Chapter 493
Chapter 493
A crowd of angry students surrounded the fat deceiver with ominous slowness.
Outwardly, Kyon looked completely calm, but in his heart he smiled bitterly: plans went down the drain at such an inconvenient moment. Would he have to spend the 0th general's precious defensive formation in this place? He should at least try to escape…
Lovr already wanted to activate"The Flash of Darkness", but at the last moment he changed his mind.
«Gr-roo-oh-oh-oh-oh-ah-ah-ah-ah!»
The terrible roar frightened the students. Near the entrance to the test pavilion, a creature as large as a bear appeared, looking like a completely bald wolf with the head of Cthulhu (tentacles grew around the monster's mouth in a continuous twisting forest) – a tentaculipede. Astride it sat a broad-shouldered middle-aged man.
«Welcome master Ziz Hunter!» … «Hello, sir!» – the students hurried to respectfully greet the authoritative master of hunting.
«I heard rumors that someone in the testing pavilion earned a thousand points on my subject!» – the master boomed impressively. – «I rushed to the order solely to find out who this promising genius is! I will not hide, I just recently wanted to find a personal student…»
«Hello! My name is Dick Baker!» – Kyon cheered up and attracted attention to himself.
Hunter's face (3) stretched out in surprise: «Uh-uh…» – he studied the light screen under door No. 6 in a dumbfounded way and found a huge inscription there: "Dick Baker – 1000 points!". A little later, the man saw that the same inscription was displayed above each screen.
«I will be happy to discuss with you the possibility of mentoring…» – Kyon briskly went to Hunter, but the evil-evil students blocked his path.
«Master Ziz, we are very sorry, but Dick Baker is just a pathetic deceiver. We were just about to punish him.» – said Roman, menacingly clenching his teeth.
«Blatant lie! I passed all the exams quite honestly!» – Kyon objected indignantly. – «Master Ziz, you can make sure of this by asking me any question on the topic.»
«…» – the man's face lost all its former enthusiasm. He had hoped to meet a talented disciple, with a powerful physique, with the development of the royal phase and amazing leadership qualities, the one who could lead an elite hunting squad, but the truth turned out to be disappointing. Even if Dick isn't lying, what's the use of a brainy weakling? No one will simply follow such a person, and alone he will not be able to do anything.
The students were waiting for the verdict of the famous master.
After a brief pause, master Ziz snorted like an angry bull: «Did I rush from Dantes for the sake of some deceiver?! This is disrespectful?!»
The tentaculipede, sensing the mood of the owner, growled aggressively.
The students grinned viciously. Now the vile deceiver is definitely finished. Those who have personal scores with Dick rejoiced. And only Elsa sadly turned away.
Kyon sighed sadly to himself: {Misfortunes never come alone…}
«Khem-khem.» – there was a quiet, but seemingly omnipresent old man's cough. A short-haired old man with a large pear-shaped head walked into the testing pavilion with his arms crossed behind his back.
«Hello, master Julius Russell!» … «Greetings, sir!» – the students and masters respectfully greeted the chief formacist of the Russells (0). It won't be wrong to say that his position is not inferior to master Feng. In his presence, no one will dare to do anything stupid, so the lynching of Dick is postponed again.
«Hello, Julius.» – Ziz Hunter bowed slightly. The tentaculipede also calmed down.
The old man in the white robe nodded at the man and gave the students a cold look: «Master Feng insistently asked me to visit the testing pavilion to get to know his gifted student, but I have urgent business. However, I immediately rushed here from Dantes as soon as I received a signal that someone had earned a thousand points for the formacy test! I was curious, who is this genius? Is it possible that he is Feng's disciple? But now, having arrived at the place, I heard something about a certain deception! What does it mean?!»
«Hello, master Julius!» – Elsa with a lightened face took a step forward, expressing her desire to explain the situation with her whole appearance.
The old man's face immediately softened: «Hello, my favorite student. Tell me what's going on here?» – his eyes rejoiced at the sight of such a gifted beauty.
