Augmented Aspects: Chapter 241 Testing (Patreon)

Chapter 241

Testing

“Hey Charlaine, are you feeling okay?” Jhonny asked the receptionist who was even glowing to my perception.

“Um, yeah,” Charlaine replied, a slight note of hesitation in her voice.

“Well, if you caught something you can let me know.” Jhonny stated, concern evident in his voice.

“Okay, thank you for that,” Charlaine responded, though it was clear that Charlaine did not want to continue this conversation at all.

“Shh!” I told the two of them who were talking in hushed whispers in the background. Normally their conversation would have been drowned out with the normal reverie of my class going through their daily lectures.

Unfortunately, no one was talking, which meant that Jhonny’s kindhearted probing into my new assistant’s physical health might be distracting to some people.

“Can’t you see that I am trying to fail people out of my classes,” I state in a stage whisper that is clearly loud enough to be heard by all of my students who are taking my assessment exam.

Nervous chuckles.

The students just laugh nervously, while they all collectively work on their enchantments. Even Penelope looks nervous, and she is by far one of the stronger students of the class.

That said, I did make this test a little harder than necessary, though to my defense I just wanted to see how these students would react when pushed.

Charlaine and Jhonny both watched on from the corner, as they saw the students take the enchanted object that I created for them. Then they watched as the students took apart the enchanted object safely, only to build an exact replica of the one they took apart with the pieces that were available to them.

Or mostly safely as a few of my anti-tampering enchantments did go off when some of the weaker students tried to take the device apart.

The destruction of parts and processes was not necessarily a fail, but rather a sign of ways to improve.

Of all the students, Penelope was one of the fastest. Using her item exactly three times from three different angles to see its effects. Then as instructed, she began dismantling the product entirely.

Going down to the base components.

From there, she saw the array of items that were nearby and began discarding the items that were not used in her device.

Being one of the better students, it was clear that other enchanters looked at her for advice. This was why, while the other students had not specifically been following her every move, they did try to cheat by watching what items she removed and removing those items from their own piles.

At that, I just smiled to myself.

That was one of my traps for this exam, as each student had their own individualized test. While each student had access to the same 100 items to use, with only forty being used. There were specific combinations that were unique for each student. These were of course one time use items that after the initial use would lose their charge and allow the device to perform the same exact test that everyone’s had performed beforehand.

The only problem, that initial test would tell me if the student actually passed or not.

During the time when I was sitting patiently for each test taker to perform the task provided, I was mentally going through my own cultivation and cycling exercises.

Trying to work on new forms and speeds, while not moving and not showing any sign of activity was tough.

At least, I thought it should be tough.

The idea was that this test was so hard that I could easily get a grasp on where everyone was heading into the second half of the semester.

Though I think with their progress, I might be pushing most too hard too fast. That or a lot of these people are noted geniuses in their fields who just needed a bit of a push.

That said, Penelope is one of the students that I might need to create a specialized program form, to make sure she passes.

Watching her work is a thing of beauty. Well mostly, she does ham fist a few items here and there, but for the most part she is attentive, graceful, and precise. Clearly her years of tailoring experience are not being wasted with how adept she is at using her hands and manipulating objects.

Why are we doing mid-terms on a Wednesday and effectively giving all of the Enchanters forty-eight hours to goof off? Well simple, I want to be done with these assessments by Saturday, and I also need to make sure to test all three of my magical classes, along with my Magic Fundamentals, and Magic Resonance degree paths. Don’t worry, those two classes will have their own equally long tests tomorrow and Friday respectively, meaning those in Enchantment+ got hosed. Well hosed for lack of time to prepare, though to be fair it is my Qi Manifestation students who get the worst, as their training is happening over a three-day period.

Click-snap.

Penelope puts together the final component of her device and instantly hears the tell-tale click of everything working properly.

This is year one, so I went relatively easy. The only real hiccup is that everyone has a different three module core that is unique to them. Everything else that I thought about, having broken or uncharged pieces, parts that were overcharged, all of that was left out of this exam. Though I was glad to see a few students take the first few minutes of the test time to use their Ohm meters to test the voltage and current of every device.

Though every piece was fully charged and ready to betray anyone who was either not paying attention, or thought about cheating.

“Professor, I am finished.” Penelope said, from her desk, while raising her hand for attention.

“Bring it forward and let’s see if you succeeded.” I state, loud enough for the entire class to hear our interaction.

Penelope comes forward, a slight bit of hesitance in her gait as she takes deep calming breaths on her way forward.

Then once she is here, she speaks in a low tone.

“Did you find anything odd about the construction?” I ask, trying to see if Penelope saw the obvious trap.

“I did, there was a series of three core circuit crystals that were needed to power the device, but I couldn’t understand what they did other than that.” Penelope noted, her voice low so she wouldn’t bother the other test takers.

Hearing her I nodded.

“Well, let’s turn it on and see how you did.” I state, a slight smile coming to my lips.

