Ch.2525 – The Person Who Breaks Common Sense

<25 – Breaking Common Sense>

What a little lady with absolutely no sense of tension.

Between score farming and human hunting, neither is easy, and we still need to manage food supplies and track exam supervisors.

Facing an extremely difficult gate that requires tremendous multitasking, yet she’s worried about bugs.

“Aren’t you afraid? Besides the bugs, I mean.”

“Me? Why would I be?”

A mischievous smirk appeared on Oknodie’s puzzled face.

“Ah~ Mr. Giselle is scared! Are you afraid of running in the forest? Or worried you can’t farm points? Scaredy-cat~ Coward~ So weak… Oof!”

“When you avoid the rod, you get a knock on the head instead.”

My hand moved before I realized it, but I didn’t feel much resentment.

I suddenly realized my tension had eased.

She’s truly a mature child.

Considering adults first and helping them relax.

Though perhaps she just wanted to tease me.

Either way, she herself has no fear.

No wonder she ranked first in the first gate.

‘I’m not sure if I should be happy about that, but…’

Her confidence comes from skill.

This child’s abilities stem from the “early education” of noble families that borders on child abuse.

Fed hundreds of poisons, taught techniques to hide and evade attacks, completely empty of common sense about what a child’s life, a human life, or a noble’s life should be.

Yet somehow she maintains her innocence, which makes her all the more heartbreaking to watch.

Having such a child as a teammate for this exam actually gives me strength.

‘Unless I were selling tickets, I wouldn’t know, as I’ve never actually taken the exam myself until now… but I get the general idea.’

The advanced exam is a brutal gate where even Gold Ticket holders get swept away like weeds. The other examinees will have a much harder time than Oknodie.

“Ugh, the injuries from the first gate…”

“It’s getting dark. I’ve lost sight of the advance party!”

While some groups of stragglers begin to fall behind, a leading group keeps pace with the examiners.

‘I suppose they’re the problem.’

About 30 people in the dropout group and about 30 in the leading group.

Between them, a middle group of 100 people.

25 people out of 185 examinees.

A breakaway group has appeared, aiming for food supplies or auxiliary task points through individual action.

“Aren’t they worried about becoming prey?”

“They must be confident. Perhaps they have reliable companions.”

“Or they’re certain of their own abilities.”

Isabelle and Son Ocheon are right.

Unless they have something they trust in, they wouldn’t go after points—except maybe for food supplies.

“Then let’s go too!”

“…Did you actually hear what we were just talking about?”

Aren’t you worried about becoming prey?

“Are you not confident?”

Well, she’s a young lady trained as an assassin.

Why would she fear an exam like this?

And it wouldn’t make sense for someone who volunteered to help such a young lady to be overly cautious.

“I was only concerned for the little lady.”

“That’s good. I hate mosquitoes, but if we finish quickly, I’ll get bitten less. Let’s go clear the auxiliary tasks first!”

Isabelle followed the spirited young lady with an awkward smile, saying she couldn’t handle this, while Son Ocheon followed heartily, saying he knew this would happen.

Following behind them, Giselle’s face showed no shadow either. After all, despite everything, he too was confident.

* *

Supporting characters have personalities.

This might seem obvious, but I’m talking about the game “Graduating from Academy with Luck.”

Cautious characters will look for a stick to test a stone bridge before crossing.

Bold characters will just run across a stone bridge without hesitation.

Vicious characters will cross the bridge first and then destroy it.

‘Those vicious characters are the problem.’

In this exam, at first glance, anyone might mistakenly think that everyone can attempt the auxiliary tasks, but those who actually head toward them soon realize:

Malicious characters will find a way to cause trouble no matter what.

<First 10 people>

<Catch a white-tailed mongoose and submit it to the base camp.>

If you’re late, you get nothing.

Someone might disguise themselves as a white-tailed mongoose ten times for points, or catch their own mongoose and kill all the rest before leaving.

Fortunately, such disruptions hadn’t happened yet, so there was still time.

“Everyone’s seen the sign, right?”

“We are the instructors stationed at this base camp. We’ll give 10 points each to the first 10 people who bring us white-tailed mongooses.”

“The scoring method is simple. The moment we instructors receive the white-tailed mongoose, points will be awarded to the submitter’s ticket watch.”

As soon as the instructors finished explaining, examinees from the breakaway group took action.

“What’s a white-tailed mongoose?”

“As a monkey beastkin, shouldn’t you know about animals?”

“How would I know? They didn’t live in the forest where I grew up.”

Isabelle explained with a deflated expression in response to Son Ocheon’s question.

“They look like a mix between a ferret and a rat. They’re supposedly fierce enough to catch venomous snakes, but they usually live in groups to avoid being eaten by monsters.”

