Chapter 48: Light’s Astonishment

The assessment began, but Li Xian didn’t rush to take his test. 

Instead, he deliberately glanced at the candidate who had just said, “If you can’t last even three minutes, what kind of man are you?”

His opponent was a teaching assistant, who looked to be in his thirties.

“Give it your all,” the assistant said coolly, glancing at him with a casual tone.

“All right!” The candidate responded with some spirit, shouting as he began gathering fire-elemental energy in his hand, slowly condensing it into a fireball.

Since he hadn’t officially become a Mage yet, he didn’t even know how to fully cast a spell. 

The fireball was slow to form and shapeless, but he barely managed to release it.

However, just as he was about to launch the hard-earned fireball, the teaching assistant struck suddenly. 

Using roughly the same amount of magical power, the assistant instantly summoned three fireballs in front of him, sending them flying one after another at the candidate.

For the candidate’s level, summoning three fireballs already drained all his magic reserves—it was the absolute limit. 

The assistant knew this well, so he only released three and then stood still.

But those three fireballs were far beyond what the candidate could handle. 

He even forgot to throw out his own fireball, dumbfoundedly staring at the three incoming fireballs. 

By the time he reacted and tried to dodge, it was too late. 

All three hit him, engulfing him in flames, and the scorching heat made him writhe in pain on the ground.

The teaching assistant snorted lightly and casually flicked out a Water Sphere, extinguishing the flames.

“Three minutes? You couldn’t even last three seconds? Fail, next!”

The scene immediately intimidated the confident candidates. 

Indeed, the teaching assistants didn’t use any power beyond their own limits, but even so, the magic that they could barely muster was like a meal or a drink for the instructors—effortless and able to be cast multiple times in an instant.

This was not a fair fight at all! 

Three minutes was already a very long time.

Fortunately, unless dealing with some particularly rebellious troublemakers, the assistants would usually hold back a little—not unleashing three fireballs right away like just now. 

So as long as one stayed cautious, didn’t panic, and reacted quickly enough to dodge, they could survive the full three minutes. 

Especially for Mage candidates, given their current level and magic reserves, they could only cast a few limited spells. 

If they could withstand the full time, they could basically be declared successful.

It was a bit tougher for the Warriors. 

With the same level of strength but far less combat experience, facing the assistants was particularly challenging. 

One careless mistake could easily mean failure.

Candidates didn’t get to choose their opponents; the tests proceeded in order of their queue. 

Li Xian glanced at his own line and saw that its quality was noticeably higher than others.

Besides himself and Sara, those two sturdy guys were also in this queue, along with some talented individuals he had noticed yesterday.

Obviously, this group was made up of those who had performed better in the first round of the assessment.

Moreover, no assistant stood in front of them as examiners.

“Wait… why are you here… or rather, how did you get in here?”

Just as people in front began complaining about why their assessments hadn’t started yet, those who had identified this queue as the gathering of prodigies—searching for the rumored two exceptional geniuses, Vick and Light—finally saw something that stunned them.

They had arrived together earlier, but when entering the Academy, the staff had been hurrying them along, so they were focused on the test and hadn’t noticed Li Xian and Sara who came with them.

Now, seeing Li Xian inside the Academy and even standing in their queue, their expressions were naturally baffled.

“Why can’t I be here?” Li Xian smiled at them and said, “Why would you think that since Sara is taking the test, I wouldn’t?”

“Uh…” Vick and Light exchanged glances. 

Of course, they didn’t think Li Xian wouldn’t take the test, but in their fixed mindset, Li Xian was just a useless pretty face. 

Even if he took the test, he obviously wouldn’t pass. 

And even if he somehow got lucky…

This queue…

“Wait!” Light suddenly realized something was off. 

He had just scanned through this entire queue and noticed Li Xian was in their group.

Although this queue had both males and females, the only pair that seemed to match the rumored prodigy couple was Sara and this pretty face in front of him?

No no no, this can’t be that absurd…

No way?

Light’s confidence wavered because he knew well that Sara’s talent surpassed theirs and reached the exceptional level. 

He hadn’t forgotten that seemingly fragile, indecisive, adorable little girl already had the strength of an intermediate Warrior!

“No, no way. It can’t be him. Maybe the queue order got mixed up. It has to be that!”

Even so, he refused to believe it, shaking his head repeatedly to deny his suspicion.

“Light, what are you mumbling? The instructor’s here.” Vick, also surprised that Li Xian was in the queue, was straightforward and didn’t overthink things. 

If Li Xian really showed extraordinary talent and strength, he’d be amazed but would mainly be satisfied to finally understand why Sara liked that pretty face.

Of course, he still kept a little jealousy to himself.

Light suppressed his thoughts because, as Vick said, the instructor had arrived.

It was a real instructor, not one of the assistants present. 

Since this batch was considered a group of prodigies, it was natural that a true instructor would personally oversee the assessments.

“Is it him?” At that moment, Li Xian also shifted his gaze to the so-called instructor and immediately raised his eyebrows. 

He recognized this instructor from before.