Chapter 636: Chapter 636 - Taming the Fifth Year - First Exams - End - Part 2

EXAM 6: Public Crisis Administration: compassionate but pragmatic.

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EXAM 9: Protocol for Assigning Minor Titles: perfect again

One after another, Ren navigated each exam with the same grace he’d shown in his initial presentation. Like a dancer who’d practiced the same routine for years, every movement flowing into the next.

In the upper stands, Aldric Galehart had progressively sunk deeper into his seat with each passed exam. His jaw was tense, muscles jumping beneath his skin showing the biggest stress of his life. His hands were clenched into fists on his knees, and his lips were pushed thin together as a signal of internal screaming.

Seiya didn’t dare speak. Every time he opened his mouth to comment on something, his father silenced him with a look. The kind of look that promised consequences for breaking the tense silence.

Jin Strahlfang, seated several rows down, also watched with an increasingly bitter expression. He had passed nine out of ten in his own exams with great difficulty, each one a battle that had left him exhausted. Seeing Ren execute perfection after perfection was like salt in a wound that had never completely healed.

The resentment was now like a living thing coiling in his chest.

Other nobles interested in seeing Ren fail shifted uncomfortably in their seats too. They whispered to each other. Tried to find some explanation, some reason, some way to dismiss what they were witnessing.

Ren... a former peasant executing protocols with perfection that rivaled exemplary nobles from generations of breeding and training...

It was unnatural. Too abnormal.

The kind of thing that threatened the entire foundation of what they believed about nobility, about inherent superiority, about the natural order of things.

And that highly unorthodox young man had reached the end...

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"Exam ten," the evaluator announced, his voice no longer showing the fatigue after hours of evaluations. Thanks to the wildly unexpected performance by Ren that had given him something close to a jumpscare. "Seal Activation for Integration of New Royal Policies."

EXAM 10: SEAL ACTIVATION FOR INTEGRATION OF NEW ROYAL POLICIES

This was the last one. The closing exam that all nobles had to master. The ability to officially seal documents with the emblem of their house or position was fundamental for any administrative function.

Without it, you couldn’t make official declarations. Couldn’t validate contracts. Couldn’t exercise the legal authority your rank provided.

An assistant approached Ren with a silver tray. Upon it rested four elements: a formal rolled document, a ’magical activation ink’ pen, a seal of wax already prepared, and a small crystal carved with intricate patterns... the ’official test emblem’ used by newly designated nobles until they established their own heraldic symbols.

The crystal caught the light, refracting it across the silver surface.

"Seal the document appropriately," the evaluator instructed, his voice carrying the weight of final judgment. "Standard procedure. Correct emblem use, clean activation of mana pattern, clear impression in the wax."

Ren nodded, taking the emblem carefully. His movements were controlled, precise, showing none of the nervousness that was expected.

It was a beautiful crystal. Approximately half the size of his palm, carved with extreme precision in an octagonal form. The patterns on its surface glowed softly under the auditorium’s light, geometric designs of ancient craftsmanship.

"Royal authority takes precedence over local traditions," Ren began, answering the final exam’s question while preparing the seal. His voice was clear, modulated perfectly, repeating word for word what Luna had said in her own exam earlier.

"My responsibility as a noble of the kingdom is to implement the royal decree effectively while working to minimize social disruption..."

He wrote with the pen words that couldn’t be seen yet, invisible ink that would only reveal itself when the seal activated. Meanwhile, he continued describing the implementation process, his hands moving with confidence as he positioned the emblem over the prepared wax.

The evaluators listened, some taking notes, others simply observing with the bored expression of those who had already heard this perfect answer several times today. Luna had given the same response. Klein had given the same response. Any competent noble would give the same response because it was the only correct one.

"...Loyalty to the kingdom is primary," Ren concluded, and began channeling mana toward the emblem.

This procedure was supposedly the most complex, but this part was the simplest for someone like Ren.

His flowing mana passed through the patterns carved in the crystal, activating the specific "password" coded in its structure.

This emblem code was general, used for testing. But house emblems would have unique patterns keyed to the user’s specific mana signature. The emblem would then transmit that pattern to the wax and ink, activating the ink to show its color with the mana vibration and creating a unique impression in the wax that ’couldn’t’ be falsified.

It was elegant. Ancient technology that worked through mana rather than mechanics.

Ren felt his mana flowing toward the crystal. Felt the patterns resonating, beginning to activate...

And then he felt something else.

Something was wrong with the flow. Ren’s mana was a bit different from normal...

It was too fast, too aggressive. It was the fault of... The jade energy from the seed.

His broken seed, still active in his system despite being encysted, was filtering energy outward. And that energy, faster and more aggressive than common mana, was...

The realization came a fraction of a second too late to stop it.

CRACK.

The sound resonated in the silent auditorium like thunder. Like the world breaking.

The crystal in Ren’s hand fractured. Rupture lines extended from the center toward the edges, glowing briefly with jade light before the complete emblem disintegrated into fragments.

Tiny pieces of what should have been indestructible crystal.

Ren froze, staring at the crystal pieces falling from his hand toward the silver tray with tinkling sounds that seemed obscenely loud in the absolute silence.

The entire auditorium held its breath.

This couldn’t happen. Never happened.

The emblems were ’artifacts’, but in reality they were just crystals carved by the civilization that created the ruins where they were found. Ancient technology that had survived millennia.

Crystals...

All of which could withstand enormous amounts of mana. Selphira used them. The King had used them. The princes activated them regularly without problems. Even using the pattern incorrectly would simply fail to activate the seal or cancel the activation if you made mistakes in more advanced parts of the process.

But breaking the emblem from the beginning...

Such a thing had never been heard of.

The crystals were designed to channel power. They should have been able to handle anything Ren could produce, even with his abnormal power levels.

Should have.

Ren was without doubt abnormal.

That abnormality, that excessive power, had decided to turn against him at the worst possible moment.