The Runesmith

Chapter 690: Ability Scanner.

“The place seems busier than usual…”

Roland commented as he noticed far more activity than normal throughout the Institute. Students filled nearly every corridor. Some hurried between classrooms carrying stacks of books, while others gathered in small groups, speaking excitedly among themselves.

Even several instructors seemed unusually occupied, moving from one wing of the building to another with documents tucked beneath their arms. Others, however, appeared different. They were not busy at all, just unusually cheerful as they wandered about carrying spatial bags and backpacks.

“Of course it is. The exams have ended, and you know what that means.”

“Ah... It's like that...”

Roland had not been at the school for very long and had been too busy to pay much attention to the students and their lives. Most of the exams were over, which meant the students finally had some free time for themselves. Those who had not passed still needed to take supplementary examinations, but judging by the atmosphere, most had already escaped that fate.

“They seem awfully excited.”

“Wouldn't you be? They get to see their families and relax. Others will be allowed to venture outside and take on jobs with adventurers. It's a big step toward becoming adults.”

Arion floated beside Roland in his black cat form. His tail swayed lazily as the two observed the students. Their faces were filled with anticipation and excitement. Some spoke about returning home for the holidays, while others compared plans for dungeon expeditions and temporary work contracts. Roland even overheard a group discussing which adventuring parties were recruiting apprentice mages this season.

The sight reminded him of when his brother Robert had arrived in Albrook with the woman who later became his wife. They had participated in a joint expedition between a magic academy and a knight academy. Some of the students here were now at that same age and would soon be leaving for several months on similar missions. They would gain valuable experience and earn merit points in the process.

It was not just about gaining combat experience in the field. These expeditions also gave them the opportunity to forge connections with promising young knights. Some mages hoped to become tutors for noble families or enter their service directly. Others dreamed of joining the mage towers of powerful tier three mages, while some wished to remain at the Institute and teach future generations of students.

“A lot of new students are running around as well. You should perhaps change the scheduling.”

Arion laughed as Roland pointed out the chaos in the halls.

“Ah, perhaps we should.”

His voice remained light as his floating black cat form tilted in midair, tail curling lazily behind him.

“Though if we changed the schedule now, I suspect half the faculty would start complaining. Everyone is already used to it.”

“Hm...”

Roland grumbled quietly. The Institute's schedule had always struck him as inefficient. Mages were an odd bunch. Instead of spreading their workload more evenly, they tended to cram everything into a handful of particularly busy days. They seemed to prefer working intensely for short periods rather than maintaining a steady pace.

For Roland, who was constantly working anyway, this was not much of a problem. However, when ordinary people who were not accustomed to such a demanding rhythm tried to keep up, mistakes were almost inevitable.

He could already see confused new students getting lost in the halls and teachers rushing around with various lists, trying to find them and guide them to the correct dorms. To make matters worse, the corridors had not been designed to handle this much traffic at once.

Groups of students struggled to squeeze past one another in the narrower passages, while upperclassmen carried oversized luggage enchanted to hover just above the ground. One such piece of luggage was suddenly launched into the air when a rushing student accidentally kicked it, forcing Roland to catch it with his mage hand spell.

“Don’t run in the halls.”

His voice echoed through the corridor, amplified by magic. The moment he spoke, everyone stopped and turned to look at him.

“It’s the Full Mithril Enforcer…”

“You idiot, he’s the Full Mithril Deputy now.”

“Oh, right…”

The students whispered among themselves while staring at his armored figure. He was wearing the same suit of armor he usually used here, though he could switch to one of his other sets whenever he wished. Since arriving at the academy, he had become somewhat infamous, earning scorn from some and respect from others. As far as he knew, many students feared him. Rumors had spread about him fighting knights and even killing people.

“Ha ha, you’re as famous as ever, Deputy Professor Wayland!”

Arion laughed, and the moment he spoke, the corridor grew even quieter. The students began moving more cautiously, and many stepped to the sides of the hallway. It was clear they were waiting for him to pass before continuing on their way.

“Sure…”

‘Well, this isn’t so bad. At least they won’t bother me if they’re afraid of me.’

His reputation did have its advantages. The peace and quiet it brought was one of them. With a single sentence, he had silenced the crowd and cleared a path through the corridor. As he walked away, he could already hear the noise returning behind him. Some students even cast silencing spells to avoid being overheard, but he could still catch snippets of their conversations. Some were relieved he was gone, while others wondered where he was headed.

“So, Professor Arion, the examinations are over, and since you called for me, I assume the initial selection process has been completed?”

