Chapter 19 "It's not a finished product, it's my own design."

It was too late for Edith to notice what was happening behind her.

Hedda apparently didn't notice the sudden danger. It happened so suddenly that the shiny fragments rushed into the 10cm range around her unimpeded, flashing a dazzling red light.

...It's over. The backup plan was used on the first day.

Edith glanced around, weighed the benefits of rushing over to block the attack, and sighed helplessly.

I'm not panicking, it's just...

She judged the power of the red fragments, took a step back and covered her eyes.

"Bang!"

The airflow carrying the debris suddenly stopped a finger's width away from the surface of Heda's skin, as if isolated by an invisible barrier, and then dissipated in all directions.

But the fragment did not stop. It fell to the ground and exploded quickly, splashing out bright red sparks. Fortunately, Joyce arrived in time and pressed it under him, avoiding greater damage.

However, since Joyce controlled the explosion, he naturally could not control another accident that occurred at the same time.

At the moment of the explosion, the magic circle on Heda's ear instantly floated into the air, as if it was redrawn by a golden pen. A wind as powerful as the previous one swept from inside to outside, carrying the fragments that were bounced by the ground and still exuding magic. Under everyone's eyes, it penetrated the ashes and shot into Thompson's left shoulder.

In an instant, everything was bloody and blurry.

The spoiled young master hadn't realized what was happening yet. Everything happened so fast that it didn't cause any pain, and it simply made him take two steps back. He looked down blankly, and saw the arm with blackened edges, bright red inside, and white bones in the middle. He realized belatedly that it was his hand.

How could it happen? How could it explode on me?

“Aaaaaaaaaaah!”

The moment he realized his injury, he felt pain again. The scorched skin on the outside felt like it was being pricked by needles, and a constant burning sensation rushed to the blood vessels in the middle. He screamed and subconsciously covered the wound to stop the bleeding, but directly wiped off the crispy skin on the outside.

The thin piece that broke into pieces when pinched was stuck to Thompson's palm. He took a look at it, screamed even more miserably, sat down on the ground, and rolled his eyes, as if he was about to fall asleep.

"Don't move!"

Joyce frowned. This injury was not simple at first glance, and her other consciousness was still wandering in various corners of the dense forest. She could not use her full ability, so she could only cast two simple healing spells. "It's useless... What kind of magic circle is this!"

These old antique families secretly kept ancient magic arrays, which came with restrictions that were difficult to remove, and she was helpless even with her high-level healing skills.

"I, I don't know, it hurts, ah——" Thompson was so scared that he was at a loss, "My brother, it was my brother who gave it to me, I don't know, help me!"

"I don't want to be a cripple!"

"Okay, I'll save you."

Joyce was so angry that she laughed at his self-righteous attitude. She raised her eyebrows and waved her wand lightly. A neat gap immediately broke under Thompson's shoulder, and the whole arm with the wound fell to the ground.

The injury is no longer on him, and the treatment was perfect.

"ah!"

This scream was more of fear than pain. Thompson looked down and saw his hands, and howled like a pig being slaughtered. The nobles at the scene and outside all frowned.

Even though the situation was not optimistic at the moment, and even though the boy in the picture was so badly injured, they still had only one thought in their minds:

——How inelegant!

"Shut up."

Joyce looked at his painful face with interest, and finally mercifully cast a sense-blocking spell and a simple healing spell.

After all, he was the president, so the spell took effect quickly. The bleeding stopped quickly, and the white bandage wrapped the wound while the wounded man was in so much pain that he couldn't move, and the wand was shaken to wrap it. The wound was covered, the pain subsided, and Thompson finally came back to life, stopped talking, and leaned against the bushes with a pale face.

Great... Control the injury, and wait for the family wizard to arrive. The arm should be able to be saved.

"During the exam, no props other than wands are allowed. This includes drawn magic circles, scrolls with magic spells, etc. All items used must be made by the team members themselves." Seeing that the other party had calmed down, Joyce slowly spoke and read out the exam regulations she had issued not long ago. "So, did you draw this magic circle yourself?"

Thompson was silent for a long while before he spoke: "My brother taught me, but I drew it myself."

