Arcane Innovator

Upon entering the adjacent waiting room, I immediately noticed two other applicants already waiting there.

Sitting right beside the entrance, the first one was a blond-haired boy around my age. However, as soon as I saw him, I had to suppress a sigh.

He was the very picture of a pampered young master—even had that typical condescending smirk I remembered seeing from Ereneth's noble youth.

The boy briefly turned his bright amber eyes in my direction, giving me a short, dismissive glance before turning away like I didn't deserve to sit in the same room as him.

I glanced down at my plain, stained clothing, only now realizing I must have looked like a lowly peasant in his sight.

So far, I haven't bothered buying better ones since I spend most of my time in the Labyrinth anyway, where such clothes were much more preferable.

Still, it said much about his character if he dismissed someone solely based on his clothes. Thus, I simply shrugged my shoulders, turning away while being perfectly fine with him ignoring me as he seemed nothing but trouble.

Yet, as I began making my way to the opposite side of the room, wanting to be as far away from the haughty boy as I could, my eyes inevitably came to rest upon the second person here, who, to my surprise, turned out to be a shy-looking girl.

The first thing I noticed about her appearance was her striking black hair—a fairly rare color in this world. When combined with her plain-looking but exquisite dark green dress, it was clear that there was much more to her than meets the eye.

She was nervously shifting from one foot to the other while, at the same time, her eyes darted around the room as if trying to avoid any attention.

With her guarded expression, it was quite obvious that she didn't want to talk to anybody, so I simply sat in a free seat on the opposite side, maintaining the awkward silence while we waited for the others to finish.

That reminded me, 'What is taking them so long?' By my count, it was less than fifteen minutes until the supposed end of the Trial, and yet here we were, only three out of almost thirty. 'Also, what happens when they run out of time?'

Plagued with many questions and not enough answers, I decided to pass the time by covertly observing the two young Aspirants sitting here with me.

Out of curiosity, I was interested to know what sort of reward the others went for. So, after casting a few furtive glances, I quickly noticed the particularly angular shape the shy-looking girl was hiding beneath her tight dress. 'So, she went for the grimoire too, huh?'

I then peered over at the haughty boy, wondering what he might have chosen, but all my attempts turned out futile as I couldn't see nor detect anything on him.

I blinked, tilting my head in confusion, but then I had to cover my mouth not to burst out laughing. 'What? Did he miss the hidden door? What a moron...'

'I guess that explains how he managed to finish so quickly.' I briefly wondered who of them got here first, but after a while, it became fairly obvious, as the boy's enthused smugness was very hard to miss.

At that moment, he must have noticed me staring at him as he shot me a challenging glare, so I quickly averted my eyes, not wanting to antagonize him further.

I had to suppress a momentary urge to rub his apparent misfortune in his face. However, the satisfaction of seeing his condescending smirk being wiped out would not be worth making an enemy out of the boy.

So I turned away, deciding to keep to myself and not seek out any trouble.

Now would probably be the perfect time to take a look at that grimoire I managed to get, but because I was already openly carrying the scepter-wand and didn't want the others to know that I grabbed more than one reward, I painstakingly decided to leave it for later.

'Besides, I already know all the basic spells, so it shouldn't hinder me in any way...' I thought with a heavy heart.

Luckily, by now, the other participants had started to slowly trickle in, which helped to redirect some of my attention away from my insatiable curiosity to read the grimoire right now and there.

I checked the time, noting that only a few minutes were left, but surprisingly, most of the applicants seemed to still be inside the Trial. 'What are they doing?'

Then, only a minute remained, and before long, a loud gong sound reverberated, signaling the end of the second Trial. 'So only eight of us have made it?'

We were then ordered back to the large chamber by the overseer, where, to my surprise, we found the rest of our group already waiting. 'I guess they must have all been teleported out at the end.'

I was half expecting the overseer to dismiss them at once as she did with those who failed the magic aptitude test, but nothing of the sort happened. Instead, she gave us all a big smile and said.

"Congratulations, everyone, on passing the second Trial! Some of you got a lot further than others, but don't worry—all your efforts have been properly recorded, and you'll all receive the corresponding number of points. With that said, I'm now going to announce the final results!"

She paused as if waiting until everyone's attention was fully on her before continuing. "The first applicant of group sixteen to successfully complete the second Trial was..."

I could already see the haughty boy's smug smile as he prepared to step forward, but the overseer's next words made him freeze.

"...Darian of Ereneth! 100 Points!"

'What?' A stifled silence followed as everyone frantically looked around for who it was since, contrary to the others, I hadn't exactly been going around introducing myself.

I also made it no easier for them to spot me, as I was looking ahead with a blank face, struggling to come to terms with the sudden development.

That's why it was the haughty boy who, after realizing it must have been me, reacted first as he adopted an affronted expression, staring me down.

He then turned toward the overseer, pointing at me and loudly proclaiming. "Excuse me, honorable proctor! How could that be? I clearly saw him come in third!"

I could now almost feel all the stares directed my way. Knowing there was no point in denying it any further, I finally broke out of my stupor and, with a heavy sigh, stepped forward.

The overseer's smile became a bit strained as she turned toward the boy, looking quite annoyed by the untimely interruption.

However, she quickly recovered her amicable demeanor, promptly replying, "That may be true, Tristan of Emerald Lake. However, it was recorded that Darian of Ereneth was the first to unseal the gate and thus complete the challenge."

'Oh...' Hearing this, I finally realized my blunder. 'I shouldn't have touched that stupid gate until I was ready to get out. Well, there goes the plan of not sticking out…'

It was already too late to cry over spilled milk, so I returned my attention back toward the still smiling overseer who, after providing her answer, raised an eyebrow, adding. "Would you perhaps seek to contest the results?"

I could almost hear the haughty boy, whose name was apparently Tristan, grind his teeth; however, after a while, he reluctantly stepped back without saying another word.

It seemed that "contesting the results" was something even he was unwilling to do. However, the look he gave me promised nothing good. 'I think I just earned myself a rival...'

"Now, if there are no further complaints, let us proceed..." the overseer said as she announced the ranks and points of all eight applicants who completed the maze in time.

It was all pretty boring, but at least I finally got to learn the other applicants' names as well as their points.

I remembered hearing about some sort of point system from the old mage's speech at the start of the Acceptance ceremony. However, it was fairly difficult to hear him clearly from where I stood at the back of the crowd, so I didn't pay him much attention back then.

I figured that if I aced every test, I would be accepted no matter how many points I got, yet the way the overseer spoke of them seemed to suggest that they were somehow much more important than I originally thought.

"The rest of you will get zero points for failing to unseal the gate in time, but don't despair; you'll get a chance to redeem yourself in the third Trial!" The overseer proclaimed, at last, bringing the announcement to an end.

It looked like it was finally the time for the final Trial to begin.