The fireball exploded.

  Which, honestly, I should have expected. This was my first time ever casting a fireball spell— I had only a brief moment to analyze Myrla’s magic, before she had unleashed it. And then it was my turn to step up to do the test.

  It was an elemental magic aptitude test. The premise of it was simple enough. All I had to do was unleash an elemental spell— whether it be fire, water, ice, wind, lightning, earth… any kind of elemental spell— and I would be evaluated on the complexity and power of the spell itself.

  I had decided to try to replicate Myrla’s fireball, since I already had a slight affinity to fire thanks to my [Holy Fire] Skill. But without having even a minute to prepare or practice, I knew I was doomed to failure.

  At least with Hannah’s [Healing Touch], it was an Iron Rank spell, which was much easier to replicate. But even then, it took me a few tries to figure out how it worked. I wasn’t able to perfectly copy it in an instant after seeing it once.

  Unfortunately, considering this was a test, there was no time to practice. There was no second try if I failed. And I did fail, as I expected. I had accidentally poured too much mana into the fireball, and it blew up in my face.

  I had seen its form flicker— the interweaving strands of magic that maintained its shape too weak to contain the deluge of mana I had poured into the spell. Even before it exploded, I knew it was going to blow up in my face. That was how I had managed to react in time, casting [Aura Armor Of Light] as I leapt back.

  The blast engulfed the patch of grass where I had been standing, leaving behind nothing but a smoldering crater there. My [Aura Armor Of Light] flickered— it covered my body with a translucent platemail that almost seemed to crack from the force of the explosion. However, it held up, shielding me from my failing spell.

  I groaned as I picked myself up, scratching the back of my head. I heard a susurration of whispers rise from the crowd that was gathered here. Glancing back, I saw dozens of faces turned my way— the other candidates who had been queueing up for the elemental magic aptitude test. They pointed at me and spoke quietly. But I could still hear bits of what they were saying.

  “Is that boy really supposed to be a candidate for the Holy Academy? He looks too young to be a student.”

  “It shows— he couldn’t even conjure up a fireball without messing it up.”

  “How did he even make it to the entrance exams?”

  “Do you think he’s the son of a rich noble?”

  “Are you saying he bribed his way—”

  I just ignored them as I walked up to the invigilator of the elemental magic aptitude test. He was a [Mage] dressed in the stereotypical blue robes they often wore when walking around cities to make it clear that they were a scholar of sorts.

  “Sorry, I was a little bit nervous… can I get another try?” I said, making up the excuse.

  The [Mage] just shook his head, before raising a hand.

  “Each candidate can only make one attempt per test— next!”

  Thought so, I sighed as I stepped away from the elemental magic aptitude test, my [Aura Armor Of Light] fading away as I ended the spell. It was a bit disappointing, but this was to be expected when I was literally only briefed about how the entrance exams worked… just before it began.

  And it was all because I arrived here in Lux later than I should have. If not for the incident with the Gold Skulls, I would’ve arrived on time, and I would’ve been able to prepare for the tests here beforehand, passing it all with ease.

  Now though, I was going to have to struggle through the entrance exams, since I was wholly underprepared for it all. I shook my head as I trudged away from the elemental magic aptitude test, before sweeping my gaze around the field. I had to find something which I could succeed in without any prior preparation.

  I considered going to the dueling arena just a few hundred feet away, considering that I had plenty of experience brawling without a weapon, and my Attributes were relatively high, despite my young body. However, there was a massive queue for the dueling arena— longer than any other test here— and I didn’t want to waste the entire duration of the entrance exams just queuing up to fight in one duel.

  If I wanted to be efficient with my times, I probably had to go for the tests with smaller queues like either the obstacle course or the horseback riding race. But I had to wonder if acing both of those tests would make up for failing the elemental magical aptitude test in the eyes of the examiners.

  As I considered my options, I heard a set of footsteps approach me from behind. I glanced back to face who it was. And to my surprise, it was Myrla standing there. For a moment, I thought she was going to offer me words of condolences for my failure— or perhaps even berate me for attempting to copy her.

  But then I saw the wide-eyed look she wore. She stared at me as she tried to work her jaw.

  “How… did you do that?”

  “Do what?” I tilted my head back at the young girl.

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  She tried to work her jaw, before she shook her head. “That spell… the way you overloaded it with mana… were you trying to cast a maximum output fireball?”

  And as she spoke, I raised an impressed brow.

  “I’m surprised you know about maximum output spells,” I said, before waving a hand dismissively. “However, I didn’t intend to cast a maximum output fireball. That’s why it blew up on my face. Seriously, it was nothing special.”

  “But—” Myrla started.

  And I cut her off as I strode past her. “Come on, we don’t have a lot of time before the test ends. So we shouldn’t just stand around here all day.”

  ***

  No one else saw it. At least, none of the other students who had been watching it did. Only Myrla seemed to notice it, and that was what prompted her awed reaction to what Eli had done. And that, in itself, made her stand out in the eyes of Archdeacon Emmett. After all, not every examiner here would have noticed what had happened to make the spell ‘fail’.

