Ch.65. Entrance Exam (1)

# 5. Entrance Exam (1)

“When are we going to do it? Isn’t now a bit much?”

“No, it’s fine. Let’s do it now.”

She spoke while looking at my body.

“Aren’t you concerned about your condition?”

“Well… I think I’ll be fine?”

“Let’s just do it tomorrow, tomorrow.”

It would certainly be dangerous to have a confrontation with her in my current physical state.

“Alright, let’s sleep for now and do it tomorrow.”

Since there was absolutely nothing to gain from being stubborn, I decided to obediently follow her suggestion.

***

“I’m in good condition today.”

After a good night’s sleep, I woke up feeling in peak condition, like I could fly.

Thanks to that, I developed the absurd confidence that I could beat anyone right now.

“You seem to be in a good mood.”

She also appeared at the training ground at the appointed time, fully prepared.

“How much did that staff cost?”

The staff in her hand was gleaming with golden light, as if flaunting its presence.

“About 8 million won?”

“That’s quite expensive.”

“Why? Do you think it puts you at a disadvantage?”

“No, I was just asking.”

“If you’re that concerned, should I fight bare-handed?”

Just like me, her confidence was also sky-high.

“You’ll lose even with that staff, you know?”

“Where’s this confidence coming from?”

She raised her staff with a displeased expression.

She seems upset by my confidence.

*Swoosh.*

I summoned my sword and said:

“Obviously, it comes from my skill.”

“A unique skill? Interesting.”

She looked at my sword with interest.

“We start when you say ‘begin’?”

“Yeah.”

Although the match started with a light heart, this moment was quite serious.

“Ready.”

An incredible tension filled the training ground as we stared at each other with eyes full of killing intent.

“Begin!”

As soon as the match started, she raised her staff to cast magic, and I immediately rushed toward her.

Her magic tore through the ground and approached me at a frightening speed.

True to lightning-attribute magic where speed is essential, it boasted tremendous velocity.

*Crackle!*

I desperately fled to avoid the magic.

Normally, there would be no need to dodge magic, but right now the rank of my Black Sword was far too low.

“Are you running away now?”

“It’s called a strategic retreat.”

In truth, “one step back for two steps forward” would be a more fitting description.

I approached her while dodging her magic to close the distance between us.

Her magic was extremely difficult to avoid, but not impossible.

“You dodge well?”

“Well, it looks like it would hurt a lot if I got hit.”

If I were to get hit even once by mistake, I’d have to forget about the dungeon and spend the day resting in bed.

Since I didn’t want to miss going to the dungeon, I tried my best not to get hit.

*Crackle! Crackle!*

Magic with lethal power hindered my approach, but I eventually managed to reach her position.

The match was almost decided now.

I was at a disadvantage from a distance, but in close quarters, I had a much greater advantage.

“Now I’ve won…”

Just as I pointed my sword at her and was certain of victory.

Her staff began to shine brilliantly, and the atmosphere around us changed dramatically.

With a serious expression, she declared powerfully:

“You’d better be careful!”

*CRACKLE!!!*

Ellin’s unique skill, ‘A Ray of Brilliant Light.’

A powerful skill that made Ellin one of the strongest forces in the Kainis Empire.

A massive beam emitted from Ellin’s staff was about to engulf me at a terrifying speed.

“Ugh!”

With my current speed, I couldn’t even think about dodging, so I quickly used my remaining skill.

My stats increased dramatically thanks to Mortal’s End.

I was startled for a moment, but thanks to the increased stats, I was barely able to avoid it.

“Hey! Are you crazy?! Are you trying to kill me?”

If I hadn’t raised my stats with Mortal’s End, I might not be in this world anymore.

In fact, I had never seen anyone survive after being hit by that skill.

“Don’t exaggerate, I adjusted it so you wouldn’t die even if you got hit.”

Whether that was true or not, the fact remains that it would have been excruciatingly painful either way.

I scolded Ellin, but she seemed more interested in something else.

“More importantly, what was that? It looked like your stats increased?”

“Just a skill, a skill.”

“Why did your hair and eyes turn red?”

Ellin was staring blankly at my red-tinted hair.

