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Chapter 247: Graduation
With his current strength, Han Shuo wouldn’t even be afraid of the dark major’s dean, Deo, let alone the likes of Phillide. Han Shuo looked relaxed and unrestrained as he stepped onto the testing field. An easy smile hung on his face. However, he still exuded an awe-inspiring temperament.
“Bryan, you’ve finally returned?” Lisa’s voice was full of joy and surprise. She couldn’t help but jump in excitement as she let out a “Yeah!”.
Fanny was sitting demurely on the high platform. After seeing Han Shuo, the traces of sadness that had lingered on her brows for the past few months were completely wiped away by an invisible hand. She radiated brightly in a way that dazzled the eyes. Her lips curved in an odd way that seemed both happy and angry.
Han Shuo had been through a series of life and death battles in that half year’s worth of time. His power had skyrocketed and emitted a natural aura now. No one dared to look down on him now, even when he didn’t deliberately show off his strength.
“Athena, focus on the test! I know you can definitely pass!” After arriving, Han Shuo spoke to Athena, who seemed nervous because of the jeers and sarcastic remarks from Phillide’s group.
“Thank you, Bryan!” Han Shuo’s arrival seemed to put Athena at ease, and her uneasy heart slowly returned to its original calm state.
Phillide, on the other side, had been set off by Han Shuo’s earlier words. His facial expression was quite ugly as he gave Han Shuo a sinister look, “You disappeared for half a year after I recovered. What was it for if not to hide from me?”
Honestly speaking, the likes of Phillide bored Han Shuo. After fighting so many powerful beings, Phillide was no longer qualified to shout and yell in front of him. The disparity in power was too great, Han Shuo couldn’t be bothered to even deal with him.
“Aha!” Han Shuo gave an odd laugh, squinting his eyes at Phillide. He shook his head sympathetically, before shrugging and sighing softly, “You think too highly of yourself, but what can I say to this kind of fool who has a few screws loose in his head?”
As he finished saying this, Han Shuo no longer paid any more attention to Phillide, who happened to trembling in anger. He turned in the direction of Fanny on the platform and flashed a bright smile. Inhaling deeply, he gazed at Fanny and said, “I’m back!”
Fanny’s pretty face reddened for some reason. She seemed to want to hide her true feelings as she glared fiercely at Han Shuo, huffing, “You unruly brat! You still know to come back to the academy?”
Han Shuo flashed an awkward smile and wanted to explain something when the dark major dean displayed an unpleasant expression. “Wait until after the exams to catch up. You’ll have plenty of time then. Now, I think we need to quickly settle your major’s business, we’re very busy people after all!”
The other dark major teachers also loudly rushed Fanny and Gene after their dean had spoken, expressing that they had a lot of things to do and couldn’t keep waiting.
Han Shuo had been about to explain, but looked apologetically towards Fanny on the platform and flipped out his hands. He shrugged and took a few steps back without another word to where Lisa, Amy, and several other necromancy major students were standing.
“Bryan, where did you go for the past half year? Didn’t you say that you would quickly return to Ossen City? Why did you drag it out until now?” Lisa chattered nonstop after Han Shuo had arrived. Han Shuo waited for her to finish her questioning before smiling and telling her that he spent a period of time cultivating in the Dark Forest.
“What the hell? He really thinks he’s something huh!” The dark major students, who’d been stomped by Han Shuo, felt indignant and snorted when they saw his dashing manner.
“Humph, I’d like to see how he intends on graduating early. I remember he was only a novice mage half a year ago!” Phillide, who’d been repeatedly humiliated by Han Shuo, said coldly when he saw Han Shuo in his element.
Athena was calm this time and was not as nervous as she’d been before. She skillfully casted several necromancy magic spells, smoothly answered some questions, and easily passed the novice mage test.
Afterwards, the necromancy students started their tests one by one as well. For most of the students, their power hadn’t improved much. Only Lisa unexpectedly became a journeyman mage, the magical pulses from her body were obviously stronger than that of the other students.
