Chapter 7: Chapter 7: The Headmaster’s Test
"Lord Arthur Voss."
That title made Arthur raise a slight eyebrow. Just yesterday, the owner of that voice had stood on a high platform in the square, shouting in front of the whole school that Arthur was a "useless waste who eats up college food."
The person outside was Dean Beck, the school’s Academic Director and a Fire Magic Master with the power of an Archmagus.
"I am Dean Beck."
The voice outside paused for a moment, as if he was trying to steady his breath, afraid that any tone might sound even slightly rude.
"Headmaster Alberto has just finished his retreat, and he has issued a Top-Level Summon Order."
"The Headmaster asks you to come to the very top of the Starspire Spire immediately."
Beck’s voice echoed down the empty hallway, filled with an undeniable seriousness. But Arthur keenly caught the trembling hidden deep within that voice, the kind Beck tried hard to hide.
"Everyone, including the Royal Knights Order and the special envoys from the major empires, are waiting for you."
Hearing this, Lilian, hiding behind Arthur, gasped in excitement.
Starspire Spire Top!!
That was the sacred ground of the entire Kingdom of Oran magic world, a place only past Headmasters and Kings were allowed to step into!!
Lilian yanked hard on Arthur’s sleeve, her face flushed with excitement.
"Arthur!! The Headmaster Grandpa wants to meet you personally!!"
However, Arthur, sitting at his desk, calmly folded the parchment on the table and tucked it neatly into his shirt pocket.
He glanced at the door, and a familiar lazy smile curled at the corner of his lips.
"Waiting for me? Then let them wait a while longer."
"Besides, a great mage always needs some prep time before heading out."
With a soft click, the wooden door, sealed shut by [Arcane Lock], slowly opened from the inside.
Dean Beck jumped, instinctively taking a half-step back.
This great Fire Archmagus actually felt a bit dry-mouthed and nervous in front of a brand new freshman.
The door opened, and Arthur walked out slowly.
His expression was as relaxed and lazy as ever, as if the forbidden spell that had just shook the whole continent hadn’t come from his hand at all.
"Let’s go, Dean Beck."
Arthur glanced casually at Beck, his tone as flat as if he were asking what’s for lunch today.
Beck’s eyes looked past Arthur’s shoulder, into the dorm room.
Princess Lilian was sitting quietly in a chair, waving her ink-stained hand hard at Arthur’s back.
But what really made Beck’s heart race was that faint, silver-blue aura of Magic Power still lingering on the doorframe edge.
That high-level, pure arcane fluctuation, carrying a hint of Law, made the fire elements inside Beck’s body tremble instinctively.
"Did he just casually cast some unknown ancient magic again??" Beck screamed in his heart.
But on the surface, he dared not be the least bit careless. He immediately bowed respectfully and made a polite gesture of invitation.
"Lord Arthur, please follow me. The Headmaster has been waiting for a long time."
Arthur didn’t refuse and walked out front calmly.
The two of them, one in front and one behind, walked through the academy square, which was now completely blocked by the Knight Order.
The noble students who had been mocking him just a moment ago were all held back behind a safety line by the heavily armored Royal Knights.
When they saw Arthur walking past with the Academic Director escorting him politely, every eye was filled with awe and disbelief.
Arthur ignored those looks. A mage’s eyes should only see the Truth, not this kind of boring vanity.
The Starspire Spire stood right in the center of the Lancelot Royal Magic Academy.
It was the tallest building in the entire Kingdom of Oran and the core hub of the Kingdom’s magical defense array.
Arthur stepped into the magic elevator inside the tower. With a slight feeling of weightlessness, the two of them shot straight up toward the top.
Ding.
The elevator doors opened, and Beck stopped.
"Lord Arthur, I’ll see you no further. The Headmaster is inside waiting for you."
Arthur nodded slightly and stepped out of the elevator alone.
...
This was the very top floor of the Starspire Spire—a huge dome-shaped room with a hemispherical ceiling.
The walls were made entirely of transparent starlight glass. Standing here, you could overlook the bustling capital city.
