Chapter 117 Mental evaluation [ 2 ]

-Gloriana Mengral's point of view.

Gloriana opened her eyes.

Daylight, which indicated that it was already morning, was streaming strongly into the room.

But something was different.

"This is not my room."

First of all, the color of the ceiling was different. Secondly, the balcony was not positioned in the same direction, but on the opposite side.

Lastly, since she opened her eyes, she felt that the place had a different smell from her room; while in her room there were almost no smells, in this one there was a fragrance, like a forest scent.

It was strange, but that was how one could describe the smell in this place. Still, her eyes remained fixed on the ceiling.

But...

Creak.

He glanced to the side as a door began to open. It looked like the bathroom door, because it was usually next to the bed, and in fact, it was the same in every room. However, Gloriana wanted to see who would be the person to come out of there.

Perhaps it would be Luna or Emilia.

However, the rooms of both had different colors and Gloriana knew what they looked like. This room had completely white walls, hinting that it belonged to a man.

It was just an idea. However, when she saw the figure of the person who appeared, he was wearing the uniform pants, but....

"He's not wearing a shirt."

Exactly, with tousled hair, no shirt, and his gaze fixed in another direction, not realizing that she was already awake.

Gloriana tried to remain calm.

"W-Why am I here?"

"How?"

She wondered how she had gotten to his room, not understanding anything that was happening.

Suddenly, she woke up in his room and saw him shirtless, though at least he was wearing pants, which calmed her down a bit. However, seeing him like that...

It was quite a casual look, very different from how he used to look, always so well-dressed and elegant, even though the academy uniform was the same for everyone, both men and women.

But now, with messy hair, a carefree appearance, like someone lazy who doesn't like to dress up, and his indifferent look, unaware that she was awake....

"He's even more handsome."

She had to admit it, and she did. This new appearance, so different from the one he normally showed to others, made him look even more attractive than usual.

It was undeniable.

"Haa..."

He sighed, and slowly his head began to turn in Gloriana's direction.

She instinctively closed her eyes and tried to control herself, to calm her nerves and her racing heart, as well as regulate her breathing. She tried to look as normal as possible, pretending she was still asleep.

"Wait a minute... Why did I close my eyes?"

She didn't understand why she had closed her eyes. Perhaps he was waiting for her to wake up.

However, she was curious.

She was curious as to whether or not he would do something.

But soon his voice reached her.

"Still not awake... Well, it's 6:47 in the morning and the evaluation starts shortly."

"..."

Although she tried to pretend she was still asleep, Gloriana became upset when she learned the time. It was very late.

So late that even if she got up and got ready, it would no longer give her time to make it to the final evaluation which was today.

She had no choice but to open her eyes and look at Asher.

"Hey, you were awake."

"S-sorry."

"I was just about to wake you up. Well, you should go, there's not much time for the evaluation."

"..."

"Mmm, well..."

She couldn't finish, but she plucked up her courage and asked:

"You and I... What did we do?"

"..."

Asher looked at her, confused, but answered:

"When I woke up in the medical section, you were asleep next to me. You didn't have your keys, so I brought you to my room while I was recovering from some injuries. That's it, why?"

"Hehe..."

He let out an awkward laugh, trying to hide the embarrassment at the silly thing he had just asked her.

What else could she expect?

Gloriana knew Asher's personality well.

So why had she asked if they had done anything?

It was definitely very embarrassing to even see him again, but it seemed Asher didn't quite understand what she was referring to.

With a long sigh, as her face reddened, Gloriana got out of bed and headed for the door.

She glanced at Asher before turning the handle.

"Thank you for...taking care of me."

"You're welcome. If you need anything, ask me."

Gloriana looked at him curiously.

"If you need anything, ask me."

An idea popped into her head and her words came out:

"So... when we finish the evaluation, could you... go out with me for a while to talk about something important?".

"Okay."

"..."

Of course, Asher didn't understand. However, Gloriana turned her head and quickly left the room, covering her face and trying not to let anyone see her.

***

-Scene change.

-Asher Frostblade's point of view.

After what happened with Gloriana, Asher had finally made it to the custom training section, which only class one cadets can use and enter.

Currently the last evaluation would be taking place, however, although Asher didn't show it, he really was nervous.

"This is the first time I've ever felt like this."

He had never had a nervous feeling like this before; his thoughts were scrambled, and he didn't know exactly what would happen after his turn came.

According to Oriana's explanation, this assessment is very short.

It consists of only two tests.

The first was simply to dive into memories of the past, however, they were not the cadet's own memories, but invented memories. They were memories where everything was in ruins, where all his family, friends and even the whole world were destroyed. Memories where he was hated and despised forever.

The first test would be very hard, and the only way to overcome it was to have a fairly high mental strength.

