"Come in. You pass."
"Huh?"
Not only was the young boy cowering at the doorway surprised by this, but even Gut, standing beside his teacher, couldn't help but express mild confusion.
This was only the second candidate, and there was already someone who met his teacher's approval so quickly?
Closing the magic book in his hands, Gut curiously extended his magical power to sense this talent that his teacher had also recognized.
"His magical power is quite good, but why is his magical aura so strange..."
"It's not like a normal mage's chaotic dispersed state, but rather contracted inward and quite calm, like a stagnant pool."
"That shouldn't be right."
"Even if someone deliberately suppresses their magical response, even those like teacher and Frieren who have made it instinctual, their surrounding magical aura should still be chaotically dispersed, not this special inward-contracted magical response."
"Pop-"
A slight sound came from the air. Gut, who had been using his magical power to probe this young boy for a long time, seemed to have inadvertently triggered some taboo.
The originally calm magical power, like a stagnant pool, instantly became extremely active, beginning to race along Gut's extended magical power toward him at incredible speed!
Gut was startled and quickly cut off his magical supply while raising a layer of Defensive Magic in front of himself.
The young boy also seemed to react, hastily controlling his rioting magical power and pulling it back.
"Ting!"
The young boy's actions were ultimately a moment too slow. His overflowing magical power clashed once with Gut's Defensive Magic before he managed to draw it back.
Gut looked at the traces on his Defensive Magic, a hint of gravity flashing in his eyes.
The originally densely arranged defensive magic showed no damage from impact, nor had any defensive units collapsed.
There was only a gap.
A large section of defensive units at the point of contact had completely vanished into thin air.
As if a fatal hole had been brutally carved out of a shield.
The next moment, Gut suddenly sensed the missing magical power again.
Looking into the distance, he saw several Defensive Units had appeared out of nowhere in the young boy's hands - precisely the portion that had been stripped from his defensive magic.
Gut tried to control these Defensive Units, but helplessly discovered he could only sense them; he could no longer manipulate this magical power that originally belonged to him.
"This feeling... Sealing Magic?"
"Correct."
Serie confirmed her disciple's judgment, examining the young boy walking toward her with interest, continuing to explain:
"This type of Sealing Magic school is probably the Camm Clan active in the southern nations."
"This family has made a living sealing demons for generations, so their inherited Sealing Magic belongs to the first tier even across the entire continent."
"You lack experience fighting this type of mage, so suffering some losses is normal."
"I see."
Hearing his teacher's explanation and the hint of comfort in her words, much of the frustration in Gut's heart dissipated.
"Um... Serie."
"Did I pass your examination?"
The young boy still seemed somewhat unconfident, timidly seeking confirmation from Serie again, and instinctively shrank back when his gaze accidentally met Gut's.
"Sorry... I didn't mean to attack you. That was because of the Protective Formation on me."
"It's fine. My directly probing you with magical power was also somewhat rude."
Faced with the young boy's sudden apology, Gut waved his hand, indicating he didn't mind.
But Serie, leaning back in her chair, frowned slightly at this moment.
This child's personality was perhaps too timid, even more severe than Lernen's situation.
This wasn't the type of disciple she preferred. Serie wanted disciples with ambition.
"Tell me, what's your favorite magic?"
Looking at the boy below, Serie suddenly asked, wanting to understand his thoughts through this question.
"Ah? That question... is really hard for me to answer."
The young boy scratched his hair with a troubled expression.
Seeing this, the disappointment in Serie's eyes grew stronger, and she even began to waver about her previous decision to take him as a disciple.
Such a hesitant and timid mage would find it difficult to achieve any significant accomplishments in magic.
"I'm truly sorry, Serie."
"I really can't think of which magic I like most."
"I see."
Serie wasn't surprised by this child's answer, and the enthusiasm for taking a disciple that she'd had upon first meeting was gone from her eyes.
But after hesitating for a while, Serie still decided to accept him.
After all, this child was still young, with considerable room for character development. At worst, she could guide him slowly after taking him in.
"Um..."
The young boy's speech wasn't actually finished; it was just that Serie's presence was too overwhelming, making him stumble while standing beside her.
But after brewing for a long time, the young boy finally spoke his true thoughts.
"Serie, there's actually a reason I can't answer your question."
"In my previous study of magic, the only type of magic I could learn was Sealing Magic."
"So in my understanding, magic is just a tool for sealing demons, nothing to like or dislike about it."
