương 28: The Reward

In the rest area, Julian furrowed his brow slightly. That is absolutely not the physical strength a malnourished underhive rat should possess. On the stage, Rowan turned a deaf ear to everything around him. He looked at the blade, meticulously calculating the recoil force from the previous strike. After frantically devouring the Rock-Scaled Giant Crocodile meat over the past few days, his body—reforged by the Furnace Melding Art—possessed a foundation far tougher than mortal iron.

"Second strike," the examiner raised an eyebrow, reminding him. Rowan pressed his thumb lightly against the mana-channeling groove on the hilt, extracting mana from his crystal core and pouring it into the blade. Woom— The high-frequency oscillation of the D1-grade Magitech Tactical Straight Sword activated instantly, the blade emitting an ear-piercing, high-pitched whine. Rowan took a deep breath and swung the blade again!

This time, his monstrous pure physical strength was stacked with the high-frequency cutting property of the weapon itself. Like a hot knife parting leather, the blade tore a visible gash into the dummy's mimetic shield. [Comprehensive Rating: 960 Points!] Hsss— This time, even a few Consortium scions in the front row sucked in a breath of cold air. 960 points! That had already surpassed the water-element spell bombardment from Simon, the pharmacology maniac!

"It's just the advantage of a D1 weapon!" one of Julian's lackeys couldn't help but yell sourly, attempting to mask the shock in his heart. But Julian stared dead at Rowan's back, a dangerous light flashing deep in his eyes. Only those who truly understood combat knew that unleashing a D1 weapon to this extent meant he was exceeding its base output by at least fifty percent. Yet, there was no external manifestation of mana. As a Single-Phase Mage himself, Julian couldn't be absolutely certain.

Did he break through to become a Tier 1 Mage? An ominous premonition began to cast a shadow over Julian's heart.

"Final attempt," the examiner's voice rang out once more. Rowan lowered his right hand holding the sword and slowly exhaled a breath of stale air. This time, he didn't plan on hiding anymore. Woom! There was no drawn-out, redundant chanting. Deep within the heart in Rowan's left chest, that Source Crystal Core vibrated violently! A surge of deep blue mana radiance—so incredibly pure and dense it looked as if it were about to drip water—instantly overflowed from his chest!

"Source Rune Resonance! A Tier 1 Water Mage!" Julian gripped the armrests of his chair, his pupils contracting wildly. He could barely suppress the shock bleeding into his eyes. Where did he get the resources? When did he advance? A heavy shadow clouded Julian's mind. Below the stage, Mr. Miller's eyes were filled with a smiling, profound gratification, as if looking at the spirited, defiant version of his younger self.

Water-element mana surged wildly down Rowan's arm, pouring flawlessly into the channeling groove on the spine of the straight sword. Driven by the etched runes on the weapon, the pure mana was manipulated by Rowan's mental power. The water-element energy was forcefully compressed onto the very edge of the blade, forming a blindingly bright, high-speed, high-pressure water jet cutting line. This wasn't casting a water blade; this was fusing the spell and the physical blade together into a lethal enchantment!

"Break." Rowan let out a low shout. Moving like lightning, he delivered his third downward slash! Screeeech—! Accompanied by an agonizing tearing sound, the high-frequency straight sword—enchanted with the extreme-pressure water current—sliced through the outermost mimetic shield without the slightest resistance, burying itself deeply into the bionic armor of the middle layer like a hot knife through butter! If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

The red numbers on the giant screen skyrocketed like crazy, finally locking dead! [Comprehensive Rating: 1070 Points!] The entire martial arena plunged into dead silence once more. In the rest area, a crisp snap rang out. The expensive, custom metal pen in Julian's hand had been forcefully snapped in two. The sharp, jagged edge pierced his finger, but he remained completely oblivious. His handsome face was now so terrifyingly grim it looked as if it could drip ink. 1070 points!

Not only did this securely lock in a top-five position, but even more terrifyingly, this score was a mere 30 points lower than Julian, who had been wearing a multi-million-credit heavy magitech exoskeleton! What made Julian feel an inexplicable, burning sense of humiliation was the fact that Rowan achieved this score without relying on the amplification of any exoskeleton armor whatsoever. However, looking at the glaring score on the screen, there was not a shred of arrogance or conceit in Rowan's eyes.

"1070... just right." Rowan calculated with extreme rationality in his mind, his gaze briefly flicking toward Julian's direction below the stage. He knew very well that he hadn't revealed all his trump cards, and neither had Julian. That 1100 points earlier was merely the physical test score of the mecha. As a Single-Phase Fire Mage, Julian hadn't utilized a single spell.

