The Entrance Ceremony
Heiden Academy.
It was the main setting of the game, the place where the protagonist rescued his companions and built his strength.
Even though I had arrived at a far more magnificent location than I’d imagined, the first thought that came to mind was utterly absurd.
‘...Why am I wearing a black martial arts uniform?’
When I came to my senses, I had been inside a wooden cabin containing nothing but that black uniform. Uniforms weren’t strictly mandatory, but the academy strongly recommended them. I only knew this because an instructor-like figure had mentioned it in passing just moments ago.
With that trivial thought in mind, I walked on and soon reached the auditorium where the entrance ceremony was to be held.
I entered with a tired expression. The interior was vast enough to hold over a thousand people, and most of the students had already taken their seats.
Since I was the only one not in uniform and my long dark red hair would probably stand out, I didn’t want to draw attention. I quickly made my way to the back rows.
“Look at that guy. He’s not wearing the uniform—what’s with those weird clothes?”
“Right? And that hair… he must be dying for attention.”
“Still, his face looks pretty handsome, doesn’t it?”
Those were the comments I overheard as I passed. The only clothes I had were these, and my face was the kind that suited long hair. Being mocked for it felt a little bitter.
Before long I reached the very back and sat down. Even after some time passed, several seats around me remained empty.
‘Maybe I’ll catch a little more sleep.’
The entrance ceremony would probably follow the usual pattern. The instructors would give brief greetings, the principal would offer some encouraging words, and then there would be a simple test. That was how these things went.
I figured I could just wake up when the test started. There was no need to listen to words I already knew.
Just as I closed my eyes, a voice asked,
“Is this seat free?”
A woman had approached without the slightest sound and was pointing at the empty seat beside me.
‘I didn’t sense anything at all.’
Was that to be expected? At the moment I was nothing more than an ordinary student with a decent body. The fact that I had even been admitted was surprising enough. Still, I didn’t panic. It would have been far stranger if a former ordinary person like me could detect presences just because he had gained a bit of fire energy.
‘Unless I create a martial art, that is.’
The first martial art you create will surpass all others.
Surpass. I didn’t yet know just how much that word meant, but there had to be a reason behind such a statement.
I looked at the woman again. She was wearing clothes different from the standard uniform, so she was likely a professor. She was watching me with a mysterious smile, clearly waiting for an answer.
“...It’s free.”
“Is it now?”
She sat down right beside me. A lavender scent drifted over as her purple hair spilled across her shoulder.
Two seats in front and two seats to either side of us remained empty. The other instructors were probably standing behind the stage, so I grew curious why she had chosen to sit here.
“...Why did you sit here?”
When I asked why she had taken a seat no one else would touch, she answered simply and clearly.
“I was curious.”
“...?”
“I wanted to know who the handsome man with long dark red hair wearing Eastern-style clothes was.”
“Ah.”
So the rumor had already spread that far. I felt a little embarrassed.
The entrance ceremony will now begin.
Time must have run out, because someone stepped forward to officiate. While I fought to keep my eyes open and observed the instructors’ faces, the woman beside me spoke again.
“What’s your name?”
“...Adel Ifrit.”
I wondered if she wasn’t an instructor too, but she clearly had some purpose in asking.
“Adel Ifrit? I’ll remember it.”
“...Thank you.”
It must have been a good sign. After all, I hadn’t done anything wrong.
The woman stood up.
“Are you leaving now?”
“Yeah. Time’s up.”
“...Do your best. Instructor.”
“Instructor? I’m not an instructor.”
She looked down at me with an amused smile. On stage, the emcee seemed to have finished introducing the professors and was moving on to the next item.
‘She’s not an instructor?’
Then who was she?
She continued, “My name is Elena Cricid. Remember it. Though I doubt you’ll be able to forget.”
Elena Cricid? Was she someone famous?
I wore a puzzled expression.
“...How interesting.”
Elena murmured.
“Pardon?”
“Never mind. One last thing—do your best on the entrance exam.”
“I will.”
When I blinked once, Elena had vanished. Only the faint trace of lavender lingered in the air.
Introducing the principal!
At the emcee’s words I turned toward the stage.
“...Huh?”
A stupid sound slipped out before I could stop it.
There stood Elena.
‘So that’s what she meant.’
No wonder she said I wouldn’t forget her, and of course she wasn’t an instructor. She was famous, too.
I felt strangely deceived.
Elena met my eyes and gave me a wink.
“My name is Elena Cricid. I am the principal of Heiden Academy.”
Her voice spread throughout the entire auditorium. Unlike the playful tone she had used with me, her voice now carried clear dignity. The difference in atmosphere from the other instructors suggested she was using some kind of magic.
“I dislike dragging things out, so I’ll be direct. I previously announced that the entrance exam would be revealed on the day of the ceremony.”
So that was it. The other students nodded as if they understood, but this was completely new to me.
“Some of you may not know, so I will explain now. The theme of the entrance exam is ‘overcoming yourself.’ The opponent will not be stronger than you are, so please be at ease.”
Overcoming myself… Did that mean I had to fight a doppelganger?
“Even if your results are poor, you will not be expelled, so do not worry. You have already proven yourselves worthy of admission.”
That was a relief. I had been afraid I might get expelled if I couldn’t create a martial art.
“I will now tell you the date of the entrance exam.”
Elena looked out at the students. Her gaze slowly swept from the front row to the middle, then the back, until it finally met mine.
“It is right now.”
What?
The moment she finished speaking, she snapped her fingers. Before the students could even voice their confusion, the world was dyed in twilight.
‘Principal, isn’t this pace a little too fast?’
