Ch.4Chapter 4. Academy Entrance Ceremony (2)

“W-What is that…”

“W-What’s your name? Which family are you from?”

“T-Three hundred points!”

“300 points?!”

The Crescen Academy, with its deep history, had dozens of different entrance exams.

Among them, the “Golem Hit” selected for this year’s 158th class entrance exam was famous for being much more difficult than other tests.

For examinees who likely hadn’t received proper combat training or education yet, a test requiring one-on-one combat with a golem was inevitably much more challenging than simple tests like mana emission or target shooting.

In the past, golems not only defended and evaded but also attacked. However, due to safety concerns, the attack programming was removed a few years ago and replaced with simple counterattack programming.

Nevertheless, it was undoubtedly among the most difficult entrance exams.

For most young noble children who had honed their abilities only against stationary dummies or targets without real combat experience, like greenhouse flowers sheltered within their respective families, scoring over 100 points was challenging.

Evidence of this was the average score of 92 points when the “Golem Hit” exam was last administered.

“I-I’ve never heard that name before? Ryu?”

“Which family did you say?”

“H-He’s a commoner?”

“…”

In the monitoring room, the supervisors checking for any cheating among examinees couldn’t take their eyes off one particular screen.

Examinee number 176, commoner Ryu.

His black hair had briefly caught their attention, but otherwise, there had been no reason to pay special attention to Ryu, who was now scoring over 300 points in the Golem Hit test with his bare hands.

All the supervisors were watching intently to see if the golem was malfunctioning or if the examinee was cheating, but no one could detect anything suspicious.

The golem’s hit map clearly showed impacts being registered, and the golem’s remotely monitored status was perfectly normal.

“A-Am I seeing things wrong? Did he just appear behind it out of nowhere?”

“Yeah. Looks like magic… Check the mana detector!”

“It is magic! When he moves behind the golem, mana spreads from the examinee’s body!”

“Is that casting speed even possible…?”

The supervisors were all entranced by Ryu’s screen, not even glancing at the other examinees’ displays.

He would charge recklessly at the golem, then suddenly appear behind it, lift it into the air, and unleash a barrage of merciless punches.

The examinee named Ryu was toying with the golem so easily that the supervisors almost wondered if this test had actually been the lowest difficulty level.

“It’s over!”

“That’s… a new all-time record!”

“Yeah…”

Kain, an instructor from Professor Amillion’s team who was in charge of this entrance exam, stared blankly at Ryu’s screen as he finished the test.

The black-haired boy was dusting off his hands with a satisfied smile, and the score displayed on the screen was 312 points.

While the other supervisors were amazed by Ryu’s score, Kain was even more surprised by Ryu’s appearance after completing the test.

The previous examinee had collapsed from exhaustion immediately after finishing, but Ryu looked completely refreshed.

Without a single drop of sweat.

‘What is this…?’

Faced with this impossible result, none of the supervisors thought to announce that the test was over.

Kain was the same.

He could only stare blankly at Ryu, who was looking around the exam room with a bright expression.

‘He’s a monster…’

**

“Haaa.”

“Student Ryu? Are you ready?”

“Uh, yes.”

How did I end up in this situation?

“You can go up now.”

“Yes.”

Following the guidance of the worried-looking female staff member beside me, I climbed the stairs.

“Now, let’s hear from student ‘Ryu,’ who will be entering as this year’s top student!”

*Clap clap clap clap*

‘Ugh, seriously.’

Isn’t it common courtesy to give at least a day to prepare when you have to give a speech in a setting like this?

It hasn’t even been an hour since the exam ended, and now I’m at the entrance ceremony giving a valedictorian speech.

Actually, is there even a need to give a speech just because I got the top score and entered as valedictorian?

If I had known this process existed, I would never have seriously considered the “Top Student Admission” sub-quest.

In the exhilarating test of hitting golems that I just took, I ranked first as expected.

The problem was that while getting first place was good, it was a bit excessive.

Since I couldn’t see the other examinees’ levels in real-time and the test was one-on-one with a golem, I didn’t let my guard down because I didn’t know the others’ skill levels. But my score turned out to be excessively high.

