Mahouka Koukou no Sosei-Ki no Kami

Desire 8: Discrimination Among Student

"Hello." = Normal talk

'Okay.' = Thought

[DESIRE DRIVER!] = Henshin Device and Attack naming

[GRAND VICTORY!] = Finisher and Weapon sound

"WORD!" = Henshin and Weapon Summoning
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The Next Day, Tatsuya is in a practical room to measure the speed of his Magic casting with Mizuki watching after casting his spell and it was 940 milliseconds

"940 milliseconds!" Mizuki said, "You've cleared it, Tatsuya-san!" she said

"Finally... took me until my third try to clear it, huh?" Tatsuya said obviously lying

"B-But that was so unexpected." Mizuki said, "So you really do struggle with practical skills." she said

"Unexpected? Haven't I already made my incompetence clear numerous times?" Tatsuya asked

"Well, yes, I did hear you say that... But I thought you were just being modest..." Mizuki said

"Not sure if I should be saying this myself, but if I were even average in practical skills, I probably wouldn't be in this class." Tatsuya said lying

"Yes, you're right. If you were good at practical skills, too, though..." Mizuki said, "You'd be way too perfect, and not very approachable, I think." she said, "Tatsuya?" she asked, "Don't you feel bitter?" she asked

"About what?" Tatsuya asked

"The fact that even though you really do have talent... you've been evaluated as if you have none at all..." Mizuki said, "Normally, I think that would make anyone bitter." she said, "But since it doesn't seem to be bothering you that much..." she said

"Processing speed is also a crucial factor." Tatsuya said, "They're not far off the mark labeling me as unskilled." he said, 'Of course, only some people know my true skill.' he thought

"But if you were to actually implement it, the truth is that you could activate it much faster, couldn't you?" Mizuki asked

"What makes you think that?" Tatsuya asked

"During your first try... Tatsuya-san, at one point you canceled your magic sequence and rebuilt it from scratch, didn't you?" Mizuki asked, "Timing-wise, you read the activation sequence and built your first magic sequence simultaneously." she said, "Seeing that got me thinking. That for a spell of this level, you could probably build a magic sequence directly, without using an activation sequence." she said making Tatsuya smile

"I never thought that you'd seen that much." Tatsuya said, "You really do have good eyes." he said, "Sure, for basic single-system spells, I could invoke faster by building my magic sequence directly." he said, "But that method is only viable for spells that don't involve many processes." he said, "For example, when you transform phenomena by moving an egg from the kitchen to a table... it calls for a four-process spell." he said, "Remove Movement and Suspension from that spell, and yes, activation is speeded up, but the egg will break..." he said, "But to knock back your opponent in battle, there's no need to absorb the impact, so it can be completed with a single process." he said, "Since I max out at five processes, that's the best I can do." he said

"Well, I think five processes would be more than enough for combat use..." Mizuki said

"I'm not studying magic for combat use." Tatsuya said, "My goal is to use magic to develop energy." he said, "To do that I need multiple-process spells invoked by activation sequences." he said, "That's why I can live with being evaluated fairly for my inferior processing skills." he said, "There's just no way around it." he said