Magical Academy: Rise of the Supreme Magic Craftsman

Chapter 6 - Pathfinder (Part 1)

It was not impossible for a qualified combat magician to be a magic engineer instead, but the same couldn't be said the other way around. Magic engineering was normally being chosen by magicians with lower mana affinity after all.

Although magicians with lower mana affinity could be in combat, they would normally fail to become a licensed combat magician.

"I'm not quite sure as well, but I heard it in passing."

"I see, but our academy doesn't have the best quality of equipment in artifact forging, if she really plans to build a foundation in magic engineering, I believe their family can afford her to study at Mystic Gate Academy."

'It was two cities away but that should be a minor concern.' Wallace added in his mind.

It was not bizarre for 2nd year student to change course. Academies permitted those changes as they let the magician decide their career.

It may also be the reason why during the first year in the academy, they were being taught general knowledge for both courses with only a few discrepancies. In the first year, both combat class and artifact forging class were being taught from their foundation and were completing practical classes.

Combat magicians were required to at least have a general knowledge of artifact forging as that would prove helpful in the long run for a magician. There was even a saying that a good combat mage would be a good magic engineer. It could be true in some parts, as they were mostly the users of the complex magic structures. Unfortunately, studying both would only hinder one from reaching the peak of one's ability. Magic engineering consumed a lot of time to completely grasp and sometimes could be boring for others. So those combat magicians who had a chance to be licensed would quickly seize the opportunity.

Both of them were not aware of the reason why Sherly would transfer in a different course. But since she was popular, there would definitely be more news later on.

Everyone in the classroom was chatting happily as they talked about their recent vacation. At exactly 8 AM, a stocky middle-aged man wearing an instructor uniform entered and everyone was confused as this guy wasn't the one they're expecting.

"Miss Tales won't be able to guide you this semester so I'm here to guide you temporarily while she's out. For those who don't know me. I'm Garen, a new instructor here. I mainly teach complex magic structuring. Supposedly, I'll only teach 3rd years. Sigh... In your first semester, you already learned and completed multiple artifacts forging tasks, but your 4th gen artifact was made by groups. This semester, we will have to focus on practical exams and this time you'll try to create a 5th gen artifact alone."

"Eh? Sir, did I misheard you saying we'll create 5th gen artifact and we'll do it alone?"

"What happened to Ms. Tales?"

They didn't even have time to lament about Miss Tales story of leaving them when he mentioned something ridiculous. Though some concerned students asked after they remembered.

"I just did. About Ms. Tales, she has some family concerns, I'm not quite sure as well but you can ask the dean."

Instructor Garen answered with a grin on his face. As if they could meet the elusive dean.

Everyone thought that they misheard him about creating the 5th gen artifact. He just said himself that we created 4th gen by groups of students. It was six people in a group so a total of 5 groups created five 4th gen artifacts. Now you want us to complete a 5th gen alone? They could not believe it. Although they had already learned the theory, without enough practice it would be difficult for them. Especially now that they had created a 4th gen, they knew how difficult it would be.

A majority of his classmates were dumbfounded when they heard it. If he hadn't consumed 3 memory crystal prior to this, he would be raising a fuss as well. Wallace noticed that some of his classmates were uninterested even after Instructor Garen declared his intention. He thought for a bit and realized that these seven students had prominent backgrounds.

Perhaps they have consumed memory crystals as well. Wallace shook his head and thought that he was sure that they did. After all, these seven students were the top performers of the class and were all aiming to be included in the Twelve Magic Academies Competition or TMAC.

I can't slack here, with 4 months until the selection, I need to have opportunities to prove my skills.

He couldn't help being nervous. The memory crystals only provided knowledge and not practical experience after all. But the excitement was also visible in his expression as he wanted to try his skills.

When Instructor Garen finished answering some doubt of the students, he further explained.

"Although I said you will create 5th gen. It will just be some kind of simulation with a readied device, but before that - I need to know how much you've already learned."

Their excitement died down a bit after being told that it would just be a simulation. Immediately after he announced this, their desk all lit up, questions appeared on the desk, and with a touch on it using their palm, their student information appeared and their examination began as they answered the questions.

This lasted for three hours. You could only hear people typing on keyboards during this time as they diligently answered. Questions not being taught in the academy appeared quite a lot. Being a magician, they had better memory and could absorb a lot more knowledge. So with free access to the library, even though some questions weren't particularly being taught they could still answer them.

But when questions about 5th gen appeared, their pace clearly slowed down. Questions related to Mana-to-Element compatibility, Mana Conversion Theories, compound magic structuring, and even mana particle emission. With all these difficult questions, the instructor really wanted to see the limits of everyone's knowledge.

Instructor Garen collected the results in his device and he dismissed the class after telling them there would be practical ability test tomorrow. They somehow expected that practical skills were still the best way to have a grasp on someone's ability.

Homeroom classes only happened in the morning and students were allowed to use the facilities in the academy in the afternoon. Of course, the Main Artifact Forging room was not included.

Wallace and Gilbert stayed in the room and used their desk to browse through the academy website. Wallace carefully browsed information about mana infused device. Apparently, almost all electronic devices being regarded here were the ones with infused mana. Technological advancements here were still relying heavily on mana usage so alternative sources of energy were not being particularly researched.

The appearance of magic engineering with the 1st generation several centuries ago allowed normal people to use most basic mana infused materials which lasted particularly longer than those not infused.

Wallace sighed as he checked the technological advancement of this Earth. He had already witnessed the several thousand years of innovation made by human civilization so he could see that this Earth was in its infancy stage.

He still had some time before lunch in their cafeteria when he remembered something. He immediately left the classroom and headed for the library after telling Gilbert that they would meet at the cafeteria for lunch.

He reserved a room in the library and opened a computer device inside. There wasn't really surveillance in the reserved room and only the things you searched online were being monitored. But he wasn't here to browse online for something.

"Uhmm. Excuse me, you can now activate this Pathfinder you mentioned a while ago."

[ Affirmative. ]