He still didn't want to admit it, so he lowered his head, bit his lips tightly, and didn't say another word.

"So you drew it yourself, really amazing." Joyce was not angry, he praised without any emotion, turned around and was about to leave, "I believe you can independently remove the restrictions above and give yourself a healthy arm - I won't interfere, I will inform your family later that they don't need to come."

"No, wait!"

Seeing Joyce was leaving, Thompson was completely panicked. The exam was still four and a half days away, and he couldn't survive this injury for that long. Between permanent disability and a year of failure in the exam, he closed his eyes and chose the latter.

"No, it wasn't me...My brother gave it to me directly. I broke the rules and brought in the finished product." He gritted his teeth and said, "Please allow someone from my family to come in and treat me."

At worst, I can just work harder next time and raise my score.

"No need." Joyce didn't even glance at the other party. She casually took off the earring from Hedda's ear and observed the light between the leaves. "Your qualification for the exam is invalid. Someone will come in and take you away later. The wizard sent by your family is waiting for you at the entrance of the academy."

"Don't bother them to come in and disturb other students taking their exams. You can go out by yourself."

Thompson looked up in disbelief.

Just... go out?

"Violating the rules will only result in deducting points. You don't have the power to directly cancel my qualification!"

Directly disqualified from the exam? How could that be possible? This would make his family a laughing stock in the capital. Also, in previous years, the examiners would turn a blind eye to the candidates' noble status. This year, the family should have established good relations, so why were they suddenly so strict?

"The attack power of the magic circle is too strong. The secondary attack after the explosion can still injure you, not to mention the direct power." Joyce moved his eyes away from the earrings and said lightly, "I am the chief examiner. I am now worried that you have other items that may endanger the safety of other candidates, so I am exercising my privilege to expel you."

“I have to ensure the interests of the majority.”

Edith raised her eyebrows. Joyce, this is a very clever statement, directly shifting the responsibility to other nobles, and the family behind Thompson will not be able to get angry in the future.

Anyone who can sit in this position must have strong social skills.

"I am the future marquis, you have no rights!"

Thompson was so angry that he spoke without thinking, forgetting his father who was not dead and his brother who was the first in line. He was so stupid that everyone present blinked.

Since you can’t win the argument with your mouth, you start using your power to pressure others?

"It was so scary!" Hedda was too lazy to argue. She just covered her chest at the right time and fell weakly into Edith's arms. "I almost got hurt."

"Oh, if my 'Duke father' knew about this, he would definitely be sad."

She emphasized the word "Duke", elongated the ending sound, and pushed Thompson's words back into her throat.

...Damn it, the person he almost hurt was the only one present whose family status was higher than his!

"What about her? She also broke the rules!" Thompson was so angry that he suddenly thought of something and turned to Heda. Two rays of light suddenly shot out of his eyes. "She also brought a finished product and used it to block the attack. She should also be disqualified. Let's go out together!"

Joyce couldn't treat everyone equally.

Joyce frowned. She didn't like people who seized on other people's small mistakes and compared them with their own big mistakes.

But he had no choice but to turn his head slightly and ask in a routine manner, "Hedda, did you design this magic circle yourself?"

Edith's brow twitched.

Joyce used the word "design" instead of "painting" as he had just asked Thompson...

"...I drew it." Hedda glanced at Edith, unsure whether she had the finished product, and prepared to bite the bullet and accept the job.

She can take the test again next year, but Edith will lose her status as a study partner after she leaves, so she can't come in alone next year.

Joyce lowered his head and stared at Hedda's pupils with his emotionless eyes. Although Hedda's face was firm, her body trembled uncontrollably, and her guilty feeling inevitably surfaced.

The other party finally looked away.

"Not you," she pronounced icily.

Thompson's face was filled with ecstasy. He stood up shakily and rushed forward: "I said--"

“I designed it.”

Edith took a step forward and raised her eyes to meet Joyce's.

Thompson stayed where he was.

Edith ignored the person whose worldview was shattered behind her, and was not nervous. She just stood there casually, staring back at Joyce's scrutinizing gaze.

