Mist Empire’s Rise: Fake Noble to Fog Queen

Chapter 364 Mist Empire’s Rise- 363: End-of-Year Assessment

"Forgot?" The supervising professor looked suspicious.

"Suddenly forgot," Luo Wei put away her wand. "Professor, may I go?"

The supervising professor's face was expressionless. "Then go ahead."

Headmaster Morrison was absolutely right—this student was a troublemaker!

He'd been a professor at Siria Magic Academy for over a decade and had never seen a student dare be this arrogant on the exam platform.

If she didn't want to learn spellchanting, just say so. What was this about forgetting the spells? Did she think he was blind and couldn't see the dust clouds she'd thrown up a minute ago?

Hmph!

So many people wanted to learn spellchanting but couldn't. Did she know what she was missing?

The annoyed spellchanting professor made a note about Luo Wei in his little book, thinking that after the assessment he'd definitely have a good chat with Professor Moses.

Look at the student she'd taught—completely lawless!

If she could hear the professor's mental grumbling, Luo Wei would at least defend herself a bit. She really didn't do it on purpose!

She'd always wanted to choose spellchanting as her profession. Who could have predicted this kind of mishap during the exam?

If you asked her, the academy's assessment design was fundamentally flawed.

No key points outlined before the exam, question scope too broad, success depending entirely on luck—completely unfriendly to unlucky people.

Fortunately, there weren't many earth magic spells—only four. If there'd been seven, eight, or ten, she definitely would have failed this exam.

Luo Wei couldn't even say whether her luck was good or bad.

Leaving the platform, she saw Axina, who'd finished the spellchanting exam half an hour ago.

The other girl still stood below, clearly waiting to see Luo Wei's exam score.

Since the victory ball that night, Axina hadn't spoken to Luo Wei again.

Though they were in the same class, they treated each other as air.

Today, for some reason, Axina had fixated on her again.

Luo Wei looked back. Their eyes met. Sparks flew in Axina's azure eyes.

Luo Wei felt baffled. She hadn't provoked her, had she?

Axina was furious. She'd gotten a perfect score on the spellchanting assessment, yet everyone thought Luo Wei's magical talent was stronger, as if her perfect score was fake.

Luo Wei was just grandstanding!

Because her earth element affinity was low and she knew she couldn't get a perfect score, she deliberately didn't recite earth spells to keep herself undefeated!

So calculating! Damn it, she was still playing innocent and aloof there. Hateful!

Resentment swirled around Axina.

She'd originally wanted to use the end-of-year assessment to show everyone who the real magic genius was.

Luo Wei's stunt instead made her—who'd drained her magic to get a perfect score—into a joke!

Axina stared at Luo Wei's departing back, her unwilling heart gradually swelling with anger.

Third day of the end-of-year assessment.

Luo Wei smoothly passed both the morning swordsmanship assessment and afternoon horsemanship assessment. Her scores weren't the highest but ranked in the top ten.

So far, except for alchemy, all six other junior department assessment results had been posted.

First place in potions was Hol. First in magic runes was a male classmate named Colin from Professor Mike's class.

First in spellchanting was Axina. First in swordsmanship was Gladys. First in horsemanship was their old friend Jack.

First place in astrology was undoubtedly Luo Wei.

Even with only nine points, this score crushed all classmates by a wide margin. After all, divination difficulty was truly high—half the students couldn't even enter their mental worlds.

However, her score had a "tentative" notation. Three months later, when the prediction came true, her score would be revised.

Whether it changed or not didn't matter to her. Add one point, subtract two—she'd still be first.

Final day: Alchemy assessment.

The exam content matched what Professor Temple had said in class—forge a sharp sword.

But the assessment standards weren't as strict as Professor Temple claimed. To make students attend class seriously, he'd deliberately made the assessment sound difficult, saying it had to be sharp enough to cut a hair blown against it to pass.

Actually, no. The forged iron sword only needed to pass three tests—hardness, flexibility, and sharpness—to pass.

Like other students, Luo Wei first smelted iron ore at high temperatures to extract iron, then repeatedly hammered to remove impurities, obtaining wrought iron.

She placed the hammered iron block in charcoal to heat, carburized and quenched it, then tempered it at low temperature to improve toughness and strength, producing carburized steel.