“That’s right.”

Arion nodded, and Roland quickly moved on to another matter.

“Have you prepared ‘that’ as I asked?”

“By that, you mean…”

Arion’s tail wiggled slightly before he pointed a paw at Roland and traced a strange shape in the air that resembled a rune.

“Yes, that. We’ll need it for the secondary selection process.”

“Indeed. Don’t worry, everything has been prepared, and all the students should have gathered by now.”

“Good.”

Roland nodded. He had arranged something that would help him determine the most suitable equipment for the students. The competition between the schools did not involve only the younger participants. Some events, such as the golem competition, were contested by entire departments. Low level mages could not truly create golems. At best, they could summon magical constructs that resembled them.

The competition was a mix of youths competing against other youths with the guidance of their teachers. However, the teachers also had several ways to compete against one another, and Roland would need to find ways to help his side secure victory and achieve a strong ranking.

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Roland followed Arion through the corridor, the noise of the institute gradually fading as they moved toward the central hall. The structure resembled a modern gymnasium and was usually used for magical training and even battles between young magicians.

Inside were numerous magical circles capable of producing barriers for the students. Some served as demonstration platforms where students could perform tests of magical control. There were even loops suspended from the ceiling through which young magicians had to guide a ball of mana. The faster they completed the correct course, the better their control score and final grade.

‘So these are the students... There are quite a lot of them.’

When he arrived, the full scale of the central hall was revealed before him. Multiple rows of students filled the space. Some were chatting, others sat in chairs, and a few floated around on strange soap bubbles created by someone with a liking for whimsical magic. If this had been his first time interacting with magicians, he might have been surprised. At this point, however, he had seen more than his fair share of oddities.

“Everyone, could we have your attention?”

Fortunately, he could rely on Arion to address the young magicians instead of doing it himself. The dwarven craftsmen and several assistant professors from the Runic Department were also present. The department now had more personnel, better equipment, and a budget worthy of a proper academic division, and it showed.

The device Roland intended to install here was something he had designed long ago for the protection of Albrook. It was a scanner capable of recording a person's mana signature, class, and various other attributes before storing the information in the city database. Originally, it had been used to track individuals and identify potential spies. Today, however, it would serve a different purpose. It would record each student's capabilities, allowing the department to later create runic accessories tailored to their specific strengths.

In six months, these students would participate in a variety of competitions. They were already among the best in their classes, but many had not yet committed themselves to a particular discipline. Roland and Arion had the opportunity to influence those choices, and the scanner would help determine which students were best suited for each event. With the right assignments, they could significantly improve their chances of victory.

“Welcome, young mages of Xandar’s Institute of Wizardry. Today marks the secondary selection phase for the upcoming inter-academy competitions.”

A ripple of excitement spread through the crowd. Some students leaned forward, others straightened their posture, and a few exchanged nervous glances. They had all earned their place through tests and accomplishments accumulated throughout the year. Now came another stage of the selection process, one that would determine which competitions they would enter.

While students could still decline participation if they were unhappy with their assigned role, such cases were rare. Taking part in the games between magical academies was both prestigious and highly sought after. It was an opportunity to showcase everything they had learned and bring pride not only to their professors but also to their families. Winners would receive special privileges, along with trophies and distinctions that could later help them secure desirable positions in institutions such as the Royal Magical Court.

“I’m sure you all have your preferred Events, but what matters now is disposition and alignment.”

Arion the Rune Mage continued, his floating black cat form drifting a little higher as his voice carried clearly across the hall.

“Your performance throughout the year has already been recorded, and your grades will be taken into account. However, today you will need to take one final test to measure your true inclinations!”

He finally turned toward what the dwarven craftsmen were assembling. The magical scanner looked quite intricate, with numerous thick cables feeding into a central runic core. The structure was circular, almost like a gate laid flat against the ground, with runic channels carved along its outer ring. Each channel pulsed faintly as mana flowed through it in controlled waves.

“And here we have the device that will make today’s selection possible.”

Arion said, gesturing with one paw.

“A runic status and resonance scanner, designed in cooperation with Deputy Professor Wayland and the Runic Department.”

A few students whispered at the mention of Roland’s title. Some leaned forward with sudden interest, while others looked nervous, as though the machine itself might harm them.

‘Some of them look like they think it will hurt them... What kind of rumors have they been spreading about me?’

He could tell that a few of the younger female students were afraid to meet his gaze and hid behind the male students nearby. There was little he could do besides feel annoyed. Soon, he spread out his senses to gauge the capabilities of this latest batch of youths.