"To be honest, I never fantasized about being accepted as your disciple when I participated in this mage examination. I just wanted to go out and see the outside world, to see what magic other mages use is really like."
"Whether it's more interesting than Sealing Magic, or just as boring as it - until I verify this, it's hard for me to answer."
"I see."
Though it was the same words as before, Serie's tone had clearly changed.
"Since you're still exploring, then the magical reward I promise every disciple can wait until you have an answer in your heart before you ask me for it."
"Serie, you mean... you're willing to take me as a disciple?!"
The young boy shouted in joy, his eyes lighting up.
"Sigh~"
Serie shook her head, saying helplessly, "From the moment you stepped into this hall, I don't think I ever said you were eliminated, did I?"
The young boy cheered, momentarily forgetting his shyness, waving his magic staff and celebrating in the hall, his surrounding magical power showing faint signs of instability.
Finally, Serie, annoyed by the noise, froze him in place with a glance, and his agitated magical power calmed down accordingly.
After calming down, the young boy blushed and apologized for his earlier behavior. After leaving his name, he asked if he could return home first to share the good news with his family.
Serie naturally wouldn't refuse such a request and immediately let this new disciple go home.
"Zenn Camm."
Silently repeating his new junior's name, it was indeed the Camm family surname. His teacher's judgment was truly accurate.
But Gut still had some confusion in his heart. Serie roughly sensed that her disciple had thoughts, so she didn't rush to let the next candidate come in.
"If you have questions, just ask directly. What, are you going to stumble too?"
"Not necessary." Gut denied.
"I'm just curious why you gave this child so many chances when he was also intimidated by your presence."
"Among the mages you've previously rejected, surely some had talents comparable to his."
"So, are you jealous?"
Serie asked back with interest, even specifically standing up from her chair, walking in front of Gut to examine her disciple's eyes.
"How could that be? Teacher, why would you think that?"
Faced with his teacher's shocking words, Gut was shocked mixed with helplessness, but whether he really didn't have such feelings... that was hard to say.
"Teacher, I've lived for a very long time and seen many things. I can understand many emotions."
"For example, even among family members, when a mother has a new child, the older children's psychology undergoes subtle changes."
"Perhaps they worry the new younger sibling will take away their mother's love; perhaps they think they're no longer their mother's only one?"
Gut: ...
"Teacher, you don't want me to call you mother, do you?"
"Perhaps." Serie raised an eyebrow. "Anyway, you disciples all seem like children to me."
"I refuse." Gut flatly refused.
"Teacher, if you want to experience being a mother, I can indeed help you, but definitely not in this form."
"Tsk-tsk-"
Serie's lips still carried a smile, but her eyes no longer held their previous teasing, instead dancing with dangerous light.
"Gut, you have great ambition, and I'm pleased about that."
"But the direction of your ambition is not to my liking."
"Is that so?" Gut smiled. "But some things are beyond your control, and beyond mine too, teacher."
Taking a deep look at her disciple, Serie returned to her chair and answered Gut's previous confusion.
"You ask why I gave Zenn extra chances?"
"This question isn't hard to answer, because Zenn is different from those eliminated candidates."
"When they were intimidated in front of me, it was because they feared my magical power, couldn't move, couldn't speak."
"But that child is different. His timidity and stuttering are just because he rarely communicates with people and is somewhat afraid of talking to strangers."
"Perhaps Zenn also fears my reputation somewhat, but this kind of thing is much easier to overcome compared to physiologically fearing my magical power."
"Plus he's still young, so I'm willing to give him more patience."
"I see."
After this explanation, Gut no longer had doubts and continued standing behind his teacher, watching Serie summon the next candidate for an interview.
His gaze lingered long on the elf's back. At this moment, Gut suddenly questioned his own heart.
Was he, who cared about whether Zenn, this new junior, received special care from his teacher, really as his teacher said...
Jealous, or envious?
From an angle Gut couldn't see, Serie, sitting in front, had a smile of "just as I thought" on her lips, thinking to herself:
"And he said he wasn't jealous..."
However, Serie soon couldn't smile anymore, because Gut, who had admitted in his heart that he might be jealous, immediately changed his thinking.
"I need to quickly change my identity and thoughts as a disciple."
"There can be many disciples, but there can only be one husband."
"Really, I have an ultimate goal. Getting upset because teacher might be giving special care to one disciple - what's that about? Too inappropriate!"
