Chapter 6: Chapter 6. Aptitude Test (1)

Measurement Room One, located in the academy’s First Research Building, housed a variety of measuring instruments.

Among them was equipment that examined spiritual origins to determine aptitude, so this was also where new students took their aptitude tests.

“Any rare aptitudes?”

“Oh, Professor Horizon.”

As Horizon entered Measurement Room One, the assistant professor in charge rose to offer a greeting.

“What brings you here…?”

“Why? Did you think cleaning up after the terrorist attack would leave me no time for this?”

“Oh, no.”

“I’m one of the professors responsible for the new students too. Surely I’m allowed to take an interest in the lot coming in.”

With that, Horizon looked up.

A rectangular device about the size of a carriage stood before them.

“What a fascinating contraption. You step inside, step out again, and it tells you your spiritual origin straightaway.”

“It used to be incredibly difficult to identify someone’s spiritual origin.”

“Yes. In the old days, discovering your spiritual origin was itself part of attaining ‘enlightenment.’”

“But ever since Professor Kaisel managed to get that ancient artifact working again, it’s become as easy as it is now.”

As the assistant professor said, the measuring device was a relic of an ancient civilization.

It had been left gathering dust in an academy storeroom because it didn’t work properly, until Kaisel Valencia repaired it and brought it back into operation.

“Your spiritual origin was… diffusion, wasn’t it, Professor?”

“Yes. Thanks to that, I was able to confirm that I hadn’t been wrong to devote my life to elemental fire magic.”

With a hiss, the artifact’s door opened.

A large boy stepped out.

“Number 301, Monark Orson… Your spiritual origin is ‘strengthening.’”

The assistant professor checked the symbol displayed on the artifact’s surface and announced the result. Monark beamed and bowed his head.

“Thank you!”

“You may leave now. Well done.”

“Yes, sir!”

Horizon chuckled as Monark left with a spring in his step.

“He’s pleased he got a good aptitude.”

“Strengthening is one of the top five, after all.”

As its name suggested, strengthening was a spiritual origin specializing in making things stronger.

Mages with an aptitude for strengthening could excel in many fields. The world was full of things that needed to be made stronger.

“As I asked earlier, were there any students with rare aptitudes?”

“Oh, my apologies. Let me see…”

The assistant professor began shuffling through the papers beside him.

“There was a student with an aptitude for summoning.”

“Summoning. A rare one indeed.”

Summoning was an aptitude specializing in calling forth beings from other worlds.

It could be considered an aptitude for ‘space-time summoning magic,’ which called forth summoned creatures.

“Professor Clymene will be delighted to finally have another pupil to lavish attention on.”

“Professor Clymene has always taken in the students with summoning aptitudes.”

“Hmm. Anyone else with an unusual aptitude?”

“Well, I’d have to look…”

“Oh, that’s right.”

Horizon spoke as though something had just occurred to him.

“I heard Kaisel Valencia’s nephew was taking the entrance exam today… Has he been tested yet?”

---

“Ha ha. I knew I’d get acceleration.”

“Yes, and I got strengthening, just as I’d hoped.”

I was talking to Kane and Senia outside Measurement Room One.

Their examinee numbers were lower than mine, so they had already finished their tests.

Kane got acceleration, and Senia got strengthening… So they both got what they wanted.

Acceleration and strengthening were both very good aptitudes.

Of course, no spiritual origin was inherently superior to another, but differences inevitably arose when it came to applying them to modern magic.

For instance, a spiritual origin such as “deceleration” had relatively few applications in modern magic. It hadn’t been researched as thoroughly as its counterpart, acceleration.

Likewise, something like “frenzy” wasn’t particularly useful in today’s world. In the old days, people had used magic to rob warriors of their reason and send them into battle as berserkers, but international treaties now prohibited the practice.

I hope… I get a good aptitude too.

I wanted to become a mage who could pull his own weight as quickly as possible.

For that, the more an aptitude helped me progress quickly, the better.

If I advance quickly as a mage, I’ll be able to come and go freely from the libraries too.

Ars Magna Academy had several libraries.

But only a few were open to new students. Access to the others required a position with greater privileges.

The most secretive of them all, the “Deep Library”… was apparently open only to those of professorial rank or higher.

It would be nice if I could get in there too.

The Deep Library even housed the forbidden texts known as the “Six Forbidden Books.”

I would certainly like to read them if I had the chance, but the problem was that students weren’t allowed access.

“Number 321, enter the measurement room!”

Just then, I heard my examinee number being called.

“Good luck! Hope you get a great result!”

“Good luck in there!”

“No, you two can go now…”

How long were they planning to keep following me around?

They were both finished with their tests. I wished they would head back to their lodgings already.

“Number 321, Eriol Valencia.”

“Follow the arrows on the floor.”

As I entered the measurement room, a man who looked to be in his thirties gave me instructions.

There was another man beside him, this one apparently in his sixties.

I think… I’ve seen him somewhere before.

I thought I’d seen him in Ars Magazine, the magazine published by the academy.

I couldn’t quite remember who he was, though.

“Step inside the device in front of you and take a seat.”

“Yes, sir.”

I entered the carriage-sized rectangular device and found something resembling a chair, just as he’d said.

It had so many strange mechanical attachments that, frankly, I felt a little uneasy.

But I couldn’t very well leave now, so I simply sat down.