“I don’t know either.”

“When did you awaken anyway? While running dungeons?”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

“Wow, you must have really struggled, seeing that you’ve reached the second stage.”

Seeing her speak so sincerely made me feel a bit guilty.

But it couldn’t be helped.

“With that skill, you should do pretty well, right? You might even make it to Class A.”

“I hope so, really.”

Since there are privileges given only to Class A students, I’d like to get into Class A even if just barely.

“I originally thought there was no chance, but now it seems different.”

“I told you to just wait and see.”

“It wasn’t just empty boasting after all.”

It felt good to be acknowledged by someone as proud as her.

“Of course it wasn’t.”

“Let’s end the match here for today and continue next time. Do well on the exam. I’ll come to watch.”

She’s coming to watch?

The written portion of the Imperial Academy’s entrance exam is divided into two categories.

Dungeon subjugation and one-on-one matches conducted in tournament style.

Excluding the written test, spectators are allowed for these two exam components…

“Why?”

“I’m curious, and many people come anyway. It’s very common for families of test-taking students to come to the exam site.”

She continued in a calm voice.

“Do well on the exam. I won’t let you off easy if you fail.”

***

The remaining week passed by at the speed of light, and finally, the day of the entrance exam dawned.

Our family, except for my father, was heading to the exam site on time.

My father couldn’t come due to his tight schedule, which he deeply regretted.

“It would have been nice if Dad could come too.”

“Dad is busy, you know.”

My younger sister was also quite disappointed about that fact.

“Albert, how’s your condition today?”

“Not bad.”

Although my condition wasn’t as good as the day I had the match with her, it was still decent enough.

At least it was good enough that I couldn’t use “I was in bad condition” as an excuse.

“Mom, don’t worry. I’ll pass even if my condition is at its worst.”

“You’re quite highly rated.”

“I sparred with her a week ago and almost lost.”

Mother seemed extremely surprised by the fact that she almost lost to me.

It’s certainly something to be surprised about.

“Really? No lie?”

“Yes, really.”

Mother was looking at me with a somewhat surprised expression.

It was a bit burdensome, but not an unpleasant feeling.

“When we had that match last time…”

My sister and mother were chatting about this topic, and by the time their conversation was winding down.

We finally arrived at the exam site.

The exam site was crowded with countless people, so many that it was impossible to estimate their number.

“There are so many people. Which classroom do I need to go to?”

“Number 64.”

We barely managed to find the classroom where I would take the written exam amidst the crowd.

“Do well on the exam.”

“Don’t guess the answers.”

I entered the classroom after receiving their send-off.

Then I sat in my seat as indicated on the blackboard.

This place appeared to be an ordinary academic high school where normal students studied.

It had been a long time since I’d seen a school like this.

Seeing this school reminded me of the days when I attended middle school a very long time ago.

There were various incidents and I even dropped out, so they weren’t good memories.

‘I wonder what would have happened if I had gone to an academic school instead.’

While I was lost in such pointless thoughts, the exam start time quickly approached.

‘What kind of questions will there be?’

Humanities subjects would definitely be included, and there was a high possibility of basic theoretical questions on magic and swordsmanship.

Still, they probably wouldn’t be too difficult.

How hard could questions for 16-year-olds be?

Moreover, I had knowledge from the future that was on a different level from now, so I was even more confident.

“We will now begin the Imperial Academy written exam.”

Following the proctor’s instructions, I took out the pen prepared on the desk.

“The time limit is 50 minutes, and there are 50 questions per subject. Please mark your answers on the OMR card. The first subject is Korean language.”

The proctors distributed the exam papers and OMR cards to the students.

When I opened the exam paper, I saw questions that were not much different from what I had expected.

‘As I thought.’

With a brightened expression, I quickly began solving the problems.

The questions were certainly not high-level and were too easy for me.

I don’t know how much time had passed, but I finished all the problems in a short time.

Since it was not possible to submit early and leave in this exam, I had to wait quietly even though I had solved the problems quickly.

‘This is boring.’

With nothing to do, I spent time drawing small pictures on the notepad given by the proctor.

‘I wish this would end soon.’