"Rather than thinking so much, I should get to first base early and take care of junior disciples together with teacher."
Serie: ...
No more giggling.
That evening.
As the Cathedral next door rang the timekeeping bronze bell.
In the melodious echoing of the bell, it announced that the first day of examinations at the Continental Magic Association (Headquarters) had come to an end.
As expected, Zenn's situation was an anomaly.
The quality of mages from the Central Nations was no higher than those from the Northern Nations, and in fact, was somewhat worse.
Since the Holy Capital was located in a relatively southern position within the Central Nations, those coming to take the examination weren't just mages from the Central Nations - candidates from the Southern Nations also made up a significant portion.
Take Zenn, the only one to pass Serie's examination today, as an example - he came from the Southern Nations.
However, even combining mages from the Central Nations and Southern Nations, the average quality and quantity of candidates could barely match the Northern Nations.
This phenomenon wasn't hard to understand though.
After all, the Northern Nations directly bordered demon territory, facing much fiercer demons and magical beasts than the southern regions.
In such harsh environments, the quality of mages would naturally be much higher.
After sending away the mages still waiting in line, Gut patted Zenn, who had rushed back from home, and as usual invited his junior disciples to dinner.
"Teacher, want to come along?"
"I'll pass."
Serie declined her disciple's invitation, then let out a long yawn.
"I didn't sleep all night last night. I need to go back and catch up on sleep."
"Gut, remember to wake me up on time tomorrow morning, and if possible, bring breakfast."
"No problem."
After seeing his teacher off in a carriage, Gut rubbed his junior's head twice and asked if there was anything he wanted to eat.
"Ah?! This..."
Zenn stepped back, seeming frightened by his senior's overly intimate gesture. After recovering, he said quietly:
"Anything's fine. Whatever you like to eat, senior, just take me there."
"Alright."
Seeing Zenn like this, Gut knew he wouldn't get a useful answer to this question.
So he led him onto the streets of the Holy Capital to wander around, deciding they'd eat at whatever restaurant they encountered.
Probably because of this morning's activities, the restaurants near the Cathedral were all packed, and even the occasional empty seats had been reserved by regular customers.
Helplessly, Gut had to lead Zenn into a distant alley, where seats would be easier to find.
Sure enough, that was the case.
In a restaurant in the alley specializing in seafood iron plate rice, most of the seats were still empty.
"How about this place?" Gut asked for his junior Zenn's opinion.
"Any-anything's fine, no, let's go here."
After hearing his relatively unfamiliar senior ask him a question, Zenn's body stiffened involuntarily. Without even having time to look at the restaurant's name, he nodded in agreement.
"Alright, this place it is."
Gut glanced at a server inside, who received the signal and immediately came to greet them.
However, before the restaurant server could speak his welcoming words, Gut's gaze swept toward a corner at the end of the alley.
There, it seemed like someone was dragging a human-shaped silhouette into a building.
After having junior Zenn go inside to order first, Gut immediately darted out.
At the end of the alley, an old beggar who was about to drag the "premium goods" he'd found today into his rental room for some fun heard the commotion and quickly accelerated his movements, forcefully throwing the "found" beautiful girl into his rental room and immediately trying to close the door.
"Smack!"
Just as the thick wooden door was about to close, a large hand blocked the gap, directly yanking the about-to-close wooden door away.
With a "crack," the entire wooden door was forcibly torn into two pieces under Gut's tremendous strength.
"Gulp-"
The beggar swallowed and, seeing Gut's incredibly fierce "achievement," immediately lost his fighting spirit. He kept backing away while shouting "This is the Holy Capital, don't cause trouble."
"Don't cause trouble?"
Hearing the beggar's words, Gut was somewhat amused by anger. He pointed at the unconscious beautiful girl lying on the ground and asked:
"Then explain this. Don't tell me you just picked her up from the roadside."
"I'm innocent! She really was picked up from the roadside!" The beggar loudly defended himself. "I was being kind-hearted when I brought her in. I was thinking of giving her some water so she wouldn't be taken by bad people!"
"Really? So you're saying you're a good person?"
"Of course! You have to believe me - I'm the most honest person on this street."
"Hehe."
Gut didn't want to hear a single word from this old beggar. He immediately crouched down and checked the girl's breathing with his hand.
Good, her breathing was fairly steady.
Then Gut pulled out a Spell book from his chest and immediately began casting goddess magic on the girl.
Seeing this, the old beggar immediately panicked.
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Powerstones?
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