Nihil didn't spend his time on the training grounds, futilely swinging at golems or lifting weights until exhaustion. Heze's instinct told him brute strength wouldn't solve this. It was a system problem, and every system had rules. Rules that could be bent.
He spent his first day in the Grand Library. Not hunting for books on magical shields, but for something far more tedious and critical: the academy's official guideline book, "Standard Arcanum Assessment Protocols, Fourth Edition."
He sat in a dusty corner for hours, flipping through pages filled with bureaucratic jargon and technical diagrams. Students who passed by cast curious glances. Who would voluntarily read a boring rulebook? But buried within the dry text, Nihil found what he sought.
The loophole.
The test didn't directly measure the amount of mana channeled. That was a common misconception. The sensors on the golem projectiles were designed to measure one thing: shield structural integrity. The sensor would trigger a "failure" if a projectile passed through the designated perimeter unobstructed. Of course, for an average mage, the only way to create and maintain that integrity was by continuously pumping mana.
But Nihil wasn't an average mage.
He didn't need to create a mana shield. He just needed to create something at that perimeter capable of stopping low-energy training projectiles.
His plan began to take shape. A crazy hypothesis, rooted in physics, not magic.
That night, he sought out Instructor Zander in the empty gymnasium. "Instructor," he said. "You offered me access to training facilities."
Zander, in the middle of his own practice, paused and stared. "I offered you the weight room, not a suicide chamber. I've heard about Theron's trap for you. Walk away, kid. There's no shame in admitting a sure defeat."
"I won't lose," Nihil replied calmly. "I just need a place to train. A private one."
Zander regarded him for a long moment, seeing the cold determination in those crimson eyes. He snorted. "Stubborn brat." He tossed a iron key. "Training Vault Seven. Underground. No one ever goes there. The walls are reinforced. Don't destroy my stuff."
For the next six nights, Training Vault Seven became Nihil's secret laboratory. The room was empty, save for a few worn practice targets. Perfect.
On the first night, he tested his simplest idea: creating a solid wall of air. He stood in the center of the room, closed his eyes, and activated Atomic Manipulation. He tried to force trillions of air molecules in front of him to condense into a thin, solid plane.
His concentration was extraordinary. Sweat dripped from his temples. He could feel it forming—a distortion in the air, a tangible pressure. He opened his eyes. Before him, the air appeared slightly rippled. He threw a small pebble at it.
Thud.
The pebble bounced back. Success. But the cost...
[Capacity: 25/25 -> 15/25]
Ten points drained just to maintain it for a few seconds. The wall then dissipated with a gentle gust of wind. The method was too costly. He would faint before the first golem even fired. Failure.
On the second and third nights, he tried a different approach. Not brute strength, but efficiency. He recalled the concept of resonance. What if he didn't create a solid wall, but a wall of vibrations?
He focused again. This time, he didn't try to condense air molecules. He tried to make them vibrate at an extremely high frequency within a thin plane. The goal wasn't to create a physical barrier, but a constant particle shockwave that would repel low-energy projectiles.
This was far more difficult. It required extraordinary precision. Several failures. But then, he succeeded.
A thin, nearly invisible plane appeared before him. No pressure, just a faint light distortion, like a mirage. He threw the pebble again.
Ping!
The pebble bounced back with a strange sound, as if hitting an invisible guitar string. He checked his Capacity.
[Capacity: 25/25 -> 24/25]
One point to activate it. And about one point per minute to sustain it. This... this might work. This could actually work. He named his creation in his mind: [Resonance Shield].
For the rest of the week, he trained relentlessly. Every morning before dawn, he endured the brutal physical training Zander had given him, pushing his weak body to its limits. His stamina slowly increased. [Stamina: E -> E+]. Every night, he locked himself in the vault, perfecting his Resonance Shield, honing his concentration to sustain it as long as possible.
On the last night before the exam, Celia found him outside the kitchen, her face etched with worry. "Nihil, you look terrible," she said, pointing to the dark circles under his eyes. "Everyone's talking about you. They're betting on how many seconds you'll last. Please, don't do this. There's no point in humiliating yourself."
Nihil looked at his friend, the only person in this hellish place who had shown him kindness. "The theory is done, Celia," he said, his voice weary but resolute. "Time to prove the hypothesis."
He walked away, leaving Celia in confusion. Tomorrow, he wouldn't just face the exam. He would stake his entire future at the academy on a loophole in the rules and a spell that shouldn't exist.
