18 Testing Ground (1)

Honestly, the first part of the Exam was child's play to me.

Even without the use of [Reading] I probably could've solved it in only half an hour or so, but why would I choose the more difficult option if I could just use a cheat?

The first part of the exam consisted of about 250 questions, which all had to be answered in about two hours.

Of all those questions, it was only required to answer 50 of them to pass, as the difficulty of those questions was considered pretty high in this world.

I breezed through them all in merely 30 seconds, though.

My writing speed combined with my thinking speed and [Reading] was just something else, entirely.

I wondered how the teachers managed to correct all those tests in merely a day, but I quickly came to the conclusion that Arcadian teachers just had to be monsters.

There was a reason why they were teachers at this prestigious school, right?

The practical exam would usually begin about an hour after the end of the theoretical exam, as the students usually needed some time to relax first.

However, in the novel, the protagonist could enter the exam earlier, as he had also finished the theoretical exam in only about half an hour or so, which was the reason why I, too, was on the way to the practical exam.

He could start the practical exam earlier, so why wouldn't I be able to do it? After all, these two exams are connected with each other. The less time you spent on the theoretical part, the more time you can use on the practical one.

Though, nobody knew that except me, and the only reason why I knew that was because the protagonist finished the exam early.

Admittedly, I was quite surprised that the protagonist in the novel was academically smart, as he acted like a moron most of the time.

Speaking of the protagonist, it was weird that I hadn't seen him yet.

In the last few years, I had barely spent time thinking about the plotline of the novel, as I was too busy trying to survive that hellish education.

Maybe I should try to look for him, so I could avoid him correctly?

As far as I remember, he was described as a person with black hair and crimson-red eyes.

And his name was also something with a meaning related to his hair color.

What was it again..?

Something related to black. I was at least sure of that, but I couldn't remember any details about the novel.

Black...

"Darkness? No, that wasn't it."

Massaging my temples, I tried to force myself to remember the name of the main character. He just wasn't a very memorable character to me, as I deeply disliked his behavior, so it was hard for me to recall his name.

"...Noir..?"

Perhaps..?

"No, that can't be it..."

I quickly shook off the thought before finally arriving at the place where the practical exam will be held.

At first, I had the suspicion that the protagonist could've been the Noir I had known, but their behavior and looks just didn't match.

While they both had those crimson-red eyes, their hair color greatly differed, and he certainly didn't act like a fool.

A coincidence, then?

Although I was more or less sure that my Noir wasn't the protagonist of the novel, I just couldn't help but have a bad feeling in my stomach.

However, it just didn't make sense to me, which was the reason why i quickly threw that theory away.

"Let's not think about this..."

Soon, I arrived at the cliff where the examination will be held.

A crowd of teachers and second and third-years were standing and sitting around a large magic circle on the ground, chatting with each other or merely minding their own business.

Their attention turned to me when I stepped forward, entering their perception.

"Huh? Already done?"

"Did she fail the exam?"

"Already giving up, huh? There are always kids of that sort here."

"Giving up the theoretical exam to score well on the practical one isn't a bad strategy."

Murmurs spread around like a ripple, as they all began to create their own theories about my early arrival.

"I am not here because I failed the theoretical exam."

Walking forward, I stated in a firm voice.

Seriously, why are they all so judgemental?

The murmurs stopped almost immediately, as everyone turned to look at me with surprised expressions.

One of the present students stood up, walking toward me before stopping right in front of me. As he was taller than me, he looked down at me, with a doubtful gaze.

"Why are you here, then?"

"It was just too easy."

"Don't take Arcadien for light, girl. This isn't a joke. Arcadien is one of the most prestigious academies on the continent and I won't let you make fun of it."

"I am not joking, though."

Locking eyes with him, I raised an eyebrow before I innocently asked a question.

"Why are you so mad? Scared that a first-year will be better than you?"

"You little..."

Veins popped on his neck as he grits his teeth. Glaring at me, he clenched his fists, trembling in anger.

Bullseye.

Seems like he is insecure about his own talents, huh?

"Are you insecure about your talent?"

Tilting my head, I flashed an innocent smile before patting him on the shoulder. It was a genuine question, as he just seemed like that to me.

"Don't worry. I'm sure that you are a very talented senior. There's a reason why you're at Arcadien, right?"

However, I hadn't considered that my words could be interpreted wrongly. His trembling grew stronger.

