Ch.24Chapter 24: Entrance Exam (1)

Victor hears Balt’s muttering.

Currently, Victor is doing push-ups while standing on his thumb in a handstand.

“Hup! Without a doubt! Hup! First place! Hup! Brother Balt! Hup! Don’t you think?! Hup!”

Speaking in rhythm is fun.

“There are many strong people in the world. There must be freshmen stronger than me.”

Having finished his exercise, Victor flicks his thumb and stands upright.

“Whew! No way! I thought there weren’t many who could match me among my peers, but Brother Balt, didn’t you handle me like a child!”

It wasn’t quite that bad, but Victor’s memories are becoming increasingly distorted.

“By the way, why isn’t our other roommate here? Didn’t they say there would be three people per dorm room?”

As expected of the Imperial Academy, the dormitory conditions are excellent.

It’s quite spacious even for three people. If Balt and Victor think it’s spacious, that says it all.

“Right? The entrance exam is tomorrow…”

As Balt and Victor are discussing tomorrow’s entrance exam.

Click-

The door to Balt’s dormitory opens, and a young man appears.

Victor notices and responds.

“Oh? Finally arrived?”

Tightly tied long blonde hair, a large bow as tall as his considerable height.

Eyes glowing with a blue light, almost like an elf.

But his ears aren’t pointed, and while his face is handsome, it’s not quite at an elf’s level.

And… obviously similar in build to Victor with muscles that look ready to burst…

The three make eye contact and, for some unknown reason, suddenly nod.

“Hmm.”

“Hmm.”

“Hmm.”

As expected, Victor initiates the greeting.

“Nice to meet you! I’m Victor Gayans, disciple of the King of Fists! Welcome! My friend!”

“Pleased to meet you. I’m Robin Ash, disciple of the Bow God. I’ve met some impressive fellow students here.”

His manner of speech is quite polite.

‘Oh? Disciple of the Bow God?’

“Ah, I suppose that empty spot is mine.”

With that, Robin, flexing his biceps and triceps, unpacks his belongings on the empty bed.

“Balt Geruntud. Nice to meet you.”

Hearing Balt’s introduction, Robin’s eyes light up.

“Pleased to meet you, Balt. Indeed… only a barbarian could develop such muscles. Truly impressive.”

But was a Bow God’s disciple supposed to be this muscular?

While Balt is wondering about this, Victor asks Robin:

“Does archery really require that much muscle? It’s a bit different from what I imagined.”

To Victor’s question, Robin smiles and replies:

“Of course it does. My master’s archery uses an incredibly powerful bow. Without muscles, you couldn’t even draw the bowstring once your aura is depleted.”

Victor nods as he looks at the enormous bow that can’t even be compared to ordinary ones.

“Ohhh… I see. That makes sense. In the end, the only thing you can truly rely on is your own body.”

Watching them converse while flexing their pectorals and trapezius muscles, Balt feels somewhat stifled.

It’s also strangely hot in here.

“By the way, you’re late. Will you be alright with the exam tomorrow?”

Robin responds with a good-natured smile.

“Haha, of course, don’t worry. Anyway, I look forward to working with you, fellow students.”

Robin is a polite muscleman.

Later on, after graduating from the academy, these three will be known to their juniors as the Grovint Super Muscle Trio.

Nicknamed “Bal.Ro.Vic.”

***

Finally, the day of the entrance exam dawns.

Since it’s a test day, the academy has been providing clothing for the examinees’ convenience since yesterday.

It’s also to easily identify those taking the exam.

The clothing is generous and elastic, made of good quality fabric in a mix of chestnut and black colors.

“Hmm, not bad.”

The clothes fit perfectly even for the massive Balt.

Having completed their preparations, the three head to the entrance exam venue.

“Alright, shall we go?”

Naturally, Balt takes the lead with Victor and Robin flanking him on either side.

Yesterday after Robin arrived, Victor was itching to spar with him, but due to time constraints, they settled for arm wrestling instead.

Even with Victor and Robin teaming up, they couldn’t beat Balt, which tacitly established him as their leader.

Victor and Robin are tied at 1 win and 1 loss each.

Robin won with the right arm, Victor with the left.

As a result, a subtle sense of rivalry has begun to sprout between the two.

Walking slowly, they eventually arrive at the exam venue.

Truly, countless people have gathered to take the entrance exam.

Victor whistles and says:

“Whew~ There are so many. I see a lot of capable-looking guys, don’t you, Brother?”

“Indeed. Everyone’s aura is incredible.”

Honestly, these three look the most capable of all.

But everyone has fierce eyes and exudes confidence.

They must be people who have made names for themselves somewhere.

There are surely those who were called geniuses.

“Good, now it finally feels like we’re at the academy.”

As Balt appears, whispers can be heard from all around.

That’s understandable given how Balt’s size really stands out.

He makes even Victor and Robin, who have fairly large builds themselves, look small in comparison.

His bronze skin, silver hair, and massive physique immediately make people realize that Balt is a barbarian.

“Hey, that’s a barbarian! S-scary!”

“Look at that size. Is that even human?”

