Hmm?　Morning......

　I woke up when I felt the morning sun come into my room.

　I wriggled out of bed and remembered what I had to do today.


'Elle!　Are you awake!
Oh well, sort of.


　It was Fee who came in the room with a thud. Last night, he asked me to be present at Marie's exam as an examiner. Normally, I wouldn't take on such a troublesome task, so do what you want with it, but this time it's a little different.


　The reason for this is because it's Marie who is taking the test.


　Marie Blanc. Those in the know, the genius of alchemy. I'm sure you'll be able to see that his skills are as good as or better than mine. That's why I was sent out this time.


''Alright, let's go then.
'Rafe said he was going too, do you need to wake him up?
''Just leave the map of the Academy. We have a lot of work to do!　I can't wait to go!
Ew.

　I left Rafe a map and a note, and Fee and I headed to the academy.



'Hey, Elle. You've brought another extraordinary person with you.
Good morning, Mr. Chairman. Well this is just another fate, isn't it?


　When I arrived at the academy, the chairman was already there. The exam this time has the usual structure of a written test and a practical test. The same test is used in every alchemy society, but this time I was involved in creating the questions specially for this. It's not that I'm not an ordinary alchemist, but I can't even solve it with the knowledge of an ordinary alchemist, although I only lightly converted my own research materials.


　Originally it was going to be a test that an ordinary alchemist would take, but since the opponent was Marie, a special treatment was given.


　Perhaps a second Blue Star class 《Bluesteller》 could be born. The association is also seriously trying to figure out her abilities.


　And while the three of us, me, Fee and the chairman were discussing it, Marie showed up.



There you are, Marie. We'll start the test right away.
"I have no problem that I cannot solve...　Ga-ha-ha!


　And the first step was the written test.

　This time, all the questions were descriptive questions. Usually, there are multiple-choice questions, but all the questions were written for Marie. That's why the difficulty level jumps up instantly. The questions were composed using the knowledge of me, Fee and the chairman. It employs classic problems that exist in the history of alchemy, and even the latest research.


　Incidentally, the problem I was in charge of was the problem of 'The Relationship between Artificial Intelligence and Alchemy'. Nowadays, there are many attempts to reproduce artificial intelligence with alchemy. However, many of them have failed. Therefore, why do those failures occur and how is it possible to reproduce artificial intelligence? To begin with, solving this problem starts with defining what intelligence is, and what exactly intelligence is. I'm at the forefront of this research, and while I already have the answer, I haven't published that in a paper yet.

　That means I'm the only one who knows the answer.

　If I was able to get an accurate answer to this, then that person would be comparable to a jasper-grade "Blue Star" in terms of knowledge alone. Of course, this is the only thing I can't measure, but I was still hoping for it.


　How far could this alchemist named Marie Blanc go........


''It's done!
"....Haha!


　Three voices overlap. As it should be, I thought this problem would take at least two hours, and the test time was set at three hours. And yet Marie's answer time was 50 minutes. If this is more than 80% correct, then I'm qualified enough to qualify for the Blue Star Class 《Blue Star》.......I thought so, but the exam itself far exceeded my expectations.


''...Full marks.
'Perfect score here too. Elle's area of responsibility is........
"...perfect score. I can't complain about it.


　We used the remaining time in the exam to grade the results. And I was astonished. The answers Marie provided were more than I was looking for. In fact, isn't this a good approach for my subject?　There was even a suggestion to do so.

　The same was true for Fee and the Chairman, who not only had the answer, but also wrote a description of a different perspective on the approach. Even if I were to take this question, there's no way I'd be able to come up with an answer at this level. And that's in a mere 50 minutes.

　It's true that knowledge is proportional to the amount of study, but even so, this is an anomaly in the history of alchemists. I realized once again that the alchemist named Marie Blanc was truly a monster.


''Huhahahahaha!　A perfect score?　Of course!　Nothing is impossible with this Marie Blanc!　Huhahahaha!


　At a glance, she looks like a crazy little girl, but she's still a genius... The three of us moved on to the practical test, keeping in mind that we'd make it to the azure star class "Bluestella".


　◇


What's with all the people?　And there's the media.


　Outside, many people were around the schoolyard as they took in. Apparently, they were onlookers. If you look closely, you can see Rafe among them. And there's also 'Keep Out' tape around it, and alchemical wards have been created.


Oh, my uncle and I decided to do this. And also, well, it just leaked out, so we thought we'd make a spectacle out of it anyway.
I see...


　Then, the test Marie was set to perform was the Material Shift, a transformation of matter.

　First of all, she collected water from the air, combined it with the First Quality Primamateria to refine water, then converted it into ice, and finally sublimated it into steam all at once. This one is a normal-acting test, but the problem is the time it takes, if it takes less than 30 seconds, it's the alchemist equivalent of a platinum-class 《Platinum》 alchemist. By the way, I'm serious and finish the whole process in 3 seconds.

　That's why I've decided that if I can do it in three seconds, I'll make Marie a blue star class "Blue Star".


Then, let's begin!


　The moment the Chairman said that an extraordinary phenomenon occurred. That's right, water was created ... and all at once it created a column of ice ... and then returned to steam. If you just look at the process, it is in line with the test. But the time was 1.7 seconds.

　That was the record that Marie had set.





　The onlookers around me spring to life when they see it. But that's as it should be, and the fact that he's done with this in 1.7 seconds shows one thing: he's not going to be the only one. Then the Chairman expanded his own voice with alchemy and announced.


'The exam is over. Full marks on the written test. In addition, in the practical test, he broke Elweed Willis' record of three seconds. We have one result to take into account. We are pleased to announce that Marie Blanc here is the second Blue Star of the class. It's official, the association has made it official.


　As soon as Singh and the surrounding area quieted down, the onlookers sprang up again. At the same time, the media entered the premises and thrust a microphone at Marie.


''Yes, how do you feel now...!
Hmmmm....
?
''Huhahahahaha!!!!!　Well, well, well!　This Marie Blanc is the alchemist's greatest genius!　Let the world carve my name on it!　Marie Blanc is the supreme!!!!!
" " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " "


　And at the same time, for some reason, the Marie call happens.

"'Marie!　Marie!　Marie!　Marie!　Marie!　Marie! Marie!　Marie!　Marie! Marie!　Marie!　Marie!
'Huhhahahaha!　Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!


　Thus, a new name was carved into the world of alchemy.

　Marie Blanc. She was the moment when she became the second ever Blue Star-class "Bluesteller" alchemist.