Mixed Blessing System

The moment the examiner of this last test gave his permission for the candidates to begin, Lothur opened the scroll of a formation from the set offered by the association.

The Formation Masters Association would not test an apprentice's favorite formation. No, the purpose of this exam was to measure the ability of the individuals under examination. So they had to produce or manipulate formations chosen by that place.

Since every 1-star formation master was expected to know how to produce any Iron-grade formation, there was no problem in following rules like that.

On the other hand, all materials used in the exam had to be provided by the association to ensure the integrity of the tests. So, only from something chosen in advance by the management of this place would the tests work as well as possible.

With that, after Lothur learned one of those formations he had not yet come in contact with, he quickly took the materials he would need to develop it and found a place to sit down.

Thus, in the blink of an eye, he assembled the formation flags and began his work to develop his first spatial ring.

'This test is beneficial...' He thought as he made the first preparations to start inscribing on that metal object within the laws' restriction space. 'They make the scroll available for us to learn new formations!'

Formation masters could invent formations, as Lothur had done with those he had produced so far, or use those that already existed. Those usually had their details, methods, and necessary materials previously recorded on scrolls, which were usually traded, just like techniques.

So were recipes for pills, potions, weapons, etc. Every spiritual profession in this world has its valuable 'blueprints.'

In this way, Lothur had just learned a new kind of formation by taking this test, noticing the secrets behind the handy spatial rings!

'So all I have to do is inscribe this code...' He used a special brush without difficulty to write the programming for this formation. 'And then this will create a 'bubble' of space the size of the stored object if it is smaller than four cubic meters in volume...'

'This other code is to repeat the process if the first object did not occupy all the space in the ring. In this case, if it is within the volume limit, a new bubble will be created for the second object...'

'This code will then repeat this 'n' times until that volume is filled...' He wrote the third line.

In sequence, he made some commands regarding the item's security so that the ring's owner could be assured that others would not have an easy time accessing his spatial storage.

Finally, Lothur added command lines for things necessary for the ring to function.

'This will be for adding new items and removing the last ones manually...'

'That other one will be for using spiritual energy to choose one of the bubbles to be summoned...' Finally, the command to spiritually add new items.' He finished inscribing all the rules of that formation.

However, even though he was already finished with only 8 minutes of testing, he took some more time to protect his inscriptions.

He had been inspired by the formation design given by the association, but he had used his logic to produce such a thing. So, to protect his intellectual property, Lothur put a self-destruct command on that spatial ring!

He then withdrew his hand from that restricted space and smiled, satisfied with his work there.

​ 'Not bad, not bad at all.' He looked intensely at the silver ring. 'In the future, I won't need to buy spatial rings anymore, and I will even be able to 'hack' rings of people still alive.'

With the knowledge of how to produce something naturally came that of how to deconstruct it...

There could be several types of spatial rings in this world. But in general, the idea behind them was similar, which made it easy for formation masters to break through the security barriers of these items.

So Lothur learned something helpful today!

He then took his attention off that object right after deactivating the flags, finally indicating that he had finished when the time trial was at 13 minutes.

Seeing this, none of the people waiting for the exam were surprised that Lothur was first.

But some people there were very excited about this moment!

One of them was Cedric, who nervously bit his nails, finally feeling the risk of his bet.

On the other hand, the old man from before stood on that stage next to the examiner, curious to know what Lothur's performance had been.

He no longer had it in mind to try to spy on the silver-haired young man's work but was itching to find out the efficiency of the formation produced by Lothur.

With that, as Annaliese hugged her brother-in-law, feeling that his results would once again shock the people there in a few moments, minutes passed. In this period, two more individuals finished their formations, the third of them being Johann.

Meanwhile, the old formation master saw Lothur's result and restrained himself so as not to disturb the people in the surroundings with his reaction.

'Hmm, I have to talk to my superior about this young man...' He thoughtfully looked at Lothur. 'His talent is formidable, so we must find a way to bring him to our side!'

After thinking about it, he left without looking back, leaving Cedric more curious, already walking back and forth in that place.

'29 minutes...'

He saw the hourglass marking the time of this exam, but it did not even take the sand inside it to finish falling from its top. At that moment, the last candidate finished his test!

With that, the five apprentice formation masters were silent.

They paid attention to the examiner who already had the results of the other four and was evaluating the formation of the last one.

The other individuals in the room were also silent, some looking at Lothur, others looking at Cedric, waiting for this decisive moment in their bet.

The examiner then looked at where the candidates in this examination were standing. Finally, he read out the results. "The 5th to finish the exam, Harald, 35%, approved."

The level 4 young man jumped in joy at hearing his name, but no one paid attention to him.

"The 4th to finish, Julian, 29%, reproved."

"The 3rd, Johann, 59%, approved."

"The 2nd, Jennifer, 47%, approved." He said as the only woman who had made it to the end of that exam smiled in delight as she embraced her company.

Gulp!

The examiner took a deeper breath, along with Cedric's nervous moment.

"The 1st to finish the exam, Lothur, 100%, approved!" He said all at once while feeling a particular pride for having administered the exam of that person who had broken the record for this test.

But as this examiner proudly looked at the paper in his hands, the people in the surrounding area had wide mouths and eyes.

Some of them were looking at Lothur with disbelief on their faces, but many were watching Cedric's ashen expression.

Cedric was so shocked at this instant that he did not even hear Annaliese's comments as his legs trembled and he fell to the ground.

"How can that be?"

...