Seeing my obvious excitement, Penelope pauses and just stares at me.

“Did you do something to this?” Penelope asks.

“I don’t know, only one way to find out.” I confirm.

Penelope still looks at me and apparently still does not feel confident in my smile. Though she has good instincts as my smile is slightly malicious, it is not malicious in the way she might think.

“Okay, I trust you.” Penelope says, as she moves her hand towards the activation switch.

“And I trust that you did this correctly.” I reply.

Hearing my response, Penelope pauses, but finally gives in and presses the button.

Click.

Then just as I intended, the first-time use, those three unique circuit crystals that only had enough charge for one instance went off, and let everyone know that Penelope had in fact succeeded.

Da-da-dah-dat-da-dah-duh!

Rather than the device’s typical function of being able to test mana fluctuations in the air. The first time, I had it set up so that it first it let out a steady stream of mana to be measured, then played magical music, and even released a recording of me congratulating the individual student and letting them, and the class know exactly who passed.

Then an image of me appeared in the released magical field and created an image using recorded Illusion magic.

“Congratulations Penelope Tailor for successfully passing your mid-term exam. See you Saturday,” an illusionary version of me states hovering above the outstretched magical array detection device.

Penelope pauses for a second, which is great as I can see her analytical mind working overtime at the sudden revelation of a separate one time use function of the device she created.

“That’s what those three circuit crystals were?” Penelope asks, her voice nearly in a hiss.

At that I smile wider and move in to match her intensity, “isn’t it awesome. Yes, I created one unique set for every student here. Though it will be interesting to see who else has me congratulate Penelope Tailor.” I confirm.

“Gah!”

At that remark, I hear no less than three students who were around Penelope let out hisses of complaints as they begin taking apart their work, and goring through their trash bins for the missing pieces that they need.

Hearing that, Penelope also looks back and sees the other students who had apparently been close to cheating and turning in work that was clearly copied from watching or mirroring Penelope.

Seeing their new moods and efforts, Penelope turned back and just stared wide eyed at me. I can see a look of awe and something else on her. Then moving close she too smiles with a sympathetic malicious glee that comes from catching cheaters.

“You’re diabolical,” Penelope says, her face beaming, before she continues. “I love it.”

I smile a little wider at the compliment. It is always fun to prank someone, to show them how cheating would be terrible. But to get to share that moment with a fellow prankster, or at least someone who appreciated the prank, now that was amazing.

“I know,” I smile back, “enjoy your vacation, you deserve it.”

With that Penelope pauses as she and I both get her quest status update for her progress in the current curriculum.

Student: Penelope Tailor: Personal Quest (Ongoing): Obtain a Degree from SVC: You have chosen to attend Spiritlight Valhalla College. Your goal is to become certified in your goal within the time frame allowed for the degree path: Enchantment+. Current goal: learn and improve the following skills to the desired threshold: Enchantment (84/50), Alertness (62/50), Energy Resonance Alteration (28/50), Magic Theory (22/50), Spell Deconstruction (20/50), Mana Circulation (87/50), Magic Script (31/50), Arcane Understanding (32/50), Magical Awareness (89/50), and Analyze (38/50).

Year 1 Requirements: Two skills to reach the minimum threshold, fifty percent of the skills awakened.

Year 2 Requirements: Four skills to reach the minimum threshold, seventy-five percent of skills awakened.

Year 3 Requirements: Seven skills to reach the minimum threshold, all skills awakened.

Year 4 Requirements: All ten skills are to have reach the minimum threshold, with a noted major of interest to continue.

Rewards: Experience, Title, Soul Bound Degree, Badge, variable.

Seeing the message I mostly nod. She has decent skills in four of the ten required skills, but she is showing vast improvements in the others. While she is now the equivalent of a second year student, I expect more from her and will want to push her for that.

“Next semester, we might put you in a specialized class.” I state, making sure to tell my thoughts on what we should do next for the famed Tailor.

“Oh, okay.” Penelope says, as she pauses to look at me and then seems to blush brightly at the statement.

I think I missed something in that exchange, but she is clearly excited about the prospect of getting her own personalized training from me.

After Penelope, one would think that students all came charging forward to show off their accomplishments to be done. But apparently hearing about the one trap I set up, each student took this time to take apart their product to just glance at the three crystals inside and see that they were the three that came out originally.

Edwierd was the next student to come forward.

Seeing him, I nodded, though I was fairly certain this would not go as he planned. This is mainly due to the way he put in his crystals, which was not the way his came out. Even just glancing at the device, I could see that the internal order of those crystals was wrong, but I didn’t let Edwierd know.

“You confident with this arrangement?” I ask.

Edwierd for his part just shakes his head excitedly.

“I’m sure.” Edwierd exclaimed.

“Okay, let’s see it.”

Click.

With that Edwierd who was smiling brightly pressed the button and got a sound, but not the sound he had hoped for.

Wamp-wamp-wad-uh!

The sad bars of someone clearly failing could be heard, followed by my second track being heard.

