"A tool to achieve ambition."
"So this is your view of magic? That's fairly honest."
"You pass."
Amid girl Sola's anxious anticipation, Great Mage Serie passed her examination of her brother, accepting Hafka as a disciple while also granting him First-Class Mage certification.
"Yeah! That's wonderful!"
The girl jumped down from the steps with joy, immediately throwing herself into her brother's arms.
Her beaming expression was as if she herself had passed the examination.
Restrainedly taking a few light sniffs of his sister's familiar scent, Hafka's originally calm expression finally showed a trace of joy.
After a brief embrace, Hafka indulgently patted his sister's head twice, reminding her to get down from him first - as nobles, they needed to maintain proper ladylike etiquette in public.
"Mm-hmm."
Sola nodded and obediently released her brother Hafka, but perhaps due to the intimacy cultivated from childhood, her body still unconsciously leaned against her brother's side.
"Tsk—"
On the platform, Serie sitting in her chair frowned slightly upon seeing this scene, involuntarily clicking her tongue.
Girl Sola's attachment to her brother was completely undisguised - anyone could easily see it.
Combined with Gut's introduction to her, Serie, who roughly understood these siblings' background, could still comprehend Sola's behavior.
Having lost their parents early, her brother's existence would undoubtedly bear more emotional dependence.
Girls express emotions more directly, so such actions were within reasonable bounds.
But...
Some of brother Hafka's actions were truly inappropriate.
Unlike his sister's affectionate actions that anyone could see, brother Hafka's movements were hidden within measures that completely conformed to rules and etiquette.
Some true thoughts in his heart would always break through inner restraint and inadvertently reveal themselves.
Like after their embrace, Hafka's hands supporting Sola's waist unconsciously gradually tightening inward;
Or after actively asking his sister to separate, the unconscious regret flowing in his eyes.
These things couldn't deceive people.
They especially couldn't deceive Serie, this "magical old-timer" who had interacted with humans for countless years.
Combined with "incestuous little stories" frequently emerging from noble circles, how could Serie not guess what her newly accepted disciple wanted to do?
Sigh...
Bad news from the disciple circle - another abnormal disciple had been accepted under her.
Serie's gaze swept around inside and outside the hall.
Chief disciple Gut who harbored improper thoughts toward his teacher;
New disciple Hafka Schön who harbored improper thoughts toward his blood sister;
Severely socially anxious disciple Zenn Camm who wanted to find the quietest corner in the hall to hide himself;
Serie felt exhausted. What was wrong with this era's mages?
Looking at it this way, the somewhat timid disciple Lernen and the rather gluttonous female disciple Gumieis were perhaps the only two relatively normal mages among her current students.
"Sigh~"
After involuntarily shaking her head, Serie asked this new disciple if there was any magic he wanted, to fulfill her promise when recruiting disciples from the outside world.
"Can I get it so quickly?"
Hafka, whose arm was linked by his sister, looked surprised and took a deep breath to calm his turbulent heart.
To achieve his ambition, he needed to make good use of this precious opportunity.
So Hafka tentatively proposed an answer he had pondered countless times in his heart.
"Serie, what I want to request from you is not any specific magic, but an original draft of a theory."
"Theory draft?" Serie raised her eyebrow in surprise, but thinking of the method this new disciple had used to solve the stone statue earlier, she immediately had an answer.
"You want the original draft of Andrel-style theory, right?"
"Correct." Hafka nodded affirmatively, his eyes flickering with desire for the original theory.
However, Serie poured cold water on her new disciple below.
"Being able to find out that this theory draft is in my collection, you've put in considerable effort."
"As a discipleship reward for my disciple, I can agree to give it to you for study."
"But speaking responsibly, I'd suggest you choose a specific magic as your reward instead."
"Andrel-style theory - creating magic based on irreversible principles."
"The theoretical ceiling is indeed high, but countless mages have repeatedly demonstrated that this theoretical school only has some merit in creating Barrier Magic, while magic creation in other directions is too limited, completely counterproductive."
"I should add that the mages who participated in the verification included myself."
"So, do you still want to choose this difficult wrong path as your discipleship reward?"
Serie stepped down from her chair, looking down at Hafka below with interest, anticipating his answer.
"I have reasons why I must choose it, Serie."
"..."
"I see." Roughly understanding something, Serie looked at the youth below and nodded.
"The collection including the Andrel-style theory draft has been transferred to the library at the Äußerst branch. I'll give it to you when we return."
"No problem, Serie."
At dusk, as the bell from the neighboring Cathedral rang, it marked the official end of the Continental Magic Association's second day of examinations.
The priest team gathered on one side of the examination plaza, providing medical care for injured mages, simultaneously breathed a sigh of relief. Supporting their somewhat sore waists, they sighed that finally no more new casualties would be brought over.
Under this day's high-intensity saturation training, supplemented by excellent instruction from Bishop Heiter's personal demonstrations, every priest from the Cathedral had significantly improved their ability to heal damage caused by blunt instruments.
Even some experienced senior priests gained new insights.
After all, opportunities to gather such large quantities of single practice material like today were truly rare.
Besides technical progress, the Cathedral priests had other gains too.
Most who had the means to practice magic came from good family backgrounds.
Even though priests wouldn't actively charge fees for their treatment, these mage candidates understood the rules and were extremely generous.
In just this one day, the Cathedral had raised善款 equivalent to more than half a month's usual donations.
Looking at this compiled amount, Bishop Heiter showed a satisfied smile and waved his hand, indicating they'd send another batch of priests tomorrow to continue treatment.
Such opportunities with both abundant practice material and high donation income needed to be seized.
Moreover, the weather seemed rather hot these past few days, so they should also pack some holy water to bring over and provide free to patients.
"Bishop."
Beside him, a middle-aged priest asked Heiter somewhat anxiously, "Isn't it too much for us to go there with the purpose of practice and fundraising?"
"How could it be?" Heiter patted the priest's shoulder and smiled.
"They should thank us."
"Besides, if we can raise enough donations before winter, we can order a batch of winter clothes to send to children in remote mountain villages far from the Holy Capital."
"A Spell book alone has no warmth."
"The Goddess's glory must be worn by children before they can touch it."
In the evening restaurant, candidates who had received treatment from priests and participated in multiple examinations.
Without exception, all mentioned these priests from the Cathedral during dinner, their words full of gratitude and praise.
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Powerstones?
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