In hindsight, I should've waited for Kiori outside the door. Heck, I should've told him where I was going before stepping up to the podium, or declared to Ms. Ilko that I intended to share my results with him.
Aside from that, the practice of ensuring your results aren't shared with your classmates is interesting. I've seen the practice of displaying test scores publicly like they're on a leaderboard. While effective and efficient in showing everyone's results simultaneously, it can also serve to humiliate people who've been given undesirable scores, especially if the names are made public. I was a bit curious about why the score privacy practice was in place. Perhaps academic competition wasn't a necessity here.
But I could think about that another time.
I stared at the 3 mages who had their eyes on me while using different manifestations of their attunements. The wind mage, who I saw was floating above me, had caught my attention the most, as I've yet to attempt flying with my powers, let alone making myself levitate.
The ice mage got a smaller, but still similar in size, slice of my attention, because how the hell do you sit comfortably on a throne made of ice? Shouldn't you be afflicted with hypothermia or frostbite from sitting on ice that cold? Or is that a perk of having an ice attunement?
I saw the upside-down flying wind mage turn themselves right side up as they descended vertically to the center of Kemzo square, then immediately began walking in my direction.
I placed myself between the incoming mage and the invisible barrier adjacent to the 4 corners of the arena, showcasing that I had no intention to fight.
They ran faster.
I immediately began sprinting from the gap I was closer to and ran toward one of the other doorways leading out of the arena room. In my peripheral vision, I saw the wind mage fast approaching the gap closest to the door I was running towards, and I quickly visualized a wall of earth rising to block the gap they would've gone through. The wall was as thick as the barriers surrounding the corners.
The wind mage stopped and attacked the wall, and only managed to make it shed some pebbles and dust.
Not wanting to stay any longer, I ran out the door, making sure to close it behind me. After that, I made a small orange levitating platform and quickly rode it away from Kemzo Square Arena.
…
"Yep, I should've waited."
I drove my levitating, floating platform toward my 4th period class, hoping to catch Kiori before he entered the arena.
I found him walking a few paces before the giant double door.
"Kiori!"
He turned around.
"Nolval, wha-"
"I'm getting chased. Let's go to Mr. Draco's office, now!"
He immediately got on my platform and hugged my body, and I willed it to go Mr. Draco's office, as it's the one place I'm sure a fight wouldn't break out.
…
I hastily opened the door, as it made a loud noise when it slammed against the wall.
"You better have a good explanation as to why you're coming in without knocking." Mr. Draco demanded as he sat at his desk.
I waited for him to finish before talking, as he was on top of my "do-not-interrupt-while-talking-list."
"A student was chasing me, and this felt like the one place a fight wouldn't break out."
"And you?" He asked Kiori, who I just realized was hugging me tightly.
My summoner said nothing as he held up his paper, making its contents face Mr. Draco. I took out my paper and quickly unfolded it
"I need him to read this for me," I answered the moment I saw Mr. Draco raise a brow.
"Make it quick."
"Also, Ms. Ilko said to meet her here later, and I wanted to discuss this as soon as possible."
I wanted to say "ASAP," but I had a feeling no one would understand that acronym.
Mr. Draco sighed. "Be quiet. There are some documents that require my attention."
I nodded and headed for the door.
"Where are you going?" Kiori grabbed my left shoulder.
"Just outside the door." I clarified.
Hopefully, the proximity around Mr. Draco's office was just as much of a "no fighting allowed" zone as being inside his office would be.
…
Kiori and I were sitting cross-legged next to Mr. Draco's office door as he compared his results to mine.
"So… did I 'pass'?" I airquoted.
I tried reading his expressions to guess what my results are, but he remained neutral. No raising or furrowing of the brow, no curving of the lips, no dilating of the pupil, no widening or narrowing of the eyes, nothing. I thought he would've given some reaction to my results on paper. I mean, he wants my help to get stronger. Surely he would be curious about my power being measured.
"You didn't fail," Was all he answered.
That wasn't reassuring, even if it was confirmation.
"But if I had to guess why she falsified your results, it's probably because you didn't use Proa to fill your crystal."
"What?"
My results were faked!?
"Your 'magic' lacked Proa, which is the lifeblood of magic."
