"If only you knew what you are missing…" Lith Inwardly smiled.
Lith took a deep breath, stimulating his mana core to its maximum output. He stood straight, extending his right hand upwards, right above his head, generating a sphere of dazzling white light the size of a chestnut.
His sharp earing could already listen to some whispered comments.
"Perfect silent light magic. Trivial but effective." "Hope he can do something better, I have so much paperwork in my office…"
Lith openly smiled, moving his arm clockwise, and when it reached two o'clock a fiery fireball appeared.
"Two kinds of perfect silent magic! Not bad, for a commoner." "Double casting, finally something interesting."
The arm kept moving in a fluid movement, not letting them the time to chat. At four o'clock a small thundercloud appeared. The audience started to get interested.
"Triple casting at twelve years?" "What the f*ck? Triple perfect silent…"
The arm reached six o'clock, a blot of pure darkness started consuming the light, pulsing with hunger. Both the Headmaster and the Marchioness had already understood what it was, but while the Marchioness had seen Lith in action, Linjos was shocked.
"It couldn't be Silverwing's…"
At eight o'clock rock, dust and dirt condensed into a small round stone, while at eleven o'clock a small bubble of water constantly shifted between gas, liquid and frozen state.
"By the gods! Hexacasting with perfect silent magic!" "That's almost Magus Silverwing's Mana Hexagram." "The last student that managed to do that…"
The Headmaster hit the department Head with the elbow, forcing him to shut up. Lith's interest was piqued. Why interrupt him? Was the identity of the student a secret?
"There is no almost." He thought.
His arm didn't stop, at the second round of his arm, the single dots of energy became connected by tendrils of power, forming a perfect hexagram inscribed in a circle.
Through the shared connections, energy started to circulate, until the single elements disappeared, leaving only a golden hexagram floating in the air. (AN: If you have problems imagining the result, just look again at the book's cover :P)
That was the reason why Nana had been admitted back in the day, and she had passed it down to Lith.
Lochra Silverwing's Mana Hexagram was a rare feat, that barely a magician out of a hundred was capable to perform. It was an exercise that demonstrated not only mastery over all the elements, but also a deep understanding of the flow of mana.
It emphasized the mental strength and focus. It was an unwritten rule that whoever was capable of casting the Mana Hexagram was automatically admitted, even if he/she was a slave.
After that Lith started to cast fake magic spells as fast as he could. Now he had to prove his mastery and control over the first three tiers of magic to skip the beginner's years.
He was supposed to cast at least twenty tier one spells, but he performed thirty. He could have done more, but avoided to.
Lith had already studied and memorized all the White Griffon records, if geniuses scored 110/100, 90/100 was a perfectly fine result for him.
He didn't want to get too much spotlight, just enough to get his talent recognized and maybe turn some professors into his backers, to spend the next two years in the most calm and peaceful atmosphere.
He was there to learn, not to fight. Lith stopped at tier three spells, going further would be too dangerous. Not only he would have exposed too much talent, but he would also risk to skip even the fourth year.
Specialization courses started on the fourth year, and Lith wanted to remain in the academy long enough to assimilate everything it had to offer about forgemastering, and maybe even healing. Not to mention he still needed powerful backers.
When he finished, there was no applause or congratulations, but the convened mages huddled up, starting to discuss wildly. Their 'whispers' were loud enough that even with his old earing Lith would still be able to listen to them.
"Outstanding performance." The Marchioness had left the group as soon as the discussion started, she had no place in it.
"Thanks." Lith pretended being tired and short of breath.
"Do you think I'm in?"
"Most definitely, unless heaven and earth turn upside down."