Chapter 67: Vice Headmaster
"These are artifacts specifically manufactured by our academy for situations like this one, the Protection Bracelet, if you will..." Runia pauses for a while as she allows the freshmen to inspect the artifact as much as they want before proceeding with her words once more.
"Take it as some sort of final line of defense that our academy prepared for situations like this exam, a single dangerous stimulus from the environment will make this bracelet act like this~~"
As if too lazy to explain the features of the bracelet, she snapped her fingers and manifested yet another one in front of her before staring at the other figures behind her, assistants and other professors who are among the other people who will facilitate the flow of this exam.
She held up her hand, and a crimson magic circle appeared in front of her palm, mana gathering towards her being at an incredible speed to the point that some of the weaker students didn’t even realize when a fireball formed in front of them.
Without hesitation, she shoots, hitting the bracelet with tremendous force that should’ve reached the students, had it not been for her erecting a barrier of spatial magic around the explosion pre-emptively.
As the fire settles down, the bracelet is revealed, around it, a semi-transparent, spherical barrier is deployed, the radius of the sphere just enough to protect a single student inside, all while tanking such a powerful spell from someone as skilled as a professor of the Galilea Magic Academy.
"I do not pride myself too much on my fire elemental spells but it’s still powerful, dear students~~ know that I poured enough mana to that F Tier spell so that it can rival a full power attack from a D Tier creature~~" she said with modest tone, however, those professors who are already familiar with her knows that there’s this pride to her tone that they just couldn’t locate.
"...that shows how powerful this artifact is, dear students, but of course, power is always with a price~~" she added at the end of her sentence, waiting for something to happen as she pointed her finger towards the barrier.
And just a second later, it collapsed completely before the bracelet disappeared completely as well.
"That bracelet needs to gather mana for it to be useful again, and it used its last bit of mana to teleport within the open space near the academy’s infirmary..."
"I take it you’re all well aware of the consequences of using the Protection Bracelet now, right?"
There was the same comforting, soothing smile on this professor’s face as she spoke with a soft, patronizing tone; however, despite the assurance in her tone and expression, the students, particularly the freshmen, couldn’t bring themselves to rest assured, finding out one thing about the academy.
That is, while the academy truly cares for their safety, it cares not whether they will pass this exam or not.
’Call it the academy’s tough love, I guess,’ as she watches the expression on the freshmen’s face, Runia immediately had an idea of what was going on through their minds, as these are exactly the same thoughts that appeared in her mind when it was her turn to be thrown into this secret tradition several years ago.
"With that, we finished the orientation, dear students. Now we prepare for the moment everyone is waiting for~~" once she saw that all of the students had already worn the protection bracelet, Runia smiled as she clapped her hands, allowing staff to open the doors of the auditorium, making outside light shine within this enclosed space as she continued to speak.
"Dear students, remember to always strive to live up to the reputation of our great academy, but even more, remember to always strive to keep on living, because it is more important than any glory one can get by death~~"
Despite the playfulness in her tone, anyone can feel the sincerity of this professor’s advice as she watches the student leave the auditorium, the faint smile on her face never disappearing as she watches even the last one among the students to exit.
As soon as the auditorium was vacated of the students, the lady was left with fellow academy staff who would facilitate the exams with her, those gazes of hers lingering at each of them for a bit as if scanning them for something before eventually closing her eyes as she took a deep breath.
"There is a lot of great potential in this batch of students, so this exam must be paid the utmost attention and care to, my dear fellow professors and assistants..." she spoke with a soft, gentle tone as she turned around, walking towards the exit of the auditorium, intending not only to orient the academy’s students, but to send them off as well.
"We will make sure there won’t be any mess, Vice Headmaster Runia." both professors and assistants replied to her words with a respectful bow, that composed, confident tone to their voice, giving off the feel that these people are competent to the point that they can handle anything that might happen during this exam.
There was a slight pause as soon as her title escaped their mouths, an off-putting silence as if they just said something that shouldn’t be said, causing Runia to click her tongue before sighing to herself.
Professor Runia, or rather, Vice Headmaster Runia, hearing those words, merely reveals a faint, wry smile on her face before she turns around as if she just recalled something, leaving one last line for them.
"Ah, right, should there be a mess in this exam..."
Silent pressure envelops the entirety of the stage, making these experienced professors and assistants, who are also veteran mages at the same time, feel like their heads are going to explode, like a powerful entity is forcing them to kneel in submission.
"I will make sure the ones responsible will be in a miserable state for the rest of their lives~~"
She said as she took a sharp gaze at the academy staff behind her, that friendly tone, that faint, warm smile, felt all the more eerie to them as she spoke of such malicious words without any remorse in her part, as if she was just stating the obvious flow of things.
As soon as she vacated the auditorium, the pressure was lifted away from the staff’s shoulders, their eyes still trembling as they were reminded what sort of powerful monsters are hiding within the academy, beings they doubt are the same kinds of mages as themselves.
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The Galilea Magic Academy is huge, incredibly huge, as it needs to accommodate several thousands, even tens of thousands of students all at the same time, but even then, the way whoever built this grand institution builds things just screams of overkill even for an institution like this.
There are several open arenas within the academy, and right now, students from first to fourth years are gathered in a single one meant solely for this kind of thing, an open arena with teleportation circles directly engraved within its floor, its purpose being the transfer and recovery of students from expeditions and exams outside of the Regia Floating Island.
"Hmm~~ it’s surprising that there are a lot of negative rumors going around you, aren’t there, Junior Novus~~?" among the students within this teleportation arena, Medea smiles mischievously as she stares at the young man in front of her.
"I am more surprised that the cause of the rumors herself is surprised by this." Novus replied with a wry smile on his face as he felt he should just accept the gazes around him if he wanted to continue being friends with the lady in front of him.
’Not to mention my patience grows with these bastards just continuing to act like that, it’s sort of training as well, I guess,’ he dryly mused to himself, making himself crack a faint, yet genuine smile, making Medea curious of its reason, the two of them bantering around once more, pulling attention towards them as they continue.
Luckily for them, that attention was immediately dispersed once more as they heard Runia’s voice from nearby once more.
"Alright, dear students, I hope you’re all set for the exams~~" her voice resounded, signifying the approaching time of their descent to the infested island where the true exam will be held.