“Are they strong?”

“If you’re asking whether they’re strong compared to a monkey beastkin over 2m tall, they’re extremely weak, right? They’re a small species, not even 1m long.”

“Not very exciting.”

“It’s too early to be disappointed. Those mongooses are incredibly quick. Especially the white-tailed mongoose, which is like the leader among mongoose groups and rarely seen.”

Hmm, she’s definitely an adventurer!

Not a single incorrect explanation.

“Oh, are those the mongooses they’re catching over there?”

“That’s right.”

Just then, an examinee caught a mongoose that was climbing a nearby tree.

“Kyaaak!”

“Haha, so weak. Pathetic, you insignificant creature!”

The examinee grabbed the mongoose with his hand and knocked it unconscious by smashing it against a tree.

Looking at the unconscious mongoose’s tail, he showed obvious disappointment.

“Tch. Useless.”

Whoosh!

I ran and caught the mongoose he had thrown away.

“Huh? Wasted effort, little one. That’s a brown-tailed mongoose.”

“I know!”

“What’s the point of catching one that doesn’t have a white tail? Come to think of it, you… were the top student, right?”

Examinees who had hunted brown-tailed mongooses all looked at me suspiciously.

Yikes.

Did I blow my cover?

As I was wondering how to explain, Son Ocheon placed his hand on my head and confidently said:

“Our little mouse is in her growth phase. She’ll eat any kind of meat without being picky.”

“I see. Food, then.”

“Don’t treat me like a glutton!”

“Who was it that devoured 100 different dishes from the sky buffet in just ten days?”

“Ugh. That, that was because I only had ten days, so I had no choice!”

The examinees commented:

“She’s a glutton.”

“A big eater.”

“A food fighter, isn’t she?”

“She’s going to get fat. That’ll definitely make her fat.”

Hey, have any of you contributed even one item to my food collection?

Why are you making such a fuss when you haven’t helped complete a single entry in my catalog?

“So you really caught it to eat?”

As the uninterested examinees walked away, I looked around cautiously before answering.

“I wasn’t planning to eat it, but it wouldn’t hurt to catch a few more for food while we’re at it.”

“Oh? Our little lady seems to have something in mind.”

“Please catch more for now. If we’re using them as meals, we should have plenty—about eight in total?”

While mongooses might act as predators to small wild animals, they’re no match for humans with enhanced abilities trying to catch them.

In no time, eight mongooses were caught, either dead or unconscious.

“I could cook them, but isn’t eight too many even so?”

“Don’t worry, Isabelle. I caught half of them to submit for the exam.”

“For the exam? But they don’t have white tails.”

“If they’re not white-tailed, we can make them white, can’t we?”

“Is that allowed?!”

“Why not? Son Ocheon, could you break this tree bark with your spear?”

When Son Ocheon lightly applied force to break the tree bark, white sap leaked out.

“Wow. Are you a genius?”

“I felt it during the ticket exam too, but your resourcefulness is truly remarkable, Oknodie.”

“Little mouse, your cleverness is impressive.”

After thoroughly coating the brown tails with sap to make them white, we brought them to the base camp, where the instructors looked at each other in bewilderment.

“Should we accept this as a white-tailed mongoose?”

“It’s not for us to decide. We should ask the examiner directly.”

The second gate examiner, Minerva.

As someone with the Ranger class, she highly values quick thinking and adaptability in the wild.

The result was predictable.

“The examiner says she appreciates the resourceful attempt. All four of you pass. You get 10 points.”

“Heheng.”

“You did it, little mouse!”

“That’s a relief.”

“Don’t relax yet. This is just the beginning.”

It’s good that we cleared it with a veteran’s trick, but the problem starts now.

How will we shake off other examinees aiming for points, especially the malicious supporting characters?

“Excuse me, could you step aside? I’d like to submit a mongoose.”

“Ah, yes.”

Unlike me who used a trick, an examinee who caught a genuine white-tailed mongoose exchanged it for points with the instructor.

“Then, excuse me.”

“That’s him!”

“How the hell did he find a white-tailed mongoose so quickly? Let’s just catch him instead!”

Examinees eagerly pounce on the lone examinee, unlike our group of four.

The solitary examinee glances back once, then kicks off a nearby tree, swiftly navigating through branches and disappearing.

“No way…”

“What was that…”

Like dogs watching a chicken fly to the roof, the frustrated examinees turned toward us.

Son Ocheon, being a monkey beastkin, received the most stares.

“What’s with you guys? Just because I’m a monkey beastkin, do I have to know how to climb trees?”

“Huh? You can’t climb?”

“Of course I can.”

“……”

This guy is really hateful.