The Golem Mage

729: 1st Test 6.

729: 1st Test 6.

“Can I begin now?” Lucas asked, snapping Duran out of his trance, the instructor had been so focused on Alec that he forgot to start the trial.

It wasn’t entirely Duran’s fault; after checking Lucas and confirming he was at the High Tier 5 Mage Realm, curiosity compelled him to use his Spirit Eyes to analyse Alec as well, however, what he discovered left him stunned, Alec had erected a circular mental shield around himself, preventing any external observation of his realm.

This development was shocking to Duran, as such a feat was something even most low Tier 6 Mages struggled to achieve, Typically, mages only began cultivating their mental abilities upon entering Tier 6 Mage realm, using specialized facilities like the Mental Cultivation Building at the War God Mage Academy.

Mental cultivation was notoriously slow and gruelling, requiring years of effort even with advanced resources, that is why mages of less privilege clans ended up needing years before they could enter the High ranks.

And now Alec, who is barely sixteen years old, had already mastered such control over his mental abilities was nothing short of extraordinary, Duran had witnessed several impressive feats today, but none compared to this moment, and that is why he didn’t bother to continue prying as that way he would alert Alec.

“Yeah, you can begin,” Duran finally said, shaking off his thoughts.

Alec’s abilities were too enigmatic to dwell on, and he turned his attention back to Lucas.

Lucas took a deep breath, drawing his fist back, the air around him swirled, converging toward his hand, as he focused, his Qi manifested, shifting from its typical transparent bluish hue to a brilliant golden glow.

[Qi Conversion – Ki Manifestation]

While many mages lacked the knowledge on how to manifest Ki, members of battle clans were the exception.

These clans emphasized Qi control, ensuring their descendants mastered it to the point where they would eventually awaken Ki in the future, as it was a sign of becoming an amateur Ki master.

As the golden Ki enveloped Lucas’s fist, the crowd’s attention shifted to his master, Cedric, a mage renowned for following the battle path with unyielding focus.

Seeing the stares and nods directed his way, Cedric knew everyone was silently praising him for his teaching abilities and the talent of his disciple, what they didn’t realize was that he, too, was in the dark about Lucas awakening Ki Manifestation.

While Cedric had mastered Ki Manifestation himself and planned to teach it to Lucas someday, the opportunity never arose.

Lucas had always been a busy sort of disciple, constantly seeking fights or entering seclusion whenever he returned to his master’s peak mountain.

Had he not prioritized training over fame, he might have already challenged Cedric’s chief disciple for the top spot.

Swish!

Bang!

The sound of Lucas’s punch colliding with the monolith reverberated like a tiger’s roar, the crowd watched in stunned silence as the white light surged past the first three bars with blazing speed.

Even as it entered the fourth bar, it only slowed slightly before dashing into the fifth, moving effortlessly from low to mid, then from mid to high.

Gasps echoed as the light reached the peak of the fifth bar, marking the first Peak Fifth Bar result of the day, but it didn’t stop there, the light broke into the sixth bar, stabilizing at the low sixth bar.

At that moment, Lucas’s student badge began to change, the navy blue Captain’s rank was replaced with burgundy, a deep red with hints of purple, signifying a monumental milestone.

The realization dawned on every first year student present, that the first Major Rank Student of their year had been born, and he achieved it as a High Tier 5 Mage.

Lucas’s aura spilled out as he withdrew his fist, causing his cultivation realm to astonish the crowd.

However, the bigger shock came from his test result, which revealed that his physique was an entire realm ahead of his cultivation level.

The implications of such a feat left everyone in awe.

They hadn’t even realized that surpassing their realm in the strength test could lead to an upgrade in their rank.

Lucas was the first to reveal this hidden mechanism, opening their eyes to the possibilities.

The second years initially believed that their superior battle experience, exposure to bloodshed, and longer time spent learning spells made them inherently better than the first year’s despite the overwhelming result the first year group of Alec had been getting.

However, Lucas’s result shattered those excuses, leaving no room for doubt about the growing superiority of the younger class.

“Hmm,” Lucas muttered, looking slightly perplexed as though he still had more to give.

“Would you like to try again?” Duran asked, noticing the expression on his face.

“No, this much is enough for now,” Lucas replied with a casual shrug, as he walked down from the stage, tapping Alec on the shoulder before heading toward the second test venue.

The Dean observed the group with a mixture of astonishment and curiosity, wondering how they had made such tremendous progress in just one week after returning to the academy.

He assumed that the intense pressure of the inter-academy competition had pushed them to new heights.

Selene, however, understood the real reason as she had been with them the longest at the capital, the group had consumed a significant number of Top Quality pills, which should have propelled them to higher realms.

However, their bodies, which are still adapting to such strong pills, had absorbed the pills’ energy gradually, with the residual potency stored in their mana pools.

If they had used low-quality pills, the residual energy would have been wasted, but since the pills were of the highest quality, the stored potency remained, waiting to be fully utilized.

And after their intense battles at the capital against the Demonkins, most of them came close to a breakthrough with the residual energy pushing for it, yet, instead of rushing forward, they focused on stabilizing their foundations for the entire week since their return.

Beatrice was an exception though, she channelled the residual pill potency into her live puppets, such as her Croc demonic beast and the flaming swordsman puppet, resulting in significant power increases for her puppets.

This strategic advantage meant that, in a real battle, Beatrice might still outclass Lucas despite not matching his realm or combat instincts.

The same also applied to Lucas, who hadn’t even used his spirit equipment set, for them, showing off wasn’t the goal, their focus was simply to pass the test and move on, leaving all the scheming and strategy to Alec.

“I guess it’s finally my turn,” Alec said with a calm smile as he stepped forward, raising his right hand toward the monolith.