«Master Feng really likes Dick Baker. He recently passed all the tests you created with the maximum result! The students unanimously accused him of cheating and decided to arrange lynching. Please look into the situation.» – the blonde asked politely.
«Did he earn a thousand points on all my tests?» – master Julius frowned his thick eyebrows, looking around 18 screens with an unprecedented record. – «Curious, very curious! A-ha-ha!» – with a wide smile, he turned to the fat man, surrounded by students. – «Young man, how did you manage to deceive my formations?»
Kyon cleared his throat: «Master Julius, you are a great formacist of the third rank. There are no vulnerabilities in your formations. To edit them, I would need access, which you didn't give me. I passed the exams honestly!»
Malicious laughter was heard among the students. Obviously, no one believed him.
The experienced formacist fixed a searching gaze on the fat man: «So you seriously claim that you have passed all eighteen tests flawlessly, the questions for which I have been composing with the best masters of the empire for more than a year? Even Feng couldn't have earned a thousand points for the alchemy exam, but you did?»
Kyon scratched his temple shyly: «Yes, and I can prove it…»
Julius interrupted the fat man: «You see, the formation is not a person. In theory, any formation can be deceived, even mine. But a person who knows his business thoroughly cannot be fooled. How about a little aptitude test under my supervision?»
«I agree!» – Kyon immediately exclaimed. Everything is going even better than he had planned, hoping for the arrival of master Feng.
Those present looked at each other in bewilderment. The deceiver agreed too quickly.
«Wonderful!» – Julius smiled contentedly. – «The formacy test, unlike the others, is unique in that it reflects not only the theoretical knowledge of the student, but also his skills. Having earned a thousand points in formacy, you declared to everyone that you are at least a formacist of the third rank!»
Elsa's eyes widened: {Wait a minute… No, no, just don't tell me that he's even more gifted in formacy than me?!} – the girl was seriously frightened by this thought. She lost to Dick-investigator, then to Dick- alchemist, and now to Dick-formacist?! No, that can't be! She should not be inferior to some one-elemental fat ugly weakling in everything! It's absurd!
«The test will be as follows: you will create any formation from those that you can, and I will evaluate your skills as a formacist according to it. And for comparison, my favorite student, Elsa Stone, and the second best form student, TimoThy, will also take part. Please come to me.»
Two guys and the girl approached the pear-headed master Julius.
The old man took out three muddy green pebbles: «Each of you has one attempt to create the best formation that you are capable of. Timothy will be the first to start – an extremely talented young man with great motivation to surpass my best student. What a pity that he diligently engaged in formacy only after entering the order.»
Timothy accepted the nephrite and, placing it in the center of his palm, used pure energy.
Almost 500 spectators watched the handsome man's work with interest.
Master Julius commented on what was happening: «Now Timothy is creating a slot inside the nephrite, the task of which is to hold the inside of the formation. Note that he does not use an item to create a slot! Only formacists of the fourth rank and above are able to create the slot with their own hands. This cannot be learned because of the legacy of families. It is necessary to understand for yourself how your own element of pure energy works, and…»
After 4 minutes, a translucent shell appeared inside the cloudy pebble.
«Perfectly! The slot has been placed! Now he needs to put the formation inside.» – master Julius enthusiastically talked about the creation of the formation, like a cheerful old man about the birth of his grandchildren. – «Creating formations is not an easy process and can take a lot of time. It depends on the complexity of the formation and the skills of the formacist. During the process, you must not lose concentration, because if you stop even for a second, everything will spoil.»
Timothy took out a small pile of ether keys and about 10 thousand spheres. He dispersed all this around the nephrite and, closing his eyes, proceeded to create the formation. The resources immediately turned into smoke that rushed into the formation.
«Ho-oh, looks like Timothy wants to create a formation that can be useful in a real battle!» – Julius continued to admire. – «All formations consume energy. And battle ones especially! They always require resources. The energy contained within them is instantly released and transformed into the technique laid down by the formation…»
The audience watched the process with interest. The silence was broken only by the unceasing voice of master Julius commenting on the process. The students liked to listen to the wise man and concurrently the main formacist of the entire empire.
