The grand conference room on the 40th floor of the Magic Tower. The exam committee members from each school watched me with faces full of anticipation. Why is everyone staring at me like that?
It’s making me nervous.
Ahem.
I cleared my throat and rifled through the piles of documents stacked on the desk. A while back, I had asked the exam committee members to each submit an example of a high-difficulty problem from their respective schools. Today was the meeting to review all those collected problems together.
I picked up the top sheet, the one from the representative of the School of Earth Element Magic, and read it aloud.
“Explain whether non-magical, macroscopic continental drift is possible.”
“…”
“…Is this right?”
“Yes.”
The question itself was short and clear. …But wait, these people don’t know about plate tectonics yet, do they? I set the problem sheet down and looked at the committee member.
“Um, Professor?”
“Yes, Chairman!”
“Isn’t this clearly one of those unsolved challenges that the Earth Element field has been stuck on for hundreds of years?”
At my remark, the professor’s eyes widened as he spoke.
“We can’t just remain ignorant of such an important problem forever.”
“…”
“Now is the time to be decisive. Solidly.”