It wasn’t that difficult, and the golem didn’t attack examinees, so I thought everyone would do about the same—but that was my overestimation of the examinees.

My score was 312 points, while second place scored 177 points.

To exaggerate slightly, I took first place with almost double the score of second place, so needless to say, all eyes turned to me as soon my score and rank were announced.

‘Sigh. This isn’t my style at all.’

Since ancient times, I’ve been terrible at speaking in front of others.

The only reason I could run the Black Shadow Corps was because Addy would disguise herself as me and appear before the members.

I disliked appearing before even the dozen or so team leaders of the Black Shadow Corps and had to ask Addy for help, but now there were dozens—no, over a hundred people—all staring at me.

“Uh, um. Hello.”

*Silence*

I tried to greet them as casually as possible, but I was met with a sharp silence.

It’s been a really long time since I felt sharpness in silence.

“Um… First, I’m glad to be admitted. I didn’t expect to enter as the top student… Uh, wasn’t the test pretty easy for you all?”

*Silence*

I felt an even sharper edge to the silence than before.

My face was burning, and random words were flowing from my mouth as my mind gradually went blank.

“Uh, anyway, thank you! I look forward to working with you all.”

To escape the sharp silence and my blanking mind, I chose to quickly leave the stage.

After finishing with “I look forward to working with you all,” I bowed to the students and faculty members watching me and hurried down from the platform.

‘Haaa.’

This stage fright just won’t go away no matter what I do.

Everything else is fine, but why does my body refuse to cooperate when I try to give a “speech” in front of others?

“Phew.”

“Um…”

“It’s over now, right?”

“Y-Yes, but…”

The female staff member who had been looking at me with concern before I went on stage was now staring at me with astonishment.

I don’t think I spoke that badly to deserve such a reaction.

When I first attempted to give a speech to the Black Shadow Corps members, I could barely utter anything besides “ah, uh, um.”

Compared to that, today’s speech was quite excellent.

“Phewww. Good job.”

I quickly left the stage, passing by the wide-eyed, still-surprised female staff member.

As I was hastily leaving the stage, a familiar font message appeared before my eyes.

<Main Quest (1) ‘The Incident Begins at the Academy!’ Completed!>

<Sub-Quest (1-1) ‘Top Student Admission to Crescen Academy’ Completed!>

<Quest clear rewards will be distributed.>

<Title ‘Academy Top Student’ has been granted.>

‘Ah.’

Quest cleared.

Among the messages rapidly appearing, what caught my attention were the “clear rewards” and “title.”

Thankfully, the system messages appeared to divert my attention elsewhere. Without them, I might have unconsciously fled this space due to all the stares directed at me as I returned to my seat.

I quickly sat in my assigned seat and deliberately focused on the system messages to calm myself and ignore my surroundings.

<Title: Academy Top Student>

Crescen Academy 158th Class Top Student. Your stat and skill growth rate accelerates within the Academy. (Growth acceleration +30%)

‘Titles come with abilities…?’

I had clicked on the title just to distract myself, but I became genuinely focused when an unexpected message appeared.

When I received the “Black Shadow Corps Leader” title, I couldn’t see any such description in my status window, but this time was different.

Perhaps because this title was obtained as a quest reward, when I clicked on it, there was an explanation of the title along with its effects.

‘Wait. Then what about Black Shadow Corps Leader?’

I clicked on the “Black Shadow Corps Leader” title, which should be incomparably more impressive than “Academy Top Student.”

<Title: Black Shadow Corps Leader>

Black Shadow Corps Leader.

‘That’s it?’

I barely suppressed a laugh of disbelief.

How could the Black Shadow Corps Leader title have no abilities?

Though annoyed, I calmly examined the ability attached to the Academy Top Student title.

Growth acceleration 30%.

This meant that if I exercised to increase my strength stat within the academy while wearing this title, my strength would increase 30% faster than usual.

‘That’s overpowered.’

A 30% growth acceleration when my stats have already reached a level where gaining even one stat point is tough.

‘Ugh…’

The “Academy Top Student” title with its overwhelming ability versus the “Black Shadow Corps Leader” title with no abilities at all.

Romance or performance?

In the end, I had no choice but to change my title.