Chapter 31

The time for the second part of the exam then came. Every student was to prove their practical abilities. First was a physical level test, then monster combat.

Being a noble came with its responsibilities, first and foremost being protecting the subjects from monsters. Being in one of the most remote parts of the Eastern Continent, the chances of encountering monsters here were higher.

And when the military wasn't enough to subjugate powerful ones, the nobles had to come into play. Therefore, one of the primary roles of the academy was to educate nobles that would be able to subjugate monsters successfully.

Giving a fight against a monster as a test to prove oneself was reasonable, even if they were just kids. With the teachers watching, the chances of something going incredibly wrong were very low.

From the hall where the headmaster had given the speech, everyone was moved to a fighting arena. In the centre of the arena, the staff had set up all the necessary equipment to measure their physical condition.

The headmaster proceeded to give another short speech.

"Welcome to the arena. We will conduct both practical exams here. The physical test will consist mostly of athletics. Running, jumping, weightlifting, etcetera. You will be divided into several groups to be time-efficient in using the equipment. The teacher will now proceed to form the various groups. Good luck, everyone."

The teachers proceeded to split everybody into groups as stated. Vince and Estelle didn't end up in the same group. But Estelle happened to be together with the prince.

"We are in the same group! Good! I'll show everyone who is stronger!"

"…"

Estelle didn't even bother replying. She wasn't in the mood to compete with a stranger.

"Ignoring me? Are you sure you can afford to do so? Look how I'll surpass both you and your friend!"

Estelle's group was to start from weightlifting. Many rocks were aligned one next to each other, with the next heavier than the previous one.

In total, there were thirty different rocks. By logic, each rock one managed to lift would give ten additional points, for a total of three hundred.

The first kid went up to the rocks. He lifted the first without difficulty, the second, the third, until he couldn't lift it completely at the eight rock but merely stopped at mid-height and had to drop it.

The teacher next to him proceeded to evaluate his performance.

"Eight to mid-height, seventy-five points. Next."

The second to go was a girl. She also failed at the height rock. Kids at this age had roughly the same physical abilities regardless of gender, so the scoring system remained the same for males and females.

As kids went on with lifting, it became clear that, on average, both males and females lifted the tenth rock and failed at the eleventh. One in five would reach the fifteenth rock, but only one had successfully gone past the twentieth rock.

Thus Estelle's turn came. Even though her cultivation was sealed and therefore couldn't enhance her physical abilities with mana, she still had a body superior compared to most of her peers.

Even though her physique wasn't good enough to allow her to achieve a breakthrough at the moment, it didn't mean her physical condition was bad at all. She merely had reached her limit for her age.

She started to lift rocks and comfortably reached the fifteenth. But she went on unhindered.

"Wow! Look, she lifted the sixteenth rock as well!"

"She's still going!"

"The seventeenth is gone as well. As expected of someone from a ducal house. She is made differently."

"She's still going!"

As she went on, all the spectators went silent. Nobody could comment anymore on what was happening. The little girl began lifting rocks so big she had trouble getting a proper grip on them.

Once she reached the twenty-eighth rock, everyone had their mouths wide open. Even the teachers had incredulous faces.

Slowly, she hugged the rock with both arms. But as she tried to lift it, she had quite some trouble. Her small face was flushed red, and her arms had all their veins bulging.

'If I can't even lift this rock, what am I here for? I might have my cultivation sealed, but I still cannot give up! If I run away once more, what will happen to me? If I can't face dangerous situations, how will I march forward on the cultivation path? Vince dared to stay behind and face all those scary men while all I could do was run away! Again! I'll succeed this time!'

Changing her grip, she changed the way she was trying to lift the rock. Her previous approach was lifting from the top. Now she was crouching in front of it and using her legs to raise it.

Once she hugged the rock with her tiny arms, she started lifting. Her face flushed red once again; her veins started bulging again. But as sweat beads dripped from her forehead, she still kept on going.

As her tiny arms trembled, she slowly lifted the rock off the ground.

'A little more! Come on! You are not done yet!'

Making a last effort, she managed to lift the rock to mid-height, but she couldn't lift it above her head. Having no other choice, she dropped the rock.

'Huff, I succeeded! I'll stop here, though. I don't want to risk injuring myself when the tests aren't over yet.'

"Congratulations! You lifted the twenty-eight rock to mid-height! You scored a whole two hundred and seventy-five points!"

"Woah!"

"Incredible!"

"Will the prince manage to beat her?"

"Even his older brother, who is said to be a once in a century talent, couldn't lift the twenty-ninth and scored two hundred and eighty points. It is said that he had already been a cultivator upon admission. Being the one who became a cultivator at the youngest age among our generation, people say he is fated to become a prominent figure in the future!"

Just two more turns after Estelle's, the prince's turn came.

He quickly reached the twentieth rock.

"As expected of His Highness! He's also crushing it! It appears that this year it will be a competition between the von Sideria and the royals!"

As he reached the twenty-fifth rock, the spectators fell silent once again. Everyone had their eyes sticking to the prince.

Even though his arms were trembling, he managed to lift the twenty-fifth rock to full height.

"It looks like he is approaching his limit. His raw physical fitness seems to be slightly inferior to von Sideria's."

"I doubt he will go past the twenty-sixth at this rate."

"Will he admit defeat?"

But contrary to expectations, he lifted the twenty-sixth without problems… And everyone was shocked. As many were wondering what exactly had happened, a single outcry cleared all doubts.

"He's already a cultivator!"

As everyone went frenzy at this shocking news, Prince Rick went on to lift the twenty-seventh, succeeding without much trouble. He then approached the twenty-eighth rock.

Slowly lifting it, he brought it all the way to shoulder height. He then slowly crouched and brought the rock above his head to then stretch his legs.

"He succeeded at lifting the twenty-eighth!"

"Oh my god, he's going to attempt the twenty-ninth!"

Repeating the same procedure once again, Prince Rick Flossen attempted lifting the twenty-ninth rock. But he failed while trying to lift the rock above his head.

"He failed!"

"Is the twenty-ninth rock an insurmountable wall after all?"

Since the rules didn't state that you only had one attempt, he attempted it again.

"He's trying again!"

This time the attempt was successful. Even though he struggled again when switching the grip to bring it above his head, he managed to do it this time.

He then moved on to the thirtieth rock.

"He's attempting the thirtieth! Will he succeed in the impossible?"

'I doubt he will succeed. At most, he will lift it halfway. If my cultivation had not been sealed, I would have easily lifted the thirtieth rock.'

And precisely as she had predicted, he managed to lift it to half-height but then had to drop it.

Nonetheless, the prince raised his left hand high after succeeding. It was his way of celebrating.

"Congratulations, Your Highness! You scored two hundred and ninety-five points, establishing a new record! What the hell is going on this year? Both in theory and in the weight lifting, new records have been set!"

"Incredible!"

"His Highness will surely become a strong cultivator!"

Among the cheers of the spectators, Prince Rick went on to go in front of Estelle. He then pointed the same index finger that had challenged her once again.

"See! I told you I would beat you in the practical exams!"

'He's doing all of this on his own… If only I didn't have my cultivation sealed, I would have already beat this guy up! …How annoying. But I'll bear with it since everyone was so persistent that I have to keep my cultivation hidden. I wonder how Vice is doing…'

Even though the recent events had deeply shaken her, deep down, she was still the same competitive girl who had challenged Vince to a sword duel. It wasn't easy for her to endure not being able to show her true power.

After everyone finished, the teacher announced the next part of this test.

"Next up, as soon as the other group finishes, we will hold a sprint race."