C110
"Right. How about you guys? It must be awful since the school break ended?"
Nade's face quickly turned gloomy.
"I think I'm going crazy. I have to score above 80 in all subjects for the remaining period, it's dreadful."
"Haha! Why don't you take this opportunity to get a promotion?"
The only way to move from Class Five to Class Four was to score 80 or better in all subjects. The difficulty was extreme since it's not an average of 80.
"Of course. Isn't that obvious for a student?"
“Indeed, it is. Well, do your best."
Nade, who was expecting words of encouragement, made a puzzled expression. However, Alpheas's educational policy was firm. A student is not a racehorse. When left in the meadow, they would naturally realize their own worth.
"Shall we help you?"
Shirone rolled up his sleeves and came over to help pull the weeds.
"Heh, you shouldn’t steal the only joy of an old man. I'll pull out the weeds, you guys do what you want."
Nade's eyes showed a hint of disappointment. The thought of trying to escape from reality for a little using pull weeds as an excuse was in vain.
"Alright. Take care then."
As Shirone and his group headed back to their room, their faces were filled with worry. The same was true for the other students. The school was still in chaos after the attack by Arcane, and it was not easy to concentrate on studying like before.
Frustrated, Nade burst into a tantrum.
"Ah. I'm going crazy. I have to study. Study! Study! I just can't focus."
"It's normal not to be able to focus on anything else after you explode once. It was like that after that presentation was over.”
Shirone let out a deep sigh at Iruki's words.
"But you're better off than me. I have twice as many subjects to raise above 80 than you guys. I'm not sure if it's possible."
“The only advantage I have is math. The humanities department is a total fail. In that subject, Nade is the most advantageous.”
"What are you talking about? I don't have any strong subjects. You and Shirone can easily top the practical skills, but I can't, so I'm at the biggest disadvantage."
In the practical test of Class Five, the main evaluation was the operation of the Spirit Zone rather than magic. If it's Shirone’s Immortal Function and Iruki’s Savant Syndrome, it's possible to rank higher in any practical skill. On the other hand, Nade was in the same position as other students, competing with the same Spirit Zone.
“The more I think about it, the more my head hurts. Should we just take a break today and start from tomorrow?"
Nade's suggestion was neither affirmed nor denied. Seeing that even the exemplary student Shirone kept his mouth shut, it seemed that his motivation had waned.
"Huh? Guys, over there......"
When Shirone pointed towards Central Park, Nade and Iruki turned their heads and their eyes widened.
"What? How are they here?"
Canis and Arin were walking around the school. As they made eye contact with Shirone's group, they walked towards them. Canis waved his hand as if he recognized them.
"Howdy. Are you done with class already? The facilities and environment are alright, but they seem to treat the kids too gently."
"You! What on earth are you up to?"
Nade blocked their path. Of course, they heard from Thad that the two were released without charge, but they thought the relationship ended there. No, it had to be over. But why are they strolling around the school?
Shirone asked.
"What happened? What business do you have at the school?"
Canis looked back at Shirone without answering. The person he cared about the most at school was Shirone, not Alpheas nor the teachers. Shirone was the first person to defeat him. If he couldn't overcome Shirone, no matter how strong he became, he would still be at a standstill.
"Listen well. If we ever compete again, the outcome will be the exact opposite of last time."
Nade responded before Shirone could answer.
"This kid still hasn't come to his senses. To beat Shirone, you're a decade too early.”
"You're the one who would need at least a decade to challenge me."
Nade's expression crumpled. Memories of the time when Shirone was in a life-and-death situation reawakened, casting a chilling sensation. Then, Iruki, who didn't want to cause any unnecessary commotion, sorted out the situation.
"Enough. Regardless of the rest, why are you here?"
"Why are we here? We're here to survey the place where we're going to live from now on."
“What?”
Shirone's eyes widened at the unexpected words.
"Just as I said. I thought it'd be good to experience what it's like in a magic school."
Nade rolled up his sleeves and retorted.
"You may look down on a magic school, but show some respect! Who would accept someone like you?"
Canis raised a finger and pointed.
"Call me 'Senior.'"
"What?"
“Call me senior. From what I gathered, you guys are in Class Five. I'm in Class Four."
Shirone and the others were dumbfounded. Perhaps it was Alpheas who accepted the two. But to be admitted as Class Four right after admission was unusual, though not unheard of.
"Why are you so surprised? We're the disciples of Archmage. We've learned all the basics of magic. It's hilarious to be treated the same as slackers like you."
Shirone and the others kept their mouths shut while they seethed. If the magic that they had honed while living with the Arcane for over 10 years was taken into account, it wouldn't be an overstatement to say they were of Class Four level.
"So, make sure to respectfully call us 'seniors from now on.”
"That's hilarious! Aren't you going to attend from next semester anyway? By then, we'll have also advanced to Class Four!"
"Really? You guys have surprisingly poor grades? To be honest, I'm disappointed. I never imagined I'd lose to such underperformers."
The first thing Canis investigated at school was Shirone's grades and relationships with other students.. It was a shock to him when he found out that they were in Class Five, and not even at the top of the class.
