Vol 2 Chapter 172 “The Cleverness Technique”

The information provided by Veronica indeed played a role starting from the second day of the written exam.

The first test on the second day was the “Remnant Beast Analysis” exam. During the process, under the deliberate scrutiny of the invigilators, a portion of problematic Magical Girls were quickly identified.

Just during the exam itself, dozens of Magical Girls were caught clearly using malicious techniques. Although they accounted for a small fraction among thousands of candidates, it was still a number that could not be ignored.

These Magical Girls did use a technique called the “Chaos Technique” during the assessment. It could subtly affect others’ memory and decision-making without their awareness. Because its effect was weak and could not be amplified by higher magical output, it held little value in actual combat. Moreover, it had a relatively high training cost, making it an unpopular technique within the unpopular techniques. Under normal circumstances, no Magical Girl would bother to practice such a thing.

Those caught were undoubtedly young girls, the oldest being seventeen and the youngest fourteen. Under the serious interrogation of the invigilators, they quickly trembled and confessed the truth:

As early as one month before the exam, the current candidates had voluntarily formed many online communities focused on discussing the exam. In these communities, someone used the sale of a “Cleverness Technique” as a gimmick, telling candidates there was an obscure technique that could refresh the mind in a short time, speed up thinking, boost memory, and make one a hundred times smarter.

This obviously dubious advertisement was naturally regarded by most Magical Girls as a joke or scam. However, there were some naive ones who actually believed the promotion, paid money, and obtained this so-called “Cleverness Technique.”

Subsequent studies on the technique showed that some who bought it gave up halfway due to the high training cost, while others who learned it found no effect and called the seller a fraud, posting the seller’s ID in the community to warn later candidates.

However, since there were so many Magical Girls participating in the national exam this time, among them there were inevitably some “chosen ones.” These girls not only learned the technique but, probably due to the placebo effect, truly believed they had become smarter.

Yes, this “Cleverness Technique” naturally had no effect on intelligence, because it was actually just the “Chaos Technique.”

So, these “geniuses” who had only learned the Chaos Technique but thought they were getting smarter confidently stepped into the exam room and used the technique during the test, relying on the fact that the magical fluctuations of the technique itself were weak enough.

There was naturally no problem on the first day because neither the other candidates nor the invigilators suspected anyone would do such a harmful but not very beneficial thing inside the exam. Even if dozens used the technique simultaneously, the passing line would likely not drop even a single point. Apart from harming the affected Magical Girls, no other effects would occur.

But on the second day, the problem was discovered not only by the Fangting City team. In fact, most affected candidates noticed something was wrong, including some team captains with broad knowledge who recognized the Chaos Technique and reported it to the examination institute.

Thus, this “Remnant Beast Analysis” exam turned into a “catch-the-thief game.”

Uninformed ordinary candidates were affected by the Chaos Technique unknowingly in the first half of the exam, causing their papers to be written incorrectly. In the second half, they witnessed invigilators escorting affected candidates away. In shock and fear, they suddenly realized their minds had cleared and were able to complete their answers normally.

As for those “cheating candidates” who were caught, their behavior caused extremely serious consequences. Naturally, all were judged as failing, had a large amount of contribution points deducted, and were banned from participating in qualification exams for three years.

Considering that a significant number of these Magical Girls had no malicious intent, were first-time offenders, and were led astray by bad actors, the examination institute did not impose absolute punishment. As long as these Magical Girls completed more missions afterward, contributed more to city protection, and restored their contribution points to normal levels, they could still participate in qualification exams after three years. However, if they cheated again next time, these marked Magical Girls would likely face imprisonment.

Of course, handling the situation to this extent was not the end. Because the candidates affected by the technique had genuinely lowered scores, many who could have originally passed the written exam were now at risk of elimination. Previous qualification exams did not have a retake option.

To solve this problem, after submitting her paper on the morning of the same day, Veronica rushed to the Magical Affairs Court branch. Under her proposal, the Green Faction swiftly leveraged their connections and, with an efficiency uncharacteristic of the Magical Affairs Court, pushed through an unprecedented decision.

That was to arrange a unified makeup exam for candidates who felt they performed poorly on the first day. The test questions would be different but the difficulty unchanged, and only the makeup exam score would count in the end.

In other words, if a Magical Girl voluntarily chose to retake the exam to improve her score but ended up scoring even lower than the first time, her official score would become that lower score, preventing candidates from gaming the system.

This settled the rewards and punishments for the incident. However, this was only half the story, because a more important question was now facing the Magical Affairs Court and others:

Who exactly was selling the “Chaos Technique” in the candidate communities? Or rather, who were the people behind this?

The candidates caught using the technique in the exam were undoubtedly just pawns, tools used by others not involved in planning. The true targets for investigation by the Magical Affairs Court and Research Court were those attempting to spread the Chaos Technique and disrupt exam order.

In fact, this was one of the reasons the Green Faction’s makeup exam strategy was unanimously approved, because another faction had shown even more positive attitude toward this matter than the Green Faction.

That was the Crown Faction.

The written qualification exam lasted only two days. After that, there would be a one-day break before the main event—the practical combat portion—began.

Only then would the Queen truly arrive at the exam site to observe, accompanied by many palace personnel. For these Crown Faction Magical Girls, maintaining the Queen’s viewing experience and eliminating those who intended harm were their responsibilities.

As a condition to assist the Green Faction, they requested to take over the interrogation of the cheating candidates—they promised not to use violence or torture, would ensure the candidates’ personal safety, but would extract all information from them.

The second day of the written exam ended in such a serious and tense atmosphere.

Of course, there were some happy people too—those candidates who received the makeup exam notification after finishing the “National Jurisprudence &

Mission Conduct Guidelines” test.

“Well, this means I should be able to rank among the top in the written exam!”

As for a certain Magical Girl who one second ago was lamenting spring’s passing in the Colorful Cloud Wetlands and the next second saw the exam institute’s notification and suddenly, as if energized, shouted with her hands on her hips...

“Let me show you my strength! Then I can get the Queen’s early attention and become a shining star!”

Well, to be honest, although both Xia Liang and Bai Jingxuan gave Lin Xiaolu the “Here she goes again” look, Veronica herself, who had been busy all day handling this matter, still felt a little relieved seeing her daughter rallying with renewed vigor.