"Congratulations to those who passed the second test," Professor Claire said, her voice carrying calmly across the hall.

There was no applause.

No one had the energy for that.

The participants stood scattered, some leaning on their knees, others sitting on the ground while hastily consuming potions. The exhaustion from the previous test still clung to their bodies, and yet, no one dared relax completely. Not with Claire standing there, smiling like she had something unpleasant prepared.

After allowing them a short time to recover their mana and stabilize themselves, she spoke again.

"The third test is a score-based test."

That alone made a few people straighten up slightly.

Claire raised her hand and pointed toward the center of the hall.

At once, dozens—no, hundreds—of small floating spheres materialized out of thin air. They hovered silently at first, their surfaces smooth and reflective, each glowing faintly in one of three distinct colors: red, blue, and black.

"As you can see," Claire continued, "these objects have different colors. In order to pass, you must destroy at least five blue spheres."

A pause followed.

Then came the reactions.

"Finally, an easy test."

"That’s it?"

"Haha, I can definitely pass this one."

Relief spread quickly, almost too quickly.

Seeing everyone’s reactiy, Claire’s smile widened slightly.

Shadow’s eyes didn’t.

’Rule one’ he thought ’If she smiles, someone suffers’

His eyes remained on Claire, watching her expression carefully. He had already seen that smile before to know it never meant anything good.

As expected, Claire cleared her throat lightly, the corner of her lips lifting into a faint smirk.

"Don’t jump to conclusions so early."

Shadow exhaled quietly.

Of course.

"If you destroy a red sphere," she continued, "your progress resets. If you destroy a black sphere..." her smile deepened slightly, "...not only will your progress reset, but the sphere will retaliate."

The mood shifted.

"But that’s still not that hard," Lucian said, though his tone carried less confidence than before.

"What’s so difficult about hitting the blue ones?" Jane added, narrowing her eyes at the floating spheres.

"Something is... missing," Jaden murmured.

Several heads turned toward him.

For once, he didn’t look like he was trying to show off. His expression carried a rare hint of actual thought.

’They’re looking at me... again’

Jaden resisted the urge to nod at them like a king acknowledging his subjects.

’Stay humble’ he told himself.

’...But not too humble’

"He’s right," Shadow said calmly. "It’s not that simple."

Jaden blinked, clearly not expecting agreement.

"Huh? R-really?" he stammered before quickly regaining composure. "I mean... of course it’s not. That’s what I was saying."

Shadow ignored him.

By now, most of the participants had turned toward the professors again, waiting.

This time, it was Professor Paul who spoke.

"These are not stationary targets."

As if responding to his words, the spheres began to move.

At first, it was a light vibration.

Then, suddenly—

They shot off.

The entire space filled with motion as hundreds of spheres darted around in chaotic, unpredictable patterns. They moved at high speed, weaving past one another with barely any collisions, their paths constantly shifting in ways that made them almost impossible to track.

The hall, which had seemed spacious moments ago, now felt suffocating.

"I knew it... my luck is terrible."

"I should’ve expected this..."

"They actually expect us to pass this?"

Uneasy murmurs spread again.

Even those who had seemed confident earlier now wore strained expressions.

Without realizing it, several participants glanced toward Shadow... and Jaden.

Jaden noticed.

Slowly, he straightened his posture, puffed his chest slightly, and adopted a calm expression as if he had been expecting this all along.

’Yes... this is how it should be’, he thought, barely containing his excitement. ’Recognition. Respect. This is only natural.’

"What’s the time limit?" Shadow asked.

Paul’s gaze shifted toward him, lingering for a brief moment before he answered.

"Fifteen minutes."

A few participants audibly gasped.

That wasn’t a test.

That was a countdown to failure.

"The test begins now."

A sharp buzzing sound echoed through the hall.

Chaos followed instantly.

Spells were cast, swords were drawn, and attacks flew in every direction. Most missed. Some struck the wrong targets. A few unlucky participants hit red spheres and immediately reset their progress.