When light returned to the world, I found myself in a place completely different from the auditorium.
‘Is this illusion magic?’
It felt a bit unfair. I couldn’t even use fire energy properly unless I created a martial art, yet a woman who looked around my age was capable of something this incredible.
‘...’
Whatever. First, I needed to grasp the situation. I looked around.
White.
The entire space was nothing but pure white. Within it existed a single alien black silhouette.
‘Is that me?’
Overcoming oneself. It seemed I had to fight and defeat that black figure.
The black silhouette—the doppelganger that had taken my form—seemed to sense me as well and turned to look.
“...!”
In that instant the doppelganger leapt forward and stomped down on the spot where I had been standing. A faint trace of fire energy lingered where its foot landed.
‘What the…?’
I had dodged it with purely instinctive movement.
‘That’s supposed to be me?’
I couldn’t replicate that kind of motion. Even if I tried using fire energy, it seemed impossible. And yet the principal had said it wouldn’t be stronger than me.
‘She wouldn’t lie.’
But it was far too strong.
The doppelganger gave me no time to think and thrust its fist forward. This time I couldn’t dodge.
Whoosh!
Fire energy was simply transformed mana. I wrapped my arm in it and blocked the punch.
“Ugh…”
Because it was the same type of energy, the impact was somewhat neutralized, but my arm still went numb. The doppelganger’s fire energy was clearly stronger.
Boom!
When it threw another punch I was slammed into the wall.
“Cough…”
The pain I felt for the first time in my life made me feel like I would lose consciousness.
I thought, ‘How can I win?’
Honestly, there was no answer. The doppelganger possessed far superior physical control and a much greater amount of fire energy.
“...”
It finished preparing to launch that energy at me.
Whoosh!
A sphere of fire energy shot from the doppelganger and flew toward me.
‘Ah…’
I was going to lose. It felt helpless. The principal had said it wasn’t stronger than me, yet here I was, about to be defeated. I felt wronged. Would I become everyone’s laughingstock?
The heat from the sphere of fire energy closing in right before my eyes was palpable. I met the eyes of the doppelganger that had fired it.
Disappointment was written in its gaze. Those eyes seemed to ask: Is this really the end? Are you giving up?
‘I don’t have anything better than you. I can’t win… wait.’
Something I was better at.
There was one thing.
‘Grandmaster.’
The ability to create martial arts.
The doppelganger was only handling fire energy; it wasn’t using any martial arts. In other words, it could not create them.
What if I created a martial art from the realization I gained while fighting it?
Winning wouldn’t be a dream—it would be reality.
A thunderbolt of insight struck my mind, piercing through the heat I felt right in front of me.
‘I will win.’
When I came to my senses, my entire body was already prepared. It was ready to use fire energy.
Whoosh!
The fire energy released from my whole body swallowed the incoming sphere. Flames flickered and rose around me.
I stood up and looked at the doppelganger. Its eyes no longer held disappointment but expectation.
“Thank you, Adel. In return, I will devour everything you have.”
From how to fight to how to handle fire energy—every last bit of it.
“I will swallow it all.”
And with that, I would create my martial art.
Wrapped in fire energy, I charged at the doppelganger. It charged at me as well.
Boom!
It looked like it was smiling.
“...”
I won.
It felt like more than a month had passed, but I had no way of knowing exactly how much time had gone by. In this white world there was no consumption of stamina. To be precise, even if stamina ran out it recovered almost instantly, and during that recovery the doppelganger never killed me.
I fought it every single hour, devouring its power. So when I said I won, it meant—
‘I created a martial art.’
I hadn’t completed it. It was only a single technique. I had unconsciously formed one stance. With that thought, even the exhaustion I had felt until a moment ago disappeared.
“The entrance exam has ended.”
Elena, standing on the stage, spoke.
‘It felt like I fought the doppelganger for a long time.’
As if sensing my thoughts, she continued.
“No matter how much time you spent fighting inside the illusion magic, only one hour has passed in reality.”
One hour.
To gain this level of realization in only one hour—it wasn’t an entrance exam; it was a divine opportunity.
“The first criterion is the time it took to defeat the doppelganger. I will announce the results immediately.”
Behind Elena on the stage, the rankings appeared.
1st — Christina Helen (1 second)
2nd — Siris Helen (1 second)
3rd — Daren Gawood (1 second)
4th — Vanya (2 seconds)
...
500th — Adel Ifrit (45 days)
I didn’t bother looking at the top ranks. If they were that outstanding, the rumors would spread on their own anyway. I scrolled down until I found my name.
‘Found it.’
It was quite far down. I hadn’t expected to rank high. To me this had been less an exam and more a miraculous opportunity.
500th place. In other words… dead last?
I remembered there were five hundred new students. The others who saw the results began to murmur.
“As expected of the Helen twins.”
“Adel Ifrit? Forty-five days? Is that a glitch?”
“There’s no way the principal’s magic would have an error!”
“He’s the worst dullard in history.”
“He’ll get expelled. That’s just too harsh.”
The student was right—it was harsh. The 499th place had taken sixteen hours, after all. Still, I didn’t feel bad.
“Quiet.”
The principal lightly tapped the floor, and the auditorium fell silent at once.
“The entrance ceremony and exam are now over. Everyone, return to your assigned dormitories. Future schedules will begin tomorrow once you go to your assigned classes. That is all.”
When Elena left the auditorium, the students slowly rose from their seats and began to leave.
Since I had been sitting in the very back, I only headed to the dormitory after all the other students had gone.
Unlike when I arrived, my mood was now refreshingly clear.