Mana sipped out of his body, carrying anger within it, before he raised a clenched fist, throwing it at me.

"You little...!"

Oh?

With an unimpressed face, I raised my arm to stop his punch, but it seemed like I didn't have a reason to do anything.

Teachers and students alike jumped up, rushing to the senior to stop him from punching me.

His arm was grabbed by a familiar person.

"Axel, what are you doing?!"

"This little girl is making fun of me!"

It was the boy whose sister I'd saved before.

Leaning to the side, I gave him a friendly wave while smiling at him. It is great that I met him again. I should probably ask him for his name later.

"Hello, friendly senior."

Hearing my words, Axel jerked his head toward the friendly senior, looking at him with a betrayed expression.

"You know her?!"

"Yeah, she saved my sister from bullies."

The brother guy nodded before explaining his circumstances. Finding the situation to be somewhat awkward, he averted his gaze.

"Why is she such an asshole, then?"

"She's an Azelio."

For a while, there was a meaningful silence between the two guys, before Axel seemingly calmed down, nodding with a serious expression.

"That certainly explains everything."

I only stared at them with a confused expression.

What has my brother done at this school to drag our family name through the mud like this?

"I saved you, not her, you idiot."

The senior said, before releasing his grip on Axel's arm.

"What do you mean? Just because her brother was a genius doesn't mean she is."

"Don't you remember the rumors about what Flake once said? Supposedly, his little sister is an even bigger genius than he is!"

What a sis-con that guy was.

Why did he have to go everywhere and boast about me like that?

Repressing the feeling of embarrassment, I tried to keep my composure, though I could still feel my cheeks heating up.

"..she is..?"

Axel turned to me to face me with a look of horror.

"Is something like that even possible?"

***

***

After the conflict was resolved, I was now standing in the magic circle.

The nice senior, whose name seemed to be Razor, attached a weird-looking watch to my wrist, as he explained the function of those things.

"...and that's how we'll track you when you're in danger."

"Thank you for the explanation."

Admittedly, I spaced out while he explained it to me, so I wasn't really sure how the hell those thingies actually worked.

However, I could still understand the words 'track kills' and 'be in the top 200 in the kill list until midnight' and that was probably enough for me to know.

The magic-powered watch also seemed to have a function, which lets the wearer call up the rank list at any time, so that seemed also pretty useful.

"Are you ready to start your practical exam, then?"

"Yes. Beam me up, Razor."

"...sure."

And with the sound and glowing of the magic circles, the surrounding space blurred into an unidentifiable mess, before I found myself in a completely new area.

As far as I could remember, this forest wasn't the real one, but a simulation made by magic.

Using [Reading], I skimmed over the structure of the dungeon, which reminded me of that of a dungeon.

It seemed to be pretty similar in that regard, as it, too, had a heightened monster spawn rate.

"Kyeeahk."

"Krrriek!"

"Kyaark!"

Soon, I was surrounded by a bunch of monsters, who completely circled me, cutting off all my escape ways.

"A bunch of low-level monsters..."

Narrowing my eyes, I calmly analyzed the situation while taking off my white gloves.

I channeled mana into the gloves, as they slowly began to transform into a completely new form, resembling that of a rapier.

A snow-white rapier, which perfectly fit with the overall theme of the Azelio, formed in my hand.

After killing my first boss, the 'Widow', I sent the hair to my brother for him to craft something useful out of it.

He then passed the hair to a popular blacksmith in the land of the dwarfs, before giving it back to me.

'Moonlight'.

That's what I had decided to call it.

In the Japanese culture, there was a phrase called 'the moon is beautiful isn't it?', which basically meant something like 'I love you'.

Due to the tragic story of the boss and the now white color of the rapier, I had decided to give it that name, as it was something that represented us both.

The symbol of the Azelio is a white moon, so that was quite a pleasant coincidence.

Releasing a bit of my mana, I went into a completely unorthodox stance that didn't belong to the Imperial arts.

Truthfully, I wasn't scared of failing this part of the exam or the monsters, so I used this exam as a way to test things out.

It wasn't every day that you get the chance to fight against a bunch of monsters in a more or less completely safe environment, after all.

I had to make use of it.

Especially, after 3 years of not picking up my sword, a bit of practice and loosening up wouldn't hurt.

That's right.

This here will be my testing ground.