Aethernea : Soulbound [Book 1]

Episode 38 - Little Patience

Beside the quickly vanishing gleam, Zerel showed no change in his expression. He still held a sly yet disinterested smile on his face.

Elaru's eyes darted toward Deora who was animatedly explaining the details of the test. Just as she looked at him, he seemed to have finished with his explanation.

"Watch and learn!" Exclaimed Deora full of confidence and pride. He was about to demonstrate how the testing equipment was used.

He intertwined his fingers and stretched out his arms as if stretching would improve his magic casting.

His eyes focused, all expressions other than deep concentration vanishing from his face. Suddenly, in a blink of an eye, one orb after the other lit up brightly. Before anyone could realize what was going on or exclaim in surprise, the last orb lit up like the sun, and no traces of the jelly remained in the upper part of the hourglass.

The examinees looked on with disbelief, their mouths open so wide they could have caught a tiwi. Their mind spun with shock.

What happened???

Holy baffamoot!!

A perfect score?!

It's a perfect score!

Even such a simpleminded person can have such a fast casting speed?! What have I been doing my whole life??

Everyone was shocked into silence. Zerel was the first to break the quiet with soft clapping. With a voice still as mischievous as always, making it hard to figure out whether he was praising Deora or mocking him, he exclaimed: "Way to go little Dei. Cool! That was so cool."

Deora, on the other hand, didn't seem to have the mental capacity to question the intent behind Zerel's words, and his chest puffed out in pride.

The clapping woke up the examinees from their disbelief, but they still stood there frozen like statues, unsure whether to laugh or cry. What the bloody meep is this?! Stand-up comedy?? Are we supposed to clap too??

Deora looked at the shocked faces of the examinees, pleased with himself. His gaze lingered longer on Elaru, his expression clearly saying "Did you see that? Did you see? I am awesome!"

Elaru swallowed the laughter that threatened to emerge and gave him a thumbs up followed by a wide grin.

One had to hand it to her - her beautiful smiles had the power to light up the entire room. It wasn't a wonder that her action made Deora puff out his chest even further, glowing with pride.

Self-satisfied, he nodded a few times before smugly remarking: "Don't be discouraged, everyone. We don't expect you to have a perfect score. It is impossible for you to compare to me, I am a genius after all. So don't worry about it."

He crossed his arms in front of his chest in an attempt to look domineering and grand. "Right. Now I'll teach you the trigger spell for these balls."

He opened his arms wide, and suddenly the stack of papers and orbs that were on the teacher's table flew out. One paper and orb reaching every examinee.

Zerel just sat leisurely, in the same position with the same soft smile, not attempting to take the spotlight in the slightest. If Deora wanted to do everything himself, why would he stop him? It would be even better if he didn't need to lift a finger. It was a win-win situation.

"Those papers contain the trigger spell pattern. And those balls I gave you are the same as the ones used in the test. Use them to practice."

Deora waited a few seconds making sure everyone's attention returned to him before continuing. "I'll now demonstrate the trigger spell three times. Only three times! So watch carefully."

As he proceeded to demonstrate, one had to admit, although Deora looked to be an airhead, his demonstration was flawless. It was slow and detailed. It made everyone's opinion of him rise. He might be hot tempered, but his teaching wasn't bad at all.

After repeating the spell three times, Deora declared: "You have 5 minutes to practice. After that, you won't be allowed to continue practicing. Otherwise, those who take the test last would have more time to practice, which would put them in a more favorable position. We can't have that."

He looked at every face in the room, stopping a few more seconds on Elaru. After all, she was much more pleasant to look at than the rest. "Are there any questions?"

He didn't wait for long before saying. "Alright then, let's b..."

"Wait, wait! I have a question!" Suddenly an arm rose and started waving left and right, asking for attention. Deora's eyebrow twitched. "What is it?" He asked with a pout.

Elaru's eyes glittered mischievously as she asked. "Are we allowed to chain the trigger spells?"

Spell chaining was weaving multiple independent spells into a single spell. When a spell chain was finished casting and activated, the spells in the chain wouldn't all activate at the same time. They would activate sequentially, one after the other. The delay between consecutive activations was determined by the length of the bridges between the spells.

If the trigger spells could be chained, Elaru would just create a large spell chain made out of 20 trigger spells and then activate the spell chain. Weaving a spell chain would be slower than weaving 20 trigger spells independently, but the apparatus would only start the test when the first trigger spell is cast on it.

Which means that the amount of time taken to weave the first trigger isn't counted in the test. As long as the delay between activation of the first trigger spell and the other 19 was fast, it wouldn't matter if one took hours to weave the first trigger.

So if the time taken to weave the first spell isn't counted in the test, Elaru could weave a chain that would result in sequential activation of 20 trigger spells.

This way her spellcasting speed would be irrelevant, yet she could cheat the speedometer to display the highest score.

Deora stared at her blankly for a few seconds before bursting out laughing. "That would be convenient, wouldn't it?" He looked at her disdainfully with a smirk. He was very tempted to say "Sure! I'd like to see you chain it!" since it would be a futile effort. The trigger spells were designed to not be chainable.

However, in the end, he refrained from saying that because the rules clearly stated that chaining was forbidden. "The next thing you are going to ask is if you are allowed to prepare the spells!" Deora chuckled and looked at Elaru provocatively.

Other examinees looked at Elaru as if she was a comedian. Disdainful smirks and pitying gazes were sent her way. Yet no one noticed the sly gleam in her eyes. Naturally, Elaru knew that chaining wasn't allowed. Her question had another purpose in mind.

"Of course, I wouldn't ask that. You have clearly stated that spell preparation isn't allowed." Elaru smiled mischievously. As Zerel saw that smile his eyes lit up.

He recognized that expression. That sly smile was just the same as his when he was about to dupe someone!

* * *

The next episode is going to be hilarious. I advise you not to read it in public places as you might end up bursting out laughing out loud. You have been warned. ;)

Coming up in the next episode:

If other examinees weren't too busy with their own practice, they would have laughed at her and mocked her.

Deora chuckled. If my weaving was as terrible as hers, I'd stop to ponder the meaning of life too.

Deora stood frozen with his face a mix of shock, bewilderment, and fright. His mouth was agape, his eyes almost popping out of their sockets. His arms stood rigidly up in the air, attempting to shield his face.

The people in the room almost fell to the floor. Shameless!! As if anyone would believe that!

He looked up at Elaru, his eyebrow violently twitching. "OUT!! Everyone out!!!!" He pointed with a shaking finger towards the door and screamed furiously.