If it came to a true life-and-death struggle, a high-tier mecha capable of defending against physical attacks, combined with devastating fire magic... Julian was absolutely an extremely dangerous, rabid dog. The Frost-Chill Gauntlets had to remain hidden. It would be one of his trump cards to tear that iron plating to shreds in the future.

"John!" The examiner's voice echoed across the arena through the loudspeakers. Hearing his name, a boy jolted as if waking from a dream and hurriedly rushed onto the stage. The performances of the top-tier students had shown the entire faculty and student body what true excellence looked like. Because the previous contenders had performed too well, the overwhelming pressure caused this boy's movements to deform significantly during his attempts.

As he walked off the stage, the regret in his eyes was painfully visible. Rowan returned to Rad's side. Along the way, he noticed many commoner students staring at him, but he paid them no mind.

"Good boy!" Rad laughed uproariously, slapping Rowan on the back.

"You didn't see the ugly look on Julian's face just now! It was better than a movie!" Rowan chuckled, his gaze shifting slightly, only to meet Julian's viper-like eyes glaring back with a dark, inexplicable malice.

"The Assessment is concluded!"

"We will now announce the top five students in the comprehensive ranking of the Cultural and Martial Assessments for this monthly mock exam!"

"First Place: Cecilia!"

"Second Place: Julian!"

"Third Place: Rowan!"

"Fourth Place: Simon!"

"Fifth Place: Rad!"

"Furthermore, the students ranking in the top one hundred and fifty in total score have officially passed the college entrance preliminary screening. At the beginning of next month, you will uniformly receive one 'Mana Primordium' issued by the Federation Government!" As the announcement ended, a contingent of commoner students erupted into cheers, weeping tears of joy. That was their one and only lifeline to change their destinies.

Conversely, there were also students with faces full of despair, some on the verge of sobbing. Those were the commoner students who had failed. Anyone capable of enrolling in Westpoint Magitech High was already considered the cream of the crop in the Seventh Abyssal Hive. But as long as they didn't secure a Mana Primordium to become a formal mage, their student loans for West Point High would crush ten years of their lives.

Even if they managed to become Tier 1 Mages through other means later on, the loss of time essentially guaranteed their path to becoming high-tier mages was dead in the water. A single step behind meant a lifetime behind. On the other hand, the students who failed but maintained normal expressions were almost exclusively Consortium scions. They had their families as a safety net; failing this time meant practically nothing to them.

"Silence!" The school's Dean of Discipline stepped onto the stage, his gaze sweeping over the top five names.

"Now, I invite the top five students to come onto the stage to receive the special reward for this monthly exam—an incredibly precious D-Rank technique: [Mind-Splitting Art]!"

"Dean..." the examiner raised his hand awkwardly.

"Simon, the fourth place, said his experimental boiler was about to explode. He took his data disc in advance and ran off a while ago." A few of the passing students below the stage chuckled, slightly diluting the heavy atmosphere. A moment later, the remaining four walked up to the podium. Cecilia remained like an eternal block of ice. Taking the sealed box containing the data disc from the Dean, she gave a slight nod and turned to leave without a single unnecessary word.

On the other side, Rad was grinning from ear to ear, stroking the box affectionately. On the podium, only Julian and Rowan were inevitably left standing side by side. Neither looked at the other. Yet, the air around them felt incredibly oppressive, as if warped by the violent repulsion of two entirely different mana signatures.

"Slicing open a dead, immobile object with brute force is indeed quite a spectacle. But in our eyes, a Tier 1 Mage merely upgrades you from a cheap consumable to a slightly more useful tool." Julian stared straight ahead, maintaining his elegant, noble posture, but his voice was as cold and venomous as a viper, drilling into Rowan's ear at a volume only the two of them could hear. Rowan accepted his reward box from the Dean with supreme naturalness, not even twitching an eyelid.

He shoved the box into the pocket of his hoodie. In the instant he turned to walk down from the podium, his lips moved slightly, leaving behind a feather-light sentence:"Wrap that iron plating tight, Julian. Protect yourself well." Rowan's voice was as placid as a dead pool, devoid of a single ripple.

"Careful not to let a repeat of the entrance exams happen." With that, Rowan walked down the steps without looking back once. Remaining frozen on the stage, Julian violently clenched the hand with the finger he had cut earlier into a tight fist. Several drops of fresh blood seeped through his fingers, dripping silently onto the cold floor of the podium.