Luvia only had three exams, so the parchment she got was very short. However, Shade, who had to take 18 exams at once, had a parchment that was so long that it could wrap Mia, the orange cat lying quietly on the windowsill, into a ball with some left over.
There is no break time in St. Byron's exams. The exam starts at 9 a.m. and you can leave after finishing the questions, but you cannot leave your seat before you finish, even if you have physical needs.
Xia De knew this in advance, so he started writing furiously from 9 a.m. on Saturday, communicating with her voice in his heart. In the evening, Miss Louisa asked him to go to the opera house. The 18 exams were not easy, even if the content of each exam was not much, but if he didn't want to miss the opportunity to go to the opera house for the first time, he couldn't relax at all.
Luvia left at half past ten, followed by Miss Louisa and Dr. Schneider. Even Father Augustus, who had seven exams, left the room at twelve in the afternoon, and by then Shad had finished answering questions for ten courses.
During lunch time, neither the professors nor Xia De were able to eat. The four people who left early had to wait in Room 1 next door because they still had to listen to the professors' talk after the exam.
They originally wanted to carry Mia to eat, but Mia lay on the windowsill waiting for Shade, and had no intention of leaving with others. In order to let the hungry pet cat eat earlier, Shade also increased his writing speed again.
His Draerion handwriting was ugly to begin with, and writing faster made the letters even more twisted and deformed, but it was probably still recognizable... ...that's what Shad thought.
Because it was only a first-grade exam, the content was simpler than Shade had imagined. After a week of careful preparation, and with the help of the voice in his head, Shade, who was used to all kinds of exams, finally put the last period on the parchment paper at 4:21 pm that day.
The dark blue ink soaked the parchment, and the ink stains created by the pen tip spread due to the force applied.
Even with Xia De's current physical condition, he still felt his wrists ache. But after dropping the pen, he still had a smile on his face. Although he couldn't answer every question, Xia De was confident that he could pass all the exams.
It was worth postponing the use of the time key. Only by preparing for the upgrade exam seriously without distraction can I smile at this moment.
After sending the parchment scroll over the pages of the poem manuscript on the doctor's desk, the four teachers in charge breathed a sigh of relief. Because the exam was too long, everyone took a half-hour break before announcing other things.
The people in the projection stood up and left, their transparent figures disappeared in the empty room. Xia De picked up Mia, who had finally stood up from the windowsill. The small orange cat was probably very hungry, and after being held by Xia De, it kept meowing:
"I'll take you to eat something delicious later."
The detective, who was in an unusually good mood, said as he petted the cat.
I left the room and pushed open the door next door. The other four people in the group were there. Miss Louisa was reading a book, and Luvia was sitting at the dining table, using cards to tell fortunes. Father Augustus and Dr. Schneider were sitting on the sofa, looking at the newspaper spread out on the coffee table, and talking about tax issues.
Seeing Xia De coming over with the cat in his arms, they all stopped what they were doing:
"Shad, how do you feel? Can you pass it?"
The doctor asked curiously.
"It should be fine."
He sat on the sofa at once. The soft seat made Xia De, who was tired all day, feel particularly comfortable:
"What about you?"
"I asked Annat to do the divination. I want to see what the result is."
Father Augustus said, and Shade looked at Luvia at the table. The purple-eyed fortune teller winked at him playfully:
"Shad will definitely be fine this time. Although Father Augustus' score won't be very high, he will be able to pass it. However, the doctor will be a little worried."
"Oh, I knew it!"
Dr. Schneider covered his forehead and sighed, while Miss Louisa beside him looked as if she wanted to ask something but didn't dare to, for fear of hearing bad news.
There was still some food at home, so Xia De and Mia ate a little to fill their stomachs. During this time, Xia De also heard several other people complaining about the exam content. This scene of everyone sitting together complaining about the exam made the outsiders feel like they were back home.
Although everything is different in this world of steam and mystery, Shade can still occasionally find traces of his hometown in his life. Now, he is not as enthusiastic about finding a way to go back as when he first came, but he will never forget where he came from and who he is.
After a short break, the five returned to the next room. The four teachers also appeared on time. The School of Thaumaturgy probably had a unique grading method. In short, the transcript was delivered directly. It did not show the specific scores, but used excellent, exceeded expectations, passed, failed, and terrible to evaluate.
Of Xia De's 18 courses, 11 were excellent, 6 exceeded expectations, and one passed. The course he passed was "Folklore, Religion, and Civilization," which required more understanding than memorization, so Xia De just barely passed.
But it was enough.
“Ahem!”
