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Ember Pov
I stepped into the library; a small creaking sound was made by the floor. I looked with slight surprise at the size of the library, it was no less than the Royal Library back at the castle. Truly a wonderous sight. I went straight to the Librarian," My name is Tithonus... and I am here to borrow the books on Magic Crafting", I said.
The Librarian gave me a knowing look and nodded, understanding what I wanted these books for. He quickly told me about the row number and the column number of the books where I can find the books, I gave him thanks and soon got my hands on the book.
The books on Magic Crafting-By Athena
One might wonder why a book written by Divine herself was free and open use for public. The reason was simple, firstly the concepts introduced in this book were quite abstract, it was basically magical physics, advanced mathematics, and chemistry in one. Thus, people of this world generally found it very, very difficult to understand them.
Secondly, they were but basic concepts needed to use in Magic Crafting. Altena was famous for Magical products throughout the world, ships that could sail through the oceans without wind, but used a turbine which used magic as fuel. Fridge, Cars and even Air Conditioners were manufactured in Altena.
Majority of the scientific and magical advancements were made in Altena. After giving an exam, one could enter the manufacturing company ran by the Athena and earn a hefty wage while manufacturing magical tools to be supplied throughout the world. One of the basic requirements to manufacture standardized magical products was to be magician, and to have knowledge.
My target was to participate in the upcoming exam and join the manufacturing company to broaden my horizon. Eventually through the company I can reach to the Mystery holders of the Altena and become a true magic craftsman. I possess both Mage and Mystery development skills, however I am still level 2, so until I become level 3 I aim to learn the science of magical tools.
I flipped the book cover, on the very first page Basic Principles of Magic were written. It seemed that Goddess Athena has standardized the magic into attributes like it is in any isekai world. Though the magic spells that anyone can learn is three, it doesn't means there is an attribute advantage. Reading the book I soon understood how she has classified it.
Magic was divided into Elemental Magic, Healing Magic, Purification Magic, Boost Magic, and Attribute less magic.
Any magic that manifests elements of the world is classified into Elemental magic, since everyone's magic is unique Elemental magic can be of infinite types. However, Fire Magic will be weak against Ice Magic or Water Magic, Earth Magic will be weak against Water Magic, Wind Magic is weak against Fire Magic, While Thunder Magic has no such weakness.
Next comes healing magic, which as name suggests provides a healing effect of various types, purification magic meanwhile purifies abnormal affects, like corrosion, poison and even curses. Boost Magic boosts a user's any basic parameter for a short period of time, lastly is attribute less magic, generally every magic which is not included in the before mentioned categories comes in this category.
There were some more details given; however, I flipped back the page to see the list of topics and then flipped page to the Thermodynamic. Yes, it was a High-School level scientific topic and when I read it, I was surprised because in how easy language it was. Goddess Athena has sure made it easy to understand, otherwise I doubt the people of this world will be able to understand it.
There was also no complicated formula, just laws of thermodynamics and that's it. After flipping through the pages and reading all the topics given. I felt it was too easy, usually it will take five to ten years to pass the entrance exam for an average person here and by average, I mean Elves who are well known for their wisdom, as for humans?
They have higher chance of becoming businessman than becoming a bonafide Magic Craftsman. I continued reading the book till it was night, and I had to leave. I sighed, my plan was to become a Magic Craftsman, Goddess Athena had made a new high paying job where magicians without mystery as long as they know science and magic principles could make modern tools that run on mana.
For example, Fridge, oven, lamps, etc. everything that is used all around the world is made here. Yes, in this world there are fridges introduced by Athena herself which helped the populace around the globe. Thus, it was my goal to get a systematic idea on how to make such advanced tools before delving into the mystery.
I had trained for six months, and to be honest I was a bit late as the exam was just in a few months however I was confident that I could complete it if the syllabus of this level, and most of the theories I already knew from my past life.
...
3rd Pov
Ember worked hard daily, stopping his usual hunting and going out only with the Thunder Lance party every once a week. Rest of time? He was deep into books, going through theory and experiments. The exam that will be held at the end of the year was just a few months later, and he toiled every day to ensure that he passes his exam.
His new party members were stunned by his decision and tried to persuade him, after all to pass the Magic Craftsman exam Elves had to study for years before passing and it could affect his adventuring career greatly. Normally when the Elves retire from being adventurer do they opt for this path.
However, Ember was young and his future in adventuring was exceptionally bright. According to Lance herself Tithonus could become a First-rate adventurer in a few decades, wasting his precious years would be stupid, however in the end Ember didn't listen to them. In fact he found the syllabus of the exam too easy, as compared to the competitive exams of his past life.
