"Teacher, let me introduce you - this is Miss Sola."
Gut recounted yesterday's encounter to his teacher. The elf nodded and said nothing more.
After arranging a seat where the guest could observe the candidates, she convened today's examination.
But unlike previous days, the elf had probably grown tired of the boring format of simply screening candidates with magical barriers and decided to change the method for preliminary selection.
Serie's slender arm swept forward, and several compressed magical light points flew outside the hall, falling into the ground of the outdoor plaza.
Then, amid earth-shaking rumbling sounds, several massive stone statues nearly two meters tall rose from the ground, standing before each candidate.
"Gut, take this outside to proctor." Serie handed her disciple a magic tool ring inscribed with Barrier Magic.
"Magic cannot be used freely within the city. Use it to establish an examination barrier. The passing standard is surviving five minutes under the stone statues' attacks."
"Yes, teacher."
Gut elegantly knelt on one knee, accepted the ring from his teacher's hand, and placed it on his ring finger.
Serie: ...
Just as Gut turned to walk outside the hall, he suddenly felt his rear tighten, followed by an irresistible tremendous force striking from behind.
In his blurred vision, he had already been "kicked" outside the hall.
Fortunately, his body, tempered countless times through the Body Training Method, was now strong enough. His unbalanced steps lightly touched the ground a few times before steadying.
Inside the hall.
Sola watched the magical power emanating from Great Mage Serie's fingertips, silently swallowing and unconsciously backing away slightly.
This teacher-student interaction mode was clearly problematic!
"Whoa!!!"
Unlike the current silence inside the great hall, the candidates outside let out exclamations after being shocked by Gut's special entrance method.
From their perspective, several light points had suddenly emerged from the tightly closed hall doors, and after falling onto the plaza ground, formed six imposing stone statues.
The next moment, Gut's figure flashed and appeared at the platform.
That terrifying movement speed - most candidates couldn't even track the movement trajectory. Some of the physically weaker mages standing closer were nearly blown over by the strong wind generated by his rapid movement.
Even a candidate from the southern mountain tribes who had mastered High-Speed Movement Magic couldn't help but admire it.
At least, such movement speed was beyond his current ability to control.
Gut, enjoying the crowd's cheers, pinched his nose, naturally not planning to tell these candidates the truth.
As he continuously poured his vast magical power into the ring on his ring finger, it wasn't until two minutes later when a bright light flashed that Gut could stop.
With a grand gesture, a solid magical barrier covered half the examination plaza, encompassing all the examination stone statues while leaving sufficient combat space.
Standing on the platform, Gut announced the examination rules and passing standards set by teacher Serie, indicating that the examination officially began.
Mages wanting to challenge could enter the barrier and select their targets.
The mages who had been gently pushed away by the magical barrier earlier discovered they could now enter, but...
Looking at the variously shaped but all exceptionally imposing stone statues before them, not all mages had the courage to step forward and challenge first.
As a profession that typically stayed at the rear of formations, most mages chose to observe first.
However, there were some with courage. Several spirited young mages pushed past the cautious veterans blocking their way, burst forth with their magical power, entered the barrier, and casually selected a stone statue as their opponent.
Then "Bang!" - before their complex magical incantations were complete, they were knocked flying by the stone statues, their bodies heavily slamming against the magical barrier.
Fortunately, once candidates lost their fighting spirit, the stone statues didn't continue pursuing but returned to their original positions to silently await the next challenger.
Gut entered the barrier and carried out these "subdued" young mages one by one, asking other candidates to take them to the nearby Cathedral for treatment.
The failure of the first batch of challengers caused the previously noisy crowd to fall silent again. But with the temptation of becoming the Great Mage's disciple before them, someone would eventually try. Soon, the second batch of candidates prepared themselves mentally and stepped into the magical barrier.
Compared to the first batch of youths who had courage but nothing else, the second batch's performance was undoubtedly much better. Knowing the intelligence about the stone statues' swift reactions, they all abandoned magic requiring complex incantations and used Basic Attack Magic and Defensive Magic that could respond quickly for offense and defense, managing to exchange several moves with the stone statues.
One mage even managed to injure a challenging stone statue.
But unfortunately, his inner joy made him lower his guard for a moment. He failed to defend against the injured stone statue's quick punch and was hammered straight into the barrier wall, unable to stand again.
"Tsk tsk..."
"The stone statues created by teacher even know quick-slow punch techniques. This is totally cheating..."
"Bang!"
A magical force came from within the hall. After repairing the damage on the challenging stone statue, it delivered a punch to the complaining Gut.
"Tch, teacher really is petty."
Gut brushed the dust off his shoulder. This punch that would be devastating to ordinary mages was nothing special when it hit him - no different from playful banter between lovers.
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Powerstones?
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