"What is a Walker?" she asked.
"Someone who seeks to be God through the Paths of Divinity." Ryan replied.
She looked up and stared at him. "Is that the kind of answer you're going to give me? I can give you a zero on this test if that's the case, you know?"
"What kind of answer do you expect, Professor Sara?" he asked, shrugging. "Do you want me to say that a Walker is someone who watches over the safety of the world? Someone who seeks to confront the Kazaks? Someone who is willing to give their life for the sake of civilians?"
He scoffed at those answers he had heard more than once. "I'm sorry, I don't believe in that nonsense. This world has proven to be darker than I once imagined. I won't give an empty answer, full of pride from someone who wants to feel superior just because he watches over the good, but behind the scenes does the opposite," he said, and spoke again seconds later.
"And you can't give me a zero on a test where the answer is correct. The essence of us, the Walkers, is to seek Divinity. And no one can erase that, not even the heroes of the past, you, or my father," he declared.
She was silent for tens of seconds. Her frown was growing deeper and deeper. This wasn't the Ryan she had been told about.
That bookworm who couldn't speak was nowhere to be found, and no matter what she did or said, he wasn't intimidated.
She had to swallow her words and move on to the next question.
-
She was clear in her questions, and Ryan was even clearer in his answers. He even answered more than she asked, which left her completely speechless.
The entire interview/theoretical section was passed with flying colors, and his knowledge exceeded what he should have learned in just one hour.
Next came the practical test.
"I'll be very brief in your test, Ninth Prince," she said, this time her tone of voice softer and without much contempt. On a theoretical level, at least, this young man seemed to know even more than she did in many areas.
So that's why she had to treat him with respect.
"What should I do?" he asked.
"I'll ask you to cast any form of Projection onto that wood and let me observe it with a special item," she said, taking out the item in question.
Ryan nodded gently. 'They're magical enhanced vision glasses, right?' he thought.
He only knew about them from the novel, as they were invented by a nobleman from Evigheden some 20-30 years before the events of the sequel took place. They served as a microscopic observer, but for seeing spirituality.
In the novel, they were widely used by teachers and those studying the specialization of Inanimate Destiny.
Ryan stopped thinking about nonsense and focused on what was in front of him, waiting for Professor Sara's signal.
A minute later...
"Now."
Ryan fixed his gaze on the wood, about 3 meters away. Given the distance, it was very difficult for him to reach that far with his current skill level, but it was the right distance for Sara to study what she wanted and judge what she needed.
After going through the three steps before shooting, he launched it.
This time, he decided to create a lightning-type attack, so it came out with a small bang from his finger and headed toward the wood. It traveled really fast, like lightning, and in no time, it had covered two and a half meters.
When it reached three meters, it stopped millimeters before hitting the wood.
Sara was in shock and couldn't believe what she had seen, and even Ryan was in shock.
He didn't expect it to go that far, when the previous one didn't even come close to hitting two meters, so he was surprised. Although he expected it to be more powerful because he had imagined it better now, he didn't expect that much.
After giving him a thoughtful and reflective look, Sara nodded.
"Do the same with Spiritual Protection," she said.
Ryan then did the same, but he failed like all the previous times. He tried once more and failed again.
"You don't need to continue," Sara said, interrupting him. "You're incompatible with Spiritual Protection, so I advise you to change it," she said.
'Another life without being compatible with this,' he thought.
Spiritual Protection was one of the most important things for a Walker, both then and now. If Ryan had been compatible with it in his first life, he might not have died at the hands of Aster.
But he could do nothing; he had to resign himself to it.
"What other specialization do you recommend as a secondary?" Ryan asked, curious to hear the answer from such an experienced teacher.
"I can't really recommend anything because I haven't seen much of you, but you should choose one that's cold to maintain balance. Inanimate Destiny is always a good option, although that's always better as a primary specialization, but it's an option," she said.
Ryan nodded. "Okay, I'll keep that in mind." After that, he left the test room and met up with Alaric.
Although it didn't seem like it, only 15 minutes had passed since the theoretical test began.
Most of those who didn't pass were reviewing content with their supervisors, especially those who had been lazy.
So the testing continued, and many people began to leave one after another until it was almost noon. When everyone finished testing, Sara left with Sawyer.
"The two different class schedules remain the same for you. One where we will see more advanced classes and another where we will see more basic classes."
"These classes will have different resources available to students, and it was a plan orchestrated by the academic leaders and the King, under the new mandate, thanks to the war for the throne that has begun. Although many of you are civilians or low-ranking nobles, you should know that this war will involve us all."
"Perhaps at some point even you, ordinary civilians, will have to choose a side, and perhaps your small influence could tip the balance. That is why the resources of this last year must be well distributed among you, according to your abilities."
"I will now name those who will be moving on to advanced classes, who will be allocated more teaching resources due to the abilities they have demonstrated over the past year and during this test, and I don't care if any of you think this is unfair," she said, picking up a sheet of paper to read from.
She began reading out students' names, most of whom were veterans.