I Swear I'm Not a Demon Masquerading as a Human

Inside the classroom, the unique, dim atmosphere seemed to slow the passage of time. Every second felt like an eternity frozen in amber. The red tablecloths stood out strikingly in the faint light. They were a rich, deep red that was at once surreal and artistic. Light and shadow, brightness and darkness, stillness and motion shifted in a rhythmic, orderly fashion.

The exam was already underway.

Lance knew that upon entering a Shadow Realm dimension, the most crucial step was to observe and comprehend the surroundings and current situation. Shadow Realm dungeons generally operated according to a certain logic. Unless a challenger made a mistake or failed, there would be no inescapable death traps or unsolvable dilemmas.

His emerald eyes keenly swept across the classroom as the dim light flickered within his pupils. Though he kept his movements subtle, he quickly noticed a few students behaving suspiciously. Their shifty eyes and occasional furtive glances betrayed their clear intent to cheat.

Suddenly, a hoarse voice sliced through the silent, oppressive air. "This is your only warning. Any further whispers will be treated as cheating."

The voice belonged to the patrolling examiner, and it boomed through the classroom like the ferocious growl of a lion. The demon examinees, who had been glancing around surreptitiously, were instantly terrified out of their wits by the cold, stern warning.

Those who had nearly been caught quickly lowered their heads, focusing entirely on their exam papers. Their faces were etched with panic and tension. Beads of sweat on their foreheads trembled like dew on a leaf, ready to slide off at any moment. Even though they looked fearsome and grotesque themselves, the disparity in power between them and the proctor was immediately apparent.

Then, the teacher resumed his methodical patrol. Yet, as he turned his head away, a slight savage smile appeared at the corners of his mouth. He resembled a beast that had been caged and now thirsted for slaughter, staring out from its bars and waiting for the perfect moment to pounce.

Lance silently took it all in. The strength of the demon students was actually easy to judge. Their mana power was not ridiculous, so he could tell that most of them were Rank 2 to 3.

As for the proctor who was able to scare their pants off, he was probably above Rank 4, likely Rank 5. Therefore, there were two terrifying Rank 5 demon teachers. Based on that, using brute force to clear this initial room was out of the question.

However, Lance also discovered a piece of good news. Hyperion was sitting to his left, and there was only an empty seat between them. It felt like they were back to sitting in the back row of the Sages' College classroom again after being transported back to school from the brink of death.

Hyperion's appearance had not changed as she just had some demonic features. Based on that, Lance was sure that his appearance had not changed much because Hyperion also recognized him after a brief glance.

What puzzled him was that Hyperion, who had always been calm and rational, looked like she was in a very bad condition. Furthermore, when they made eye contact just now, the look on her face suggested that she was afraid that he would see her demonic appearance.

So Lance lowered his head for the time being and stared at the things on the table in front of him. The school emblem at the top of the parchment paper looked like a ferocious devil's head, with two eyes as hot as flames, as if it was glaring at him from another world.

The ink bottle to the side was made of magic crystal and had a mouth inlaid with mithril. The inside was filled with ink as black as night and remained motionless, as if it contained heavy magic power and was fixed in place.

The feather of the quill pen was jet black, and the tip was as sharp as a knife with a metallic luster. The handle was engraved with an unknown pattern, reflecting a cold deep red.

All in all, it looked like he had a set of retro magical scroll making tools. This was within expectations for a Demonic Runes exam. The candidates' answers were both written and inscribed as if they were making magical scrolls.

He directly went to the final question, since he couldn't answer any of the previous ones.

Question 10 (12 points): Please describe the magic used when processing rare materials that can achieve the following effects:

1. Quickly removing the sharp fur or bristles from a magical beast.

2. Changing the color of a magical beast's fur or skin.

3. Slightly hardening or softening a magical beast's fur.

After a quick glance over the entire exam paper, Lance couldn't help but inhale sharply. He couldn't answer a single question. However, he realized that while demonic magic was peculiar, it certainly had its merits. In fact, it involved principles that were impossible to achieve with human magical theory.

For example, the three types of utility spells described in the last question simply didn't exist in the repertoire of human magic in the current era. These questions clearly weren't designed for humans. In fact, even Talia might not know the ancient demon spells featured here. The eras were too far apart, and many civilizations across various races had suffered gaps or vanished entirely.

However, his inability to answer didn't dampen his enthusiasm. It was as if he had discovered a new world. He gradually gripped the exam paper tightly as his eyes betrayed a surge of excitement. He desperately wanted to learn the three spells mentioned at the end of the paper!

Since these spells had appeared in the exam questions, the school must teach them somewhere. These ancient demon spells worked on beasts. If a master in magical engineering who was proficient in both demonic and human magic refined them using the latest modern technology, then just what were the possibilities?

Was it possible to create a version that worked on humans, too? Lance began contemplating these questions. A thirst for knowledge had ignited within him! He was already picturing an "Autumn New Product Launch" event.

In daily life, he often saw people with unflattering hairstyles and sometimes even felt the urge to give them a makeover. Clearly, this stemmed from a friendly desire to help others and a noble pursuit of harmonizing subjective and objective aesthetics. That was precisely where a spell to alter someone's hairstyle would prove incredibly useful.

As an artist, Lance felt it was essential for him to master this spell that was theoretically achievable. He also had to consider whether this was his only chance in this lifetime to secretly learn the ancient demon magic inscribed on the exam paper and bring it back to the present world to study and develop practical new spells alongside Talia!

He absolutely had to clear the current exam as quickly as possible! Seizing a brief moment when both proctors were momentarily out of line of sight, Lance glanced at Hyperion.

For some unknown reason, she was in an alarmingly poor state. She was barely holding on. He didn't have much of an opportunity to communicate with her right now. He decided he would have to wait until they had both cleared the exam venue before checking on how she was doing. With that in mind, it was now up to his own performance!

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