Chapter 312 — A Matter of Digging Pits
Blade of Dawn · Page 1 of 4
"Essay questions?"
At Gao Song's words, Daniel's first reaction was to freeze for a moment; only then did he look at the things materialized on the table.
They seemed to be nothing but ordinary sheets of paper, and the books were of the plainest, cheapest sort—no gold foil stamped on their covers, no fine calfskin binding. Truthfully, it was the first time he had ever seen books so casually made.
"Let's begin. All the materials are here. Do as much as you can," Gao Yang said, glancing at the old mage before shifting into a more comfortable position in his chair. "I'll judge by your performance whether you truly meet my requirements."
The old mage abruptly realized this was a test. Seeing Gao Yang's serene, untroubled manner only made the alarm bells ring louder in his heart.
Then, with great solemnity, he turned to those papers bearing the questions and opened the books marked "Reference Materials"...
Gao Yang watched quietly from the side, while dividing off part of his attention to monitor the surface currents of the psychic network—on one hand to check whether anyone was watching this hidden space, and on the other to continue analyzing the architecture of the Ever-Sleepers' network and learn their arcane knowledge.
He was in no hurry at all, because he had already confirmed that in this space located in the middle layer of the network, time flowed even slower than in Illusory Pivot City. He had already instructed Amber to help keep watch in the real world, so there was no problem with him staying here accompanying the old mage through days and nights of exam papers.
Daniel found that he simply could not fathom what this "Otherworld Wanderer" was thinking, but out of self-preservation he chose to obey the other's demands. Yet when he focused his attention on those so-called "essay questions," a strange and inexplicable feeling still welled up in his heart despite himself.
He had assumed the "test" proposed by the Otherworld Wanderer would be something far more terrible and bizarre—that those papers might bear knowledge touching upon the hidden domain of blasphemy, might depict mind-shattering arrays and sigils, and that he would have to preserve his life in the face of these lethal things. Never had he expected that the first test he saw would be nothing but a pure mathematics problem, and the simplest kind at that—a few numbers to be added, subtracted, multiplied, and divided.
What kind of test was this?
A peculiar feeling rose in the old mage's heart, but he dared not voice any doubt. Instead he lowered his head and easily completed the calculation, writing out the result—as a mage, basic numeracy was a required course.
Then he looked at the next question. This one seemed slightly more complex, and had begun to tie into practical application: calculating the volume change of a certain potion before and after distillation, along with its density change...
But this was nothing difficult either—even his apprentices could do it.
Next question: calculate the burn-through time of a certain magic array operating under full load...
Next question: calculate the area of a strange figure—a figure composed of a series of circles combined with triangles and rectangles.
Next question: calculate the maximum theoretical interference value that a certain rune domain could withstand on a specific magical conductive material... What was a rune domain? What was an interference value?
Daniel looked up in bewilderment, but before he could open his mouth to ask, Gao Yang had already silently pointed at the reference book beside him.
The old mage wiped the sweat beginning to seep from his forehead and opened the book, studying it earnestly and diligently.
In a daze, he seemed to have returned to his youth, to those years in the mage tower learning magic under his mentor.
No—at this moment he was even more tense, even more diligent than back then!