The weapons I forge are absolutely flawless.

Wiener's handwriting was clear and neat, and he quickly filled in his personal information.

"Flip it over again. Do you see that magic rune? Press your hand on it and try to activate the rune's power."

Seeing that Wiener had almost finished filling in the blanks, Sylvain reminded him.

Wiener turned the parchment over and, sure enough, found a magic rune.

The magic runes seemed to contain some kind of mysterious power, emitting a faint glow.

Following Sylvan's instructions, Viner placed her left hand on the magic runes.

The moment his palm touched the magic runes, a warm current seemed to surge from his palm. Vina felt his power being slowly activated, creating a strange resonance with the magic runes.

Then a score and a series of question marks appeared in the center of the magic rune.

"10"

Wiener withdrew his hand with satisfaction.

Once these two indicators came out, he knew he was in the bag; he was indeed different from everyone else.

Come on, surrender to my talent.

"Well, it's a bit low, but since it can resonate with the magic runes, it can be considered as meeting the standard for participating in the assessment."

Upon seeing Wiener's test results, Sylvain remained remarkably calm.

Wiener: "?"

"Isn't it a perfect score of ten?"

"Who told you it's a perfect score of ten? Other places get a perfect score of ten because their energy measurement magic runes aren't accurate enough. Our St. Freya Academy's magic runes were specially improved by Professor Hanneman, and the perfect score is out of 100."

"You're lucky that our academy's energy-measuring runes are highly accurate. If it were a less prestigious academy, it would be questionable whether they could even detect the magic element content of your rune."

"The best student among this year's freshmen is Cordelia's youngest daughter, with a score of 99, which is almost a perfect score."

"No wonder he was handpicked by Professor Hannemann for admission."

Sylvan couldn't hide the envy on his face.

"And what about these question marks?" Wiener asked, still unwilling to give up.

"Oh, that's normal. Although our academy has gone the furthest in the study of heraldry, the world is so big that there are always some heraldry that have never been recorded before."

“Emblems that have not appeared before and incomplete embellishments that have not been fully awakened will be displayed in this form. If you are interested, you can give the embellishments a name yourself.”

"Anyway, they won't look at your crest during the exam. Don't worry, this score is just a reference and won't affect anything else."

Hilvan explained.

Wiener: ○w○.

"Alright then." Viner nodded rather helplessly.

With a flick of his wrist, he swept across the series of question marks and wrote "Gandoraf" on them.

“I’ve filled it out.” He then handed the parchment to Sylvan.

“Okay.” Sylvan checked it and found that it was filled out correctly as Wiener had said, then returned the parchment to Wiener.

"Then you can take this roll of parchment to the assessment. By the way, I haven't asked which department's assessment you plan to take yet?"

"Well, I haven't thought about it yet. Senior Sylvan is very experienced, could you explain the differences between the different departments to me?"

Wiener humbly sought his advice.

“Sure, I’m not busy right now anyway, so I’ll chat with you.” Sylvain said confidently, as if to say, “You’ve come to the right person.”

"See that workshop? That's the examination center for the Alchemy Department. Forging, alchemy, enchanting—don't be fooled by the many subjects the Alchemy Department covers; it actually admits the fewest students each year."

"Among those who can enter our academy, who doesn't want to become a powerful emblem wielder like a hero, there are very few people willing to delve into logistics."

"But don't underestimate the Alchemy Institute. The competition for admission to the Alchemy Institute is not fierce, but the difficulty is the highest. They would rather not admit anyone than accept someone who is not qualified."

"There are only benefits and no drawbacks to getting along well with the students of the Alchemy Institute."

Chapter 9: Blacksmithing is still more my style.

"Secondly, the Demon Academy. Well, I guess you don't have much hope for that," Sylvan said in one sentence.

"Why? Just because my emblem magic content is insufficient?" Viner retorted.

"No, that's not it. Our college's courses are electives. Even if you are a student from another college, you can still take courses from the Magic Academy as long as you are interested."

"However, there are still some differences in the entrance examination. Venere, you're a commoner, right?"

Hilvan explained calmly.

"The Magic Academy is also known as the Noble Academy. Most commoners, even if they awaken their emblems and possess magical talent, lack the means to begin their magical education."

"They can't afford good teachers or expensive materials, and their lack of magical knowledge makes it difficult for them to pass the written test."

"Although these issues will no longer be problems after enrollment, students from aristocratic families do have an advantage in this regard."

"The academy is counting on these aristocratic students to spend their money... cough, on the sponsorship from these students' families who have quite a background."

Maintaining the operation of St. Freya Academy is an astronomical expense, and exchanging resources with the great nobles to a certain extent is a last resort.

There is indeed an insurmountable gap between aristocratic students and commoners at the starting line.

Upon hearing Sylvain's explanation, Wiener was able to accept it.

"So the Demon Academy is the strongest of the three academies?"

Wiener tried asking.

"How could that be? Just because there are many noble students in the Magic Academy doesn't mean that other academies don't have nobles."

"There are always some guys who are all muscle and no brains who can't pass the Magic Academy's written exam and go to the Arena to cause trouble."