The woman's expression was calm, but the hidden interest flashed across her face. But in the eyes of outsiders, Joyce was still businesslike and serious: "Explain the principle and prove it to me."

"Absorb magic power, compress it, and then use a wind spell to bounce it out. That's it." Edith explained the structure of the magic circle in the simplest language, "This creates a rebound-like effect."

"In other words, it was Thompson's own strength that hurt him. It had nothing to do with me. I was just protecting myself." She also shirked her responsibility and attributed everything to the other party's own fault.

Joyce raised his chin and said, "Well said."

She was a little surprised that there was no rebound function in the modern spell system. After all, the magic power that came out of one's body could not attack the original owner unless the caster was willing.

The protective shields that everyone uses on a daily basis only absorb magic power and do not have the function of bouncing it away.

But this magic circle is interesting. The steps seem to be only the ones Edith just mentioned, but it is even more difficult to operate. How much magic power to absorb, to what extent to compress, how to dissolve the connection between the magic power and the original owner, and finally how to make the wind blow out in a certain direction, all require extremely detailed adjustments.

However, even when most students are learning how to use it, there are students who have already entered the creative field. Although the magic circle designed by Edith is brilliant, the principle of its use is very basic and not too unusual.

But is it true that someone who can manipulate magic power so delicately can only design this kind of magic array?

Joyce suppressed the dark color in his eyes, pondered for a moment, and finally spoke in front of everyone: "Well, I believe it, you drew it."

"Your examination qualification is retained normally and you do not need to leave the examination room."

In principle, things that have been drawn in advance do not quite meet the requirements, but as for talents, they should always be given some preferential treatment.

"You are such a biased, disgusting person!" Thompson's mother, who was worried about her son, stood up angrily when she saw Joyce treating her differently. She pointed her fan at the body Joyce left in the academy, "You are biased, the daughter of the earl, but you don't believe what my son said. The entrance examination is really unfair—"

"--But..." Joyce suddenly changed her tone at this moment. She looked to the side where there was no one, and happened to look directly at the Marquise outside the projection, which made her body tremble violently, "But... some people don't believe it."

"I can unilaterally determine that you did not violate the rules, but for the sake of your reputation, you can also choose to create a similar magic circle on the spot to prove your innocence. What do you choose?"

Even a fool knows not to prove himself!

Heda answered in her mind in a second. A successful magic circle would require countless failures and take a long time to create. If Edith really wanted to create one by hand, five days of exam time would not be enough for her.

Joyce's influence is still there. When she says Edith is right, outsiders dare not say much. At most, they may whisper a few words in private. It is much safer not to prove it themselves.

"I will prove it myself."

Edith also answered almost immediately.

Hedda turned dully in the direction of the sound.

……ah?

Joyce was obviously surprised by this answer. She raised her eyebrows slightly and asked again: "Are you sure?"

She asked this just because she didn't want to give the nobles outside a handle, but she didn't expect Edith to really choose to make another one.

"Insist on fairness and justice." Edith said seriously, "That is, let me prove myself. After all, it is you who made the request. Should the materials be provided by the college?"

"It's too slow to just rely on engraving to inject magic power. The most important thing is to speed up appropriately and ensure the test goes smoothly, right?"

Joyce suddenly had a bad feeling in her heart. The tone of voice reminded her of the group of sharp-tongued people in the association who were trying to get a budget.

...Anyway, it's not a very good memory.

"I can provide you with the most basic array materials." She considered, "...just the material you carved on the earrings."

That's enough.

Edith gave a socially acceptable smile.

"It's all up to you."

She just repeated her own magic circle design according to the requirements of outsiders, and just for safety reasons, she chose to conduct the experiment in a deeper jungle.

If, she meant if - if during the process of drawing the magic circle, she forgot the original design and made a few mistakes in writing two spells, changing the function of the original magic circle; and during the experiment, she "accidentally" encountered a demon-eating bird breaking in, and was "accidentally" trapped by the magic circle. Finally, in order to ensure that the experiment continued, she was "forced" to catch the tied bird and stuff it into her own cage -

This shouldn't be considered a violation of exam rules, right?