It was already Friday morning and Jason′s whole week was filled with reading, practicing the Heaven's Hell technique, and sparring with Greg, while most of his time was occupied with the reading section.
In only five days, Jason had completely read through all 30+ books, and the last day was used to completely memorize the last subtle details.
Going to morning classes was extremely helpful as many questions tormented his mind but Mr. Greil answered them easily, helping him out a lot.
Other than that, Jason's mana core surprisingly reached almost the required mana to break through the Adept rank barrier which was a few days faster than expected but it would be quite helpful to break through into the Adept rank before Artemis finished her evolution.
Breaking through into new mana core levels and ranks would enhance Jason's body overall which included his soul, as it would also receive a small enhancement.
It was said that Novice rank breakthroughs enhanced the soul energy by around 0.1 units, while Adept ranks would give a whole point for one's soul energy.
With that in mind, Jason entered his soul world to look at the already enlarged pebble-sized soul world core with magnificent shining runes on it.
He already reached a soul energy of 13 units which was not far away from his required amount Artemis would probably require once she finished her evolution but Jason was still careful and diligently practiced the Heaven's Hell′s second level three times a day without letting a single sitting out.
There were a few times where Jason almost failed braiding his five-strand helix due to minuscule mistakes but he saved himself every time.
After almost a week passed, he repeated the five-braided helix almost 20 times and watching braid videos almost every day caused his mind to comprehend and control everything much easier.
It was still taxing but not as difficult to practice as before.
Scorpio was another small issue. It looked like he wouldn't take long until he would breakthrough into the five-star wild beast rank which needs between 8 to 10 soul energy.
If both Scorpio and Artemis were about to draw more of his soul energy at once, only trouble would await Jason.
But even if that were about to happen, Jason was relatively confident in his thick connections between him and his soulbonds.
As long as he wouldn't force them to attack others suicidal, Jason was confident to control them to a certain degree…
Even if he would force his soul beasts into a suicidal attack Jason wasn't sure if Artemis or Scorpio would sacrifice themselves.
However, that wasn't something Jason wanted to figure out at all and he would never order them to do something like that either.
Today would be the theoretical knowledge exams and a mana control test that was done to tell how high one′s mana mastery was.
It didn't matter for which of the three basic lifestyle-occupations one applied, the mana control test was the same for all three of them and could be done in one run.
In order to receive the chance to take the theoretical knowledge tests, one would have to pass the mana mastery exam first.
After passing the first test, he would be able to enter the theoretical exam, and passing the second test would allow Jason to enter the final exam, which tested the praxis, with nobody being proficient in it.
Jason was confident in himself and because of that calmly walking into his classroom with the number 54 on it.
Seeing the number, Jason smiled lightly before he looked around, only to see almost all of his classmates reading something on their holographic screen as a weird smile appeared on his face.
His classmates didn′t seem to be the smartest students, but they still wanted to give the lifestyle-occupations a try, which he admired somehow.
Jason saw Seron, who was sitting in front of his table with closed eyes.
Upon sensing a pair of eyes looking at him, he opened his eyes and greeted Jason.
He looked extremely calm and so was Jason as he greeted Seron back, before sitting down on his seat.
Upon sitting down, the front door opened and Mr. Greil walked in with a head-sized marble in his hand.
This marble would be used to test one's control over mana and different lights would indicate a superior or subpar control over mana.
There were three different tones of red which were equal to the Basic control over mana, while a lighter color indicated a better control.
Orange was equal to an intermediate control over mana while yellow represented an Advanced control over mana.
These three sections were not the only ones but it was difficult to see a higher mana control standard.
With a light yellow(Peak-Advances) control over mana, one would most likely be able to enter the magus rank at a young age.
The control over mana wasn′t the only factor to specify such a statement, but it was definitely an important one and most youths at the age of 14 with advanced control over mana would enter the magus rank sooner or later, as their potential was still developing.
It wouldn't be surprising if youths would increase their control over mana with hard work and Mr.Greil told them that almost everyone should be able to enter the Magus rank with enough hard work.
Jason wasn't so sure about that but if his teacher said that, there should be some credibility in this statement.
Once the large mana testing orb was placed in the middle of the podium, the students greeted their teacher respectfully.
"Today we′ll test everyone's control over mana. Almost all of you applied for one of the three occupations lectures and it is only obvious that you guys aren't the only ones!
This opportunity is rare to come by and the whole school was only able to afford two Rank-3 and one Rank-4 Artisan, which results in the following
Every grade is allowed to apply for the lectures and this means, that more than everyone could have more than 30.000 rivals for the lecture spots.