But nobody in the advanced class ignored them. They had heard so often about the evaluation that they could rise at any time if they set their minds to it, that it felt like their ears were going to get stuck.
When Shirone's group didn't reply, and only gritted their teeth, Canis turned away with a satisfied expression.
"Anyway, do your best. If you come in as juniors, we'll treat you kindly. Hahaha!"
As Canis's shadow lengthened towards Shirone's group, Harvest raised both arms and raised his middle fingers. The three who were ready to explode trembled.
Shirone broke the heavy silence.
"We're cancelling our rest day today.”
"Yeah. Canis being a senior... I would rather quit school than accept that."
"Heh, why quit? We should advance and put him in his place."
The only thing on the three's minds was advancement. But how? The semester-end evaluation was a completely different dimension than breaking through a tough situation. It was a comprehensive evaluation of a long half-year period. Even if they started something right now, they couldn't guarantee success.
"I've thought about this before..."
Shirone floated the words with a serious expression.
"The probability of me advancing from my level was about 30%. That's if I study as hard as I can."
Although it wasn't a mathematical analysis like Iruki's, Shirone's insight was also highly reliable, and his friends believed his words to be true. Then, Nade's face darkened again.
"Honestly, even though I boasted big, it's not an easy task when I think about it. If Shirone is at about 30 percent, maybe I'm at about 50 percent? Iruki is probably around 60 percent."
"No. I'm around 58.7 percent. Of course, promotion is primarily based on the end-of-semester grades, but to be honest, I haven't attended a single class."
Each of the three sighed. At this rate, they were likely to have to bow their heads to Canis and Arin from next semester.
"So, how about this...?"
Nade looked back with bright eyes at Shirone's suggestion.
"What? Do you have any good ideas?”
"Honestly, if we study the way we've done so far, the chances of success are too low. So, I think we need to revise our strategy."
Iruki questioned.
"You mean, change the method? But how?"
"When I said 30 percent, I was assuming that I would study hard. But if I focus not on studying but on the exam, I think I can do more than 50 percent. That means, for you guys, it could be 70 percent, maybe even 80 percent."
"Hmm. Focusing on the exam? I see. Choose and focus, right?"
"That's right. After all, we just need to score over 80. There's no need to invest time in subjects we're good at. And there's no need to study content that's not covered in the test. If we broadly categorize the sixteen subjects, they can be divided into four categories: humanities, math, science, and practical."
Shirone continued to explain, pointing his fingers one by one.
"Fortunately, we can easily pass at least one categories. And most importantly, our categories do not overlap. I'm humanities, Iruki is math, Nade is science. Practical is a part where we can't help each other anyway."
Iruki nodded as if he understood.
"So, you mean to create a study group. There's no need to study the areas where we each excel, so let's use that time to make up for each other's weaknesses?"
"Right. If we can hand down crucial ways to score over 80 in the exams, our chances will increase significantly. I think we can raise it to at least 50 percent with this."
The corners of Iruki's mouth went up. Seeing Shirone so desperate showed how much it bothered him to have Canis and Arin as seniors.
Anyway, it was a good idea. Moreover, there was no better outcome than all three of them getting promoted at the same time.
"I agree. So, let's head to the research group meeting right now and start planning. What do you say?"
"Sounds good!"
Three boys, burning with fighting spirit, rushed to Istas.
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Sirone devoted himself to studying day and night.
You have to know how to manage time. For a person who is not conscious of it, one hour can pass in the blink of an eye, but for someone who splits an hour into ten-minute increments, it can be quite a long time.
Shirone split all the remaining time until the end of the semester exams into one-hour units. The strategy was to prevent time leakage by always keeping track of time in his mind.
He targeted the exam with the strong efficiency gained from there.
Rather than understanding the process, he conquered the problem type and analyzed the intention of the question and the solution process. In this respect, the study group was effective. Thanks to each other making up for the shortcomings, Shirone was also able to raise the average score of the mock exam to more than 70 points.
Of course, it wasn't all smooth sailing. Once they started studying, they realized that the reason certain subjects were weak was not laziness, but genuinely a lack of talent.
In particular, the difference between humanities and mathematics was too great for Iruki. As he frantically worked out the question paper that Shirone himself had created, he put down his pen and stretched himself after only 30 minutes.
“All solved.”
"Let me see."
Shirone pointed out each of the problems Iruki solved. As he confirmed the answers, his hand trembled. He seemed to understand why humanities teachers cringed just by looking at Iruki's face.
Pointing to the exam paper with a ridiculous expression, Shirone said,
"Hey, how does 'You eat pasta, I will eat pasta.' make any sense? I explained the usage of auxiliary particles, didn't I?"
"Why doesn't it make sense? You eat pasta! I'll eat pasta! It's perfect, isn't it? It emphasizes that each is an independent subject."
"Hh? Oh, that….”
Feeling as if that made sense, Shirone was momentarily flustered. But soon he came to his senses and cried out.
"That's not it. Language is not math. It's not a tool of proof, it's a tool of expression! Therefore, you should read the meaning between the lines, not separate the sentences!"
"Damn, what the hell is that? Math is the best!"
"Quiet! I know you're being stubborn! Honestly, you feel it's strange too, don’t you?"
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Tags:
Infinite Mage (Novel)
