Chapter 5: The Unexpected Examinee

At first, Christine didn’t take this sudden transfer exam seriously.

It’s probably just another noble child, she thought.

But contrary to her expectations, the examinee turned out to be a little girl under ten years old, dressed in simple cloth clothes—nothing like a noble.

Only then did she become somewhat interested.

And after seeing the girl’s confident and determined gaze, she even felt a fondness for her.

She even entertained the idea of going easy on her to let her pass…

But as it turned out, she had been worrying too much.

This little girl didn’t need her to hold back at all.

All the constructed golem statues had been destroyed, with no magical fluctuations in the vicinity but a dense aura of vital energy. That meant the opponent hadn’t used magic to detonate the golems. Christine could also tell that the little girl’s mana seemed to be entirely concentrated on her body—was it a spell to enhance physical abilities?

Regardless, she had used some profound technique to achieve the effect of destroying all golems with a single punch.

Remarkable. Beyond remarkable, Christine couldn’t find any other words to describe it.

“That’s amazing, Liya.”

“Thank you, Teacher Christine.”

Liya bowed and said.

Seeing her so humble, a question suddenly popped into Christine’s mind: That little girl earlier—did she say that if she didn’t go all out, she wouldn’t be worthy of being her opponent?

As if possessed, Christine suddenly said:

“Strictly speaking, you’ve passed. But Liya, are you interested in an extra round?”

“Extra round?” Liya tilted her head in confusion.

“Yes, I’ll go all out, and we’ll fight again. Of course, win or lose, you’ll still have passed the test. It’s just a personal proposal of mine. What do you say?”

As soon as she finished, Christine suddenly felt a dampness on her back—was she… sweating?

“Okay, it’s settled.”

When she came to her senses, the little girl before her had already broken into a smile. Cute canine teeth peeked out, and her delicate, doll-like face twisted oddly, no longer carrying her earlier innocence. Instead, it was replaced by a blazing passion and momentum like raging fire.

“Let’s have round two, teacher. I’m looking forward to it.”

“Alright then… let’s begin.”

“—Let’s settle this!”

Uttering the phrase she had loved in her past life, Liya stomped hard on the ground. This time, she chose not to defend but to charge. The protective spell of Adamantine Force clung to her small body once more, granting her wrists enough monstrous strength to twist steel. An ordinary person would probably be incapacitated with just one punch.

But Christine wouldn’t meet Liya head-on.

Unlike martial artists, Christine was a standard mage, not skilled in fist and foot techniques.

“Child of man, bind yourself to the earth.”

With a simple incantation, an immense weight instantly pressed down on Liya. Her thunderous charge came to a halt, and her agile movements slowed manyfold.

‘A gravity manipulation spell?!’

At this point, Liya understood. Among the four elements—earth, water, wind, and fire—Christine was undoubtedly an earth-attribute mage. As such, she had a corresponding countermeasure.

Mana flowed out, rapidly forming an arrangement of runes. The meaning was:

[This body belongs to heaven, is subordinate to earth; evil esoteric arts shall not touch this frame.]

Mana dispersed, instantly dispelling the surrounding earth-elemental mana. Gravity control relied on that mana to take effect—by dispersing it, gravity naturally returned to normal. The moment her body regained lightness, Liya applied force to the soles of her feet and stepped forward.

“?!?!”

In Christine’s eyes, Liya’s figure vanished without a trace. Before she could react, the little girl who had been ten meters away was already within one meter of her. Even stranger, without any mana, her feet were floating in midair!

“Hah!”

Landing, then jumping again, this time Liya leaped directly over Christine’s head and delivered another beautiful kick aimed at Christine’s temple!

“Disperse.”

“?!?!”

This time, Liya was the one taken aback. What should have been a decisive surprise attack failed to hit the opponent; suddenly, a massive repulsive force burst out from Christine’s surroundings, sending Liya, who was midair, flying backward. Although she wasn’t injured, her ambush had been easily neutralized.

“Pretty impressive, Liya. I don’t know how you did it, but managing to achieve this without magic—you’re a genius.”

“…Teacher, your magic just now was quite impressive too.”

In just a moment, Liya understood that as a mage, Christine was far from ordinary. Casting magic with a single word—a feat of rapid incantation—was definitely not something your average person could achieve. It was similar to Liya’s own rune magic in effect, but more powerful and less consuming.

If that was the case, surprise attacks were useless. Unless she increased her speed or strength, she probably couldn’t even get close to Christine.

Just as Liya began to devise a strategy, Christine struck first.

“Collapse.”

The ground shattered! The earth beneath her feet cracked open violently, and then five stone pillars rose from the deep, converging like a giant palm closing in on Liya! There was no warning—Christine cast the spell with a single word!

Boom! Liya, caught off guard, was crushed by the closing palm—

“Hah!”

Vital energy exploded outward, and the granite palm shattered like the golem statues before. Liya landed unscathed, her body surrounded by floating Adamantine Force talismans. She rotated her wrist, eliciting a crisp sound from her bones.

This was the second time Christine had witnessed it, and through her sensitivity to her own spells, she could roughly discern the prototype of this technique.

“It’s something like internal force, isn’t it? Not bad at all.”

“Teacher actually has considerable martial talent. Would you like to learn?”

“Haha.”

Christine laughed heartily for the first time in a while, then decisively withdrew her mana.

“Alright, alright, no more fighting. Let’s stop here.”

Facing Christine’s action, Liya—furrowed her brows. What did she mean? Just stopping like that?

“Don’t make that dissatisfied face. You’ll have plenty of time to fight in the future… Besides, you can’t beat me right now. I don’t want to become a bad teacher who gives students physical punishment. Yes, that’s it. You’ve passed.”

“………………”

Can’t beat her. Liya pouted a bit sensitively, but in the end, she put away her stance as Christine had said. Though she was very unwilling, to avoid causing too much trouble for Sister Ailiya, she tried her best to suppress her fighting spirit.

“Alright, since it’s over, let’s go out. You’ve passed.”

“…Yes, teacher.”

So far, she had performed well enough, right? Yes, very good.

“Little Liya is amazing. You’ll surely grow into a great beauty.”

“…”

Liya’s brows instantly furrowed, veins bulging. ‘Grow into a great beauty’…

Turning around, Liya looked at Christine and said very seriously:

“Teacher, if I said I’m a boy, would you believe me?”

“…Huh?!”

This was Christine’s third surprise of the day—or rather, shock.