19 Phase 1

After leaving Elina, Michael returned to the admission center to check what number was being tested.

"Hello again. What number is being tested right now?" asked Michael, the same receptionist from before.

"459 is being tested right now. Remind me, what was your number?" asked the receptionist.

"it's 462," replied Michael.

"Hmm, it would be better to wait here because some numbers have not been tested. They seemed too anxious or afraid even to start the first test, so you better not leave cause you might lose your turn," advised the receptionist.

"Oh, I see. Thank you," replied Michael and left to find a seat.

Upon finding an accessible seat, he sat down and waited patiently, not letting his thoughts drift off to any previous events.

After around half an hour of waiting, the receptionist called, "Number 462, your examination is starting."

Michael stood up, went to the receptionist, gave her the piece of paper that showed his number, and walked inside the examination room while the receptionist wished him good luck.

Upon entering the room, he was greeted by a person who probably is a professor at the academy. He mostly looked exhausted, not physically but mentally, mostly by testing the previous 461 participants. Michael then sat before the professor's desk and waited for the professor to explain what will the exam be like because he was writing something on a paper, probably for the previous participant.

"I'm professor Allister, and I will conduct the first part of your examination. Even if your answer is wrong, you may continue, but you will be graded accordingly. Any questions before we begin?" asked the professor.

"Hello, professor Allister. I'm Michael Dacre. No, I don't have any questions," replied Michael, and as soon as he told the professor his name, he saw a slight change in his expression, most likely because his name was known in the upper echelons of the society, even more so after his birthday party and the duel between him and John.

"Very well then. For the first part, I will show you some pictures, and I want you to point out what you find odd about them," said the professor, who took out two pictures and laid them in front of Michael.

'What is this? An IQ test?' thought Michael while looking at the pictures before him.

The first one was just a picture of a forest with different species of animals, a small river, and an open grassland field.

'Nothing seems too odd about this one. Everything in the picture can be found in a forest, but wait, is this timed?' thought Michael and asked the professor, "Is the first part timed?"

"Good guess. Yes, it's timed, and the faster you solve it, the better your scoring will be," said the professor.

'I see. I can't find something odd about this one. Should I use mana since the first part was originally a theory test revolving around mostly mana theories? But how? Oh wait, I can infuse mana in my eyes as I do with any part of my body, but with moderation, since it might backlash and hurt my eyes,' thought Michael and started infusing some mana in his eyes, slowly increasing the amount.

'Oh, it seems he got it fast. Maybe the rumors about his genius were not that exaggerated,' thought the professor, looking at Michael more interestingly.

As soon as Michael found the right amount of mana to infuse in his eyes, the picture changed, for the most part. The sky changed from blue to a light shade of green, the river stayed the same, the grasslands became barren, and the animals transformed into mana beasts.

'Still nothing too out of place. The sky could become green if the sun, as a star changed, the mana beasts seem okay, the grasslands became barren, could happen, and the river… oh wait, how can there be barren grasslands while there is a river is passing through?' thought Michael and immediately told the professor the answer that he found.

"The river is the odd one out," said Michael.

"Explain how you came to that conclusion. Your explanation will matter," replied the professor.

"At first, nothing seemed too out of place, so I thought I should use mana to enhance my eyes. As soon as I did that, the picture changed from the blue sky to light green, from ordinary animals to mana beasts from the grasslands that became barren, and finally, the river that stayed the same. At first, again, nothing seemed too out of place, but then I thought, how can there be a river and barren grasslands simultaneously? So the answer was obvious," replied Michael.

"But why didn't you choose the barren lands with the same logic you used?" asked the professor.

"Because the river was the only thing that stayed the same on both sides of the picture," replied Michael.

"Okay. Continue with the next picture," said the professor and started writing something on the piece of paper.

The second picture was a view from a cliff where you could see the ocean. This picture was plainer than the previous one. Michael again infused mana in his eyes and began examining the picture before him.

'Oh, it seems that I need less mana to view this picture in comparison to the first one. Maybe they also want to test the control we have over our mana,' thought Michael and continued his examination of the picture, which now had stayed completely the same except for the sky that changed from bright blue to starry one.

'Hmm, everything seems in order this time. Nothing changed except for the sky. Maybe I should focus more there,' thought Michael, taking another look at the starry sky.

After about a minute of staring at the picture, Michael suddenly spoke, "This star right here should not be there," said Michael while pointing at a star in the picture.

"Explain further," said the professor.

"From what I know, this constellation should ursa major, and its `tail` only has three stars, whereas, in the picture, there is one extra," replied Michael.

"Have you studied astronomy?" asked the professor with a bit of anticipation.

"Just a little since I found it interesting," replied Michael.

"Very well. You can continue to the next part of the exam," replied the professor while writing something on the same piece of paper.

'Who would have thought that casually learning one constellation in my previous life could help me in this world? But how can the same constellation exist in two different worlds? Let's not think about that now. I should focus on the exam for now,' thought Michael while walking out the door to the next phase of the first exam.

As soon as Michael left the room, the professor muttered to himself, "Who would have thought that there would be a student who would answer both questions correctly and at a record time at that, for now at least. I should inform the headmaster about this," said the professor and then waited for the next participant to arrive.