‘There’s a mix of Tier One and Tier Two students... Huh?’

There were a lot of people gathered here, so he had not paid much attention to any one individual. Some students were still arriving, and one of them immediately caught his eye. A lone girl with golden blonde hair and green eyes entered through one of the doors. She looked somewhat confused but quickly took a place behind the other students gathered there.

‘Did she somehow manage to get in?’

It was Lucienne, Roland’s youngest sister. She had returned to the institute not long ago after being absent for several months. He had not expected her to perform particularly well during the exams, considering how much material she had missed. Yet somehow, she was here, ready to participate in the final stage of the selection process.

“Now then, why don’t we proceed in alphabetical order, starting with the oldest students and ending with the youngest? Once your name is called, please step through.”

Arion continued speaking before calling out the first student by name. The young man stepped forward with visible confidence, adjusted his robes, and entered the circular platform as instructed. Roland pulled his attention away from his sister, who still seemed intent on avoiding him, and focused on the machine as it activated.

“Oh!”

The students gasped with interest as two pillars slid out from a hidden compartment within the device. They stood perpendicular to one another and were made from a glasslike material. Several runes were visible on their surfaces, and once activated, they began to glow brightly.

A laserlike beam emerged between them and focused on the student standing at the center. Then the pillars began moving in a circular pattern around him, scanning his entire body in the process. The beam passed over him from head to toe several times before the runes engraved within gradually dimmed. The entire procedure took only about a minute and was monitored by another rune mage through a nearby display.

“How magnificent. Everything seems to be working according to the runic systems!”

Arion was quite pleased as he floated toward the panels. Roland had helped him design the graphical interfaces for the runic operating system, awakening a strange fascination in the feline rune mage.

From what Roland knew, Arion had spent half of his days experimenting with the data on modern computer operating systems and user interfaces. He was the one who had designed the graphics displayed on the current monitor. A recreation of the student's body appeared on one side of the screen, while all of their statistics were listed on the other. Their level, attributes, learned skills, and even titles could be recorded.

It was a complete scan of the individual, though most of the information remained hidden from view. What the students saw was a simplified version containing only a few key data points. Even so, it was enough to determine which events suited them best.

Sebastian was not present, but the academy possessed multiple magic towers and magic spirits. The runic department had access to all of that computing power, and Arion had spent considerable time designing a system capable of analyzing every statistic and skill a student possessed. Whether they were best suited for a treasure hunt or a flag battle, the system would perform its calculations and provide the three most suitable options.

“Let’s see…”

Arion floated toward one of his assistants. The man was studying a screen beside a stack of blank scrolls. Once the scan was complete, the bolts stopped spinning and the student was allowed to step down, but the process was not yet finished.

A floating pen hovered nearby, enchanted through runic magic. After the scan concluded, it began moving across a sheet of paper, writing down the student's name along with the three competitions available to them. While the academy could have assigned events directly, they preferred to give the young mages a choice that they could mark down themselves.

Nevertheless, not every competition had room for everyone. Most of the youths would naturally choose the events that offered the greatest number of merits rather than those best suited to their abilities. Because of this, the system maintained priority rankings and compatibility percentages for every role while also taking academic performance into account. Everything was calculated through the system Arion and Roland had devised.

‘I wonder what she’ll get... Based on her current skills and spells, it’s probably going to be that one.’

Roland had helped design the system, so he could predict the likely outcomes almost instinctively. Lucienne’s class, talents, and recently acquired skills were already known to him. Even though her level lagged somewhat behind the others due to her long absence, her rare class compensated for many shortcomings and made her a highly desirable candidate for one particular competition in her age bracket.

His gaze shifted briefly toward the back of the hall where she stood. She was trying very hard not to attract attention, though she was not particularly good at it. Every so often, she glanced in his direction as if she were afraid to face him. He was not entirely sure why, but perhaps she worried that he would disapprove of her decision to leave the institute.

Although the interschool competition was a prestigious event where young mages could prove themselves, injuries were not uncommon. Some participants took it very seriously and had no qualms about cheating or harming their rivals. His sister would be entering such an environment and could potentially find herself in danger while he was occupied with his own competition.

‘Should I stop it?’

Roland held enough influence to make it happen if he wished. If he decided to deny her entry, he probably could. Arion would listen to his advice if he deemed Lucienne unsuitable. Yet Roland could not help wondering whether she would resent him for it. The thought made the decision far more difficult than it should have been but a choice needed to be made.