"And what does that mean exactly?"
His gaze landed on a random spot on the carpet. I didn't see anything interesting, so he must be thinking.
"Do you have a word for something that, while true, is in itself contradictory?"
"We have the word 'paradox,' but I'd need more context as to why you're saying that."
He handed me my paper. I let it rest in my lap.
"Can a person be alive without blood? Can a plant survive without water? Can the concept of day and night exist without the sun?"
"Umm… No. Maybe? And no."
"Uhh… forget the second one. Pretend there's a person who's somehow living without blood, and that we have a day and night without the sun. How would those be possible?"
"The person isn't of an organic body, and something else is being used to measure the day and night cycles without the sun."
He gave me a look.
"If we're trying to list things that wouldn't make sense by their nature, you should go for 'old baby', 'living dead', or 'hellish paradise.'"
"Well, that's what your magic is. Something that shouldn't be possible by the standards of magic, yet it happened."
"Hmm…"
"You don't seem as shocked."
"Well… I mean, my power not conforming to magic is part of the reason Mr. Evenicht nearly killed me, why I was able to beat Alicia, why Richter nearly fought me, and how I'm able to conjure that hovercraft you rode on." I listed each item on my hand.
"That's what you call it?"
"It hovers, so that's part of its name. What were you calling it?"
"Umm… nothing really. It's the first time I've ever saw a hovercraft."
…
Lunch eventually came. Kiori and I retreated back into Mr. Blonde's office to wait out the crowd of students coming through the hall. If we didn't, we would've gotten smushed or even trampled to death.
Seconds later, Ms. Ilko came into the room, holding a tray of food.
"You're here… along with Kiori."
"I needed him to read my results."
"You can't read?"
"I can't read this language." I pulled out my paper and showed the results she gave me. "But yes."
"I told him his power doesn't make sense."
"Something I've been made very aware of. So, are you going to tell me what that means?"
"I've also told him that." Mr. Draco spoke from behind Kiori and me.
"Then I'll keep it simple." She put down the tray before continuing. "As l-"
"Hold on." Mr. Draco interrupted Ms. Ilko. There was a squeal, before the room glowed a yellow hue. "Continue."
"Mister…" She stared as her words trailed off.
"Nolval."
"Nolval. Whatever the nature of your ability is, you must only showcase wielding one attunement. Can you do that?"
"Umm…"
I recalled my brief interaction with the peach blonde girl, Kalits, during the celebration after Korons was incarcerated.
"What if I showcased myself as a mage with multiple attunements?"
Ms. Ilko had a look of surprise and horror.
"Nolval."
I heard Mr. Blonde's voice from behind me and turned to face him.
"While the idea of having a student with multiple attunements attend our school seems beneficial, there are also concerns regarding how your Crystal Rite was achieved."
My body was facing him completely.
"What's a crystal rite?"
"The process every mage goes through to receive their attunement. Not everyone succeeds, but those who do have the chance to be something great."
"What happens to those who don't succeed?"
"The most ideal outcome would be that they leave alive." Ms. Ilko answered in Mr. Draco's place. "There have been cases of people receiving life-changing injuries or dying."
Seriously?
"Yes."
"I've heard someone mention a multi-attunement mage. Even if the chance of succeeding the first time isn't guaranteed, surely it's different for the second attempt? Like, your body has adapted to the attunement enough for it to hold a second one."
I mean, if the idea of a multi-attunement mage is promising and appealing enough to be treated like a miracle or a rumored legend, surely there are others who've achieved multi-attunement status.
"There was a time before your… existence, when people believed becoming another attunement showed more promise than increasing your rank as a mage. Later, health issues for a majority of them cropped up, and they were either forced to give up magic or die from failing health issues that arose from multiple attunements." Ms. Ilko answered.
"Eventually, the tower banned everyone from performing a Crystal Rite more than once. Those who survived were merely fortunate enough to keep their privilege." Mr. Draco finished.
"So… you don't have a good explanation as to why I have multiple attunements, and you need to explain where everyone performed their Crystal Rite?"
"Yes."
Wonderful. Now I've got to hold because, otherwise, I'll raise unwanted suspicion.