The five people looked down at their report cards, and Professor Gulliver coughed and reminded them:
"The summer exam week of the Sixth Universal Calendar 1853 has ended. First of all, congratulations to all the correspondence ring sorcerers. I have seen your transcripts. Your group's results are very good. There is no need for the academy to issue academic warnings. As usual, I need to remind you about upgrading—"
"Bill Schneider, the academy has received your application for promotion. If you want to be promoted to the sixth grade by the end of the year, you still have half a year to obtain the remaining 30 practical credits. In addition, have you been promoted to the sixth ring?"
"Not yet, but I have obtained the ritual materials. Now that the basic requirement of four Spirit Runes has been met, I plan to wait until the full moon phase of the Yellow Moon in the fall to advance."
The doctor replied, and Professor Gulliver nodded:
"In addition, the academy has received the sample of the forged Philosopher's Stone you submitted. You did a very good job this time, and Professor Rogers, who issued the task, is very satisfied. Regarding the reward, we will communicate later. At the same time, the time for this summer's official student off-campus practice has been scheduled, and the details will be notified to you before next Saturday. The current plan is that twelve students will go to the Tobesk area, and the local groups will be evenly divided. You will be responsible for about three people."
"No problem, Professor."
The doctor said, and judging from his tone, the results of "Ether Mechanics" must be really bad.
"Dorothy Louisa, if you want to be promoted to the fifth grade by the end of the year, please remember that you still have several basic courses to go. In addition, please communicate with the Folklore College privately regarding your fourth-grade rating."
"No problem Professor."
The blonde writer also nodded, with a big smile on her face. It seemed that she had passed the ancient Chinese literature test successfully.
"Luvia Annat, regarding the joint training plan for the next grade, please remind the Prophet Association to give us the documents as soon as possible. In addition, the Astronomy Institute is organizing an astrology event in the fall. If you are interested, you can get detailed information through the manuscript paper."
"Yes, Professor."
Luvia is fine.
"Rat Augustus, whether or not you intend to be promoted to the second grade in the winter, please inform the academy as soon as possible so that we can arrange the next training plan."
"OK."
Father Augustus also nodded.
"And finally, Shad Hamilton."
The professor glanced at Shade:
"According to the rules of St. Byron's, grade promotion can only be done at the end of the winter semester. However, after receiving your application, after discussion with the History School and with the recommendation of Miss Danister, we theoretically agree to promote you to the second grade... You have set a record by being promoted from the first ring to the second ring in just one month."
Professor Garcia at the side could not help but smile. If it was not inappropriate to speak now, he would have already started saying that this is how students in the history department should be.
"You have passed all the written tests for your basic courses, and your practical final assignments for alchemy and potions have also passed review. By the way, that ever-burning candle is really nice."
It seems that the tuition fee charged by Old John is not deliberately high.
"Also, although in principle I agree that you can be promoted to the second grade after the exam week this summer, rules are rules, and there will be punishment for breaking them. Therefore, as a punishment for being promoted to the second grade in the summer semester, you originally needed 10 practical credits, but now it has been increased to 20. Please complete the remaining 20 practical credits of the first grade before next Saturday, otherwise you will not pass your grade promotion requirement."
Professor Earl Gulliver said seriously that the school rules of St. Byron's are very strict. You can find ways to circumvent some of the rules, but you must follow those that should be followed.
In fact, the requirement of 20 practical credits is very harsh. After all, the doctor spent a month, went through hardships and even almost met the evil god to complete the bounty of the fake Philosopher's Stone Academy, and only got 5 points in total. In theory, Xia De can only get 20 points if he completes four tasks of this difficulty, but not only is it too difficult, but there is not enough time.
Fortunately, he had other options. He had originally thought that if he was lucky, he could keep the endless mercury bottles, but now that was definitely not possible. And this relic alone was probably not enough for 20 points. It seemed that he needed to do something else this week.
"I understand, Professor."
Shade said, thinking that he not only had to wait for Iluna to come back next Wednesday, but also had to see if there were any academy tasks he could complete when he had time.
"Very good. In addition to your studies, the St. Byron's Student Administration Office has a document about the second divine descent in the Tobysk region in the summer of 1853 of the Sixth Era. The academy did not expect such a thing to happen, and we have received very detailed information from the Orthodox Church."
The professor turned the page of the document in his hand:
"Because you are correspondence ring sorcerers in the Tobysk region, the academy will give you a report to let you know what happened last Thursday. If you think the Tobysk region is no longer suitable for living, you can also apply for the group to move across regions."
"That's not necessary for now."
