Aethernea : Soulbound [Book 1]

Episode 59 - I am Kiel Rroda

Previously:

Kiel entered the classroom to take his Multicasting exam. All other examinees are waiting for their turns in front of the classroom.

* * *

After handing his exam pass to Rau Eryey, Kiel approached the first apparatus. It was made out of exactly 100 glass objects of various shapes and sizes. Therefore, the number of objects that he would be required to activate simultaneously couldn't exceed 100. If he could cast 100 simultaneous spells fast enough, he would be able to achieve full marks.

Kiel felt a bitter-sweet feeling as he gazed down on the pretty glass figurines. When he took the exam last year, this Multicasting test was the first one that he failed to complete flawlessly. It was the start of his downfall.

He remembered it quite clearly. He tended to remember bad memories extremely clearly. And this one was a memory he would never forget.

This first apparatus required him to cast trigger spells over and over again. While the trigger spells couldn't be any simpler, requiring very little mana, for a non-mage like him, even that amount was too much. If he gave it his all, at most, he would be able to cast 100 of those trigger spells before his mana was completely depleted. And the only reason why he would succeed in casting that many was because of his flawless execution.

Yet, even if he used up all his mana casting those trigger spells, he could at most reach 10 points. And after that, he wouldn't have any mana left to use on the second apparatus. Therefore, his final result would be 5 points.

The Temperature spell that he would need to cast to control the cubes used in the second test was about 3 times costlier to cast than those simple trigger spells. The upside was that he only needed to cast it once and he would be able to control that cube until the end of the test.

Since there were 50 white cubes in the spiral, he deduced that at most, he would need to control 50 cubes. If he spent all his mana on the second apparatus, he would be able to control around 30 cubes at most.

Therefore, Kiel calculated that if he went all out on the second apparatus, he would be able to reach around 16 points ( the final result being 8 points).

Since he paid close attention to the demonstration of his examiners, he knew how many spells he would need to cast for the first 15 points or so of both apparatuses. He used that knowledge to calculate mana cost efficiency of every single point. Like a beggar he savored every drop of his mana, trying to find a distribution of his mana between the two apparatuses that would allow him to score the highest score possible.

The second apparatus had a rather stable cost efficiency, while the first apparatus had high cost efficiency at first, but it kept dropping sharply.

In the end, he calculated that he should aim to reach 6 points on the first apparatus and spend the remainder of his mana on the second apparatus. Because he made a pause before taking the second test, and because reaching the final stages of the second test took some time, his mana managed to regenerate somewhat, letting him score 14 points on the second apparatus. That way, his final score managed to reach 10 points.

10 measly points.

He remembered clearly how shocked the examiners were when he scored 6 points on the first apparatus. He remembered that humiliation clearly. He remembered how he gnawed on his lips unconsciously until they were blood red. He remembered how his cheeks burned in shame.

He remembered how he was glad that other examinees weren't allowed to spectate. Glad that their reverence didn't turn into scorn and contempt. If they were allowed to watch, his disgraceful score would have spread far and wide. He would never be able to live down the humiliation.