Chapter 34

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Translator: penny

Chapter: 34

Chapter Title: Comprehensive Evaluation Week (1)

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After the first week of elective classes passed,

time flew by in the blink of an eye.

Setting aside the mandatory magic and swordsmanship lectures that were, as always, mostly filled with dull theory,

surprisingly, nothing noteworthy happened in any of the classes for a while.

A repetition of ordinary daily life.

The only special thing was that the difficulty of Practical Combat had changed to a level that was incomparable to before.

The decisive reason for the increased difficulty in Practical Combat was that, unlike before when Professor Elina had matched her level to that of the cadets,

she was now facing the S-Class cadets with far superior power.

It wasn't about learning how to survive against opponents of similar strength,

but how to endure against overwhelmingly stronger foes. Thanks to her classes that pushed the cadets to their absolute limits,

even I, who had never been slammed into the ground before, got planted a few times.

'What a shitty experience...'

After going through it once, I immediately understood why everyone hated getting floored so much.

Other than that, nothing really happened.

In Imperial Swordsmanship, aside from Kael personally teaching basic techniques and stances after the first class,

the content was always randomly decided afterward as well.

For Dungeon Practice, the cadets taking the class were divided into groups,

and classes proceeded by having Robel toss one group into a dungeon, then that group clearing it.

As for Alchemy...

With the {Pioneer} title, the class itself was the easiest among all academy lectures.

If I had to pick something difficult,

it was quite a ordeal putting up with Baal's utterly pretentious speech patterns and expressions.

Fortunately, no urgent events or random quests popped up during that time, so I couldn't snag any major opportunities,

but I cleared most of the achievements possible through physical training and such, achieving noticeable growth.

Six achievements cleared.

Achieving 100 sparring victories,

securing 10 consecutive wins by destroying opponents' weapons,

handling 100 magical beasts solo regardless of type,

evading every trap in a dungeon,

defeating a dungeon boss alone regardless of difficulty,

and finally, perfectly crafting alchemy products 10 times in a row—

those were the clear conditions for the six achievements.

Since most required considerable effort, the rewards were solid.

Just from the pure achievement stat boosts, that's 42 points.

Adding in the 22 stamina stats from physical training, it was a whopping 64-point increase.

Satisfied with those results,

I left the dorms and headed to the S-Class classroom via the now-familiar path.

Creak—

As I opened the door to the S-Class classroom,

nine pairs of eyes turned toward me.

'What the...? Why's the vibe like this?'

But before I could ponder the unusually heavy atmosphere in the classroom—

I couldn't just stand there holding the door open,

so I headed to Libia and Isabel as usual.

"Hey, Libia, Isabel."

"Hey, Aden."

"Hi."

After exchanging light greetings with them, their responses carried a heavier tone than usual,

and I could sense a subtle competitive fire in Libia and Isabel's replies.

"What's up...? Why's the classroom atmosphere so heavy?"

Seeing not just Libia and Isabel, but the whole room shrouded in this subtle tension, I voiced my confusion,

and Libia answered.

"Oh... It's Comprehensive Evaluation Week starting this week."

"Comprehensive Evaluation Week...?"

"Yeah. You didn't know...? They've been announcing it nonstop for two weeks."

Her response jogged my memory of what Elina had said two weeks ago.

'In two weeks, we'll have Comprehensive Evaluation Week, so prepare well, everyone.'

'And ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠then she explained all about it in detail...'

Comprehensive Evaluation Week.

For one week, no regular classes at the academy.

Instead, written exams to assess accumulated knowledge,

mock duels ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠with supervising professors,

and finally, spars with similarly skilled cadets—

all to gauge student levels before the midterm evaluations in the first semester.

'Kinda like midterms...'

If the semester's midterm was like a final exam in the real world,

then Comprehensive Evaluation Week felt like real-world midterms.

Of course, unlike the end-of-semester midterms, it didn't heavily impact actual cadet scores—

more like a true diagnostic, so it wasn't a major event in the game either.

'I totally forgot...'

Honestly,

it wasn't particularly important to me,

and in the game, it was just glossed over as "something like this happened~,"

so I'd completely blanked on it.

'That's why everyone's so tense...'

Realizing that now,

the heavy atmosphere made perfect sense.

Comprehensive Evaluation Week didn't drastically affect overall scores,

but results could shift them by around 10 points.

Unless you had a lead like mine over the entire first-year class,

rankings could flip here—and S-Class cadets had the closest gaps.

'Even right next to me...'

Libia and Isabel beside me were radiating that tension too.

Their rankings sat side-by-side at second and third.

Isabel's third— what would've been first without me—

and Libia's second,

separated by just 3 points.

A gap small enough for this evaluation to overturn.

Having competed fiercely for so long,

it was obvious they were burning with rivalry over rankings again.

'This should be fun to watch...?'

Watching fights is always entertaining,

and seeing how their rivalry played out this week promised some amusement.

Creak—

"Good morning, everyone."

As I thought that,

the classroom door opened again, and Elina entered with her morning greeting.

Standing at the podium, she set down a massive magic device and continued.

"As scheduled, Comprehensive Evaluation Week starts today."

Elina explained the magic device she'd brought and the exam format.

In short:

Day one: written exam in the magic exam hall created by the chairman, like the entrance test.

Days two and three: duels with professors.

Last two days: spars with peer-level cadets.

Nothing seemed too tough.

With {Piercing Eyes}, written exams were no worry,

and for cadet spars, no one could beat me with all my perks.

Professor duels might be impossible at my current level, but...

'If I use {Defying Heaven}, who knows...'

Since it wasn't meant to be winnable anyway, no need to bother.

Listening to Professor Elina so casually—

"Alright, let's begin the written evaluation for Comprehensive Evaluation Week."

With those final words, Elina infused mana into the magic device.

The familiar, wondrous sensation after so long—

mana surged through my body, and my vision shifted like a hologram.

First up,

the familiar space from the academy entrance exam.

In the white void,

an alien chair and desk appeared, with paper on top.

"Feels just like the entrance exam all over again..."

Feeling that déjà vu,

I sat down and flipped through the test paper.

[1. Describe the necessity of basic magic.]

The first question caught my eye,

along with a translucent window popping up beside it.

'Kinda feels guilty, like cheating on a test...'

Seeing that translucent window,

a twinge of guilt hit me, like I was cheating.

But despite that,

my hand honestly copied the answer down.