If you fail the first test, you will have 50/100 in case you pass the second one; however, the second one is harder than the first one.

If in the first are memories of a twisted world, the second test is different.

You will have to endure hellish pain, so intense that it would be like experiencing death itself. If your mentality cannot withstand the pain, then you will get 0/100 points.

It was, without a doubt, the most difficult and hardest assessment of all. In this assessment, mental toughness is absolute; if you are mentally weak, then you are destined to fail this area.

This was what Asher was so nervous about.

What would his score be?

Asher thought he would get somewhere between 4/100, 2/100 or the lowest possible, which would be 0/100, which was very likely and a more than accurate score in this case.

Truth be told, Asher was not hopeful on this third and final assessment. However, he had a perfect score in all other areas, so getting a 0/100 would not be so bad. Nevertheless, he would be known as the strongest cadet, but also the weakest at the same time.

Both titles at the same time.

Although he didn't mind at all, it would be annoying to hear rumors about him being the strongest cadet, but also the mentally weakest.

Of course, he would not be intimidated. If anyone dared to confront him, then he would suffer the consequences, though not to such an extreme that he would be expelled from the academy.

Other than that, he knew that the others would probably get at least 6/100 or 70/100, and few would be able to beat the latter score.

Whoever achieved a total of 80/100 would certainly have an incredibly strong mentality.

"But the second test is supposed to be the hardest."

It was, in fact, resisting mental pain, pain worse than death itself, or so the others said.

However, Asher could withstand any pain no matter how intense.

"But it's different."

It was different.

Enduring physical pain was easy for him, but enduring it mentally was a different story. Enduring pain mentally was different than physically, neither was the same, simply put.

"Haa..."

Asher sighed deeply.

All of this was simply hard to process.

Difficult to accomplish.

He had recently seen some of Encrid's memories without his own knowledge.

"I guess he doesn't know."

However, he had to check on his own.

Asher then spoke to Encrid mentally.

"Encrid."

"..."

No response.

"Hey, Encrid."

"..."

Again, no response.

"What's wrong, why aren't you answering?"

He kept trying to ask her questions, but never got an answer to any of them.

Why didn't he get any word from Encrid?

So, Asher tried Isabella.

"Isabella."

"..."

Likewise, there was no response.

Why were these two suddenly unresponsive to his questions?

Did they perhaps discover that Asher looked at some memories he wasn't supposed to see and that's why they were both angry and wouldn't speak to him?

Whatever it is, the memories are very likely; however, why didn't he get any complaints from Encrid?

If he noticed that he looked at some fragments of his memories, then why didn't Encrid complain to Asher?

"Haa..."

He sighed again.

"I don't know if you really noticed, but you should talk at least once."

Although he didn't know why Encrid didn't even respond, Asher tried to calm down.

He's not someone with a lot of patience, so to speak; however, like anyone else, his patience has a limit, and Asher's was very low.

Still, he calmed down and turned his attention to the other cadets.

However, the memories Asher saw of Encrid lingered in his head. Although he was quite worried about the ordeal, those memories... no, the last words Encrid had said.

"Reset the world... Close the dimensional rift."

Both words lingered in Asher.

First of all, there was a very important question he needed to know, and it was something about whether it was even possible to accomplish.

"How is it possible to close a phenomenon that breaks reality itself and seal it?"

Is that even possible?

Closing the dimensional rift is like trying to sew two solid cement walls together with a thread.

Secondly:

"Reboot the world."

A second question Asher had, in fact the biggest and most important one, kept repeating over and over in his head.

"How do you reboot an entire world?"

In simple words, in the words of his former life, where people believed in God, the being who created all life and existence itself?

In simple words, only God could restart an entire world.

Although from the beginning the concept of "God" in this world was strange and different from how Asher knew it.

It is more like a title for the strongest being in this world; however, restarting the world?

First of all, what does it mean to reboot? That means killing everyone, including living beings, and erasing all traces of civilization.

Although that's how Asher thought of it, it was actually different from his thoughts.

Encrid rebooted the world in a different way than Asher was thinking about it.

In a way, it is true that rebooting the world is simply erasing all traces of any existence at the moment; however, humans were still in the world, as were monsters and all other living things.

This reboot is different from how Asher thinks of it, of course.

"Well, whatever."

Asher said to himself.

"Encrid said I'd know everything when it's ninth circle, so it's just a matter of waiting a bit nothing more."

It wasn't that Asher was impatient, he had simply discovered things that were hard to understand just by hearing them in simple words.

It was something that needed to be very well explained by Encrid himself, and not put out ideas that probably aren't one hundred percent accurate.

With those thoughts, Asher looked at Oriana, who began to explain how the test for the last evaluation will be....