NOVPUBThe art class had begun in a peaceful atmosphere.
The slender silver lamps hanging on the wall emitted a warm glow, illuminating the neatly framed canvases and flooding the classroom with light, accentuating the long, wooden benches.
The air was filled with a faint scent of paint and canvas.
Senior art professor Mogut stood dressed in a vintage black suit. His shiny red silk bow tie added a touch of elegance to his serious demeanor under the soft lighting. In his hands, he held a painting - a work of art filled with enigmatic depth. He was waiting for a student to voluntarily answer his question.
The classroom was imbued with an oppressive silence.
If no student stepped forward, Professor Mogut would randomly select one to start the first round of questioning.
Yet,
At this moment,
A hand unexpectedly rose into the air.
Every pair of demonic eyes turned towards that raised hand—
Hyperion stood there, her hand raised in disbelief, her amber eyes wide in apparent shock at her own actions.
As if her arm had been taken control of by some unseen force.
Soon, she seemed to realize something.
She turned her head and saw the eagle-eyed demon sitting to her right, his eyes intently focused on her. His bright gaze was especially prominent in the dimly lit classroom.
Clearly, this eagle-eyed demon had used Spiritual Magic to make her raise her hand!
If Hyperion were to start,
Then going in a clockwise rotation,
The eagle-eyed demon would be the fifth one to answer in the first round.
He would have ample time to discern the answer.
"You can start then,"
Professor Mogut seemed to know what was happening.
However, the rules of the classroom allowed each student to make use of their strengths and strategies.
Hyperion’s face suddenly turned ashen.
In the face of such close-range Spiritual Magic, she had no countermeasures or defenses. And if she was going to be the first to answer, Lanci, sitting to her left, would be the second one to answer.
She gave Lanci a guilty look, feeling like she had accidentally dragged him into this.
Simultaneously, Hyperion looked towards Professor Mogut, completely unsure of the quality of the painting in the professor’s hands.
"..."
Did she have to guess?
She had a fifty percent chance of making it through this round—or failing immediately.
Just when Hyperion felt her spirits sinking,
"This was painted by the professor,"
Lanci whispered beside her.
The demons around them sneered upon hearing his comment.
In this classroom, it was nearly impossible for a student to identify a painting that quickly. They all thought he was just making a wild guess.
No demon sitting near him would be foolish enough to risk their life on such a whim.
Professor Mogut simply held the painting expressionless, not giving any student the chance to read anything from him.
"The professor painted it,"
Hyperion answered without hesitation.
She trusted Lanci.
And the key to their effective cooperation was their unwavering dedication to execution.
"Oh? Correct."
The professor put down the painting, looking surprised at Lanci.
The classroom rules didn’t prohibit students from telling the answers to each other—after all, it was modeled after a seminar.
The question was whether the student being asked was willing to believe them or not.
Professor Mogut had never seen a student who could determine the answer so decisively or trust another demon so completely.
Although Lanci’s speed of response strongly indicated he was guessing, he was doing so with such conviction.
...
The next one to answer, following the clockwise order, would be Lanci.
Just as Professor Mogut was picking up another canvas from the trolley again,
"It’s painted by a student,"
Lanci confidently stated as soon as he had a clear view of the painting.
"...?"
The other students were all staring at this radiant demon, dumbfounded.
Even Professor Mogut hesitated midway, still holding the painting, before finally slowly lowering it and nodding.
"Correct."
This sudden commotion made the other students in the classroom gasp in surprise.
Was it a mere gamble? Or could he truly discern it?
Such speed, even the professor might not be able to replicate!
"..."
At this moment, Hyperion was also staring at Lanci in utter confusion.
She had earlier believed Lanci unhesitatingly, reacting before thinking.
But now that she had time to think about it, she absolutely couldn’t figure out what cunning trick Lanci had used to quickly find the answer!
Lanci’s spell repertoire had been shown to her earlier since they were teammates.
She knew that aside from the Magic Cards Lanci had previously used, he only had an Elemental Magic and a Spiritual Magic. There were definitely no other cards that could distinguish between painting works like this!
While Hyperion was lost in confusion,
it had become the female demon student’s turn who was sitting beside Lanci to answer. She furrowed her brows, trying hard to scrutinize the painting that Professor Mogut had brought out.
With a reference point from the previous six paintings, identification became slightly easier.
But she never expected that her turn, which was to be clockwise, would come so soon.
Based on the information she currently had, it was still impossible to identify through Magic Power.
"It’s a student’s drawing."
Lanci quietly reminded her from the side.
"?"
The female demon student seemed somewhat hesitant and didn’t dare trust Lanci.
But after pondering for a while, the more she looked at the painting, the more she felt it lacked spirituality.
Hence, she hesitated for nearly five whole minutes.
It was only when she had to answer
that she finally responded:
"It’s a student’s drawing."
"That’s correct."
Professor Mogut nodded in agreement, while at the same time, he looked at Lanci once again.
If the prior two times could have been luck, now it was the third time.
The probability of it being just luck was diminishing.
He had never seen a student like this before, who made him feel somewhat inscrutable.
Now it was the turn of the fourth student.
The demon student sitting in the most corner of the classroom stood up, staring at the painting in Professor Mogut’s hand, utterly clueless.
He was proficient in Magic Power Identification, but not so much in art appreciation.
And his luck was also poor; he didn’t encounter the familiar magic power that had appeared on the previous paintings.
The corner-dwelling demon hesitantly looked at Lanci, not knowing if Lanci would help him.
"It’s still a student’s drawing."
Lanci calmly told him the answer.
After hesitating for a while, the demon student in the corner answered resolutely:
"It’s a student’s drawing."
"Correct."
Professor Mogut once again approved.
The corner-dwelling demon sat down with a surprised and grateful nod towards Lanci.
Now, when the turn had come full circle,
it was finally the turn of the eagle-eyed demon on the far right.
That is, the demon who had initially used Spiritual Magic to control Hyperion’s hand raising at the other end.
The eagle-eyed demon studied the painting in the professor’s hand.
He believed that Lanci certainly wouldn’t give him the answer.
Because he saw Lanci come into the classroom together with Hyperion, and the earlier Spiritual Magic had also duped Lanci to some extent.
However, at this moment, Lanci was smiling roguishly at the eagle-eyed demon, saying:
"This time, the professor drew it."
"...?"
All the demon students present knew that Lanci was unlikely to hold any goodwill towards the eagle-eyed demon.
So.
This seemingly meaningless act of revealing the answer,
seemed extremely provocative at this moment.
Because it gradually turned an art or Magic Power Identification question into a psychology question!
Whether this claim was true or false now needed the eagle-eyed demon to make a judgment!
