Ch.1616. End-of-Term Evaluation (4)

**Rock Climbing Stage. End-of-semester evaluation. An exam that includes scores for next semester’s class placement.**

A test with hidden clauses where even the professor’s evaluation criteria are unclear.

There could be various purposes like class placement or self-satisfaction, and naturally, there are students like me who want to test themselves.

Yes, this doesn’t go beyond being an evaluation.

But why did she show such a different reaction?

‘Why?’

After hearing the suggestion to give up and leave, Renias silently started climbing the rock wall with reckless, unstable posture until she eventually fell.

When asked why she was pushing herself so hard, she responded with a voice filled with frustration that she would climb it.

And why were her eyes moist, as if something had happened in this short time?

I couldn’t understand. For now, I could only observe her posture from the side.

“Balance yourself again! I told you not to relax your core!”

“Huff…!”

“Good. Now try placing your right foot first.”

I didn’t understand why she suddenly wanted me to teach her so harshly.

Why she had changed so suddenly.

Why she was holding back tears.

The best I could do was to be strict with my instructions to ensure the girl who feared falling from heights wouldn’t get hurt.

***

In the first stage of rock climbing, no one gave up the challenge.

However, there are still people remaining. Two of them, forming a pair—a second-year male student and a first-year female student.

On one side, an honor student who has walked countless battlefields and is looked up to by others; on the other, the most persecuted underachiever whom everyone avoids.

These two students with contrasting grades and abilities didn’t break their partnership and managed to climb almost the entire rock wall.

—Aaaagh…!! Huff… hah…

It’s only 8 meters high and much gentler than natural terrain, but it’s still their first time. Especially climbing with just their bodies makes it no easy task.

The girl who had only trained in magic gained valuable experience overcoming terrain using only her physical body, and by not giving up, she succeeded in climbing.

The boy, moved by his partner’s enthusiasm, guided and encouraged her, watching her complete the climb until the end.

And finally, they smile at each other.

—Well done. You worked hard.

Her once pristine white cheeks are now covered in dirt, turning yellowish, and her beautiful silver hair is a mess, covered in dust.

Nevertheless, she doesn’t immediately brush off the dirt in her tied-up hair, as if it’s precious.

This dirt was evidence that she had accomplished something on her own.

—Here, drink.

They’ve received two canteens provided for the second stage test, and the male student approaches his junior who’s stretched out, unscrews the cap, and hands it to her.

Then he unscrews the other one and clinks his bottle against the one the female student holds with both hands.

—Hm? What’s that for?

—A toast.

As the water from the canteen moistens their throats simultaneously, they probably taste something sweeter than ever before.

“Hehe, a toast.”

From a distance, Professor Jake watches the Junon-Renias pair with satisfaction.

“Well, it’s understandable to be confused.”

“That’s why we had to call you, Professor.”

“Sigh… Muniher had to say such things… Is that why?”

“Yes, that’s right. We weren’t sure if we should mark this as correct…”

The supervisor scoring Junon and Renias called the instructor for consultation, still unsure how to grade them.

The two showed such contrasting behavior, and Muniher had snorted that there couldn’t possibly be anyone in this academy who would qualify for the special category that could earn points.

He called Professor Jake because he was perplexed about how to score the behavior shown by Junon’s pair.

“I’ll tell them I saw it myself, so mark it down.”

“…Really? No, you wouldn’t joke about something like this…”

“Renias has been on battlefields so much that it wasn’t recorded. That child is my friend’s daughter, so I know she has acrophobia. But Junon helped her overcome it. I’m certain.”

Professor Muniher might complain about biased judgment if he saw this, but Jake was already convinced.

“They might still lose points in the next test, so continue. Why worry so much when it’s only the first stage?”

“Understood. Then what should I write in the special notes?”

Looking at Renias, soaked in elation with a sip of water, and Junon, who guided her to overcome her fear, the supervisor wrote in a category where no student in the first or second year had received points, as Professor Jake had mentioned.

[Special Notes]

[Renias – Fear overcome. (Acrophobia)]

[Junon – Center position talent possessed.]

The talent Junon once had. The talent of a commander. Once again, Professor Jake was the first to recognize it.

It was a quality that only he, who had observed Junon closely despite his constant troublemaking, could recognize, and once again, the future remained unchanged.

***

Meanwhile, another pair taking the second stage test is showing a completely different approach.

“Um… Senior… Is this really the right way…?”

Doubt about one’s partner.

“Why are we crossing the river like this… I’m freezing to death…!”

Refusal to comply with agreed-upon matters.

“Can’t we just go back now and I’ll freeze the water so we can cross that way? Who crosses in such a stupid way?”

Among other things, the complaints never cease.

The partner of the complaining student is an 18-year-old foreign student with a large body approaching 2 meters and a sturdy physique built through consistent training.

“You said you’d try it my way earlier, you fool.”

“If I had known it was such a crude method, I would have objected immediately!! And I did object!! Is this how they teach in Hardia?!”

“In Hardia, we don’t have anything this easy. Don’t subtly compare like that.”

For Goden, who came as a foreign student from the Artena Empire, the second stage of the end-of-semester evaluation was extremely simple.

It was just about crossing this river, but Goden had made a different proposal to his partner.

“And I don’t think that’s all there is to the test. Why would a test be just crossing with a single spell?”

