Chapter 8
08 . Magic power measurement
“The practical exam is complete . Arnos Voldigod has passed . Please move on to the mirror room . ” The owl’s voice calls down from the sky .
After confirming that the barrier has gone I retrace my steps to the entrance where I came in .
“Aaaaaah… . waiiiiiiit…… . . it hurts……it hurts… . . it hurts…… . kill… . kill……”
“Oops . I forgot about you . ”
I turn around and return to zombie Zepes . He’s pretty pitiable .
I use resurrection to undo his zombie state and bring Liorg back as well .
“Good grief . You actually killed each other . You became a zombie and lost all reason . You’re a troublesome pair . ”
Liorg and Zepes watch me like they want to say something but nothing comes out . I guess they don’t have a valid argument .
“See you . Come again when you get stronger . I’ll play with you anytime . ”
With that, I walk out of the arena .
“… . . Never again………monster…… . ”
A voice reached my ears from behind .
As the owl instructed I move to the mirror room .
It’s a room with a great number of full-length large mirrors installed in it .
There’s already a number of mazoku in there . About a 100 I’d say . Presumably, all people who have passed the practical exam .
Aah, there’s a familiar face .
“Yo Misha . ”
The girl turns around with her long platinum blonde hair shaking gently .
“Although you said you were not good at fighting you seem to have broken through the practical test . ”
“… . . By chance……”
So Misha says but it would be impossible to beat 5 people by chance . Unexpectedly, she might be more powerful than Zepes and Liorg .
“By the way, what’s happening now?”
I’ve got the vague feeling that this was explained but I wasn’t interested so I didn’t listen .
“If you pass the practical exam you are admitted . All that’s left is magic power measurement and an aptitude test . ”
“Then all these people are our classmates?”
I look around but everyone’s state is odd . Nobody will make eye contact with me .
The moment I meet their eyes they look away as if frightened .
“What’s this? Why is everyone so shy?”
“…… . I don’t think that’s it……… . ”
“But nobody will look at me . ”
“They are frightened by your magic Arnos . ”
“What do you mean?”
“Decaying Death ”
I see .
“If you know that were you in the audience seats Misha?”
With her usual expressionless look, Misha shook her head from side to side .
“Successful applicants can watch the exams of other applicants . ”
Misha points to a large mirror in front of us .
Aah, I see . Got it .
All the mirrors in this room project images from all around Deruzogedo so Misha watched my match from here .
“I don’t get it . Why are they frightened of ? It’s not much of a spell really . ”
Misha stares at me expressionlessly .
“…… . . Is it bad?”
*Kokuri* Misha nods .
“How bad is it?”
Misha thinks about it without changing her expression .
“… . . Something a brutal demon would use……… . . ”
“Haha . No . It’s ultimately a good magic to restore a body . ”
I let out a refreshing voice .
“……………”
Misha thinks carefully and lets out a small voice .
“…… . I take it back……… . ”
“That’s right . You get it . ”
“It’s not the magic at fault . Arnos is a brutal demon . ”
“Surely you jest . ”
I need to correct this to avoid being labelled as a brutal demon . Some lies will be unavoidable .
I’ve only just reincarnated so I don’t understand the values of this age .
“… . . Got it…… . ”
I heave a sigh of relief that Misha has accepted it .
“Aren’t you frightened Misha?”
“It wasn’t scary . ”
That’s a very very unexpected line .
Despite her appearance, she’s obviously very courageous .
“Normal . ”
It’s hard to imagine what exactly could scare Misha . Though she seems absentminded she’s not timid .
An owl flew in while I was thinking this .
“We will now be performing the magic power measurement . Please line up before the magic crystals . After you are done please move to the next room for the aptitude test . ”
Magic crystal? I’ve never heard of this magic tool .
In the age of myths, there was no way to measure magic power . It seems like not everything has degraded . Some things have moved forward .
“And? Where is this magic crystal?”
“Here . ”
Misha starts to walk off so I follow her .