Dr. Schneider said cautiously, and the professor nodded:
"Based on the information you submitted, the team will award 5 practical credits to each member. You have fully experienced two divine events, which is more than most professors in the academy have experienced in their entire lives."
The information provided by the five people was not of much value. The five practical credits were not a reward for the information, but a unified consolation for the local correspondence ring sorcerers. After experiencing such a thing, not going crazy or dying, and being able to tell something about the night, this was an achievement in itself, so it was understandable that the academy gave some unimportant rewards.
As a result, Xia De's task of earning 20 credits a week was reduced to 15 credits. Although it was still not easy, at least the pressure was reduced a lot.
"In addition, Saint Byrons has issued a long-term academy bounty mission to correspondence ring sorcerers in Tobesk and surrounding areas to find and provide information about the thirteenth ring sorcerer 'Godcaller'."
Professor Gulliver said, and at the same time the reward was delivered via the doctor's manuscript paper.
"Professor, are you sure that the God-Caller is the Thirteenth Ring Warlock?"
Luvia asked.
"Very sure."
Professor Gulliver nodded, and Luvia glanced at Shad, who then looked at Mia the cat lying in front of him. Because they were going to have a big dinner in the evening, they had only fed it a small amount of cat food. Now the cat was lying there in a listless manner, but Shad knew it must be pretending, and the tail wagging behind the cat showed that the cat was very energetic now.
"Although the God's Descent incident has passed, local correspondence ring sorcerers should still be vigilant about the follow-up situation. Although the Orthodox Church has made up its mind to make those lunatics disappear forever, judging from the situation last Thursday, the church has probably been at ease for too long, and even such a mistake could happen..."
Professor Gulliver obviously had some opinions about the Orthodox Church, but he didn't express them clearly. After saying these things, everything about the exam week was over. Professor Gulliver and the two lecturers encouraged the five members of the group and left first. Professor Garcia stayed for dozens of minutes longer to discuss his second-year training plan with Shade.
In addition, Professor Garcia had promised to open his personal elective course "Folding Space" to Xia De, focusing on large-scale ritual and magic mazes, and this time he came to inform Xia De of the class time. "Folding Space" has a total of four classes, each class is two hours. The course is scheduled on Monday and Tuesday of the second week of August, starting at 6 pm every day, and each class is two classes in a row.
Xia De participated in the course through projection, and after the course was completed, he submitted a course report within one week as proof of completion.
After "Folding Space", the decision on whether to open more elective courses to Xia De will depend on his performance.
"Xia De, your talent has been fully demonstrated. The History School has never been stingy in providing extra help to talented students. Originally, the dean of the History School wanted to meet you in person today, but something happened in the New World and he had to rush over to solve it, so I came to meet you. I noticed that it has been a month since your first time travel. Do you have any plans to travel again?"
Professor Garcia asked.
"Of course, I bought a time key from the year 3002 of the Fifth Era, and asked Luvia Annat to help me predict the time of good luck. I plan to open it in half a month."
Of course, the report must be submitted after the three explorations are completed. After all, this key is related to the founder of Saint Byrons, and Shade needs to confirm which part can be written. Therefore, this report cannot be used to deduct practical credits. After all, even if you want to write... ... polish it, you have no way to start at the moment.
"3002? I remember nothing happened that year, at least nothing major. It seems this is a real poet-level key."
Professor Garcia thought for a moment and said that Shade seemed to have heard this kind of talk before, but he did not raise any objections.
"Well, Mr. Hamilton. You are probably the first student in this millennium who is allowed to violate the rules and upgrade outside the end of the winter semester. Very good, keep up the hard work, I think you have a chance to officially enter St. Byron's before you are 30 years old."
Professor Garcia encouraged, and then said goodbye to Shade. The transparent figure left the chair, and the projection ceremony officially ended.
The stranger sighed, feeling relaxed all over. He stood up and walked to the window, opened the curtains, and saw the blazing sunset outside.
Saturday's day finally ended, the red light shone on my face, and the midsummer sunset was so hot:
"I was promoted from the first ring to the second ring in one month. At this rate, it's possible for me to be promoted to the 13th ring before I'm 30."
Thinking in my heart, I couldn't help but smile.
The miracles, blasphemy, enlightenment and whispers of the second ring. Do you have any ideas
She asked in his ear.
"I've been reading Crazy Light Chaser for a month, and I can already feel that I'll see results in the next few weeks. I'm reading the story of Tree Kiss carefully with the help of Miss Louisa, and I'm afraid I'll be able to make some progress before the end of next month."
These are most likely inspirations.
"Yes, so I have to think carefully about the other three elements... After a week's rest, it's time to start a new adventure. Life really can't stop."