Chương 217: Wilderness Exam

The idea that his planned artifact could be used in ways other than what he envisioned for it, left Damion disturbed. He did not want to be responsible for overturning thousands of years of history and order. But he also wanted to complete his quest. He quickly looked at the quest text in the Magic System in a search for clues. [Quest: Discover the Flaw in Magic] [Description: You have realized something does not add up with the way mages on Nerotath learn and practice magic. Discover the flaw they have trapped themselves in.] [Reward: 1, 000 Experience, 10, 000 Store Credit] Whatever it was the Magic System wanted him to discover had to be important. A person's magic core was the key to their magic, which was why Damion had focused on being able to study a magic core in his attempt to complete the quest.

"I understand your concerns," Damion told Mage Teft.

"But I feel I still could benefit from creating my artifact. The Mage Association already told me no, but I was hoping you might be able to get me one of the artifacts to study."

"You do seem determined," Mage Teft said.

"I will be heading out to a couple of Green Zones and Yellow Zones in a few days to do a round of testing at the local schools. I will be able to check-out a testing crystal for that. As long as you don't damage it, I can probably give you a few hours to review the enchantments before I actually leave."

"Really?!" Damion half shouted in excitement.

"Yes. Just don't damage it. The Mage Association went easy on Thorn because he had a witness that said the thing just fell apart when testing a child. If you break this one, we won't have such a convenient scapegoat this time around." For the rest of the day Damion was riding high on the idea of finally being able to examine a test crystal. It was not until nearing the last class of the day that another announcement caught his attention. His Wilderness Survival class was going to be doing their proficiency test.

"Starting this weekend, so you have all week to prepare, you will be taken to a designated area of the wild and left to survive on your own. The other combat instructors and I will be observing and will intervene if it becomes apparent that your life is in danger, but otherwise we will not help you in any way.

"No attendants will be allowed during the excursion and failure of the course means you will not be eligible to obtain an Adventurer License. If you can live with that, fine. If not, you will need to repeat the course this term or return for another exam next term, which means not officially graduating." The class let out a chorus of groans at that thought. This class was composed entirely of final year students. None of them wanted to be forced to return again next year.

"Know too, that if you attempt the course again this term, you will also be required to keep up with your other class work. Only during this first attempt will you be excused from lessons for your other classes." This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Another chorus of groans erupted from the class and Damion could not help but smirk. He already had real world survival experience and was already a licensed adventurer.

There really was no point in this test other than to waste his time.

"Professor," Damion said raising his hand.

"I already have an Adventurer License. Do I still need to participate?"

"Yes," Professor Moretti answered.

"The Headmaster has specifically said that you are to participate as it is a requirement for all students to graduate. Plenty of other students get real world experience and training from their families prior to attending Silver Spire. You are no exception."

"What happens with any Ferocious Beasts or Demonic Beasts we kill during this excursion?" Damion asked. If he was going to be forced to participate in this test that was meant for mostly E Rank and D Rank mages, he could at least make money off it.

"Each of you will be given a tracking artifact. This artifact allows the teachers to locate you as well as keeps track of your kills. Defeating Ferocious Beasts and Demonic Beasts of various Ranks are worth points in the ranking for the class. You keep what you kill, but you can trade any materials from beasts or resources you find to the school for additional points towards your score.

Your ranking from the excursion will directly translate to your ranking in class and that ranking will determine how many school points you earn that can be used for the commissary." Damion wanted to protest. If the kills counted for school points directly, he would likely be able to amass a large number of kills and earn a ton of school points, maybe enough to get access to the tier 4 Repository.

But since the points earned in class only affected the class rankings for a set reward for school points, it meant he could only receive whatever was predetermined as the maximum reward no matter how well he did. The only good news from this announcement, at least from Damion's perspective, was that he would have the opportunity to gain materials.

Any Ferocious Beasts or Demonic Beasts he came across, he could kill and keep the carcasses and either use the materials or exchange the materials for parts towards his new artifact. The work Damion had done so far on his artifact, had been almost exclusively planning and working out the enchantments. Certainly important, but he had yet to work out what type of materials he would need. Different types of artifacts would need different types of materials.

You would not use Water or Ice aligned materials on a Fire type artifact. If you did, even if the artifact did work, it would not be as high quality or as efficient in its mana use as a Fire type artifact built from Fire aligned materials. There were materials that did not have specific alignments, such as Adamantine, Mithril and Aurichalcum. However, neutral materials, because they could be used in almost any artifact, were the most expensive.

Damion hoped that once he examined the testing crystal he would have an idea of what type of material he would need. He had been assuming, that since he was trying to use Holy magic, he would need Holy or Light aligned materials, but Damion hoped the testing crystal would have an alternative, since if there was a type of material more expensive than neutral, it was Holy aligned.

"Aside from not dying or giving up, what is the goal of the excursion?" Damion asked Professor Moretti.

"Score as high as you can. The rewards for the top ten finishers are more than just school points, however, those rewards won't be revealed until the end of the competition." Inwardly, Damion scoffed. The only thing he would consider being worth it would be access to the tier 4 or 5 Repository spells. High level artifacts would be nice, but until he was at their level, such items were as big of a risk as they were a benefit. You never know when someone might become jealous of what you have.

Still, even if Damion was unsure if the rewards would be worth it, he wanted to get the top score. After all, if he did not get the top score and the reward was access to the Repository, how sad would he be then?