To ensure fairness, the higher grades need to have a higher degree of mana mastery while their knowledge has to be deeper.
While grade-1 students need only to have a peak-Intermediate mana mastery, grade-2 and 3 need to have an advanced mana mastery.
The difference in knowledge is also not that much because most students had never seen the books required to learn either of the lifestyle-occupations.
Some students may ask why the required mana mastery is so high and the answer is pretty simple.
If someone exceeded the lecturer's expectations, they might invite someone to Cyro-city′s Artisan-tower, where one is able to learn more about the basic lifestyle-occupations.
Without a certain degree of mana mastery, one will never reach higher ranks in these occupations and it is useless to nurture someone without future potential because it′s extremely expensive.
I think I've talked enough!! Let's start the testing according to the Class ranking! You all know your number, just queue up"
Mr. Greil finished talking and everyone tried to digest the information before the top-student within their class went down to have his mana mastery tested.
He was confident in himself, as he had already reached the 6-Adept rank while being 14 years.
Not only was he the highest in mana core, but his strength was also superior to everyone else which his proud face clearly demonstrated.
But after entering the inside of the mana testing orb with his senses, his facial expression was filled with shock and one could only look at the orange illuminated mana orb in front of him.
"Mid-Intermediate: failed to enter the second round" Mr.Greil announced cruelly and the youth wanted to oppose his teacher's decision when he sensed his teacher's piercing gaze.
"You don't want to make space for your classmates?" He asked with a cold but emotionless voice.
It was obvious to Till, that this youth used up a vast amount of mana stones solely to increase his mana core rank, without considering that it was equally important to absorb natures mana, due to its own characteristic.
The mana within mana-stones was rough and it wouldn′t help out to absorb too much of it at a time, because one′s mana sensitivity and control were equally important.
In the end, consistently absorbing natures mana might be less efficient but better for a long-term plan, as one′s mana control and sensitivity would increase consistently, while a short-absorbing-session with mana stones only gave minute benefits.
The youth's hair stood up and he immediately left the mana orb for his classmates, shuttering violently.
This was only a demonstration to show everyone who wanted to oppose their teacher in order to figure out what happened and some hadn't noticed what their teacher did.
However, Jason knew what happened, as he frowned as their teacher released killing intent for such a trivial matter!!
He found this cruel but he decided to ignore it, while waiting for his turn, without much interest for his classmates.
There weren't many in his class with an acceptable control over mana and most of them only reached the Intermediate-Adept rank while being 14 because of their parent's resources and nothing else.
Astonishing to Jason was also the fact, that some students had only peak-basic mana mastery which was extremely bad.
This caused him to question the selection process to be accepted into this school.
It was only when it was Seron′s turn, that Jason looked down to the podium with curiosity gleaming in his eyes, as he wanted to know how good Seron′s mana mastery was.
A dark yellow light illuminated the mana orbs surrounding and Jason nodded his head, not forgetting that Seron could only feel the mana in his surroundings for a few months.
Considering that fact, it was definitely a shocking feat for Seron to reach such a high mastery over mana within the given amount of time.
In Jason′s opinion, Seron was the most promising student of class 54th, which was not really something to brag about, as their class was not filled with prodigies.
More than ten minutes passed until it was Jason′s try and he stood in front of the mana orb, placing his hand on it without hesitation.
It would be a lie if Till said, he wasn't interested in figuring out Jason′s momentary mana mastery as Jason activated his mana eyes, while he sensed everything clearly.
Combining the effect of him seeing everything and feeling it at the same time, he found dozens of entangled strings when he began to unfold them
Seconds passed and there was still no color emitting from the mana orb.
The more time passed, the less patient everyone became.
The students began to shout that Jason should just leave the mana orb and that it was useless for him, because his mastery was too bad.
Some ridiculed him while others tried to cheer him up but Jason couldn't hear them at all.
Till was also kinda confused as it wouldn't normally take so long to test one's mana mastery.
More than a minute passed without anything happening and almost everyone's mood was already the worst because they couldn't enter the second round of the lecture selection while Jason increased their frustration even more, without doing anything.
Suddenly a golden shimmering light illuminated the mana orb that was more than a few dozen times stronger and denser than the dark yellow light from Seron, which was the best mastery previously seen.
Till was blinded by the sudden outburst of light was almost forced to close his eyes, as he looked at the mana orb.
His eyes widened and he immediately knew that Jason had unfolded every entangled string within in less than two minutes!!
It took him quite some time to clear his thoughts and in the meantime the golden light dissipated slowly, leaving Jason and his teacher next to him.
Clearing his throat, Mr.Greil announced: "Superior mana mastery: Passed"