“Ahh, you messed up the order of the circuit crystals, but that’s okay. You can still pass, as your name crystal hasn’t been used. Hopefully.” My recorded voice calls out.

“What? But how?” Edwierd cried out.

I just shrug my shoulders, not wanting to tell him that his flipped the second and first crystals making it so the second message would be played.

There was also a power switch that could be flipped to make it so only the first command voice would be played every time, but that would require the students to understand every component that they were taking apart and why it was there. While that was something we stressed in classes, I didn’t expect any of the students to get that correct, yet.

As such, this was mainly just an attention to detail type of class exam. A straight one-for-one exchange that should have been fairly easy to perform. At least it seemed simple to me.

To my defense, I did make sure that when I was preparing the color coordination for the different parts, that I used the same-colored paints for the different sets. At least Jhonny and Charlaine both confirmed that they were the same colors. Which was all I needed to continue to go.

And by me, I of course mean most of the grunt work was performed by my two Simulacrum that I had here while I was away.

Now the Simulacrum did stage a sort of coup, forcing me to enchant all of the 100 sets of equipment before they would paint the parts and assemble one model of each student.

Shortly after Edwierd another student came forward, only to get the same musical note.

Wamp-wamp-wad-uh!

Followed shortly by my own voice coming back, telling them what to do differently.

Wamp-wamp-wad-uh!

Wamp-wamp-wad-uh!

Wamp-wamp-wad-uh!

Like music to my ears the students who had all been taking this Enchanting+ class lightly, all let out a chorus of sad sounds.

“I don’t know what parts do what?” A disgruntled Tarvarin said, as he took out the two spent pieces and kept the third name piece in place. Of course, he did this after he measured it with a magtrometer, a device that all Enchanters use to measure magical outputs, and one that he should have been using from the start.

Personally, I never saw the need for the magtrometer, but then again that was a part of the bonus of having Angel’s Sight as my only way of being able to see.

I might need people to assist me with color coordinating my wardrobe, but I can tell when things are running out of magical energy.

That said, when my students requested it, I made sure to get them.

Now that they have them, it is my job to make sure they use them.

If they look, they will find that the music line and the beginning speech line have slightly different frequency ranges, but the same amount of energy.

Now that they were in this crunch time, they could write down the frequencies that they put in, see which one works and then provide that out to the rest of the class.

Or they could just be lone wolves and let their fellow guildmates fail.

The funny part is, that I didn’t even say the students couldn’t work with each other. Just that I stated I wouldn’t recommend it, especially with how everyone only had one chance to use their own name plate correctly.

Da-da-dah-dat-da-dah-duh!

“Congratulations Wilheilm Lobmosher for successfully passing your mid-term exam. See you Saturday,” an illusionary version of me states hovering above the outstretched magical array detection device.

“Congratulations,” I say, as I direct the big fella to then get a reading of the energy being released.

“Thank you,” Wilhelim says, then bows to me before leaving.

Odd seeing an overly large barbarian type humanoid with rippling muscles and hooked fangs bow to me, but he does.

I nod back to him, and with that my second student leaves for the day.

“How long are you going to stay behind with us?” Edwierd asked, a note of pain and turmoil filling his words.

“As long as it takes for you to recreate a perfectly functioning device the exact way it appeared to you.” I reply, though I do let out a slightly devilish smile at that.

Cringe.

Seeing me smile, Charlaine who had been quietly observing me all of this time flinched as she took in my new look.

“You’d think she almost enjoys the fact that half her class is staying late?” Charlaine said, again stage whispering towards Jhonny. That or my Perception Attribute is so high that their conversation is easy to pick up from almost anywhere in this facility.

“Oh, I know she wants them all to pass. Though I would like to point out that I guarantee that she is happy that her students are taking longer than expected to accomplish this task.” Jhonny replied.

“You think so?”

“I know so.”

“Why?”

“Well if these students end up staying for too long, then Dr. Spiritlight has already told me that she will need me to get Ms. Valhalla to fill in for her joint course on Bloodline Evolutions scheduled for an hour from now.” Jhonny admitted.

“You mean she purposefully created this complex of a task, just to avoid teaching another class?”

Hearing that, I just waved my hand dismissively at the pair.

“No, it just happens that this is an odd coincidence. That said, I am going to make changes to all of my other classroom midterms as well.” I state, realizing that Jhonny has just given me a great idea.

Seeing me, the two that were in the corner suddenly got tense.

“Oh shit.” Jhonny said.

“What?” Charlaine asked.

“I just realized that my Qi Manifestation class will occur everyday for the rest of this week.” Jhonny said.

Hearing him, I could only smile, as I realized I could double dip on impossible midterms to pass. So I could spend that time with my dedicated students, over teaching Mallory’s Bloodline classes.

“Why is she smiling with her teeth gleaming like that?” Charlaine asked.

“I don’t really want to know, but I assume I will find out” was all Jhonny could manage as a reply.