Sinseki Era – Year -21
[Northern Nations · Äußerst]
…
In the blink of an eye, half a month had passed.
When the old monk once again pushed open the door of the monastery, he was surprised to find that the entire place—from top to bottom, including desks, chairs, and bookshelves—had been meticulously cleaned.
Even the books on the shelves showed signs of having been neatly reorganized.
But what most caught the old man's attention was a stack of notes deliberately placed in plain sight.
He stepped forward, picked them up, and flipped through them. The notes clearly listed the reorganized book sequence and indicated which books had already been transcribed by this mysterious guest.
Seeing this, the old monk chuckled and shook his head. "Well now, I never imagined… During my absence, this little monastery would welcome a like-minded soul."
"Truly, a wonderful thing."
At the end of the notes, the mysterious visitor had left an apology for the intrusion and noted that cleaning the monastery served as compensation for his days of lodging.
Glancing around at the spotless surroundings, the old monk nodded repeatedly.
Following the instructions in the notes, he pulled one of the transcribed books from the shelf and began comparing it with the original to verify the quality of the copy.
"Not bad. Complete content, tidy handwriting, and accurate annotations."
"All transcription criteria are met with excellence. Even by senior monk standards, this is a manuscript worthy of preservation."
"What a shame… that I didn't get to meet him."
The old monk sighed with a touch of regret. "My years are limited. This monastery really ought to be passed down to someone kindred."
…
Wandering through the streets of Äußerst, Gut suppressed his magical presence as much as possible.
The city, already stirred by Serie's announcement of the Continental Magic Association, had reached a feverish level of excitement—like a festival in full swing.
Where once magical signatures were rare, Gut now detected four or five in his field of vision alone.
Serie's charisma as the "old mage" was truly astounding.
Pulling down the brim of his hat, Gut nodded politely to those mages who sensed his presence, then quickly moved on.
Having managed to preserve the effect of his Secluded from the World trait, there was no way he would grow careless now.
Thanks to his familiarity with the streets of Äußerst, Gut made his way swiftly toward the designated location of the examination.
Truthfully, there wasn't much need for street knowledge. The entire city was moving in one direction.
Among the crowd were many mages aiming to take the examination—but most were simply curious locals coming to witness the event.
With a body trained to a warrior's standard, Gut easily outpaced most and arrived early at the site designated by the Continental Magic Association.
Yet even so, looking at the swelling crowd, Gut couldn't help but sigh.
The sun had only just risen—how early had these people arrived?
Thankfully, most of the crowd was made up of Äußerst locals. Once Gut revealed he was a mage, they instinctively cleared a path for him.
After expressing his thanks, Gut swiftly made his way through and reached the entrance of the venue—a magnificent hall designated for the First Mage Examination.
It was still too early for the exam to begin. A few armored guards stood outside the hall, blocking the entrance.
Ahead of Gut, over twenty mages were already lined up.
And that was no small number.
In the future, when Frieren took the first-class mage exam, there were only about two thousand mages across the entire continent.
Right now, with the Demon King recently defeated and the war with demons ongoing, the number of mages was somewhat higher.
Even so, Gut estimated the total wouldn't exceed five thousand.
And most of those were still apprentice mages.
True battle-ready mages were rare in any era.
Yet among the twenty-plus standing ahead of Gut, only four or five were apprentices—and they were all at the very front of the line.
Clearly, these few had shown up before dawn.
Gut shook his head with a chuckle. He could guess their intentions.
No doubt they wanted to demonstrate sincerity by arriving early, hoping it might compensate for any shortcomings in talent or strength.
In fact, that was likely true for all of the mages ahead of him.
Unfortunately for them, their little plan would probably amount to nothing. Serie's standard for taking disciples was talent above all.
Those standing rigid in "military posture" since dawn would've been better off sitting down and meditating, restoring their body and spirit.
Gut didn't care about others' gazes. He plopped down cross-legged and calmly closed his eyes to rest.
Unlike their "diligence over talent" mindset, Gut had come early for only one reason—to get this wait over with as soon as possible.
If he didn't start engaging with the outside world soon, he feared his personality would truly become warped.
Still, Gut was a bit curious.
Mages from across the Northern and much of the Central Nations had come for this.
Even if they only represented a small fraction of the overall population, it was still a substantial number.
Would Serie personally interview them all?
This was the first exam, after all—the Continental Magic Association had no branches to pre-screen apprentices, and Serie didn't yet have trusted disciples to share the examiner role.
So, how would Serie handle it?
The answer came soon enough.
About half an hour later, the scheduled start time of the First Mage Examination arrived.
The guards outside the hall stepped aside, revealing the path to the entrance. But before the first apprentice could rush forward in excitement—
A hemispherical barrier expanded swiftly from within the hall.
In the blink of an eye, it engulfed the entire building.
Even the nearby guards were gently but irresistibly pushed back, ending up outside the barrier.
"…What is this?"
The apprentices at the front swallowed nervously and muttered.
Among the crowd were seasoned mages, who quickly recognized the magic surrounding the hall.
"This is Barrier Magic, developed by Lady Flamme, the progenitor of human magic."
"Many cities use it to defend against demon invasions."
"However…"
One mage frowned bitterly. "This is the first time I've seen a barrier used to keep people out."