Vol 2 Chapter 169: Written Examination

In the magic nation, the White Card qualification exam consists of four written subjects: "Rune Studies," "Mathematics," "Remnant Beast Analysis," and "National Jurisprudence &

Mission Conduct Guidelines."

Among these four subjects, "Rune Studies" naturally tests a Magical Girl's knowledge of mystical studies on the magical side, as interpreting the nation's texts, researching spells, or crafting magical tools all require corresponding rune knowledge. For Magical Girls, this skill is absolutely essential.

Next is "Mathematics," which verifies and ensures a Magical Girl's ability to handle numerical problems in emergencies. This is widely recognized as the easiest subject, with a scope and difficulty roughly equivalent to fifth or sixth-grade elementary school math in the material world, without any particularly tricky questions. Any Magical Girl with basic education is guaranteed to pass.

As for "Remnant Beast Analysis," being the key subject of the written examination phase, the difficulty increases significantly. The content tested isn't limited to just classifying Remnant Beasts, their abilities at different stages, or their general physiological traits and indicators—it even delves into many microscopic-level knowledge points.

Take the first essay question from last year's exam as an example: "List three functional changes in the conscious-body physiological stimulus transmission structure of visceral-coating Remnant Beasts from their egg stage to their caterpillar stage. If a mutation occurs during evolution, turning them into visceral-exposing Remnant Beasts, what additional functional changes would there be? Attempt to list more mutation types (extra points available)."

Questions like this fill the entire subject's exam, posing a severe challenge to every Magical Girl candidate's knowledge base. For those from big cities with experienced seniors in their teams, they can gradually learn and accumulate this knowledge through daily combat. But for Magical Girls from smaller regions, whose seniors may have only average scores in "Remnant Beast Analysis," there's often little opportunity to learn.

Such Magical Girls can only purchase specialized exam preparation textbooks. However, not all Magical Girls have the ability to study effectively on their own, prompting the nation to establish specialized tutoring classes to help those lacking knowledge in this subject.

After these three foundational subjects comes the "National Jurisprudence &

Mission Conduct Guidelines" exam.

Initially, this subject aimed to teach Magical Girls about legal systems and standardize their behavior to maximize the protection of civilians during missions, avoiding unnecessary casualties and losses. In the early days of the exam system, this subject was as simple as "Mathematics," falling into the category where most candidates could pass by memorizing some material.

However, as time progressed, to serve as a warning for future generations, the subject began incorporating various cases of non-compliant mission execution or violations of national regulations by Magical Girls. To ensure candidates truly grasped the underlying principles, the questions gradually integrated analyses and deconstructions of these cases. Today, this subject has become a hodgepodge of mission regulations covering Remnant Beasts, urban public infrastructure, civilians, human criminals, fairies, and Magical Girl traitors—among other units.

Take another question from last year's exam as an example: "During a Remnant Beast subjugation, a Magical Girl improperly handled the battlefield, allowing toxic substances to enter the city's underground water network. To prevent mass drinking water poisoning, she blew up part of the water supply pipes, causing partial water supply interruptions and crop reductions in some agricultural areas—but incidentally also killing a gray magic organization hiding in the sewers. How should the Magical Affairs Court penalize or reward her?"

Or: "A Magical Girl, enraged after her boyfriend cheated on her with another woman during their relationship, attempted to lure a Remnant Beast to his home during a battle. Unexpectedly, her boyfriend's house, long in disrepair, collapsed that same night. Upon arriving, the Magical Girl discovered this and had a change of heart. She immediately subjugated the Remnant Beast and rescued those at the scene, but her boyfriend died of a sudden heart attack upon seeing the Remnant Beast's corpse dissipate. Which regulations did the Magical Girl violate, and how should her actions ultimately be handled?"

Indeed, if there were a vote on which subject in the qualification exam is the most headache-inducing and least desirable, this one would likely take first place.

No matter how thoroughly a Magical Girl memorizes the rules or collects relevant cases, the examination board always manages to find strange questions that target blind spots in candidates' knowledge. In this battle of wits—almost like a brain teaser—the subject's questions grow increasingly bizarre each year.

The irony deepens when candidates pass the White Card exam and advance to the Character Card stage. There, "Rune Studies" becomes "Comprehensive Spellcraft," "Mathematics" becomes "Basic Sciences," and "Remnant Beast Analysis" turns into "Magical Energy Characteristics Studies"...

Only "National Jurisprudence &

Mission Conduct Guidelines" remains unchanged.

Yes, the Character Card exam still covers this subject—only now the questions are even trickier and more offbeat.

As a result, the nation's official reference book for this subject, titled "Jurisprudence &

Guidelines: From Beginner to Mastery," has been dubbed by many long-suffering candidates as "Absurdities &

Oddities: From Beginner to Grave."

Of course, these aren't concerns for Veronica.

Take the ongoing "Rune Studies" exam, for instance. From entering the venue to completing her answers, her expression remained unchanged—she finished it with utter calm.

Her smooth performance in the written exam isn't just because she passed the Character Card exam years ago and, despite forgetting much since then, has gradually relearned the material while tutoring juniors over the past year. It's also because she never intended to achieve any outstanding scores here.

"Gentian" is just an ordinary rookie Magical Girl. The age on her documents dictates she shouldn't possess overly mature thoughts or extensive knowledge. For a Magical Girl her age, merely passing the exam would already be impressive. So Veronica plans to stay true to this fake identity's persona—she only seriously answered about 70% of the test questions, leaving the rest blank as if she "didn't know how."

However, there was one odd incident during the exam. The venue was Silver Gallery's grand auditorium, with eight proctors in total—four of whom were from the Green Faction. These Green Faction Magical Girls passed by her countless times, and upon seeing blank answers on her paper, they even secretly gestured, trying to feed her answers. Veronica shook her head at each of them, nearly saying outright that she didn't want high marks before they finally stopped.

But this strange behavior caught the attention of the other four proctor Magical Girls, who suspected cheating in Veronica's area and thus lingered longer, patrolling more frequently nearby.

Veronica's intentionally one-third-blank paper was scrutinized by who-knows-how-many proctors. Their disapproval of "candidate Gentian"—who left large sections blank without even attempting guesses—was palpable. More than one proctor signaled for her to fill in the blanks, and one even returned later to check again, becoming thoroughly annoying.

Fortunately, the exam ended quickly. "Rune Studies" wasn't difficult, and cheating was rare, so the first written test concluded smoothly.

The four subjects are split across two days, with each taking half a day. After this exam, candidates had a full lunch break.

Having finished "Rune Studies," Veronica emerged from the exam hall with drooping eyelids and immediately pulled out her phone to message her juniors:

[How did it go?]