  Only those with a more discerning eye would have noticed it. Certainly, Garrion had to have seen it, even if he was not a full-fledged [Mage], simply due to his experience and age.

  “You saw it, didn’t you?” Emmett asked as he turned to face the Holy Knight standing next to him. “Eli’s fireball spell did not simply fail. He had attempted to cast it at maximum output, but he must’ve misjudged the mana capacity of the spell itself.”

  In response, Garrion just scoffed, turning away from the [High priest]. “Failure due to overambition is still just failure. All I saw was a raw, boorish attempt at casting a fireball spell that exploded in that boy’s face.”

  “Unrefined, perhaps. And I can understand calling it a failure despite his ambition. But the fact he was even capable of casting a maximum output spell means he is accustomed to casting spells without a dedicated Skill. Most candidates older than him cannot say the same about themselves.” Emmett shook his head.

  After all, a Skill was always cast at the same output— at least, when used by the same user at the same Attributes. Five [Grand Fireball] Skills that were cast consecutively by Archdeacon Emmett right this very moment would result in the same level of destruction each and every time. Once he tried to alter the Skill, it would become a manual-casted spell.

  And manual-casted spells were prone to failure. So that was why most young folks— especially those from noble backgrounds like the ones who were gathered here today— stayed away from manual-casting spells of any kind. They overly-relied on their Skills, and that was often a habit which the Holy Academy had to grind out of them.

  After all, manual-casting spells, despite their drawbacks, could be very much advantageous in a variety of scenarios. Mainly, when it came to casting a spell at maximum output. If Archdeacon Emmett chose to manually-cast that same [Grand Fireball] Skill, he was capable of altering the spellwork to be far more destructive in power than before. Ordinarily, this would be done by pouring in even more mana into the spell, although some exceptions applied.

  However, there was a so-called ‘breaking-point’ where the spellwork itself was no longer capable of holding any additional input of mana. This was what was called a maximum output spell. And that was what Eli had attempted to do with his fireball.

  Any additional mana that was added into a maximum output spell would result in its failure. In this case, it exploded in the boy’s face. But that was what made it evident to Emmett that this was an attempt at manual-casting. After all, not every maximum output spell implied that the caster was not using a Skill.

  When using lower-Ranked Skills at a higher-Rank, the lower-Ranked Skills would typically be at their maximum output. So a Gold Rank [Mage] would usually be casting [Fireball] Skills at maximum output each and every single time.

  There were, of course, ways to overcome even the maximum output of a spell. However, it was extremely inefficient, and often thought of as pointless. Because why bother expending an exorbitant amount of mana on a beyond maximum output fireball when you could cast a grand fireball for a quarter of the mana cost?

  Regardless, the point was that Eli was demonstrating knowledge and skills— not Skills, but actual skills without the capital ‘S’— far beyond his age. And Garrion had to recognize this too.

  Unfortunately, the Holy Knight Captain remained stubborn.

  “Even if I were generous and admitted that you are right, there is virtue in humility,” Garrion said as he drew back. “Eli failed this test because he was overzealous— because he didn’t know his own limits. And such arrogance is what gets many talented soldiers killed before they can even realize their full potential.”

  Archdeacon Emmett raised a brow at the Holy Knight Captain. “Well, as a [Healer], I don’t believe that Eli will be seeing the front of a battlefield very often.”

  “Oh, but you and I both know you don’t believe that he’s just a [Healer], Archdeacon Emmett,” Garrion chuckled, glancing back at the [High Priest] with an amused eye. “But don’t worry, I will not come after your little pawn, because I do not see what you see in him.”

  With that, Garrion just strode away, all the while Emmett watched and said nothing in return.

  ***

  And the entrance exams came to an end at sundown. I ended up taking part in the obstacle course as I planned, acing it with ease, unlike Myrla who stumbled and fell at practically every jump. After that, she went off to attempt the unarmed duels, since there wasn’t much time left in the day anyway.

  I decided to attempt a simple strength test— that was, punching this strange magitech bag which was capable of recording how much force had impacted its surface. I had never seen anything like it before, although it reminded me of an elven invention. My score was 736 points, which was slightly above average, although nothing special either. But that was relatively impressive, considering I was a child compared to everyone else who was gathered here.

  Finally, I partook in the training golem test. It was not even a test that required me to take them down, since these golems were all Gold Rank threats, apparently. I just had to survive for as long as possible, and I managed to hold off against them with my current array of Skills for nearly five minutes.

  Most other students barely even lasted a minute, since they tried fighting them head-on. Although there was apparently one student who had survived for a full fifteen minutes, earlier in the day.

  After I was finished with the training golem test, the sun fell over the horizon, and the entrance exams came to an end. As I left the large field, I was left wondering whether I had accomplished enough in the eyes of the examiners, especially after my initial showing with the botched fireball spell.

  However, I wouldn’t get to know my results until after the weekend. So all I could do was wait until then. Or so I thought.

  As I left the location of the entrance exams, a familiar figure appeared before me, making me stop in my tracks.

  It was Sister Frida.

  But she wore an unusually unpleasant expression on her face. She bowed her head, speaking to me simply as I raised a brow.

  “[Healer] Eli, please come with me. There’s someone who’d like to meet you.”