Jane moved first among the more capable ones.

She dashed forward with impressive speed, flames igniting along her blades. Her movements were precise, controlled. She leapt into the air, her sword cutting cleanly through a blue sphere.

But her expression shifted immediately.

Another sphere—red—had been caught in the same strike.

"...This isn’t ideal," she muttered as she landed. "There’s no space to control the swing properly."

Nearby, Lucian raised a small platform of earth beneath his feet, elevating himself slightly. He moved forward with it, attempting to close the distance.

Each time he reached a sphere, he struck.

Each time—

He missed.

"...I refuse to believe the problem is me." he mumured as he stared at his fists.

"They’re too fast," he said under his breath, adjusting his approach. "This might actually be worse than the last test."

Somewhere in the hall.

"I HIT ONE—"

"That was red—"

"...I quit."

Different voices echoed, each resulting in a failure outcome.

Then came Jaden.

"This is my chance to shine..." he said, stepping forward dramatically. "Move aside, all of you. Let a true talent show you how it’s done."

No one moved.

He didn’t care.

He brought his hands together, gathering energy between them before thrusting them forward.

A compressed wave of sound erupted outward, tearing through the air in a straight line.

Dozens of spheres were wiped out instantly.

For a brief moment, it looked impressive.

Then everything went wrong.

"Are you stupid," Talia said flatly, before tilting her head slightly, "or do you wake up every morning and decide to be a public hazard?"

Jaden’s smirk froze.

The black spheres he had struck... hadn’t been destroyed.

’Wait.’

’Why are they not breaking?’

’...Why are they looking at me?’

’...Why are they all looking at me?’

Jaden panicked as he watched everyone else looking at him weirdly after not being able to destroy the black spheres.

The balck spheres had absorbed the attack.

And now—

They were aiming at him.

All of them.

"...Oh."

Dozens of compressed sound waves launched back at once.

Not just at Jaden.

At everyone.

"Shit," Lucian cursed.

"You fucking moron, I’ll kill you!" Jane snapped.

"That’s assuming we survive this," Shadow replied, his tone calm but edged with urgency as he looked at the incoming attack.

The air itself distorted under the pressure. The ground cracked beneath invisible pressure.

For a split second—

Everyone understood the same thing.

’This will knock us all out.’

There was no time to argue.

Seeing everyone’s panicking expression, Shadow shook his head.

’They are all strong individually yet, they are about to fail.’

...Pathetic.

"Don’t just stand there."

Shadow moved first.

"Don’t just stand there," he said sharply. "If you don’t want to pass out, help."

Lucian reacted immediately, raising a thick wall of earth in front of them.

Jane followed, releasing a wide arc of flame from her blade.

Talia lifted her hand, and layers of dense paper folded together in front of them like a barrier.

’Sound travels. Water carries it.’

’So let’s drown it.’

Shadow stepped forward.

Both his hands moved at once.

Water surged outward—not as a shield, but as a forward force, meeting the incoming sound waves head-on.

Then—

Impact.

A deafening explosion shook the entire hall.

The ground trembled beneath their feet as the collision sent shockwaves through the space. Water scattered into the air, fragments of earth cracked apart, flames dissipated, and the paper barrier tore under the pressure.

But the attack... stopped.

Barely.

For a moment, no one spoke.

Then the aftermath settled.

Shadow lowered his hands slowly, droplets of water sliding off his fingers.

While others staggered—

Shadow was already thinking.

’That was strong.’ he said calmly.

’At least A-rank.’

’Good power...Terrible owner.’

His gaze shifted slightly.

Toward Jaden then toward the memory of the spell itself.

’...Good.’

Unlike the others, there was no frustration in his expression.

No jealousy.

Only quiet calculation.

’It’s mine now.’

Just like that, Shadow has aquired the spells of Talia, Lucian and even Jaden’s.

Professor Paul narrowed his eyes slightly.

’That boy...’

He didn’t look at Jaden.

He looked at Shadow.