Ch.11. The Extra Has a Sharp Exit Cue

“Usually, the protagonist of a story has exceptional talent for growth.

Even if they start out weak, they quickly become strong, and in the end, they effortlessly join the ranks of the world’s strongest fighters—that’s the characteristic of a protagonist.

Then what about the extras in the story?

They don’t even properly appear in the story to begin with. At best, they might appear in the corner, admiring or envying the protagonist?

But even that would be considered successful for an extra. Most of the time, they just appear as passersby on the street.

And…

‘That person is me.’

That’s right. I’ve been possessed into the body of an extra.

And it’s someone I’ve never seen before.

‘Entrance Exam Applicant #81 – Ludion’

I haven’t been playing this game for just a day or two, but I’ve truly never heard the name Ludion before.

Looking at his appearance probably won’t mean anything either. I’ve never paid close attention to NPCs that you can’t even interact with.

I definitely thought I had died, so this situation is confusing in many ways, but unfortunately, I didn’t have the luxury to organize my thoughts.

“…therefore, be aware that unnecessary contact between applicants or any detected cheating will result in disqualification.”

It seems the game has already started, so I should probably focus on this now.

“Now, we will begin the entrance examination.”

The entrance exam event that you can encounter at the start of the game. I never thought I’d be doing it myself.

With a strange feeling, I follow behind the other applicants who are following the proctor’s instructions.

It was bewildering to suddenly be in this world, possessed in an extra’s body and taking an entrance exam, but regardless, I knew exactly what I needed to do.

After all, this world is my home ground. When it comes to knowledge of this world, I’m probably at a doctoral level, aren’t I?

‘Of course. This is the game I was playing right before I died.’

I’ve enjoyed all the content and then some, scraping every Easter egg and bizarre gameplay until there was nothing left—there’s no way I’d struggle with just an entrance exam.

Since I knew exactly what would happen where and how, I could approach the exam more calmly than anyone else here.

“Applicant #81, theory exam… perfect score… Excellent. Follow the teaching assistant’s guidance to the practical exam site.”

I finished the theory exam without much effort.

It was really nothing special. Questions about the characteristics of various monsters, or describing how to handle certain situations in battle—for someone like me who knows everything from the world setting to monster information and various strategies, the entrance exam level was far too low.

‘…honestly, I was a bit nervous about encountering something I didn’t know.’

Usually when you get possessed, suddenly complex formulas or difficult theories that never appeared in the game pop up and catch you off guard, right?

I was worried that if that happened, I’d have to study throughout my entire academy life, but fortunately, only things that appeared in the game showed up.

Thanks to that, I got a perfect score to start. Actually, since theory and practical exams have a 2:8 ratio, it’s not incredibly helpful, but it’s better than nothing, and more importantly, it feels good.

Humming a little tune, I followed the teaching assistant and soon arrived at the practical exam site.

“From here, please enter by yourself.”

“Ah, yes. Thank you for guiding me.”

“Sure, you did well on the theory exam, so good luck with the practical too.”

I parted ways somewhat awkwardly with the teaching assistant who guided me. I knew who he was, but that wasn’t particularly why—I was just maintaining basic courtesy between people.

There’s a lot to do in this game, but ultimately it revolves around combat, so acting rudely? That’s a quick way to get manners beaten into you.

So there’s no need to make unnecessary enemies. Besides, I’m not that type of person anyway.

With these thoughts, I entered the practical exam site and found myself in a structure resembling a colosseum.

The practical exam was called an exam, but it was closer to a combat ability assessment, which is why it was set up this way.

They gauge applicants’ skills through duels, where winners continue to the next match, but losers are immediately eliminated from the exam.

This survival method might seem unfair at first glance, but it actually wasn’t. Even if you lose terribly, the exam supervisors calculate and evaluate all factors, producing surprisingly accurate scores.

The survival format was simply a rule to reduce examination time, nothing unfair about it.

Well, the rules didn’t matter much to me. What was important was how well I could perform here.

No matter how perfect my theory score was, if I messed up here, it would all be for nothing.

Still, from the moment I was possessed, my body felt light and full of energy, so it seemed I didn’t have low stats at least. It was unfortunate that I couldn’t know exactly what my stats were, but…

-Ding!

[Checking stats.]

Oh, there’s a system? Is this really becoming like a game?

I suddenly wondered if I could use other system windows too, but for now, checking the screen that appeared was the priority.

[Ludion]

[Strength: 17]

[Endurance: 8]

[Agility: 26]

[Mana: 11]

…Higher than I expected?

These can’t be stats available at the entrance point.

With these, I could easily make it into the advanced class, not just the intermediate.

‘I might even become second in the class?’

Ludion’s stats were quite high, enough to think that.

Compared to top-tier characters, they weren’t overwhelmingly high, but if I maximized efficiency, there was definitely potential.

First place… would be impossible with that person around.

Anyway, with specs like these, just following the basic growth route provided by the academy would easily maintain a top position…

-Ding!

[Due to your trait, stats will no longer grow.]

Or not.

What the hell, give me back my stats.

I thought it was strange that with initial stats at this level, he never showed his face throughout the game. Was he one of those who fell victim to the threatening words some professors would utter at the beginning of each semester: “Many students have been demoted again this semester.”

Given the game’s nature where stats are everything, it made sense that someone who couldn’t grow at all would fall behind.

Of course, if such an absurd penalty came with an overpowered trait, it might have been acceptable, but…

[Irregular]

[This is an experimental feature. Please ensure that actual players do not obtain this trait.]

Since there wasn’t even a proper explanation written, I decided not to think about it for now.

What mattered at the moment was completing the exam, and even if growth had stopped, my current specs were honestly beyond good.

With these stats, I could easily dominate up to the intermediate class level with just physical prowess. So I wasn’t worried about falling behind immediately.

Besides, the person who entered this body wasn’t just an ordinary user.

I was none other than the legendary user “Lord-Park’s-butt-cover” with hundreds of thousands of upvotes on strategy posts, known to every player of this game. That was me.

…I should have put more thought into my username. If I had known I’d play this seriously, I wouldn’t have chosen that.

Anyway, with my skills, I couldn’t imagine losing with these stats.

Original story? Butterfly effect? I’ve been dead for a while and ended up here, so I don’t care about such things. I just want to enjoy this world somehow.

I feel sorry for the fresh newbies who just enrolled… but now it’s time for the veteran to shine.

Thinking this, I was about to participate in the duel proudly when…

“Ah.”

The exam site was completely empty.

Right. Everyone must still be taking the theory exam. I had completely forgotten that I submitted mine early and left.

And… as far as I knew, there was only one prospective student who would be here at this timing.

Realizing this, I tried to flee quickly, but it seemed too late.

Right before my eyes approached a character I had seen countless times in the game. With each step she took, her platinum blonde hair sparkled, and my heart sank.

She came right up to me and opened her mouth, looking at me expressionlessly.

“Nice to meet you. It seems like it’s just you and me, shall we duel first?”

With her incredible lineage and amazing talent, growing with overwhelming power… from about the middle of the story, she just dominates alone as one of the world’s strongest.

The student who prevents the protagonist from becoming valedictorian no matter what route you take, ranked #1 by Forbes as the student best at defending the top position.

Celia Rubetia. She had just challenged me to a duel.