Chapter 21 – Put to the Test (7)

“Did you say your name is… Williana?”

“Yes, Williana Ford!”

“Okay, you must be hungry, right? I’ll go and make you something delicious. Let’s go quickly.”

Having closed up shop at 11:00 AM, which was too early to close, Namiya held Williana’s small, fern-like hand and headed home.

Amused by her sudden situation of becoming a babysitter, she fell into various idle thoughts when the face of the yellow-hair young man suddenly came to mind, and she let out a chuckle.

“What do you mean, one hour… It’s not even funny.”

Just what kind of confidence possessed him to say such words. Still, for a yellow-hair, he was oddly full of confidence, and his spirited eyes made him look bold.

Anyway, he did not look like a complete ignoramus, so she wondered if he had somehow managed to start on Volume 1 of the beginner’s text.

‘Beginner’s luck does not work on qualification exams.’

It was a pity, but the exam was not so easy that one could pass just by starting on Volume 1 of the beginner’s text. One could only barely challenge it after studying at least half of the thirty public texts.

Even then, ninety percent of the examinees failed, making the Beginner Magic Engineer Qualification Exam one where the passing rate did not even reach ten percent.

Even that rate would be lower for first-time applicants if repeat takers and the talented were excluded.

Above all, where would there be room for luck to intervene in measuring knowledge?

She did not know the relationship between the boy and the young man, but it was clear that the yellow-hair brothers were bound to fail.

‘Well… I’m not in a position to judge anyone. I haven’t been able to pass the exam either, which is why I can’t escape this backroom life.’

Namiya’s certainty that the two would fail was not out of an inferiority complex or a curse. She, who was studying Volume 23 of the Beginner Mechanical Magic Engineering text, also took the exam every year and failed every time with scores that could not even be called close.

As someone with experience, she knew that the exam’s ability to distinguish talent was quite accurate.

However, that was merely a natural characteristic of exams, and the real problem lay elsewhere.

‘It can’t even be called a beginner’s exam anymore. It has long since ceased to be an exam for beginner magic engineers, and its question-writing intent has shifted to discovering talent capable of reaching the intermediate level.’

The difficulty of the Beginner Magic Engineer Qualification Exam had soared vertically starting ten years ago.

In the early days of the development of the Immortal Ember, when the quantity of magic engineers was more important than their quality, the exam had been structured so that even those with a minimum level could pass.

However, after the Immortal Ember gained semi-permanent durability, they prioritized quality over quantity.

It was already ten years ago that the difficulty of the exam became incomparably harder under the instructions of Odin and Herman Melville. The difficulty continued to rise every year, and comparing the early exam questions with the current ones revealed a stark difference.

Thus, people sometimes thought of the magic engineers before and after ten years ago as entirely separate groups.

“The magic engineers from before the difficulty restructuring have wild fluctuations in their skills.”

“On the other hand, after the restructuring, most of them are truly competent even if they are beginners. Looking at that, it seems it has definitely become harder to get the license.”

It was not a bias, as the passing standards had indeed been raised with the official declaration of the Ember. In fact, the deviation between the magic engineers before and after ten years ago was so severe that people were now talking about marking the year of issue on the magic engineers’ licenses.

Although the issuance year labeling method was ultimately not implemented to protect the symbolic value of the magic engineer profession, a “Magic List” indicating the passing year of magic engineers existed among merchants and business operators who interacted with them the most.

In other words, today’s exam left no hope for a true beginner to pass, even if it was called beginner level.

“It’s truly sad that the same goes for me…”

Namiya looked up at the sky and swallowed tears that would not fall.

It might have been different if she had entered the academy and steadily accumulated knowledge, but now it was difficult for her to even dream of passing. Aside from the possibility of becoming an intermediate, the current Namiya could afford neither the time nor the massive cost of education.

“I just hope they won’t be sad about failing. Not that they looked like the type to be so, though.”

It was at that moment, as a resigned Namiya muttered to herself.

“My brother won’t fail!”

“Huh?”

“He is so smart. He’s too smart, and it was really, really hard for him because of me…”

Williana, looking angry, pulled her hand away and spoke. Big, teary drops welled up in her eyes, suggesting her story was not a pleasant one to hear.

“Sorry, I’m sorry. I was wrong. I wasn’t talking about your brother, but that pale, lanky guy. Your brother will definitely pass, definitely.”

Namiya held the girl tightly in her arms to comfort her. There was no need to suffer through an unfortunate future that had not yet arrived.

She looked in the direction they had disappeared with a melancholic gaze. She felt it would be hard to meet their eyes when they returned. The eyes of those who had lost hope, that is.

However, that gaze had no choice but to change drastically at the words of the girl, Williana.

“My brother has invented so many things.”

“Is that so? Shall we hear what your brother invented?”

“The W701, Magic Engineering Automatic Rifle! He said he named it using the first letter of my name and my birthday!”

“…!”

The Magic Engineering Automatic Rifle W701. A magic rifle that had emerged as an undisputed masterpiece, solving all functional failures caused by the cold weather by utilizing the residual heat from mana explosions during firing.

That was the name of the masterpiece that had first appeared in this world more than five years ago.