"The true advantage of the Demon Academy is—"

Sylvain drawled out his words, deliberately keeping everyone in suspense.

"What is it?"

Wiener chimed in at the opportune moment.

"The girls at the Magic Academy are of the highest quality, and there are quite a few promising students among this year's freshmen."

Seeing this, Sylvain leaned close to Vena's ear and said in a voice only the two of them could hear, "The girls in the Magic Academy are of the highest quality, and there are quite a few promising talents among this year's freshmen."

After saying that, he didn't forget to make a "you know what I mean" expression.

"Okay okay."

After hearing this, Wiener shook his head inwardly.

He had probably figured out the personality of this overly friendly senior.

He's the kind of guy who'll eventually get himself into big trouble because of women.

I can't be like him.

After all, Viña came here to study, not to find love.

"So, what should I pay attention to during the entrance exam for the Fighting Academy? Could you tell me about it, senior?"

During their conversation, the contestants on the small arena had already changed.

There's no way Viña will pass the written exam for the Magic Academy.

As for the Alchemy Institute, as Sylvan said, who would want to deal with logistics if they had the chance to become a powerful Emblem user?

Personal ability is the most important factor.

"There's nothing to be careful about, as long as you can fight."

"That's pretty simple indeed."

Wiener unbuttoned his cuffs, preparing to go on stage.

Throughout her conversation with Sylvan, Viner kept a portion of her attention on the ring.

In terms of practical experience, he only had that one encounter with the burly, dark-skinned man.

But this one time completely changed Wiener's perspective.

Most of the candidates still fighting on the stage are just weaklings fighting each other. As long as they avoid the strong ones, passing the test will not be a problem for Viner.

"Right? It's simple, just beat ten. There were too many people taking the entrance exam this year, so we raised the standard. In previous years, beating three or five was enough."

Sylvain had an expression that seemed perfectly natural.

Whether it's the Magic Academy or the Arena Academy, the students at the top of each academy are still roughly equal in strength.

However, when it comes to fighting spirit and overall strength, the battle maniacs from the Fighting Academy are definitely superior.

Can you just say everything at once?

Viner, who was about to go on stage, paused for a moment.

"I've decided to try the Alchemy Institute's assessment."

Wiener buttoned the buttons she had just undone back up.

Unsure whether the assessment would only be given once, Wiener decisively chose to follow his heart.

What a joke.

Ten wins in the arena and ten consecutive wins are not the same thing.

Ten wins might be possible by taking advantage of lucky breaks, but a ten-game winning streak has absolutely no room for luck.

However, it made no difference to Wiener.

Today is the last day of the entrance exam, and there probably isn't enough time for Wiener to pick easy opponents and rack up 10 wins.

Moreover, the Murakami sword (9527) had already been damaged in the previous battle, and finding a suitable weapon in such a short time was another problem.

"The Alchemy Institute? That makes sense. I saw in your registration information that you worked as a blacksmith before awakening your emblem. You might actually have a chance to pass the Alchemy Institute's assessment."

“I am Sylvan Joseph of the Blue Lions. If you pass the Alchemy Institute’s exam, you can come find me at the Blue Lions. I have a little gift for you, brother.”

Upon hearing that Viner intended to participate in the Alchemy Academy's assessment, Sylvain, who was already quite outgoing, became even more enthusiastic.

"If I pass, you can't go back on your word, senior."

As someone who's at least somewhat of a businessman, he naturally couldn't miss Sylvain's overtures.

After the two made a verbal agreement, Viner bid farewell to Sylvan and headed towards the temporary workshop in the testing grounds.

As soon as Viner entered the workshop, he saw a student who was so bored that he was yawning.

Unlike the other test centers where everyone was busy, the students in charge of the Alchemy Institute test center were so bored they were almost dozing off.

It is clear that Sylvan's words were true; the number of people participating in the Alchemy Institute's assessment was indeed the smallest among the three institutes.

Wiener walked up to the student and handed him the parchment, which served as his examination admission ticket.

"Are you here to take the Alchemy Institute's assessment?"

The student took the parchment and glanced at it casually.

“Yes, the project I plan to assess is forging,” Viner said.

The student nodded, placed the parchment aside, and pointed to a room deep inside the workshop. "The assessment will be held there. The questions and materials are on the table. Go in directly."

"Originally, there were two opportunities, but there are only two hours left before the deadline for the entrance examination. At least fifteen minutes need to be allocated to assess your progress and report it."

"So you probably only have one chance to try. Good luck."

"Understood." After thanking them, Vena walked towards the room the other party had indicated.

Although the workshop was only set up temporarily for the exam, its facilities were more complete than the blacksmith shop that Wiener had put a lot of effort into.

The ore needed for forging and the envelope containing the exam questions lay quietly on the workbench, along with an hourglass for timing.

Time was of the essence, but Wiener did not rush to begin forging. Instead, he spent some more time re-checking all the tools needed for forging.

"Two hours? That's more than enough."

Wiener turned the hourglass upside down, issuing a confident declaration.