Add the perk of his near eidetic memory, the syllabus was a breeze for him. In the end the Thunder Lance party gave up on persuading him, and he went out with them only every once a while. Still in last ten months since he come to Altena his parameters have reached D except magic which was B and that was ridiculously fast, considering he wasn't Aiz Wallenstein fighting monsters every day.
He deduced that his skills were at work, essentially, he got falna despite fighting weak monsters due to Limit Breaker which continuously broke his limits and his Double Croissance speed up his growth, yeah, they were such a cheat. Now the first round of exams were to begin, and he had signed up with a fee of 10000 valis.
Ember took a deep breath and sat on his allocated seat, more than a hundred elves and three humans were taking part in the exam, however half of them are going to be eliminated here. Then there will come an interview and how many will pass was subjective, either all of people who passed first round will pass the second, or just a few.
Soon the examiner and invigilator came, with dozens of question papers, everyone seat was quite a distance from each other, and the invigilators would be walking around keeping eyes on everyone to prevent any cheating from taking place. Finally the question papers were distributed and everyone was allocated quill and ink, and dozens of empty papers the exam duration was five hours.
The moment the exam begin, Ember carefully read through the questions. There was no extra time allocated for reading, so Ember hadn't turned the question paper till now. The moment his eyes fell on the question, he was surprised as they were either too easy or just long. While everyone was writing on their paper furiously, he read through the questions twice, before beginning.
Time passed and after two hours, he was finished.
'It is like giving 10th boards exam all over again' he thought, the answers were that simple, there were some which evolved critical thinking; however, he had done well. After completing his exams since he still had time, he went through his answer to see if he had done any mistakes, after going thoroughly another hour passed.
He was sure of every answer except one, which he couldn't remember. It was from the subject he hated the most... Chemistry. Yeah, to him maths was much easier since he could just brute force through by writing sums again and again, but Chemistry? It was his bane; in the end he decided to use the Ultimate trick that always worked.
'Eeeny meeny mineey moe! Mujhe chaiye pineco' he randomly guessed and answer and wrote it. He left that answer to God, hopefully the luck will shine upon him. He prayed to his Goddess Aurora for good luck, wondering if her booty will help him. After waiting for the next two hours, and going through questions over and over again, till the exam ended he was tired.
As he came out of the exam hall he met with Jasmine much to his surprise. "Jasmine? What are you doing here?" he asked confused and she smiled. "You had exams right Tet? I came here to wish you luck, alas I found you nowhere when I came here, and waited till the exam ended" she said touching his heart.
"So... How did it go?" she asked him curious, while the rest of her party members including Lance didn't believe Tithonus will pass, she believed that he will, after all she had seen him working hard. Not to mention while passing on the first attempt is hard it isn't impossible, 10% of the people who took the written exam passed on their first try.
"I will pass" he replied in a measured tone. He knew he will score over 90 points, and the passing criteria for the first exam was just to score 40 points. She nodded in understanding "Cheer up! I know you will pass!" she said patting his shoulder, "Anyway you must be tired, how about we visit a restaurant to fill our tummies, don't worry I will pay" she smirked.
He grinned "Very well, then I shall empty your pockets" he chuckled and they went to a good restaurant to have their fill. Ember didn't know he will be soon for a surprise.
...
The examiners after checking everyone's paper got a surprise, someone had got scored 98 out of 100! At first, they thought he had cheated, however when chief examiner said that the exam papers were made by Athena herself and copied under the eyes of adventurers, they realized that the probability of Tithonus cheating was very low.
"S-Should we inform this to Goddess Athena?" an examiner asked and the Chief examiner said "There is still the interview, let's tell her if he passes the interview" everyone nodded, agreeing to his words. In fact, Ember had scored the highest score ever in the exam, previously the highest score was 92 which showed how high Ember's score was.
After a week, the interview was scheduled. The Thunder Lance party's faces were pretty interesting when they got to know that Ember passed the written exam. "See! I told you that Tet will pass the exam with a breeze" said Jasmine in a proud tone, her chest bulging.
"Stop acting as if you have cleared the exam" Lance rolled her eyes, then she looked at Tet and said, "Congratulations Tet, you have passed the written exam, just a single more obstacle to pass and you will be a magic craftsman", everyone else followed the suite. Ember just thanked them all before going to hall, for his interview.
"Tithonus Ber" the interviewer who was none other than the Chief examiner looked at Ember carefully as he sat before him. 'Let's see if you truly are a genius or a cheater' he thought getting ready to unleash the heaviest questions ever asked in the interview.
To be continued...
(A/N: Fuck, I uploaded it on Volume 1, had to reupload in volume 2)