* * *

In front of the Beginner Magic Engineer Qualification Exam site located at No. 10, 1st Street. The boy and I were panting heavily.

“Pant, pant, pant…”

“I, I feel like… I’m going to die…”

Running as if our hearts would burst, we barely managed to arrive at the exam site within the deadline. It was a distance that required a vehicle, but since engine-powered rides were not yet commercialized in this era, our only means of transportation was our own two legs.

Of course, there were convenient rides like carriages, but the cost was absurd.

“Here are your exam slips. You must never lose them. The same goes for the armbands, which serve as your identification.”

Quickly finishing registration, we pinned the distributed exam slips to our left chests and ran straight to the testing room. It was right before the exam began.

“Please sit according to your numbers. Before the exam starts, we will provide guidance on precautions.”

Following the proctor’s guidance, we moved to our assigned seats. Perhaps because we arrived at the same time, I was behind and the boy was in front, in the same Room 170.

“…Do they have any manners or what?”

“Seriously, they are so annoying.”

“Anyway, it’s not that I curse them because they are yellow-hairs, but whenever I curse them, they turn out to be yellow-hairs.”

As we panted, the sharp words of the other waiting examinees reached our ears. However, I just let it slide. It was an exam held once a year, and since 21st-century South Korea had a similar system called the College Scholastic Ability Test, I could understand their edgy reactions.

Only the boy glared back at them.

Rumble!

Soon, the front door opened, and a proctor with slicked-back white hair and a strong impression appeared.

“Hello. I welcome all of you who have come to take the Beginner Magic Engineer Qualification Exam of the Immortal Ember.”

The proctor standing next to the podium bowed, but there was no response. It was probably for the same reason they had criticized us earlier, and since it was an exam, that was only natural.

The proctor also simply continued with his self-introduction and subsequent explanation as if flowing with the water, but it was at that very moment that they, who had remained silent, began to buzz.

“I am Bexel Mitro, an Intermediate Magic Engineer who will be proctoring Room 170.”

Intermediate Magic Engineer Bexel Mitro. At that name, most of the examinees except for the boy and me murmured the name in shock.

“That man is that Bexel…!”

“That person is the genius magic engineer who developed the Core Battery?”

Seeing that the reaction was quite intense, he seemed to be a famous figure in this industry.

‘Come to think of it, for someone introduced as an intermediate… he was at a quite young age.’

My father Demian Vail was also said to have the talent second only to Herman Melville, becoming an intermediate at forty. However, Demian looked ten years younger.

But having seen myself, who had already become intermediate-advanced at nineteen, and the boy, who had reached intermediate at fifteen, I felt little inspiration. I simply measured his position and influence rather than Bexel’s talent.

For a giant like him, there would surely be a time to exploit him politically.

‘By the way, a Core Battery… Does it mean a portable small battery?’

The Core Battery that Bexel reportedly developed was not in the original game.

What its functions were, what its uses were, how it worked, and how scalable it was… As a veteran of , I welcomed the existence of an invention that was not in the game.

‘Well… should I call it DLC?’

Interest arose along with curiosity. Thanks to this world becoming reality and breaking free from the limitations of being a game, a substantial number of unknown things that I did not know about had come to exist.

While I was picking up and assembling the words of the examinees chattering about Bexel and the Core Battery to infer its usage,

“I must deliver some unfortunate news. Starting this year, the exam format has changed.”

“…?”

Bexel’s words, which followed without giving time to think, were shocking. No, they appeared shocking.

‘What, is this something to be so surprised about?’

Because the boy and I did not know the details of the exam format, we felt nothing, and frankly, it did not matter to us even if it changed. On the other hand, the other examinees’ faces were heavily distorted, perhaps because they had prepared thoroughly according to the existing method.

“…”

However, despite the atmosphere where complaints felt ready to explode like a bomb, only silence flowed through the testing room. The achievements and reputation Bexel had established suppressed the examinees’ rebelliousness.

‘I wondered why such a great figure was leisurely acting as a proctor… Was it for this reason?’

As soon as the atmosphere settled down, Bexel continued firmly but gently.

“The exam will proceed from the existing multiple-choice format to two types: multiple-choice and descriptive. The two exams will be divided into the first and second rounds and administered independently, with one hour given for the first round and two hours for the second round.”

I tilted my head at the reactions of the examinees who let out groans at the mention of ‘descriptive.’

‘Isn’t it just one descriptive test added?’

Usually, aren’t exams conducted in such a mixed manner? It was not even a change in the exam format, but simply a change in the question style.

However, it seemed that was not the case for the examinees, as someone plucked up the courage to ask.

“Lord Bexel, we have prepared for the exam in accordance with the conditions required by the Immortal Ember. However, suddenly notifying us of the most sensitive matter unilaterally like this is…”

Although the words were not fully finished, it was easy to infer what the remaining words meant.

‘It would be, “Isn’t this uncalled for?”…’

It was clearly true that this was discourteous to the examinees and their Ember. They only had no choice but to speak passively because the status of Bexel, the proctor, and his background was so grand.

“The reason is…”

However, Bexel’s answer to the highly common-sense question was absurd.