The day of the Mana Shield Endurance Test arrived. The Main Training Ground was filled with nearly all the academy's students. This was no longer a routine exam; it had become a spectacle. Everyone came to watch the anomaly, the genius without mana, be publicly humiliated.
Darius val-Luminar stood with his group, arms crossed with a satisfied smile. Princess Seraphina watched from the front row, her crystal tablet ready to record data. In the VIP balcony, Princess Selene observed the crowd with an inscrutable gaze, while Headmistress Alina Sunstone sat calmly, her expression unreadable.
Student after student stepped onto the stage. They created glowing magical shields—blue, gold, silver—and held them against the barrage of energy projectiles fired by golems. On average, they lasted three to five minutes.
Then Darius advanced. His light shield was so dense and bright. He effortlessly withstood the barrage, even looking bored. After fifteen minutes, he ended his test himself, claiming the day's record. Cheers erupted. He cast a disdainful glance at Nihil before stepping down.
"Next, Nihil," Professor Theron's voice was cold.
The entire ground fell silent. Nihil stepped onto the stage. He stood in the center of the marker circle.
"Proceed, Mr. Nihil," Theron sneered. "We're waiting."
Nihil closed his eyes. He tuned out the whispers and laughter from the crowd. He ignored Theron's piercing stare. He took a deep breath, calmed his mind, and activated his creation.
[Activating: Resonance Shield.]
[Capacity: 25/25 -> 24/25]
A faint distortion appeared in the air around him. A barely perceptible vibration, like heat waves over asphalt. No color. No light. Compared to the previous shields, this seemed pitiful.
"Is that all?" Orion Vex sneered from the crowd.
Theron smiled smugly. "Begin the test!"
The first golem fired. A blue energy projectile shot toward Nihil. The crowd held its breath, expecting the shield to shatter.
Ping.
The projectile bounced off.
Silence.
The second golem fired. Ping. The third. Ping.
A hail of projectiles battered the invisible shield, each deflected with the same strange sound. Nihil stood motionless in the center, eyes still closed, fully concentrated.
One minute passed. Then five. Then ten. He had surpassed the minimum requirement. Laughter had turned to puzzled murmurs. Darius' smile faded.
"It's impossible," Theron hissed. He walked to the golem control panel. "He must be using some hidden reflective artifact! Increase intensity to Level Three!"
This violated first-year exam protocols. Zander, monitoring from the sidelines, frowned but did not intervene.
The golems' eyes glowed red. Their shots became faster, more powerful.
THUD. THUD. THUD.
The impacts were now louder. Nihil's Resonance Shield vibrated violently. He staggered slightly, cold sweat beading on his forehead. The mental strain of maintaining precise atomic vibrations under such bombardment was immense.
[Capacity: 15/25... 12/25... 9/25...]
Blood began to trickle from his nose. But he stood firm.
Fourteen minutes. Fifteen minutes. He had matched Darius' record.
Theron's face was now purple with rage. "LEVEL FIVE!" he shouted, pressing the emergency button.
The golems ceased firing. They began to gather energy for a powerful combined shot—a blast of energy far beyond exam standards.
Nihil opened his eyes. He knew he couldn't withstand this. His shield would break, and he would fail. But Heze saw another option.
He wouldn't block it. He would erase it.
As the blinding white explosion hurtled toward him, Nihil did two things.
He deactivated his Resonance Shield.
And he poured every last drop of his energy into one skill.
[Using Void Grasp.]
[WARNING: INSUFFICIENT CAPACITY TO FULLY ERASE HIGH-ENERGY TARGET!]
[FORCING PROCESS...]
[Capacity: 5/25 -> 0/25]
The white energy blast struck where Nihil stood. But there was no explosion. No sound. As if the universe had hit mute. The intense white energy touched the palm of Nihil's outstretched hand and vanished. Swallowed by a small void that consumed everything.
Complete silence.
Then Nihil staggered. His eyes whitened. Crimson light in them flickered wildly before finally fading, replaced by emptiness as his pupils rolled back and he collapsed forward, unconscious on the silent stage
He had exceeded his limits. But he had not failed.
For several seconds, no one moved. They had just witnessed the impossible. Something that should not have been possible.
In the VIP balcony, Headmistress Alina Sunstone stood. Her eyes were no longer calm. They blazed with a mix of admiration and profound fear.
"He..." she whispered to herself, her voice barely audible. "...is not just an anomaly. He is a new law of physics."