Meetings before the exam

Seven hours before the start of the exams, in the city center.

Kyle wandered through the crowd looking for a suitable place to spend the night.

His money was completely exhausted after paying Qian Mei's medical expenses.

Because students receive various benefits and discounts in all North Pole cities, it usually shouldn't cost too much to go to the hospital.

But Qian Mei's condition was too serious and completely exceeded the doctors' capabilities.

If they wanted to save her, the help of someone specialized in dealing with curses was necessary and the hospital does not have this type of person.

In the end, the hospital contacted the representatives of the great academies and fortunately they sent someone, but Kyle had to take on the additional charges.

The envoy was Anneth, a dark elf who works as a teacher at the academy of dark arts and is known worldwide for her skills in curses.

If it weren't for the fact that she is now in the city supervising the exam and it was a direct request from the academy, it would be impossible for someone of her level to come treat a student.

She took charge of Qian Mei's treatment, but in exchange she took all of Kyle's money and then made him sign an agreement agreeing to work as her assistant during the first academic semester.

This, as a consequence of her curiosity about Kyle.

According to her, the curses on Qian Mei's body are of a very high level and it takes a truly strong person to cast them.

That Kyle is able to rescue her and return unharmed shows that he has very good abilities in magic and curses.

She could tell that Qian Mei was about to be used in some kind of ritual and even if the culprit left her alone, he must have left some countermeasures to prevent her from escaping.

Most mages are not good at hand-to-hand combat and when moving alone, they often use traps to secure ground.

Traversing the territory prepared by an experienced magician and emerging unscathed while he carrying an unconscious girl is an extraordinary achievement for a newcomer.

However, this is a complete misunderstanding.

Due to the accidental death of the hunter when Qian Mei arrived in this world, most of the traps in the grove lost their effectiveness.

And with the guidance of the system, Kyle easily avoided the remaining traps without even knowing where he had gotten himself.

When Anneth questioned him, he claimed that it was a robbery and that he had found the unconscious Qian Mei on a path near the train station.

But only a fool would believe it.

Anneth is sure that Qian Mei's rescue was not easy, it is most likely that Kyle has some special ability and does not want to reveal it.

Maybe it's his hole card for this exam or because he likes to keep a low profile.

In any case, she is convinced that Kyle is special and took this opportunity to get him to promise to be her assistant.

This way, she can slowly unearth what he is hiding and perhaps gain a new disciple.

But later she will regret her hasty decision, the teachers have the right to take some talented assistants among the students, but the number is limited.

In the future, when she reviews Kyle's information in the academy archives, she will realize that Kyle's class is useless for her research.

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Forgetting the annoying elf who forced him to be an assistant, Kyle counted the few silver coins in his hand.

With the money he has left he doesn't have many options.

With the help of the minimap he found a restaurant open 24 hours a day, at least there he can eat something and take refuge from the night cold.

As one of the most important commercial ports in the North Pole, Ekathe is very prosperous and there is no shortage of these types of shops.

But security made Kyle have a very bad impression of this city, he walked for several hours until he found a restaurant that did not activate the system alerts.

Having secured a place to spend the night, he ordered the cheapest menu and sat in a corner waiting for a new day.

He spent a terrible night and barely slept. He wanted to try to rest a little more, but the annoying looks from the employees forced him to leave.

Since leaving the family restaurant, he has been approached numerous times by people claiming to be sent by the nobles participating in the entrance exam.

Regardless of the speech, the content is the same, find students willing to work for their masters.

At first he listened to them with curiosity, but over time he became annoyed and simply ignored them.

Furthermore, the system has a small reaction when they approach and most likely they do not have good intentions.

The constant interruptions made him waste time, forcing him to take the subway so as not to be late to the meeting point.

Now Kyle is squeezed into a crowd of people inside the subway, cursing the bastards who made him come here.

While patiently waiting for the subway to arrive at its destination, a feeling of drowsiness made him feel uncomfortable.

He closed his eyes for a while trying to calm his discomfort, but when he opened his eyes he was stunned.

The world around him suddenly changed, through the window he could no longer see the prosperous city of Ekathe, but rather a vast desert of black sand.

Day turned into night and now the subway is barely illuminated by the dim artificial lights of the magic lanterns.

The large crowd had disappeared and on the subway, only three passengers remain.

And the other two people make him feel a very bad feeling.

Sitting in the seat opposite Kyle, is a wrinkled-face old man with deep eyes and a domineering aura.

He wears an elegant gray suit that matches his hat and in front of him he holds a wooden cane with both hands.

Despite his advanced age, he is not stooped and maintains a firm posture. He has been watching Kyle with searching eyes since the environment changed.

Next to him is a girl of about twelve years old, her purple hair reaches almost to her ankles and unlike the old man, she dresses very simply and it is impossible to see her face because it is hidden by her bangs.

Kyle doesn't know how the subway changed out of nowhere or how he got to this place that seems like the end of the world.

But one thing is for sure, he got into trouble again and the danger level in the system alerts has almost reached the maximum.

Any mistake can be fatal and he can only rely on his cunning and the system to get ahead.

Various ideas ran through his mind, but without exception they were all rejected by the system.

The only safe option is to stay still and remain silent.

As he desperately searched for a way to break the game, the old man in front of him spoke for the first time.

- It's strange to have a visitor in this place, what's your name boy?