Above the dome, a very complex defensive magic formation spun slowly, glowing with a faint, heart-pounding magical power light.
And in the center of this magnificent view, standing with his back to Arthur, was a kind old man with a full head of white hair.
He wore deep blue starry robes and held a wooden staff embedded with a fist-sized magic crystal.
Grand Archmagus, Alberto Klein.
The very peak of magic in the entire Kingdom of Oran, and the absolute ruler of this academy.
Hearing Arthur’s footsteps, Alberto slowly turned around.
Those deep eyes, like the night sky, locked directly onto Arthur.
Boom!!!
In that instant, a tidal wave of mental pressure exploded from the old man’s body.
This wasn’t hostility. It was a "Spiritual Pressure Test" naturally emitted by a strength of the Grand Archmagus level.
The air around them instantly turned into sticky mercury, heavy enough to make it hard to breathe.
If a normal low-level mage had stood here, they would have collapsed instantly, dropping to their knees.
But Arthur still stood there, looking relaxed.
His "double F" level Mental Power was truly pitifully weak and couldn’t possibly stand head-to-head against pressure of this level.
However, inside Arthur’s mind, the vast library of the entire DND magic system was deployed!
Those complex spell models, ancient Dragon languages, and divine laws had automatically formed an unbreakable mental barrier within Arthur’s Sea of Consciousness.
The pressure from the Grand Archmagus, like a tsunami, crashed against Arthur’s mental barrier, but not a single ripple was sparked.
Arthur even found it a bit boring and couldn’t help but give a light yawn.
Seeing this, a flicker of extreme shock and horror flashed in Alberto’s usually calm eyes.
"Actually... he’s untouched??"
The old man sucked in a breath through his teeth.
He suddenly withdrew the mental pressure he had been releasing, and the air in the room instantly flowed again.
"Arthur Voss."
Alberto finally spoke. His voice was rough and deep, carrying a pulse of magic power that seemed to pierce right through the soul.
"I pay my respects to the Headmaster."
Arthur bowed his head slightly, neither humble nor arrogant, just acknowledging the greeting.
"F-rank Mana Affinity, F-rank Mental Power."
Alberto leaned on his staff and took a few steps closer to Arthur. His gaze was sharp as an eagle’s.
"For the past three years, your grades in every single magic theory class have been dead last."
"You can’t even cast the simplest ’Light Spell’ completely."
Alberto’s tone suddenly rose, heavy with an undeniable pressure.
"And yet, just this morning, you stood before the Awakening Stone and released the legendary 9th-Level Forbidden Desolation Spell! No chanting, no staff, just like that!"
"Those four celestial meteors that fell from the sky almost flattened the mountain behind the academy!!"
The old man stared intently into Arthur’s eyes, trying to find even a hint of panic.
"Tell me, child, how did you do it??"
This was the answer Alberto needed most desperately.
It was also the secret countless powerful figures across the Holy Empire, the Glacial Empire, and the entire continent were desperate to know.
How could a waste like that break the iron laws of magic and touch the domain of the gods??
Facing the Grand Archmagus’s questioning, Arthur let out a helpless sigh in his heart.
He couldn’t exactly say, "Hey, I have a game rulebook from Earth in my head," could he??
Arthur shrugged, flashing an expression of extreme innocence that was almost childish.
"Actually, I don’t know either."
Alberto froze, his gray eyebrows furrowing tight together.
"Don’t know??"
"Yes, Headmaster."
Arthur spread his hands wide, his tone sounding surprisingly sincere.
"During the awakening ceremony, everyone laughed at me calling me a waste. I just couldn’t accept it."
"I thought, ’If I could just have some huge rocks fall from the sky and knock out all those people laughing at me, that would be great.’"
While speaking, Arthur made a huge circle with his hand in the air.
"So, I closed my eyes and desperately imagined in my head the scene of big stones falling from the sky wrapped in fire."
"I imagined it really, really hard. I even thought about the temperature of the burning stones and the sound they would make hitting the ground."
"And then, I opened my eyes... and they fell."
Arthur blinked his eyes, meeting Alberto’s scrutiny with a look of absolute, straightforward honesty.