The other examinees seem to know the place as well . Several lines begin to form .
Apparently, there are several of these magic crystals .
I try to see what’s going on .
The magic crystal is a huge purple crystal paired up with a large mirror .
When you touch the crystal it reads your magic and displays the number on the mirror .
[126]
[218]
[98]
[145]
The owl sits in front of the mirror and reads out the numbers .
To be able to turn into numbers something that I could only tell through my senses before . This is truly a convenient age .
It only takes several seconds to get a reading . Soon enough it was Misha’s turn .
“Do your best . ”
“……… . . Same result…… . . ”
Doesn’t magic power increases or decrease through effort?
“Well, good luck anyway . ”
The everpresent deadpan expression looks at me .
“… . . Nn…… . ”
Touching the crystal her power is displayed after several seconds .
[100246]
Instinctively I was impressed . It was only 3 digit figures until now but Misha is in the hundred thousands . She’s got even more talent for magic than I thought .
“That’s great Misha . ”
After praising her a little she became a bit shy and looked down .
“…… . . Arnos…… . . more amazing…… . . ?”
“Aah . ”
I touched the magic crystal . This is my first experience of having my magic power measured . I wonder what it will be?
Perhaps it will exceed a hundred million? If that’s the case then the people of this age have severely dulled .
With this, they should understand that I am the founder .
[0]
As the owl speaks a noise rings out and the crystal breaks into pieces .
“The measurements have finished . Please proceed to the aptitude tests . ”
Hmm . The crystal broke but they don’t seem to care .
“I know I’m the one saying it but I think 0 is impossible………”
That would mean that I would be unable to use magic at all . That should be easy to understand but the owl said .
“The measurements have finished . Please proceed to the aptitude test . ”
*tsk* This useless familiar .
“The familiar is just obeying orders . ”
Misha says to me .
“Well, I guess so . ”
Misha stares at my face .
“What’s wrong?”
“…… . First time I’ve seen it…… . . ”
“What?”
“Where the magic power is so strong the crystal broke . ”
Oh, I see .
I use my demon eyes on the broken crystal fragments . After analysing its structure it seems that it enlarges in response to the power of the person touching it . The volume that it has enlarged by is then measured and converted into a numerical value .
I exceeded its limit causing an intense magic reaction which led to it shattering . Though it is a convenient thing it’s not possible to use it to measure my power .
“It’s not 0 . The decision should have been immeasurable . ”
“Impossible . ”
“Why?”
“The magic crystal does not break . ”
“It broke . ”
Misha responded in an indifferent tone of voice .
“Arnos is out of the norm . ”
“Why do you know this Misha?”
“I’m proud of my demon eyes . It is impossible for other people to do it . ”
My magic power was too strong causing the crystal to break but other people won’t understand this .
Also, all decisions have been left to these familiars, but they can only act as instructed . There’s no way the familiar would know what to do when it broke .
At best and if I was lucky it might have prepared a new one .
The fact that it broke and that an impossible reading of 0 was given was irrelevant .
“Some people will understand what it means but even so it’s still supposed to be almost impossible . ”
Yare yare . There’s supposed to be talented people running this academy .
If I’m being fair, I suppose they would never have guessed that someone with enough power to break the crystal would turn up for the entrance exam .
On the other hand the story of the founder demon king reincarnating has been passed down . Also, Misha said it was the first time she’d seen it . My breaking it may actually count for something .
Another thing I’ve found out is that the demon eyes of the current mazoku are also weak .
If they had even a bit of talent anyone looking at the crystal using their demon eyes could have seen what happened .
Has the thought not occurred to anyone that the demon king Arnos would be outside of the standards of magic power?
I’m going to be looked down on here .
I’m probably being a bit childish getting obsessed over these numbers .
My magic power has not decreased at all .
“Oh well . It’s fine because Misha knows . ”
“Really?”
“Yeah . Thank you . ”
After thinking in her usual deadpan expression Misha says .
“You’re welcome . ”