[Eon's POV: ]
As soon as I used my white crack skill, the ever same white-colored crack with an unfathomable depth appeared on the other side of the gorgeous core before me.
It looked nice and that much was a fact as the Aether particles that were visible to the two of us thanks to our amazing eyes, as well as the Mana, Aura, Arcana, and other natural energies in the atmosphere that were influenced by the presence of that strong Aether and five attribute pure Mana making that small ball of condensed-materialized Aether inside this light was quite attractive.
But, its practical use was more than the pretty appearance.
-Oooooooooooong!
'And they could have just used it as some simple power core if I didn't take it anyway. It's better to use it to test some potential [Lightshade] members rather than waste it for some trivial things like that.'
So, I just extended my hand and lightly touched the light before me.
-Gulup!
The white crack was already open before me so it was as easy as always to store something inside it.
'This absurd skill can gulp down the spells so this spell-carved Aether core is nothing more than a good meal.'
The core was slightly pushed back from my touch and after that, the strange white light inside the crack sucked in the core in an instant. It was easy and quite fun actually. I just achieved my goal for this exam so it felt really fulfilling~.
"Finished?" Rein asked with a joyous face as she saw the core vanish from its place and the beautiful lights inside the room slowly scatter in the atmosphere.
She was happy and the smile on her alluring face was as gorgeous as ever.
She was happy that we got something so valuable but even more because I got something that I wanted.
I was happy so… she was even happier.
There were few things that caught my eye after all, so she tried her best so that I could have them or she could prevent me from having them.
'She's a bad-bad girl after all. She likes to steal the things that I want and then demand some coins in exchange for those things.'
Then use those very coins to make me do stuff that even she knew I didn't like much.
I was probably lucky this time around. She knew she couldn't have this core and store it anywhere to carry it with her.
It wasn't possible for one to store a nucleus of this scale in some storage device or weak storage skill after all. One would need a special device or skill for this and having a skill like my white crack was also a plus point for me. I would get a little bit more bonus points with this too so it was even more satisfying~!
"Yup. Thank you very much dear~." Walking close to her, I hugged her, gave her a light kiss, and grabbed her hand.
"Let's go quickly," I said. "The island must have started vanishing. We would have to use a lot more energy and fly all the way to ships if we don't leave now."
It was a fact… and yeah. I knew the consequences of taking away the core of an entire operating magic system. And in this situation, it was an illusion magic island with many normal people on it.
If not for Rein and her teleportation skill, I wouldn't have considered the option of taking away the core today but, we had Rein and there was a playful smirk on her face right now.
"Let's fall," she suggested with squinted eyes and curved lips, actually meaning what she just said.
'Oh, great nature…'
"Rein I-"
[[ Sister Elle~!? You just finished your big fight and now you want to use more energy for something like that~?! Master is exhausted from all that! If you don't go back right now, I will tell little Anna about this one~!! ]]
[[ "Thanks Celes! You are the best~!" ]]
Rein looked at me with a sad face now, her eyes full of displeasure at that cute-sounding serious threat from my good partner.
She said it well and thanks to her, I just saved a good amount of energy and probably a coin that I would have had to use to order her to go back.
"Tsk." She clicked her tongue and gave me a displeased look. She also knew we couldn't do what she had genuinely suggested but she just gave up on something precious like that core, there was no way she would be satisfied without any reward…
"It's only been two hours and forty-two minutes since the exam started, so we should have around two more hours before we reach the academy island.
So until then… we are playing."
-Swish!
We vanished from that dark room-like place which had also started disintegrating and reappeared inside my previous room on the airship that we had been assigned before.
I already checked with Celes's clones and there were no changes with the accommodations but there sure were many new things in ours as well as the other ships that were now sailing through the sky in that same synchronized order as before.
The decks of the ships that were previously empty were now filled with the students who were still intrigued over what had just happened.
Some had now grasped that the things that they all experienced were unique and only around three hours had passed since the start of the exam.
Some of them were recovering from the aftereffects of experiencing that weird time difference and sudden motion sickness.
The ones who had followed Hide's footsteps and jumped off the island were already enjoying their meals or were resting in the comfortable beds of their rooms.
Some of them would pass and some might not but even I couldn't accurately guess who would pass and who wouldn't.
The one thing I could accurately say though would be that we all, and by we I mean the ones who actually put any conscious effort into this exam, did a very good job.
It was after a long time that the entrance exam was taken on a sky island in the sky like this but people didn't fall into a chaotic state of fear or were so lazy that they practically did nothing like Hide.
The batch this time was full of some of the best people and these kinds of weird coincidences weren't just some weird coincidences anymore.
Things were pointing at something that would happen in the future but right now… the one thing that most of them were pointing at was the distant sky island that was still visible to all of them on the deck.
The megastructure was slowly vanishing into fine particles of colorful light and most of them guessed that the entire island was made with magic from that much.
And if one put more thought behind that thought, they might be able to link it to their world-famous headmaster who specialized in illusion magic.
From what I was able to see with my third eye, some did seem to notice that the island that all of them were thinking was a real hell hole, was actually nothing more than an illusion.
Some of them might actively be able to conclude that it was an island made of the headmaster's magic and that the illusionary creatures on the island were all just like any real monsters.
After learning this new theory, some were surprised and some were outright cursing him openly.
Some of them were receiving professional help right now from the staff and doctors on the deck too, but that was it.
They had just finished their exam and though it was less than three days of real-time, the potent magic from the headmaster directly affected their minds.
Unlike Rein who perceived the flow of time normally, and me who could tell most of the things about the spaces I was in thanks to my unique physical structure, they had no natural abnormality like us.
For them, actual three days had passed and many of them had not eaten anything for three days so, they were also receiving help from either the docs or the waiters and personal chefs of the dining halls.
Their exam just ended so many individuals and groups were celebrating and the cheerful atmosphere as our ships sailed further away from the island continued rising in a weirdly unique way.
Probably it was another one of the headmaster's doings but I didn't have the freedom to think of things like them right now.
-Thud.
She pushed me onto the bed and looked down at me from there with a dangerous smirk on her face.
I knew what she was thinking but that wasn't something great enough for everyone to hear.
We couldn't go beyond kissing until the marriage anyway so shoo-shoo now. Go look at something else…
Let us have our little fun until we reach the great island of magic's wealth, the well-known academy island.
It was going to be a new chapter in our lives and it was going to be fun~!
It was a cool place and we will be given our [House] by the famous ancient tree there, so all of us were looking forward to that, but for now… I was going to enjoy this moment and prepare myself, and this lady of mine, for the results that might turn out to be a little different from what we all might have imagined.