“We’ll begin the test. When the door opens, you can come out.”

A moment later, the door closed, plunging me into darkness.

Then… my mind suddenly reeled.

“Ugh…!”

The sensation was so overwhelming that I wondered if something had gone wrong.

It felt as though my head were bursting open, its contents scattering in every direction.

What… is this…?

Before I knew it, countless strings of characters were pouring into my consciousness.

I was somewhere that resembled a pitch-black night sky, but instead of starlight, characters filled the space around me.

They were all raining down on me.

I had never seen these characters before… yet I could understand every one of them.

“…!”

As the characters multiplied, the world filled entirely with light.

At last… I returned to reality.

“Hah… hah…”

I couldn’t stop gasping for breath.

The utterly unfamiliar sensation had exhausted both my body and my mind.

I’ve never heard of this happening. Everyone else looked perfectly fine when they came out of the measurement room.

I struggled to my feet and stepped outside.

Then I turned to ask if that was supposed to happen.

“Let’s see. Number 321, Eriol Valencia…”

But something was odd.

The man in his thirties who had given me instructions was leaning forward with a frown.

“What is this?”

“Is something wrong?”

“Wait… What on earth is this?”

That was what I wanted to know.

What on earth had happened?

“What is this? Was there one like this?”

The man seemed to be staring at a bluish symbol displayed on the device’s surface.

Was that my spiritual origin?

“Hold on. Is this… decomposition?”

Decomposition.

I had heard of it.

It was quite a rare one, even among the twenty-four spiritual origins.

It specialized in breaking things down, just as its name suggested.

“Oh, right. Number 321, you’re Professor Kaisel’s nephew, aren’t you?”

“Yes, I am.”

“Professor Kaisel has an aptitude for decomposition too… Is that what you’ve got as well?”

That was right.

My uncle, Kaisel Valencia, also had an aptitude for decomposition.

Following the lead of his spiritual origin… he had reached his current position by dismantling everything.

Do I have an aptitude for decomposition, just like my uncle?

That was quite a surprise.

A welcome one, too.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk. Pathetic.”

Just then,

the elderly man in his sixties who had been watching silently spoke for the first time.

“You need to go back to your books. Shall I strip you of your assistant professorship?”

“P-Professor, what do you mean…?”

“Get the book out and look again. How is that decomposition?”

“Y-you mean it isn’t decomposition?”

“I can understand why you’ve forgotten. You’ve tested thousands of people, but you’ll never have seen that one before.”

The old man addressed as Professor turned his gaze to me.

“Eriol Valencia.”

“Yes, Professor Horizon.”

“Hmm? You know my name?”

“I didn’t recognize you at first. But I realized who you were when he called you Professor.”

Professor Horizon.

He was one of Ars Magna Academy’s leading professors.

A master of fire magic, known to possess the spiritual origin of “diffusion.”

“Hmm. I’m pleased you recognize me.”

Horizon smiled.

“As a matter of fact, I’ve had my eye on you since yesterday.”

“Pardon?”

“It seemed you’d read the terrorist’s spell formula as it unfolded.”

“Read it?”

He seemed to be referring to how I had detected the use of magic, but I hadn’t read anything at the time.

I hadn’t even seen any writing. What was there to read?

“Your ability to sense that spell formula unfolding was a glimpse of your spiritual origin.”

“I’m afraid I don’t quite understand…”

“No, I don’t suppose you would. Not at this stage.”

Smiling, he raised a hand.

“Look at your test result.”

“…”

The intricate symbol was still displayed on the device’s surface.

“This is one of the twenty-four spiritual origins… reading comprehension.”

Reading comprehension.

The rarest aptitude among the twenty-four spiritual origins.

But…

“Isn’t that rather useless?”

As far as I remembered, reading comprehension wasn’t a particularly useful aptitude.

“I understand it’s useful for deciphering ancient grimoires, but…”

Of course, from my perspective, it wasn’t such a bad aptitude.

The ability to decipher ancient grimoires that couldn’t be read by ordinary means sounded quite appealing to a book lover like me.

But when it came to achieving greatness as a mage… it wouldn’t be much help.

“Heh heh heh.”

Horizon suddenly chuckled.

“Yes, so that’s what you’ve heard. Well, that is what the world believes.”

“Pardon?”

“It’s true that mages with an aptitude for reading comprehension have often gone into fields such as deciphering grimoires. But… that isn’t all there is to it.”

“What do you mean…?”

“The spiritual origin of reading comprehension isn’t merely for deciphering grimoires and the like. It exists to read… something far more vast.”

“More… vast?”

I felt a thirst.

A thirst for something I didn’t know.

“What exactly is that?”

“Everything.”

Horizon spoke with the same smile.

“Detecting the terrorist’s magic was only the beginning. As you explore your own origin further… you’ll become able to read an entire spell formula the instant it unfolds, and understand what magic your opponent is about to use.”

“You mean I’ll be able to see spell formulas?”

“No. You’ll be able to read even things you cannot see. And of course, even that is only an intermediate stage.”

I could sense a red aura surging from Horizon’s body.

His spiritual origin, “diffusion,” was causing spiritual energy to pour out of him of its own accord.

That was how excited he was.

Was it his excitement as an educator, as a mage, or…

“You will become an archmage who can read everything there is to magic, Eriol Valencia.”