Elite Mages’ Academy (Web Novel)

Chapter 194: Choosing Armor

Time passed very quickly, and there was only a week left till the third monthly examination. According to the news around the academy, the results of the examination would be used as the criteria for choosing the class monitors. Obviously, the current acting class monitors would take priority, but if the other students perform exceptionally well, and at least overtook the acting class monitor, they had a chance to take over the position.

The examination being set by the dean made it very special. The news was no longer a secret. The acting class monitors managed to learn of it from the upper-years or even the student union members. Just a few days ago, the first-year forums had a very interesting thread, even with a new banner which had basic instructions for the next monthly examination.

Only the student union year leaders or department heads had the authority to change the banner on the forums. Usually, the student union would make announcements this way through the forums, so the accuracy of the news was guaranteed.

The thread stated that the examination had been personally set by the dean, followed by a bunch of official jargon, such as stating that the student union and the dean cared deeply about the growth of the first years. Most of the students quickly scrolled through all the nonsense before noticing there were a few reminders and tips toward the end of the thread.

That was something that had not happened before. In the last two monthly examinations, there were always announcements, but never any reminders or tips.

This small change had caused quite a lot of surprise. The contents obviously did not reveal sensitive information like what the map would be, but it did give some guidance as to what they should prepare, such as letting the students know the examination would be longer, so the students should prepare enough consumables, such as recovery potions and certain scrolls. It also advised students with limited lifespan to purchase some Lifewater before the examinations, and that the academy would release a new batch of Lifewater just for the first-year students one day before the examinations.

Lifewater was not easy to make, and the key ingredients could only be imported from the American academy. All of that greatly restricted the supply of Lifewater, and batches were always released to the entire school. The last two reminders were what caused the largest reaction among the students.

Even the students that had no intention of gaining the class monitor position could not help but get nervous. Everyone had certain expectations for the difficulty of the monthly examinations, and on top of the entrance exams, they had already been through three different ones. Outside of the first monthly examination, the other two were quite easy. That was understandable; since everyone was a new student, so their skills would naturally be lower.

The difficulty of the third monthly examination quickly became a topic of great discussion. Everyone was definitely very anxious. The normal students that did not have any talents might have grasped some skills and basics in the three months there, but they were still all quite weak.

Xiao Lin’s training went on without any trouble. For the whole week, he had ignored all other classes, completely focusing on training up his Phantom Steps. Before then, he rarely skipped class for training, but that skill could very well be the key to him staying alive.

After understanding how difficult the examination would be, Xiao Lin’s first priority was not to pass the examination, but rather to focus on surviving.

To a veteran of online games, Xiao Lin clearly understood that he needed to be alive to do damage. Especially since the examination was not going to be short, he prioritized being able to guarantee that he could live until the last moment.

Fei Yawen was very interested when she received his reply. She told him she had forwarded the matter to her supervisor, and that the supervisor was also very interested. They were willing to provide a supply of training potions to Xiao Lin free of charge, with the sole condition being he would regularly give them data.

However, Xiao Lin felt that the data would not be too valuable for them because he obsessively trained everyday. Plus, he had the Academic Genius talent. Even though he felt the training potions have a large effect on him, he still could not let anyone know he had an SS-rank talent.

Xiao Lin obviously could not let the fact leak. Ever since he was placed on house arrest in New Washington, he clearly understood how important that secret was.

He managed to get Phantom Steps to LV6 after a week of training, which was the highest level. That was the product of him sacrificing everything else, but he was very happy with the results. Other than the skill, his Agility trait had reached 12 points. The speed of growth was more than he had anticipated. As a skill purely involving his dexterity, Phantom Steps was quite good for training his agility.

Lu Renjia fulfilled his promise as well. The day after Xiao Lin contacted him, he cancelled all of his prior commissions, not even caring about the negative impact it would have on his reputation. The topic was actually mentioned in the forums, but they obviously did not know that Lu Renjia had been monopolized by Xiao Lin, so they could only vent at his unreasonable conduct.

Xiao Lin was apologetic at the start, but he had accidentally heard Lu Renjia say that his commissions were higher than everyone else added together, so Xiao Lin ended up fine with it. All Xiao Lin did was remark that Lu Renjia really did have the talent to be an unscrupulous merchant.

Xiao Lin’s commissions were actually very large. Since he had so many skills, he needed a blade, which was his main weapon, but he needed a wand as well since he did not want his basic meditation to go to waste. He had planned on using the final week for spell training, using the remainder of his time to master a few reliable skills.

He also needed a single-handed hammer for the Holy Light Blessing skill. Even though the damage was miniscule when not facing the undead, the healing it had would be critical.

Finally, Xiao Lin needed armor. Lu Renjia passionately gave Xiao Lin some simple recommendations, such as heavy armor, chain armor, light armor, leather armor, or mage’s robes; each of them had their own specialities.

Xiao Lin pondered over it for two days before finally deciding on leather armor. Heavy and chain armor were slanted toward strength; even though they had excellent defensive capabilities, they would drastically reduce his speed. In fact, even mages could wear heavy armor as long as they had enough strength, but it would disrupt spellcasting, affecting their gathering of the elements and even decreasing the success rate of spells.

After Xiao Lin considered it, if the examination would be a task where they needed to flee, heavier armors would definitely be a huge negative.