Finish!

It's been, to my surprise, six days.

What should've been an easy exam had been ruined by a sudden fight with a C-rank demon.

That was just the first day. On the second day, we were lucky to come across another team of cadets on the city outskirts.

In exchange for a bit of our food, they traded with us some valuable information. Namely, the supposed location of other Care Packages.

It wasn't our top priority, but I kept it in the back of my mind just in case we got into a tight situation.

Thankfully, nothing of the sort happened.

On the third day, we managed to find Wang Jin's former teammates. I said former because he decided to leave their group.

He himself said that we were fun to hang around with and were overall great teammates. His past group seemed to really hate him. They refused to cooperate with his battle style, leaving their fights to go terribly wrong.

Luckily for us, the situation didn't escalate into a battle. Wang Jin simply announced his departure from the group and left them.

The fourth, fifth, and sixth days were not very much different. We continued to scan the city district by district, even splitting up sometimes in order to make the search go by quicker.

Rokas and Wang Jin would often tell jokes to keep the party's mood up. It made me remember one of Rokas' minor traits.

His sense of humor was terrible. The same went for Wang Jin, who somehow was able to laugh through all his unfunny punchlines.

"Why are rogues so good at stealth?"

"Hmm… I don't know, why?"

"Because their armor is made of hide."

"BWAHAHA!"

Most of their conversations would go like this.

Thankfully, we didn't have to put up with them for much longer. On the seventh day, we were finally able to locate the exit.

It was tucked away inside a small cabin, by the edge of the city.

And to my surprise, we were the second team to make it out.

The first, of course, is John's team.

Damn, he sure is broken.

***

Out of the 1000 invitations sent out by the Academy, only 350 were able to pass.

It might seem like this was a pretty high number when compared to the number of students, but the 345 who finished the exam after us had only arrived a few hours before the first test was closed.

Currently, I was staying at a hotel along with my teammates.

The school had notified us that the third part of the exam would be held directly after the second, so it was best to get to know your comrades if you hadn't already.

"Leader. Are you awake?"

I heard Rokas' voice behind the door. We had each gotten our separate rooms, with the exception of the Eri siblings.

"Yeah. Good morning." I opened the door, letting him in.

"Good morning to you as well. Please get yourself fixed. We will be heading downstairs shortly for breakfast."

"Gotcha. Is Wang Jin with you?"

"He went to go wake up the siblings. He should be coming soon."

"I see. Then, I'll be heading downstairs in a few minutes. Just need to get myself ready."

"Very well. I will be going then."

With that, Rokas left my room and headed for the elevator.

I proceeded to do my daily morning stretches along with a quick shower. After dressing up, I grabbed Dainsleif and headed out.

"The Eri siblings' room should be just down that hall. I wonder why they haven't gone down yet?"

Rokas had messaged me through my phone, telling me that the siblings, along with Wang Jin, hadn't gone down yet.

"I guess I'll go check it out."

It didn't take long for me to arrive in front of the siblings' room.

Wang Jin was also there, knocking ceaselessly.

"Good morning. What's wrong?" I called out to him.

"Oh, good morning. I've been waiting here for the siblings to come out, but they won't respond to my calls."

Hmm. I wonder what's taking them so long.

"Have you tried calling Percivale?"

"Yeah. Neither he nor his sister has responded."

That's odd. I'm pretty sure they didn't leave. If they did, Rokas would've seen them.

"Should we bust it open?" Wang Jin asked, smirking.

"Whoa, we can't pay for it if we break the door, you know."

"Ah… right. Never mind, then."

I had another plan in mind. This was my first time trying it, but it was worth a go.

"Death's Vision."

My vision suddenly grew slower. Time seemed to stop, and everything around me slowed to a halt.

Let's see… the skill supposedly only works on my enemies, so I'll try to think of Alter or Percivale as my enemy for a short moment.

There it is.

"What do you see?" Wang Jin asked, curious about what I was doing.

"W-what the fuck…" I recoiled backward, my face red.

"Is it a monster? I knew I had to bust this door down! Stand back!"

"N-n-no wait!" I tried to stop Wang Jin from bashing the door open, but it was futile.

He charged through, pushing the door wide open.

And at the other side of the door, we saw Alter, wrapped up in nothing but a bath towel.