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Carburized steel was hard yet tough, not easily bent or broken. Continuing to grind, shape, and sharpen it—the finished product was nearly complete.

After forging for over seven hours, Luo Wei finally completed the sword and submitted it.

The supervising professor first chopped at another iron sword with hers several times, then stabbed a wooden dummy a few times. Finally, he sliced across a thick stack of parchment. Seeing the sword could still easily cut through parchment, he announced she'd passed.

"This sword is good. Ten points!"

After recording the score on papyrus, the supervising professor looked up, saw her thin arms and legs, and showed surprised eyes.

With such a small frame, quite strong!

After hammering iron all day, feeling completely drained, Luo Wei was too tired to even speak.

After leaving the alchemy room, she dragged her lead-heavy legs back to the dorm and collapsed weakly on the bed.

Few people could walk back on their own like her. More common were students who fainted halfway through and were carried away, or crawled back on hands and feet.

Pure manual ironwork—truly not work for humans.

Lying there, Luo Wei tiredly closed her eyes.

She'd only meant to nap briefly but unexpectedly slept until noon the next day, woken by the room's furnace-like heat.

When she woke, Nicole was perched on her right temple, using her claws to pry open her eyelids—probably checking if she was dead.

Opening her eyes to see a black shadow at the corner of her vision, feeling an itch at her brow bone, Luo Wei said helplessly: "Nicole, to check if someone's dead, you should check their breathing. Lifting eyelids like this will scare people!"

The Infernal Arachne whooshed to her chest, turned around, and stared at her with big dark eyes.

Luo Wei cupped it in one hand and sat up, propping herself on the bed.

"When did you come out?"

Nicole raised two antennae and waved them around, like two windshield wipers swaying on a car's front window.

"You came out as soon as the morning bell rang? Couldn't wake me and were worried?"

Luo Wei read its meaning from its body language and gently set it on the bedside, explaining: "I'm not sick, just a bit tired yesterday. I'm fine now."

Nicole tilted its head and waved its claws twice more.

"Gladys and Hessel came this morning?"

"Got it. I'll go find them in a bit."

Luo Wei got up and out of bed, rang the bell for someone to bring up a basin of water, washed up simply, changed clothes, and went out.

Neither Gladys nor Hessel were in their rooms. After ten-some minutes, she found them in the academy cafeteria.

Both were eating. Steak plates were already stacked thick on the table.

As Luo Wei approached, she heard students on both sides quietly discussing whether eating so much would burst their stomachs.

Gladys and Hessel were deaf to outside voices. Only when Luo Wei walked beside them and they smelled the familiar scent did they look up.

"Luo Wei, you're awake. Want some?" Gladys opened her ice-blue eyes and pushed the steak toward her.

Luo Wei shook her head. "You eat. I'm not hungry yet."

Hessel looked at her. "I came to find you three times this morning. You never woke up."

Luo Wei sat down beside them. "Yesterday's alchemy was too tiring. I slept like the dead. Did you need something, senior?"

"Tonight is the advanced department's farewell party. We wanted to ask if you're attending." Hessel said.

Luo Wei froze. She'd forgotten—Sebastian was an advanced student graduating this year.

"Tonight's farewell party... the advanced department finished assessments already?" she asked.

Hessel said: "The advanced department only tests one subject. Sebastian passed the spellchanting assessment this morning. At two this afternoon when Magic Association people come, they'll award him the Intermediate Mage medal."

Luo Wei slowly exhaled. "I see. I'll attend tonight's farewell party. What about you two?"

Gladys nodded. "Me too."

Hessel: "Laura came to find me last night. We agreed then—we're attending."

Mentioning Laura, Luo Wei looked around. "Where are Laura and the others? Didn't they come eat?"

"They already finished and left. Laura needs to request leave from work. Theodore and Hol are at the boys' dorm helping Sebastian move things." Hessel answered.

They'd be out for practical training three months. Laura and Theodore couldn't work for the next three months, so they needed leave.

Hol's tutoring sessions had stopped before Rosie went to Golu City. He didn't need to request leave.

Luo Wei only questioned the latter sentence: "What are they moving? Is it heavy? Needs three people?"

