Ch.10010. Entrance Exam Simulation

Seraphina, who was observing the entrance mock battle, smiled contentedly as she watched the fresh-faced new students.

For someone always hungry for talent like her, the academy’s entrance ceremony was both an opportunity to see shining stars with her own eyes and a filter to separate the wheat from the chaff.

No matter how detailed the reports she received, Seraphina, with her exceptional eye for talent, always preferred to see for herself. When it came to information about potential talents from her intelligence department, she always finalized decisions based on her personal observations.

In that sense, the entrance mock battle held the same significance for her as a festive banquet.

‘That must be Ian Tigris Linbarrel.’

Seraphina, seated in the VIP section, noticed a gentle-looking man with uncommon black hair entering.

Though not bulky, he appeared well-trained with a solid build, and his soft eyes and round facial features had a charm that naturally drew people’s goodwill.

Indeed, it was not strange that most of those gazing at him were women.

But what Seraphina was looking at was not his appearance but his overall information.

The Linbarrel Count family was highly respected by their domain residents and was one of the wealthiest families in the empire due to their business acumen.

Particularly, the specialty products from the Linbarrel domain were items created by the brilliant minds of their family’s outstanding talents. Novel products unseen elsewhere were predominantly produced in their domain, leading fashion trends among both the aristocratic social circles and common people.

Within this Linbarrel family, known for their technological prowess and wealth, was born a person with different talents from the rest—Ian Tigris Linbarrel.

From childhood, he had shown exceptional talent in swordsmanship and military studies, and was particularly known for his innate ability with giant mechanized soldiers.

According to Seraphina’s intelligence department, Ian was already identified as the top recruitment target, having awakened characteristic skills related to giant mechanized soldiers.

What were characteristic skills?

They were divine talents not granted to ordinary people, and even if granted, many died without ever awakening them if they couldn’t discover the awakening conditions through sheer luck.

Ian Tigris Linbarrel was the man who had broken through these conditions and acquired characteristic skills from childhood.

With Ian’s talent combined with the Linbarrel family’s wealth, he had already grown to a level comparable to an apprentice knight and was evaluated as a sure candidate for the next knighthood.

Moreover, being a successor beloved by the domain residents, he was marked as Seraphina’s top priority for talent recruitment.

‘That aside.’

As Marquis Lucas’s speech ended and the entrance mock battle officially began, they started selecting student commanders.

Seraphina was making pleasant guesses about who would volunteer first for the commander position. Given the nature of the position, she expected a period of mutual assessment, but her prediction was completely off the mark.

“I’ll do it.”

A man with a towering height of 190 cm, flowing blonde hair, uncharacteristically rebellious gold piercings in his ears for a nobleman, and apple-red cheeks stood up without hesitation.

Seraphina looked with interest at the man who stepped forward confidently, as if not even needing to assess the situation. It was Gilbert Lion Heart, whom she had already met once before.

“Isn’t it interesting?”

“Your Highness, I am too dull to understand what you mean.”

“Yanik. I’m sure I prohibited that title within the academy.”

“I apologize, Lady Seraphina.”

The man called Yanik immediately straightened his posture and bowed.

Seraphina waved her hand dismissively at Yanik and repeated her question.

“What kind of man do you think Gilbert Lion Heart is?”

“I think he is disrespectful, dishonorable, and a terrible man.”

“Disrespectful, dishonorable, and terrible, is it…”

Yanik was about to say more but swallowed his words when he saw Seraphina deep in thought.

She mentally repeated what her guard Yanik had said several times. That was indeed the general assessment of Gilbert.

A heretic who knew no honor, had no manners, and possessed a flawed character.

Until seeing him in person, Seraphina had shared the same opinion. She hadn’t completely abandoned that view, and still considered him a cancerous presence that should be removed first rather than a recruitment target.

Suddenly, she recalled seeing Gilbert in the physical training room a few days before the entrance ceremony.

His body was truly refined to the extreme, without exaggeration. If he was truly the degenerate scoundrel the world believed him to be, would it make sense for him to have such a physique? This small doubt crept into her mind.

Could someone who was training to the point of exhaustion in an empty training room that no one would visit really be the irredeemable trash everyone thought?

It started with such a small question and remained an ongoing puzzle. Considering that her intelligence department’s margin of error was only about 5%, most of the reports she received were likely true.

But her eyes and her intuition kept telling her that there was something about Gilbert. That was why she had decided to reserve judgment and observe him further.

Seraphina’s gaze lingered long on Gilbert, who was now standing to one side after being appointed commander.

After Gilbert volunteered as commander, the entrance mock battle proceeded quickly. Once the next three commander positions were filled, random team assignments were made, followed by a brief strategy session before the battle officially began.

Seraphina, observing the unusual formation of three teams allying together, predicted the elimination of Team 1, which had become the target of the allied teams.