After 5 minutes Timothy pulled back his hand and handed the nephrite to the formacist with the words: «I have enclosed in the formation a technique that can be used ten times. It covers the owner with an electric field, which will make the speed of his movements as fast as the speed of the movements of the noble phaser at the beginning stage. Even an ordinary person will turn into a real monster. Will he have enough reaction to realize high speed? Unlikely. But that's another question.» – having finished, the guy looked at the surprised Elsa with a challenge. Obviously, the former Brown believed that only the girl could be his rival. He had long desired to surpass her as a formacist, proving his superiority.
Alas, Stone didn't react the way he wanted: she just crossed her arms over her chest.
«Boosting type formation!» – master Julius exclaimed admiringly, clutching his head. – «One of the rarest formation types! And also reusable! And it was applied in just ten minutes on the first attempt! Timothy, this is phenomenal!»
«Wo-oh-oh-oh!» … «Timothy is so good!» … «I have never heard of such formations!» … «Perhaps in the future he will surpass Elsa?» … «Do not talk rubbish! Elsa is the best!»
Kyon sighed sullenly: such formations are really extremely rare, so much that even the Golden Pig guild can't get them. And he would not refuse to have at least one such formation that increases the speed at least to the imperial phase. This would make it easier for him to breathe…
Over the next few minutes, Timothy's formation underwent a variety of experiments.
Finally, master Julius announced the result: «Timothy's formation is incredible. I give it eight points out of ten on the scale of a formacist of the third rank. Alas, it is good in many ways because of the uniqueness of the technique at the core, otherwise I would have given her six and a half points. And now let's see how my best student, Elsa Stone, will cope with the test!» – the old man with a smile handed the nephrite to the girl.
While the blonde was applying the slot, the master colorfully described her merits: «I am very proud of Elsa. In a few years, she had almost reached the third rank! Very soon I will lack the qualifications to teach her. The girl with such extraordinary talent will be able to become one of the seven legendary forrmacists in the future!»
*surprised oohs of the audience*
Elsa made a slot in three minutes, which caused a frenzied delight of the students. It took her another three minutes to cast the formation. After activation, liquid light poured out from there, forming a screen in the air, on which numbers and mathematical symbols were clearly displayed: from minus and plus to percentages, degrees and even logarithms.
«I have expanded a common formation called "calculator". Now you can add almost all mathematical symbols to it, including up to two unknown values. Using a set of formulas, the calculator will automatically find the solution. With such a formation, you can easily pass any math exam.» – Elsa explained proudly, looking defiantly at Dick. She has been working on this formation for several months.
«Elsa… You've outdone yourself!» – the master waved his hands enthusiastically, taking the nephrite in his hands and starting experiments. As it turned out a little later, the calculator worked flawlessly! Even quite complex tasks were solved instantly.
«Ho-o-o-oh! Wow!» … «Can it even count fractions?!» … «I want a formation like that!» – the students did not stop lavishing compliments on the girl's creation, Stone's fans shouted especially loudly.
Timothy grimaced sourly. The girl's formation was much more complex than his own. But even more annoying was the fact that she didn't even deign to look at him. Instead, Stone looked defiantly at the disgusting fat man, as if he was her real opponent. What the hell? He's just a liar!
After some experimentation, master Julius announced the result: «An unprecedented work that even I cannot recreate! Complex in nature, but easy to use! I award Elsa Stone ten points out of ten possible according to my subjective assessment! Great job! Bravo!»
The loud ovation did not subside for a minute.
«Congratulations, Elsa!» – Rose said with a beaming smile, as if the girl had already won, but, to his disappointment, he received only a cold nod in return, after which she turned her intense gaze back to Dick, as if even now she did not want to discount him.
Valentine instantly flew into a rage, but tried not to show it in any way: {Why the hell are you constantly staring at this brat?! He is not even worthy of your glance! You are the best formacist and alchemist in the order, and he is just a pathetic liar and swindler!}
«And now, ladies and gentlemen, it's time for our dark horse to pass the test..» – the pear-headed old man handed the nephrite to the fat man. – «Show what you can do, Dick!»