“W-what about the ones next to him? More barbarians?”

Some express fear.

“Hmph, they think muscles are everything? Just wait and see, their test scores will surely be nothing special.”

“Yeah, what good are they if they can’t use mana.”

Others dismiss them.

“But he’s not bad looking, right? He’s more handsome than I expected.”

“Yeah, I thought barbarians would be running around naked.”

Various comments reach Balt’s ears. There’s no need to respond to each one.

“Kuh! As expected of Brother! You draw attention wherever you go!”

Even if it’s not positive attention, attention is attention.

“Stop talking nonsense and focus on the exam.”

“I’ll do my best to get into the same class as Brother Balt!”

Balt greets Robin as well.

“You too, Robin.”

“Yes, Balt. I wish you good luck.”

In fact, there were many other eye-catching individuals besides Balt.

Especially that woman over there with flaming red hair who must be at least 2 meters tall.

Her hair is so red it makes Lisa’s dark red hair seem pale in comparison, like it’s actually on fire.

Plus the horns protruding from both sides of her head.

She’s a dragonkin.

She’s quite tall, though not as tall as Balt.

But her appearance makes her stand out even more than Balt.

Naturally, because of her protruding head, her eyes meet Balt’s.

‘What are you looking at, punk?’

The dragonkin woman’s lips seem to say.

Balt smirks and continues to look around.

And there’s another person who stands out due to their height and unique appearance.

A woman with hair like a white mane and lush white fur around her shoulders.

In contrast, cute cat-like ears protrude from the top of her head.

She appears to be a beastkin.

She too meets Balt’s eyes and gives him a wink.

Judging by her appearance, she reminds him of a lion.

“Interesting.”

***

Today is the written and physical exam.

Tomorrow is the mana test.

And starting the day after tomorrow, there will be a three-day tournament.

Balt goes to the written exam venue, receives the test paper, and prepares to take the exam.

‘I may not be an expert, but I know a bit about Fantaria…’

But that was Balt’s big miscalculation.

[In Continental Year 504, the hero who single-handedly stopped the Demon King’s 3rd Division was Sword Saint Lushtein. What is the name of the person who risked their life to escape and inform the Multi-Race Alliance about this, thus saving the Sword Saint?]

‘…How am I supposed to know this?’

He had intended to show that barbarians aren’t ignorant, but that seems difficult now.

No matter how much he played the game, it’s natural that he would be ignorant about this world’s history.

As expected of a university-level educational institution, the difficulty of the questions is uniformly high for Balt.

In the end, Balt marked all multiple-choice questions as option 2, because of the “t” in Balt and the “tu” in Geruntud.

If he were to randomly pick different numbers, he might not get even one correct.

For the short-answer questions, he uniformly wrote “I don’t know.”

He tries to stay calm, telling himself that a cool barbarian isn’t ashamed of what he doesn’t know.

These are different races directly invited by the Emperor.

Surely they won’t send him home just for guessing on the written exam.

And finally, it’s time for the physical ability test.

Since it’s testing pure physical ability, participants wear specially made mana sealing devices.

Click-

Even when Balt tries to use his mana while wearing the sealing device, it doesn’t budge at all.

The exam finally begins.

Buzz buzz-

The huge exam venue is noisy with tests being conducted here and there.

“Run!”

“You can do it!”

Some people seem to have already become friends, as cheers can be heard from various places.

Since the tests are individual, Balt has separated from Victor and Robin.

Balt’s examinee number is 99.

Right now, Balt is standing at one side of the exam venue for the first test.

The first item in the pure physical ability test.

A 100-meter sprint.

Balt takes his position at the starting line.

But then, unfortunately, an ordinary male student who happens to be starting next to Balt musters his courage and speaks to him.

“Um, sorry but… could you move over a little…”

The starting line is a bit cramped due to Balt’s huge size.

“Hmm, sorry about that.”

Balt has no choice but to turn his body and stand sideways.

Only then do the participants on either side of Balt sigh in relief and finally take their positions.

The examiner’s voice echoes:

“Ready!!”

Bang!

The sound of the magical starting gun rings out, and Balt powerfully steps forward.

Boom!

Posture wasn’t particularly important for Balt.

The ground where Balt’s foot pushes off slightly caves in, and his form shoots out like a bullet.

As a result, the participant who had asked him to move aside unfortunately loses balance and falls.

Balt reaches top speed in an instant, his feet making sounds like a charging rhinoceros.

Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud!

The spectators who thought he would be slow due to his massive size can’t hide their surprise at Balt’s speed.

“Who is that guy!? He’s incredible!”

Balt’s time, measured by a timer spell, is 6.08 seconds.

Indeed, it’s the speed of someone who could catch wolves in the forest.

But Balt isn’t satisfied.

‘My start was a bit slow because of the posture.’

People around are bewildered by the speed of the massive Balt, unsure of what they just witnessed.

“What was that…? Something big just went whoosh!”

“Um… huh? Um…? Huh? Is my common sense wrong?”

Balt’s test, which will change the physical ability test scoring standards of Grovint Academy, begins.