Meeli comforted Lensa with her pats on her shoulders before speaking up.
'I know I'm being harsh on you, my child. But the rules are set by my master and I can't break them. This would also serve as a reminder for you to never be careless in any of your tasks at hand.
From all these bitter experiences, you are only meant to grow as a professional. It is also meant to train you to be better potioner if you are indeed planning to pursue the path of potioning seriously.
I see talent in you. Don't worry. You can try the test again after a month. The difficulty would increase since it would be your second time performing the same test. But I'm sure a patient girl like you would pass it the next time with flying colors.'
Meeli smiled and telepathically communicated with Lensa through the tattoo. She patted her head by floating in the air before coming down just as quickly. She then looked at Sienna before resuming her position on the raised platform.
A few hours flew by quickly.
Some of the participants were done with their tests. Only a handful had managed to process their ingredients in the right manner. Most had failed their tests. But they still waited to see who would be the placeholders.
There was a tough competition between nine rankers who were doing everything right from the looks of it. Sienna was among them. She was about to be done with her raw ingredients as well.
The test wasn't time-bound. One could complete the test anytime within 24 hours. In other words, if they had done everything right, they could have been the placeholders.
However, there was a catch. If two participants scored the same for any of the first three spots, then in that case the time at which the participants consumed to process the ingredient would be considered to be a tie-breaker. The one who used less time to process their raw ingredients optimally would win.
This was why the participants tried their best to finish their tests as soon as possible while processing their raw ingredients in the right manner. This was also the reason why Sienna had decided to disturb not just Lensa but also a lot of other participants that were doing well in their tests.
Their tests would be over too soon for the scion of Slughorn to do anything about them. So she failed them by using underhanded tactics.
The reason she had decided to do that was that she considered that most of the people she had messed with knew who she was. She was wearing the crest of Slughorn over the right shoulder of her blouse like a medal of honor. This told people that she couldn't be messed with because of the family that stood behind her.
And it worked for most participants. At least nobody wanted to get into trouble with the Slughorns for a test they could just repeat. Lensa was the only one who didn't care about Sienna's background.
The participants who were kicked out of their competition didn't receive any concession from Meeli However, they were also told to wait for the official results.
We waited for a few more minutes. Just as Sienna was about to process her raw ingredients and pass her test, a mana interference occurred. The interference was so strong that not only did it cause her to lose concentration, the raw ingredient she was processing turned into ash in an instant because of the interference's negative effects.
Sienna was livid. Her face turned red. Her bloodshot eyes turned redder. And her mana signature fluctuated wildly attesting to her mental condition.
"Who the…"
Sienna followed the origin of the interference with her mana sense and found it to be originating from Meeli– the caretaker of Minerva's Utopia. She was so aghast by that realization that she became speechless. It took a while for her to access her vocal cords again.
"What is the meaning of this, madam Meeli? I thought you were supposed to be neutral. Why did you…"
Boom!
Kirrr!
Fwoosh!
All the participants still taking the tests were agitated by Sienna's sudden mana fluctuation and her voice. Almost all of their raw ingredients were wasted just before they passed the test.
They all looked at Sienna with hate and malice when that happened. Then they were about to complain to Meeli about their predicament when Sienna's voice was heard once again.
"See what you did? Did you fail us all by doing that? It's on you madam Meeli. What could you possibly…"
Sienna was about to say something when she was lifted off the ground by an unknown force. All the air in her lungs was sucked out of her while she struggled to breathe.
Meeli looked cute and child-like. But she was the caretaker of the separate dimension. A separate dimension that was created by a Sage. Anything that was made by a Sage was not something rankers of Sienna's level could mess with.
Just like Layla, Meeli was also a Homunculus. She could only operate within the boundaries set by her master at the time of her creation. Preventing mana interference from affecting the participant's performance was not her job. However, keeping things fair for everyone was imperative.
Thus, Meeli chose to introduce a mana interference for Sienna at a crucial time. She also allowed the Slughorn girl to affect others' tests because that was not against the rules her master had set.
Therefore, Sienna's disruption resulted in no one receiving rewards. Everybody failed. Those who failed recently looked pissed. However, those who had gotten out of the test early had smiles on their faces as they were watching the cause of their trouble suffering miserably.
Now that all the participants had failed, Meeli didn't have to hold back anymore. She immediately took it upon herself to handle the troublemaker.
Sienna had a terrified look in her eyes as she was facing suffocation. The anger she felt a few moments earlier was nowhere to be found. She clenched her chest with one hand and her neck with the other while trying to inhale air by opening her mouth wide.
But there was no sound coming from her mouth. The scion of Slughorn suffered silently.