Lisa was a lot more sensible after her harrowing experience and had also come to understand the importance of strength. She was much more hard working when it came to practicing magic now, unlike when she’d mostly played around and rarely meditated.
Waiting until all the necromancy students had finished their testing, Han Shuo leisurely stepped forward and said, “I intended to directly graduate upon my return. May I take the test now?”
At the Babylon Academy of Magic and Force, one could graduate as long as they advanced to the rank of adept mage. Since Han Shuo received the memories from the soul of archmage Clarendon, he’d mastered all the high ranked necromancy magic after a short amount of practice, not to mention that he also possessed some lost necromancy spells.
The magic test was divided into three stages. The first was an oral examination about magical knowledge, the second was to release a magic spell of that corresponding rank, and the third was to be assigned to a mission. The test was over once all three stages were completed.
However, in the Babylon Academy of Magic and Force, the adept mage test didn’t include the mission portion. Students could advance as long as they passed the first two stages.
With his current necromancy knowledge and power, the adept mage test was as simple as child’s play for Han Shuo. He arrogantly skipped the journeyman mage test and set his eyes on the adept mage level test, intending to escape the shackles of the Babylon Academy of Magic and Force as soon as possible.
“Are you sure you want to skip to the adept mage test?” Standing on the platform, Deo glowered at Han Shuo and asked for confirmation.
Nodding his head impatiently, Han Shuo confirmed, “Master Deo, didn’t I just say it very clearly? I want to skip the journeyman mage test and directly advance to adept mage.”
“Fine then, let’s start!” Deo snorted coldly, obviously a little displeased at Han Shuo’s discourtesy. He then turned to nod at Fanny and Gene, giving his agreement.
To the surprise of the other necromancy students, Han Shuo stepped onto the round platform. He leisurely dealt with Fanny and Gene’s questions, then he answered some questions about the relationship between several magical theories. Some of the dark major teachers on Deo’s side deliberately tried to embarrass Han Shuo, asking him about obscure, difficult magic knowledge.
However, Han Shuo possessed Clarendon’s memories of magic. Forget his mental strength, with his own strength alone, he could already be considered an archmage who had been thoroughly tempered. The seemingly complex problems couldn’t stump him as he fluently answered them all with merrily twinkling eyes.
At this point, the necromancy students below were starting to feel proud, especially Lisa. She chattered and laughed at Phillide, jeering at him. She was making use of Han Shuo’s performance to mock Phillide and the group of students who’d jeered at her earlier.
Even though Deo didn’t want to admit it, Han Shuo’s answers were flawless. Han Shuo smoothly and accurately answered all of the difficult questions that they presented him with. There was nothing for them to even find fault with. In the end, they had to announce with stiff faces that Han Shuo had passed the first round.
The second round about necromancy magic performance was even easier. Han Shuo cast and skillfully deployed about a dozen spells along with adequate mental strength. With the decades of experience from Clarendon combined with his own, Han Shuo didn’t have any difficulty releasing high rank necromancy magic.
As Han Shuo released one high rank necromancy spell after another, the necromancy students below began cheering nonstop, while the dark major teachers and students had ugly expressions on their faces. Evidently, they hadn’t expected Han Shuo to be able to skip one rank and advance directly to the rank of adept mage in just the a short span of six months.
“Bryan, my assessment wasn’t wrong! You really are a magic genius!” Fanny was watching from the platform how Han Shuo easily dealt with the test from beginning to end. The power he demonstrated wasn’t at all inferior to Fanny herself. For some difficult spells, he released them even more accurately and skillfully than her, the teacher. This made Fanny marvel.
“What’s wrong with the world’s order? He’s actually gained so much strength so quickly!” Gene muttered with a look of disbelief, but then his thinking changed. Although Han Shuo had never attended his classes, he could still be considered one of Gene’s students. With such a miraculous student, Gene could still more or less take some credit, enough for him to boast from now on. Gene felt delighted when his thoughts reached this point.
