Merlin has been the realm's strongest wizard and king's archmage for a very long time. Yesterday, however, Merlin predicted his own death in two weeks.
Because of the nature of the selecting process (see below), a contest to determine the next-strongest wizard (to take over when Merlin dies) was hurriedly arranged, and is occurring today.
A certain objective test is used to make a cutoff line (wizards must complete seven magical challenges). Then there is a second objective test that usually weeds out the best of the best. It is known factually that no two wizards are of equal strength... all wizards are at their own unique strength level.
From there, however, the most ancient art of strength comparison is used. In this case, two wizards - Nevo and Onyx - passed both tests and are the only ones left for the final comparison process.
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Called a "mind duel", the two wizards being compared stand in opposite circles and just stand there, staring at each other. A wizard stronger than both of them stands in between them and compares the strength of their magical fields to determine the stronger of the two.
If the wizard doing the comparison is stronger than both of them, the comparer correctly determines the stronger of the two dueling wizards.
However if the comparer is weaker than one or both of the dueling wizards, then they get the opposite answer; that is, they think that the weaker of the two wizards is actually the stronger one.
---
Now, Merlin compares Nevo and Onyx, and concludes that Nevo is more powerful than Onyx. The king, although sad that his good friend Merlin will be dying in two weeks, declares Nevo the second-strongest mage of the realm, to take over the archmage position after Merlin dies.
But Nevo, drunk on victory and also badly needing the money from the archmage job, goes one step further, does the unthinkable, and claims that he, Nevo, is the strongest wizard of the realm right now, and that he is stronger than both Merlin and Onyx.
The king thinks about it for a few minutes, frowning in confusion. Glancing without much certainty at his logicians, who give him a shrug, the king turns back to Nevo. "I don't think that's possible," the king says.
---
Questions: you are the king's best logician, flown in on phoenixback from a distant realm to address this issue!
(1) Is the king's conclusion correct?
(2) Do you know the exact order of decreasing mage strength (for M, N and O), or is more information needed? If more is needed, how can that be obtained with as little work as possible?
(3) Enter Pyrin, a star wizard from a distant realm that flew in with you to compete. Pyrin enters the castle after the events described here and declares that he is very powerful. Pyrin compares Merlin and Nevo and says that Merlin is more powerful. A bit confounded, Onyx compares Pyrin vs. Nevo. What does Onyx get as a result?
---
Please post answers in spoilers! This is my first riddle in a while, so thanks for reading Good luck!
Question
unreality
Merlin has been the realm's strongest wizard and king's archmage for a very long time. Yesterday, however, Merlin predicted his own death in two weeks.
Because of the nature of the selecting process (see below), a contest to determine the next-strongest wizard (to take over when Merlin dies) was hurriedly arranged, and is occurring today.
A certain objective test is used to make a cutoff line (wizards must complete seven magical challenges). Then there is a second objective test that usually weeds out the best of the best. It is known factually that no two wizards are of equal strength... all wizards are at their own unique strength level.
From there, however, the most ancient art of strength comparison is used. In this case, two wizards - Nevo and Onyx - passed both tests and are the only ones left for the final comparison process.
---
Called a "mind duel", the two wizards being compared stand in opposite circles and just stand there, staring at each other. A wizard stronger than both of them stands in between them and compares the strength of their magical fields to determine the stronger of the two.
If the wizard doing the comparison is stronger than both of them, the comparer correctly determines the stronger of the two dueling wizards.
However if the comparer is weaker than one or both of the dueling wizards, then they get the opposite answer; that is, they think that the weaker of the two wizards is actually the stronger one.
---
Now, Merlin compares Nevo and Onyx, and concludes that Nevo is more powerful than Onyx. The king, although sad that his good friend Merlin will be dying in two weeks, declares Nevo the second-strongest mage of the realm, to take over the archmage position after Merlin dies.
But Nevo, drunk on victory and also badly needing the money from the archmage job, goes one step further, does the unthinkable, and claims that he, Nevo, is the strongest wizard of the realm right now, and that he is stronger than both Merlin and Onyx.
The king thinks about it for a few minutes, frowning in confusion. Glancing without much certainty at his logicians, who give him a shrug, the king turns back to Nevo. "I don't think that's possible," the king says.
---
Questions: you are the king's best logician, flown in on phoenixback from a distant realm to address this issue!
(1) Is the king's conclusion correct?
(2) Do you know the exact order of decreasing mage strength (for M, N and O), or is more information needed? If more is needed, how can that be obtained with as little work as possible?
(3) Enter Pyrin, a star wizard from a distant realm that flew in with you to compete. Pyrin enters the castle after the events described here and declares that he is very powerful. Pyrin compares Merlin and Nevo and says that Merlin is more powerful. A bit confounded, Onyx compares Pyrin vs. Nevo. What does Onyx get as a result?
---
Please post answers in spoilers! This is my first riddle in a while, so thanks for reading
Good luck!
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