OLD-WORLD EXTRA-Chapter 511: The Prince’s Test

Emir leaned back in his office chair, a smirk tugging at his lips as he glanced over his notes. "I'll be testing people now, huh..."

He couldn't help but chuckle at the thought of finally being on the other side, finally, the one doing the testing, the one giving out trials.

[How the tables turn.]

Lyra's familiar voice echoed in his mind.

"You..."

He looked up, and there she was, materialized and floating around him in her usual, casual way.

They locked eyes and shared a laugh, both in a merry mood.

"...The students will need something to slap them awake."

Emir took off his dimensional ring and Azazel's ring, putting them on the desk.

He was using items that people would kill for as paperweights.

Paperweights to hold down a large ability path drawing.

"They do. That's why we're going with something so unorthodox."

Lyra floated behind him, hands on his shoulders, head on top of his.

"Indeed. But judging by what I saw today, you think we should switch the plan up a little? Sofia just might actually do it."

She shook her head.

"You give her too much credit. This'll be close to impossible to do, especially not with the time frame they have."

He nodded, and flicked his right hand up, turning on the holoscreen.

There, the same Ability Path could be seen, a convoluted and jumbled mess.

It was the opposite of what Path Optimization resulted in, inefficient, wasteful, and simply confusing.

In preparation for this exam, Emir had created this variation of Aetheric Blade-a technique most Celestials could learn and unlock but rarely took to optimize.

That was where he'd make his mark.

"I think it actually might be too much for them to handle... even I struggle with it."

Lyra drifted closer to the holoscreen as she ran a hand along the lines, envisioning the forming shapes.

"Yeah, it's a bit tough."

Emir chuckled, eyes locking in one certain section of the Ability Path where the lines branched and folded back on itself.

He wanted something close to the complexity of his Author's Strings, and he had succeeded.

This Path was one with lines that shifted like threads in the wind, going everywhere, seemingly randomly, in and out, up and down, left and right, inputting Aether in ways most Celestials wouldn't even dare attempt.

It was simply unneeded.

But, even then, the Ability Path wasn't impossible.

It could be done, and all of it depended on following the flow of Aether, something that wouldn't change no matter the rank of ability.

Always, the Aether started in the core, behind the sternum, nestled beside the heart like a second pulse.

As everyone already knew, it wasn't just figurative.

The Aether Core, though mechanical, at least at first, was something living, pulsing through a Celestial's veins, and that's why people called it their second heart.

It was why it was so respected, why soldiers, or any Celestial for that matter, saluted the way they did, displaying the value they placed on its existence.

Now, from the core, Aether flowed along the Aetherial Vein, and only then, when it neared the head, did change begin to occur.

And change it did.

This wasn't a simple rework, a layered complexity, no, it was nearly unrecognizable from the standard Ability Path.

Most Celestials that memorized the standard Path would most likely take some time to realize what they were seeing, even when they had used Aetheric Blades thousands of times

before.

It was that different.

Before, it was simple, following the Aether's flow in a linear way, but Emir, he took any

concept of linearity and threw it out the window, way off into the Deep.

He made it the epitome of non-linearity, complexity, intricacy and profligacy.

Emir had made a blueprint of how not to optimize an Ability Path, making it so that if one did

the opposite of what he had done, the result would turn out perfect.

What was once a single line became ten, a web of detours, loops, and bends, making the Aether flow twist, and weave within the vessels.

By the time it had reached the fingertips, the remaining Aether would barely affect the

weapon.

Though, even then, when it was so useless, to any observer, there was one thing they couldn't deny.

The lines on the holoscreen looked like an art piece: chaotic sure, but alive.

And that wouldn't be the only beautiful thing about this test.

Emir hid a little secret, one that he hoped to see revealed.

It was the main reason that even though he hated looking at this path to the bone, courtesy of

his ever worsening OCD, he could still handle it.

There was no rhyme but there was reason.

"...That's perfect then."

Satisfied with his work, Emir shut down the holoscreen, and stood up, heading for the

training room.

"Alright prince, I'll get back to work."

"Yeah, see you later."

***

Tomorrow came in a flash, and Sofia found herself in class, the first morning light filtering softly through the tall windows.

Exam week had officially kicked off, and of course, Emir's test was right at the top of the list.

Being their homeroom teacher, he was known for making things tough, and everyone in the room was all too aware of it.

They'd likely need days, maybe even weeks after the test was over to work through whatever

he had planned.

The tension was thick, like a storm about to hit, and it wasn't much of a lie to say that.

Around Sofia, students shifted in their seats, flipping through notes on their terminals, muttering to each other, as if last-minute cramming would somehow make a difference. Unfortunately for them, they were used to learning things instantly, with no effort on their part, so when Emir decided to focus on something they couldn't find in the library, they knew that they were, for the lack of a better word, absolutely fucked.

Sure, it was technically an open-book test, but that meant almost nothing when it came to his

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style.

Everyone knew he'd throw something at them that no amount of prep would fully cover.

"Think he'll go easy on us?"

A student murmured and another scoffed.

"This is Emir we're talking about. Easy isn't even in his vocabulary."

"True... But you think he might throw in a few free questions? Recycle some of the stuff from

last term?"

"Nah, no way. You wasted time studying past papers bud."

"Yep. He's definitely got some fresh nightmare cooked up for us."

Sofia couldn't help but smirk a little at that, though it was a smirk so tiny that it wasn't

noticed by anyone next to her.

Emir's standards were brutal, no one could deny that, but that was exactly what she respected

most about him.

It kept everyone on their toes, forced them to grow-or at least try to.

In front of her, a surprisingly calm Max leaned back, arms crossed. "Honestly, open-book with bastards like him probably just means 'bring all your notes and

realize how useless they are.""

Ignoring that crude word, Elijah looked at him with a raised brow:

"Your dumbass thinks he wants all of us to fail?"

Before he could reply, Junior cut in, shaking his head:

"He doesn't. He wants us to be miserable, sure, but fail? Nah, I don't think he's sadistic like

that."

Aria nodded her head in agreement.

"Mhm, he just wants to push us. Hard."

Ava, scrolling through her notes for the fifth time, rolled her eyes.

"He just loves watching us squirm, heh... He's probably sitting in his office right now,

planning out his next torture session."

Max turned around, glancing at Sofia.

"What do you think? We passing that bastard's exam?"

"..."

She simply gave them a quiet nod and turned to look outside, the sun high in the sky.

Whatever Emir had in store, she knew one thing-she had to get the highest grade, not anyone else, especially Quinn, but she, Sofia.