“Pass!” Deo gave a cold snort. His expression was increasingly ugly.
“Hehe, many thanks, Master Deo!” Han Shuo was all smiles from beginning to end. Be it oral knowledge or practical magic deployment, he passed it all leisurely without a single bit of effort.
Deo and some dark major teachers gathered for a discussion with glowering faces. Deo then gave a cold, devious laugh as he looked at Han Shuo. “You’ve managed to pass the first two rounds. Your performance has impressed everyone, so I’ll just tell you about the third test. You need to hunt a rank three harpy by yourself and hand us its core in a month. Your exam can only be considered passed then!”
“Oh my gosh, how is that possible?!” The necromancy students immediately started complaining.
On their last trip to the Dark Forest, Odysseus and his team of six had been carefully on their guard when dealing with a harpy. The six person team had included mages, and swordsmen, plus a journeyman swordsman, and archer Nia, but they’d still had to be careful. This showed how fearsome a harpy was.
Deo had actually demanded Han Shuo hunt a harpy as a stepping stone to advancing to adept mage. He was obviously trying to make Han Shuo’s life difficult.
Phillide’s cadre all shut up when they witnessed Han Shuo’s performance on the second round. Even Phillide, who’d been full of confidence, was disturbed and didn’t dare to say anything else after he saw Han Shuo easily release all sorts of advanced level magic.Just when the dark major students felt their spirits had been dampened, they heard Deo suddenly announce that Han Shuo had to hunt a rank three creature—a harpy. They were excited again and laughed loudly while they threw gloating looks at Han Shuo’s group.
“Master Deo, aren’t you going too far? I’ve never heard of any dark major student having to hunt a harpy for the mage advancement exams. This is simply a mission to death, I definitely won’t agree!” Fanny’s delicate cheeks were red with fury, and she glared fiercely at Deo as she shouted.
Snorting coldly, Deo said with a darkened face, “Master Fanny, I’m the head of the dark major, not you. Your necromancy major is part of our dark major, and l have the right to do so. You can give up if Bryan doesn’t want to accept this task, but then the first two rounds will be wasted!”
By now, Deo had made it abundantly clear that he wanted to make things difficult for Han Shuo. This conversation left Fanny trembling in rage. She pointed at Deo and shouted, “You
 you are actually that despicable of a person! I’m going to look for academy dean to judge this, I won’t allow you blot out the sky with one hand like this!”
“Wait!” Han Shuo still had a smile smile on his face. He responded in a neither fast nor slow manner. When he had everyone’s eyes on him, he looked at Deo and chuckled merrily, “Master Deo, are you sure you want me to kill a harpy?”
“Heh heh, I am sure! As long as you can prove that you have this power, I will definitely let you pass without another word!” Finally feeling the thrill of victory, Deo was smiling as he looked at Han Shuo.
Nodding, Han Shuo shrugged and said smilingly, “If so, it seems I don’t have to make a trip back to the Dark Forest again. Please determine my rank now!” Han Shuo’s space ring flashed when he finished saying these words and two harpy cores appeared in his hand. His right hand also held a pair of black iron claws, obviously also belonging to the harpies.
“I hunted down these two harpies in the Dark Forest before I returned to the Academy. These claws still retain traces of my magic. I think Master Deo won’t deny these things?” Han Shuo laughed and said, throwing a mocking look at the shocked Deo.
Suddenly, the space before Han Shuo trembled. A light flashed by and the Dean of the Babylon Academy of Magic and Force, Emma, appeared out of thin air. A pulse of magic shot out and circled the pair of iron claws in Han Shuo’s hand. Emma then smiled benevolently, “Indeed, I have confirmed that these two harpies were definitely killed by Bryan.”
Halting, Emma gave Han Shuo an odd glance, then turned to look at Deo with a smile. She said warmly, “There shouldn’t be any problems. I think he can truly graduate now!”