Hessel shook her head. "Not sure. Sebastian said it's treasures he's saved for half a year."

The guinea pig senior was so poor he stole water—what treasures could he have saved?

Luo Wei was curious. Had he also raised chickens in his dorm?

Boys' dormitory castle, advanced department area.

Taking advantage of few people in the corridor, Sebastian quickly opened the door and pulled Theodore and Hol inside.

Once the door closed, the interior was dark as night.

Theodore couldn't help crying out: "Old guinea pig, what exactly are you hiding? Acting like a thief!"

Sebastian laughed mysteriously, pulled open thick curtains to let in a beam of light. The dim bedroom revealed its true face—mountains of garbage that shocked the heart.

Tattered clothes, discarded furniture, wooden signs and charcoal, inkwells and quills, shattered stained glass, rusted iron swords and hammers, stacks of used parchment scrolls and papyrus...

The room was packed with this chaotic mess. Except for two square meters of activity space at the door and a small bed squeezed into the corner, the forty-plus square meter room had almost no place to step.

Theodore and Hol's eyes widened. They stared at the garbage-mountain scene before them, unable to recover for a long while.

But Sebastian lovingly touched this and that, sighing: "Collecting stuff is still fastest during end-of-year assessments!"

Theodore bared his teeth. "Collecting what fast? Collecting junk fast?"

"This isn't junk," Sebastian disagreed. "This is all money. Selling it could get at least ten gold coins."

Theodore looked at him like an idiot. "Who'd buy this junk?"

"Octopus junior, no wonder you're too poor to afford pants," Sebastian shook his head and picked up a garment. "See? Deerskin shirt. Those noble students threw it out. Just a few holes. Wash it, mend it—five silver coins, no problem."

Dropping the clothes, he picked up a chair with a broken leg. "Fine walnut wood. Attach a piece of wood—two silver coins."

"Colored glass shards—grind them round, drill holes, make necklaces and jewelry—fifty copper coins."

"Rusted iron sword—make some sickles, put them in the market next month, customers will fight for them."

"Parchment—make rain hats. Quills—decorate wind chimes. Wood signs—patch doors and windows..."

"Wait, what's written on this sign?" Theodore felt his eyes playing tricks. He seemed to see something strange on the wooden sign.

"This sign? Let me see." Sebastian flipped over the sign in his hand and read the letters: "Green Turtle... Divination Zone?"

"Green Turtle Divination Zone!"

Theodore burst into wild laughter. "Hahaha, Green Turtle Divination Zone! I'm dying! Our academy has divining green turtles? How did I not know? Hahaha—"

Sebastian also laughed. He looked back at the large pile of wooden signs behind him and recalled: "This seems to be a sign I collected from the junior department chapel. Probably someone's prank."

Hol looked at both seniors, then at the sign in Sebastian's hand, and asked quietly: "Don't you think seeing this sign makes you think of someone?"

"No, I didn't think of any—" Theodore stopped mid-sentence, eyes widening, tone rising. "...Luo Wei? No way, you mean Luo Wei!"

Hol nodded. "She uses a green turtle shell for divination. You forgot?"

"Plus yesterday's astrology assessment was divided into three zones. The exam room I entered was called Tarot Card Divination Zone. If naming by divination tools, this sign should be from Miss Luo Wei's exam room."

Theodore said in shock: "This name is too careless! At first glance I thought a bunch of green turtles were divining at our academy!"

"Could it be a sign that was written wrong and scrapped?" Sebastian said.

The supervising professor shouldn't be so careless. He saw a smudged ink mark on the sign—probably a scrap marking.

"Even if written wrong, it's hilarious!" Theodore reached out to him. "Give it, give it! I want to show Luo Wei!"

Hol extended his hand back. "Better give it to me. I have a spatial ring. Put it inside and no one will see it. Tonight I'll give it to Miss Luo Wei to handle herself."

Sebastian looked at both extended hands, raised an eyebrow, and handed the sign to Hol.

"Alright, quickly help me move stuff. At two this afternoon I still need to attend the medal ceremony. Not much time."

Commoners who became mages would be granted titles by the Magic Association, becoming lifetime nobles.

Lifetime nobles sounded prestigious but weren't much better than commoners. Their titles could neither be inherited by children nor bring them any benefits.