It wasn’t so much a prediction as an acknowledgment that Team 1’s conditions were too unfavorable to overcome the numerical disadvantage. To turn the situation around, Team 1 needed at least one advantage over the allied teams, but Seraphina couldn’t see any.

At least, not until Gilbert confronted the vanguard of the allied teams.

“Yanik. What did you think?”

“…Even though I saw it with my own eyes, I can hardly believe that man is truly Gilbert Lion Heart.”

“In what way?”

“The way he overcame the numerical disadvantage. It was no ordinary skill. Setting aside his operational abilities, his terrifying composure seems to be his greatest strength.”

“It sounds like he’s worth watching a bit more.”

“In my judgment as well, he needs to be observed further.”

Seraphina inwardly nodded at Yanik’s assessment. While Gilbert’s piloting skills were impressive, the opponents were also inexperienced.

Of course, with such a numerical difference, it was still a remarkable achievement for a small group to withstand what amounted to a war of attrition.

Delivering only critical strikes with necessary movements was no easy feat. However, what Seraphina and Yanik particularly noted, like Team 1’s deputy Angelina, was his composure.

Despite what could have been an intoxicating victory, he immediately cleared the battlefield and returned, showing the meticulous preparation of a commander readying for the next battle.

That was the meaning behind saying he was worth watching.

After the initial clash, there was a brief lull as strategy meetings and schemes were hastily exchanged. This was contrary to the expectation that the mock battle would proceed rapidly after one team was eliminated by the initial three-team alliance.

“Yanik. What do you think about the upcoming developments?”

“In my view, Team 1 will be the key.”

“Because of Gilbert Lion Heart?”

“Yes. He has already achieved the feat of almost single-handedly stopping the vanguard of the allied teams. This will inevitably confuse the thinking of each team, as they must conserve their forces.”

“That’s correct. Team 1 already holds the initiative, so to speak. There’s the option of attacking Team 1 again, but considering what comes next, they need to preserve their forces. This will inevitably lead to a leakage of combat power.”

Seraphina and Yanik accurately assessed the state of the mock battle, exchanging opinions. Soon, a meeting between Team 4 and Team 1 was observed, with seemingly interesting results.

The result transformed the 3 versus 1 structure into a 2 versus 2 structure.

Seraphina couldn’t help but highly evaluate Gilbert, who had completely overturned the battle’s dynamics and reshaped it. He possessed the something that was needed to overcome the situation.

Team 1 formed an alliance with Team 4 and attacked the stronghold of Team 2, where Ian Tigris Linbarrel was stationed. A chaotic battle ensued, and it seemed as if the two-team alliance had been anticipated to some extent.

Here, Seraphina closely observed Ian. She wondered if he, like Gilbert, held the key to navigating this difficult situation.

Soon, a three-way battle unfolded. Giant mechanized soldiers clashed, and iron swords slashed through the air.

Among them, Ian’s performance was as outstanding as Gilbert’s, if not more so. He was displaying even more flexible piloting skills than Gilbert, who had blocked the vanguard of three teams.

Eventually, it was Team 1’s leader Gilbert who had to stop him, and the two clashed spectacularly. Seraphina applauded the two brightly shining talents amid the fierce back-and-forth combat.

As the climax intensified, a decisive move finally came from Gilbert.

“Ha, hahaha!”

Seraphina burst into laughter seeing Gilbert perform an evasive maneuver through a back tumbling. Even Yanik, who would normally have cautioned against such unrestrained behavior, could only stare in astonishment at Gilbert’s giant mechanized soldier.

“He truly is a man who brings me joy. Yanik, let me ask you: do you think a man reported to be piloting a giant mechanized soldier for the first time could show such three-dimensional maneuvering?”

“In my view, it’s impossible.”

“Then let me ask you once more. Should we assume he has secretly built up his skills, deceiving our eyes? Or should we consider it innate talent?”

Yanik couldn’t answer Seraphina’s sharp question. No matter how talented someone was, performing such maneuvers after just hours of piloting seemed impossible.

Yet to answer that he had built up his skills while deceiving the intelligence department would imply either the department’s incompetence or cast doubt on the true intentions of the Heart Count family.

Unable to choose any answer, he could only keep his mouth shut, prepared to accept whatever Seraphina might say.

But Seraphina hadn’t asked the question to get an answer from Yanik. Though she directed the question at him, it was a self-inquiry.

Her thoughts were not different from Yanik’s. If forced to choose, she would bet on the latter option.

She was fully aware of her intelligence department’s competence, and as for herself, she didn’t want to doubt the Heart Count family, who were staunch imperial supporters.

So she decided to think of it as innate talent, which wasn’t a bad conclusion from her perspective either.

The entrance mock battle, which had entered a new phase with the elimination of one team, was the moment when the name Gilbert Lion Heart was deeply engraved in the heart of Seraphina, the embodiment of talent hunger.