After looking at the formation in front of him using his visual ability, Lothur saw each inscription in the code of it.
That was a standard Iron-grade defensive formation, something that, from what Lothur understood, when activated, would manipulate certain atoms in the air to create a type of fabric. The spiritual energy would connect such a thing, and some low-level Natural Laws would shape its structure to produce something with remarkable resilience.
The practical result of this? The creation of a barrier around a few meters of the formation, capable of withstanding the full force of someone at the 1st stage for some time.
The time in question could range from infinity, for when a mortal would attack such a thing, or 10 minutes if a cultivator at the 9th Transformation were the one trying to destroy this barrier.
Lothur noticed this almost instantly but was not impressed since the idea behind it was very basic. But he didn't think it was a waste of time to pay attention to the details of this formation. On the contrary, it allowed him to understand how the people of this world created the rules behind it.
On Earth, there was nothing of the sort, but he used the scientific logic of that place. Since he previously thought that his way of acting was normal, he was slightly surprised to find otherwise. But as he noticed the formations created by others, he slowly understood their ways.
He created formations with programming that followed his physical, chemical, biological, etc., knowledge from Earth.
Perhaps because of the scientific method he used, of how organized his thoughts were, he could not help but think of the inscriptions of this world as somewhat simple.
'Hmm, maybe it's because my level is still shallow, and I haven't seen something of Silver-grade, Gold-grade, etc.' He thought to himself, stopping paying attention to that to deactivate the formation.
'It's only been 40 seconds, so I'm not late.' He played with the brush in his right hand while having that part of his body inside the restricted space under the effect of the formation's flags.
But unlike many candidates in the surrounding, this area under restriction was presenting almost no opposition to Lothur's movements, as had happened the first time he had done a formation.
The examiners in the surrounding area and even the group of 1-star formation masters there, as in Cedric's case, had already noticed this and were shocked.
Gulp!
'This guy... Doesn't he have any difficulty manipulating the Laws? How can that be? What level is he at?' Cedric began to sweat a little since, although this test was not as difficult as the third one, he could not do such a thing!
He thought it might be a bit tricky to get 100% of the first test right, but considering his Iron-grade formation inscriptions mastery; he thought it was possible that he could manage such a thing. But what was happening to Lothur at the moment was impossible for him to achieve in the short term!
At the same time, the old man who had invited Lothur earlier could not help but scratch his chin as he thought about this young man's abilities. 'It seems that he is a genius in a million! Maybe I should try harder to bring him over to our side?'
'He seems to be the type who doesn't like compromise and doesn't act for the greater good, but when you have such great talent, those flaws become tolerable...'
While many were watching Lothur and ignoring the various candidates sweating in nervousness, this fellow inscribed something over the formation in his hands.
'Let me deactivate you...' He smiled as he finished writing something that nullified the device needed to activate that formation.
A second later, he removed his hand from that region of space and soon deactivated the flags, finishing his work.
He then waved one of his hands at the examiner of this test and stood up from his seat. "I'm done."
Even speaking softly, Lothur managed to attract the attention of the candidates on that examination platform, who looked at him as if he were a monster.
"Already?" Someone there asked in disbelief as he saw that less than a third of the test time had passed.
The examiner stopped beside Lothur's table and looked at the deactivated formation. 'Hmm? It's in one piece, but I can't activate it.'
This man was a 2-star formation master, but he could not see what Lothur had done or whether this young man's ways differed from this world's.
Not because the silver-haired young man had done something special, which he had. But because one could not analyze a formation without using a flag or other unique items.
Lothur could do this using his Soul Bone, which gave him a unique ability. But ordinary people could only see the inscriptions of a formation by placing it under the space of a set of flags.
As such, that man saw nothing. He only noticed that energy was still flowing in the formation, which indicated that it had not been destroyed. But his commands were not operating.
"All right, you are approved. You can sit somewhere and wait for the end of this test. Soon we will go to the final part of this exam." He said in a low voice, leaving the formation deactivated by Lothur on that table.
Hearing this, Lothur made his way to Annaliese's side while the old man from before walked up on that stage to look at the formation used by the young man who had caught his eye.
'Let me see what you have done...' This man picked up a flag set and began to analyze that in front of everyone, not caring about the others' attention on him.
He was also an examiner, so obviously, it was his right to do such a thing!
Meanwhile, Johann and two other people finished their test within the time and among the available slots.
'2:05...'
When more than two-thirds of the test time had passed, something happened!
The old man watching Lothur's formation frowned firmly and realized something was blocking his analysis. 'Uh?'
He felt a bad sensation and tossed the formation that looked like a cube high above that area.
Boom!
Such a thing exploded into blue flames as the material components of that item disappeared along with the smoke from such a reaction.
"What?" The people in that place were startled by such a thing, surprised that something like that would happen in the middle of an examination.
But the old man who had tried to look at what he should not have been was the most shocked, not only by the 'little gift' Lothur had left for him, but this young man's achievement. 'He put Laws of Destruction into a defensive formation?'
He incredulously looked at Lothur. 'Yet such a thing was as stable as it should be! How did he combine different Laws into a single object?'
To do what Lothur did was not impossible. But only at higher levels, with more complex inscriptions, would someone be able to combine opposing Laws.
Knowing this, that old examiner was more surprised at Lothur's achievement than angry at this 'trick'!
"Sir..."