"Damn… they're kinda big, actually."

You just made it worse, you idiot!

***

"There you are, Leader. What took you so long?"

"Nothing… nothing. I'd rather not say."

It turns out that Percivale was currently taking a shower, and Alter had just finished hers.

We happened to break in at a rather… unfortunate time. Both Wang Jin and I received some really bad beatings from Alter.

I didn't mean to look at her, goddammit. I just wanted to see if they were still in there.

If anything, the only good outcome from that was me realizing I could use Death's Vision to snoop on people.

Not that I'd do that. I didn't want to risk getting punched in the solar plexus again.

"I see. Then, should we head to the buffet place? I've heard good things about their food."

"Yeah, I'm kinda hungry for some eggs." Wang Jin agreed.

"Speaking of eggs…" I spoke up but was interrupted by Rokas raising his hand.

"Yeah?"

"Oh, never mind. Omelet you finish, Leader."

"BWAHAHAHA!" Wang Jin burst out laughing.

Please kill me.

After a short but delightful breakfast, we decided to head to the school right away.

Today was the day of the second examination. It was vital that we were at our best.

After taking a bus ride to the Academy, we got off and set out for the Colosseum, where the test would be held.

I left the group to go out to do some scouting, but not before asking them to save me a seat.

The Colosseum was a large gladiatorial-like arena in which most of the school competitions were held.

It was basically a circular building centered around a stadium. The stadium in the middle could be switched between various forms depending on the event.

If there was a swimming competition, the arena would be converted into a pool. If there was an archery competition, the pool would be converted into a flat area with targets.

The Colosseum, being bigger than the Academy building, could house the entirety of the school's population, including the teachers and even parents.

This was the perfect time for guardians to cheer on their children.

At the moment, I was heading towards a less popular spot. It was a small alleyway in which the delinquents of the school would hang out.

This was where the Academy's Regressor would start, story-wise. John would be cornered by some of the bullies.

These bullies didn't know John's name. If they did, they would probably run away with their head in their tails.

He was the Leader of the First Ranked Team on the first exam.

Compared to us, who had finished the first scenario in seven days, John's team had completed it in four.

Even if John already had her and the others on his team, it was mainly due to him that they were able to get out so quickly.

"Hey, newbie! You heading to the tournament?"

Here it is. It's about to start.

I hid behind a wall and watched as John Ailey, the protagonist, appeared.

"Ah, yes. I was told the second exam would be held at the Colosseum."

"That's right. As your senior, let me give you a word of advice. You do not disobey your upperclassmen!"

"I see…"

"Hmm? Is it not getting through your head? Then, I guess we'll have to teach you a lesson!"

I sometimes wonder why I even made John put up with these fools, haha. As the author, I sometimes can't help but visibly cringe every time I have to write a scene with cocky weaklings in them.

"And along with that, I guess we'll take that sword of yours too!"

Three seniors had surrounded John. I wasn't too worried. Even if he didn't have the strength he had in his second regression, he still had his memories.

"Please don't make me do this."

What a good boy. Even when surrounded by people who clearly wish to hurt him, he still doesn't make the first move.

"Shut up! Looks like I need to beat some sense into you!"

One of the seniors charged forward, his weapon a pair of knuckles.

I knew that in the eyes of John, he was scanning these people up and down, and taking note of their weaknesses.

His battle experiences were one of the few things that weren't taken from him through every regression, of course.

The senior with the knuckles, I'll call him knucklehead, threw a punch at John.

His fist traveled through the air and was about to make contact with John's skin. The senior smiled at this.

But suddenly, John disappeared from his sight, leaving the senior to wonder what happened.

Shortly after, John reappeared behind the man and used the back of his blade to knock him out.

"Why, you!"

The other two weren't happy about this. They simultaneously rushed at John from both directions, planning to capture him.

John was quick to react. He swiftly kicked off the ground and ran up the wall using his mana.

With his natural aptitude for mana manipulation, doing something like this was basically nothing for John.

The two seniors, who were both running too fast to stop, were unable to do anything and crashed into each other.

No matter how many times I imagine it, John's battle style really is graceful.

Seems like nothing bad has happened yet. I left shortly after so as to not get caught.