房客(糙汉)何璐程曜坤

"I\'m joking. I wanted you to wait because I wanted to show you how I compare to magicians, so you and Aspie would have a frame of reference."

"Oh. You could have told me from the start."

The scarred attendant snickered and reassured the gold-haired corpse puppet who let out a soft gasp and mellowed down.

"Esteemed teachers!"

The three examiners were also about to leave, but Zoemi called out and jogged to them.

"In case I picked your attention with that little earthwork, is it possible for you to provide me with a set of targets to test my own power? Preferably at a distance just like the ones for the students earlier~!"

The boy cheered out rather lightheartedly which didn\'t seem to be to teacher Ikarveth\'s liking...

"Why would we pull out more of the expensive equipment meant for measuring the elemental damage for a martial artist of all things?!"

The red-haired man scoffed at the black-haired boy without even trying to hide the hostility – but the other two teachers didn\'t seem to share his opinion...

"Oh, if it\'s elemental damage, I can do them too ~"

"Exactly! Without that...! Huh...?"

Zoemi shrugged his shoulders and smiled menacingly – more because of his disfigured face than actual malice – and teacher Ikarveth who was clearly expecting him to accept the one-sided refusal ended up nodding with confidence before freezing the moment that he realized what was actually said.

"I can show you the elemental damage you want but done by me, a martial artist. Doesn\'t that stir your curiosity? I mean, The thing I\'ve done with the ground before wasn\'t me just kicking the soil really hard~"

*rumble*

The black-haired boy revealed while reaching his hand to the side, and as if summoned by his gesture, a spear made out of rock emerged from the ground at his feet, prime for him to grab and showcase.

"Young Ikarveth, personally I am very interested..."

Lady Auequas cleared her throat and spoke out with a serious expression.

"...for example, I am interested that when speaking of elemental damage he used a plural form..."

She added turning her gaze toward the black-haired boy pleased by her attentiveness.

"Indeed, lady Auequas~! And considering the protest of lord Ikarweth about the costs and my previous display showcasing my ability to reach the super-long-range target we can forget about that one. So let\'s just put in the basic close, short, middle, and long-range ones! If we do it like that, the four targets that I am asking for would be attacked by four different elements~!"

Zoemi nodded his head unable to control his smile as he made an offer.

"That settles it."

"Wha...?!"

Teacher Shuze nodded and with his gesture four enchanted-armor-donning practice targets appeared at the set distance... the red-haired man didn\'t seem too pleased about it and seemed more like he was about to protest some more but...

"Ikarweth. Sit."

"..."

Lady Auequas cold glare and even colder voice colled off the hot-headed magician\'s fighting spirit.

"Thank you for the opportunity~! I will make it worth your time~!"

Zoemi put his right hand to his heart and bowed his head about an inch towards the trio of teachers who took their place back at the examiners\' table, and then he looked back at the gold-haired corpse puppet and winked at her.

With the cheekiness out of the way, the black-haired boy approached the table and reached out his hand imitating every single student during the magic examination.

"I was under the impression that you are a martial artist...?"

The elderly gold-haired magician asked, raising his brow at the gesture.

"I am~ It\'s just I want to make it official that I do not have a speck of mana within my body."

Zoemi confirmed teacher Shuze\'s doubts and explained himself cheerfully.

"..."

It wasn\'t meant to be another jab at the middle-aged red-haired teacher, but judging by his expression it was definitely recognized as one...

Nonetheless, the gold-haired teacher took out the device that he had already stored and placed it under the boy\'s hand.

The device came to life and released a humming sound at a completely different frequency than previously – it sounded strained as if the poor thing was a water pump attempting to squeeze a drop of moisture out of a solid rock.

"...you don\'t have mana reservoir, to begin with, stop the pointless acts and just demonstrate that element control that you claim to have! For once I will not believe you until I will see either water or fire!"

Teacher Ikarweth grumbled, peeking at the result, and scolded the black-haired boy while waving his hand as if he was chasing him off.

"I am planning to use earth, wind, water, and fire – in that order since in magic those are the most suitable attributes for each range. Please be patient with me~!"

Zoemi wasn\'t bothered at all and tilted his head to the side playfully before turning around and taking the position.

Standing face to face with the close-combat-range dummy the black-haired boy furrowed his brows in focus until his gaze turned into a glare. Then...

*rumble* *crack*

The soil directly under the target trembled and tentacle-like stone formations emerged from the ground slithering their way up as if they were alive.

With the way they moved, it was impossible for them to be the result of a powerful attack just throwing them up.

The stone vines climbed the enchanted-armor donning dummy and...

*CREAAAK*

Crushed it like an empty can.

What was the most interesting thing, was the fact despite the black-haired boy having no mana at all, the mana-measuring device inside of the destroyed armor did activate – but despite the damage that was more than just deadly, the light that was released was... yellow...

"That\'s... unexpected..."

"Oh...?!"

Both teacher Shuze and teacher Ikarweth let out shocked gasps...

"Don\'t make faces like that. The boy didn\'t create the rocks out of thin air, he used ones that were already underground and filled with mana. And the devices within armors measure the deadliness of the magic attack containing mana, not the physical damage – for that we have the visuals of the armor itself."

But then teacher Auequas glanced over at her colleagues and shook her head in disbelief.