“It could be! Since the river water is so cold, it makes even more sense to use magic!”

“…Oh my, Duya.”

What’s somewhat unusual is that Utulum Mountain is in a high-altitude area, so crossing a river in winter weather would be quite cold.

While the first stage test was limited to just climbing a rock wall, from the second stage test, the season was specified.

Therefore, the apparent purpose of the second stage test is to cross a winter river, but Goden judged that there must be a hidden agenda in the test.

“They said we can’t cross upstream because there’s a waterfall, and a bit downstream, the supervisor stopped us saying it’s not a test site. So what else could it be? Isn’t it saying to cross this downstream part of the river with some kind of restriction on power?”

So they both took off their tops and tied floating leaves together with rope to use as flotation devices while crossing.

On top of the flotation device, they placed their dry tops and pockets containing necessary tools to keep them from getting wet.

It was during this crossing that Goden’s partner, shivering from the cold river temperature, raised complaints.

The problem is that they’re not on the same page.

“…Whether upstream or downstream, can’t we just cross using magic? It’s too cold. Why do we have to get wet while moving? Same with earlier. Why did we have to use hooks and ropes to climb the rock wall?”

“If you rely on magic for everything, what will you do when you run out of magical power?”

“When would that happen? Talk sense!”

Despite Goden’s deep sigh and rebuttal, the other insisted on avoiding the test immediately.

‘What on earth is this academy…’

What have they been teaching?

If he made a plausible argument, that would be one thing, but now it seems like he’s only trying to avoid immediate hardship.

This is the last chance. If communication fails again, he’ll have no choice but to separate from this partner.

“What would you do if this were a battlefield?”

He stopped while crossing the river and turned around completely, trying to give serious advice.

The answer to what he would do if it were a battlefield was:

“If it were a battlefield, I wouldn’t come in the first place! How could a mere C-class student like me go to a battlefield?! You need to be at least B-class!”

As expected.

It’s not wrong. But it is wrong.

Isn’t the Levrant Academy an institution that would become the greatest force of the Ardelion Duchy in case of emergency?

A situation where monsters could invade and overturn the duchy could happen at any time.

‘This must be the problem that Ophelia and the Grand Duke of Ardelion mentioned.’

The barrier area of the Artena Empire is always teeming with monsters.

To prevent them from entering, vigilance must never be relaxed, and if even one gets through, the powerless will quickly perish.

He has no awareness that those with their senses heightened to the extreme are guarding the borders.

Students who don’t have even a speck of vigilance.

Students who don’t even go through proper education, let alone understand the intent of the test.

Fools filled with groundless confidence that others will protect their lives from the swarming monsters.

This student was the result created by the nobles and professors who had taken over the academy.

‘I can see why the duchy is faltering.’

If no change is brought about, everyone here will eventually become prey for the monsters that are licking their lips.

This guy has no will to learn.

He’s not someone who will listen, and if he doesn’t know what kind of education he received, he needs to recognize it later.

Will he change after being thoroughly tested by Professor Muniher? No, I’m not confident about that either.

“Ugh. I shouldn’t have followed you! I’m going to act alone. They said you’re a foreign student from Hardia… but you’re no different from Levrant’s vanguards!”

This was his last tantrum, and Goden let out a low exclamation of disbelief.

Goden decided to watch what the guy would do.

He immediately turned back, went out of the water, and started freezing the moisture in his pants bit by bit, then removing the cold, stuck ice with his hands.

Goden immediately shouted:

“Hey! You’ll get hurt if you remove it like that!”

Freezing to remove moisture is a good idea, but you shouldn’t remove it with bare hands like that.

“I’ll handle it myself, so don’t worry about me!”

Not long after, the first-year male student made an “Ah!” sound as his hand was cut by sharp ice and blood flowed out.

Then he started to throw a fit.

“Damn… I shouldn’t have followed that guy into the water…!”

Tsk tsk. If he had just taken off his pants, wrung out the moisture, frozen it, and then spread it with sand, he wouldn’t have been hurt.

He doesn’t seem to know that warm hands meeting cold ice can tear the skin. And if he hadn’t gone into the water at all…

‘He thinks magic is a means to break all natural laws and principles.’

Moreover, even though he can use magic, his application method is not just low-level but downright stupid.

No matter how magical it is, it doesn’t break principles, so one must adhere to the basics, but these people lack even fundamental knowledge.

And now he’s blaming others, saying he shouldn’t have followed into the water, making Goden sigh deeply.

“I must be crazy to trust a vanguard!”

The reason for being deployed in pairs was broken here, and by relying on magic for such an easy test, that student will likely drop at least two class levels.

He went his own way after freezing the water to make an ice bridge.

“Tsk. It got colder for nothing.”

It was because of the straight frozen bridge.

Still, he had to break it. Thinking of the students following behind, there’s no guarantee they won’t be harmed.

A faint white magical power swirled around Goden’s right hand, and then completely shattered only the ice bridge.

“He was someone who wouldn’t bend his pride until the end.”

Is it even reasonable that such people are positioned in Class C, the average of the academy?

-“I must be crazy to trust a vanguard!”

As Ophelia mentioned, there exists conflict between positions, making it a total mess.

Goden was firmly convinced that these people would not change and would never prepare.

Unless there’s a representative case that can prove they’re wrong.

“I’ll have to create such a case.”