Entrance Exam (1)
Mealtime came to a swift end.
There had been a strange little collision of agendas — I, unexpectedly flush with cash, had wanted to try a somewhat upscale restaurant, while Her Ladyship the Princess had been in the mood to experience the commoner lifestyle — but nothing much came of it.
Which made sense, really, since both of us had the same goal: finishing a light meal. It wasn't as if we were short on time, but stuffing ourselves before a physical exam wasn't exactly a winning strategy either.
"Shall we head to the exam hall together, Lucian?"
"Let's do that."
Having finished our meal on amicable terms, the two of us left the restaurant side by side.
"Look, it's the Princess of Revenstein."
"So it is."
"Beautiful as the rumors say. And I hear her skills are something else."
"They call her a prodigy. Word is she's the leading candidate for top of the incoming class."
"Then who's the one next to her?"
"No idea. Never seen that face before. An attendant, maybe?"
"He's got a sword at his hip — looks like he's here to take the entrance exam?"
Perhaps it was the company of the most famous incoming student, because a fraction of the attention pouring toward us splashed onto me as well.
Thanks to which I got to experience what it feels like to be a bug caught in the spray of a waterfall.
"You're holding up surprisingly calmly, Lucian, considering how nerve-wracking it must be."
"Haha, no, not at all. I'm barely managing to suppress a racing heart as we speak."
"Oh my. Is that so?"
She flashed a sly smile. Honestly, it was a bit much to deal with, but chalking it up as points earned made the discomfort evaporate. I quietly clenched my fist inside my sleeve.
"There it is."
By the time our chatter wound down, we had arrived at the arena where the afternoon practical exam would be held.
"It really is enormous."
I said, gazing up at the colossal structure. I'd seen it plenty of times in the game's illustrations, but the difference between squinting at a tiny computer screen and seeing the real thing was staggering.
Just as I stood there dumbly absorbing its overwhelming scale, Celia picked up the thread.
"It truly is. There's hardly a building this size back at the duchy — the Academy really does live up to its name."
Hardly any, huh. So there are one or two, then.
"Haha, is that so? Union Academy certainly is impressive."
"It is. Shall we head in, then?"
Marveling inwardly at her otherworldly silver-spoon pedigree, I traded small talk with Celia as we stepped inside the building.
The exam hall took the form of a massive arena — during the semester it doubled as a sparring ground and hosted special events. The interior resembled a football stadium floored with stone instead of grass. The ceiling was wide open to the sky, though it could be sealed shut by activating a magic array. Scattered across the arena floor were the track lanes and assorted magical devices that would be used for the exam.
— All examinees, please proceed to the seat matching your assigned number…
"Our seats are over there."
I'd been idly looking around, half-listening to the announcement, when I pointed to one corner of the stands — a row of chairs numbered 170 through 180.
"Sharp eyes, Lucian."
Celia widened her eyes, apparently still searching for her own number.
"Haha, just a lucky guess."
As we continued chatting and settled in side by side, the empty seats around us began filling one by one, and a buzz of commotion rippled through the arena. Before long, the sun had climbed past its zenith, its light pouring down through the open ceiling.
— Welcome, examinees. We will now begin the practical examination of the 174th Union Academy entrance ceremony.
The broadcast announcing the start of the test echoed through the hall.
"Finally, it begins."
"Nervous, Lucian?"
I'd been doing my best to hide my pounding heart, but it seemed her sharp eyes couldn't be fooled. Wondering how to answer, I decided to just be honest. We'd be seeing plenty of each other going forward — no point putting on airs and wearing a mask.
"Honestly? A little."
"Hmm. Lacking confidence, are we?"
"I have confidence, but there are a lot of eyes on me, you know. Even the most skilled fighters tremble before an exam. Are you not nervous, my lady?"
"Fair point. I'm a little worked up myself, actually."
"Haha, thought so."
— Examinees 1 through 5! Please step onto the arena floor!
We were still making small talk to shake off our nerves when, in what felt like an instant, the exam was underway. The five people seated up front walked out onto the arena floor.
"Please equip the magical devices you were each issued onto your wrists."
At the proctor's instruction, the examinees strapped on the devices, which looked something like wristwatches. Whether it was first-slot jitters or something else, every last one of them wore a stiff, rigid expression.
"Wh-whoa?"
"What is this? All the strength just drained out of my body…"
"Th-this is worse than I thought…"
But the moment those devices clicked into place, the stiffness melted from their faces as if it had never been there.
Not in a good way, mind you. Where the tension had been, panic took root in an instant.
"The first test measures your stamina and agility."
As an uproar broke out among the examinees at this unforeseen development, the proctor explained in a matter-of-fact tone.
"The device you are wearing is the Bracelet of Debilitation — a magical artifact that rapidly devours its wearer's vitality, placing you in a state of exhaustion."
"Wh-why would you make us wear something like that…?"
"Ah."
Amid the flustered examinees, one of them seemed to grasp it and let out a small groan of despair.
"You have all trained and conditioned your bodies. To test the limits of your stamina the traditional way, some of you would have to run for an entire day. This method was devised to measure endurance quickly."
And as a bonus, it tested how fast you could run while at it — so all things considered, a rather efficient exam. Remove the bracelet and your lost stamina comes rushing right back, so there was no issue with taking the tests back to back, either.
"Now then. On the signal, simply follow your lane and run to the opposite side of the arena."
Bang!
The moment the examinees took their marks, the waiting proctor snapped his fingers. Whether he'd channeled mana or not, a strange energy stirred and a thunderous crack rang out. Kind of cool, honestly.
"Hup!"
Hearing the signal, the examinees kicked off the ground each with their own battle cry. The test: complete a full lap of the sprawling track laid across the enormous arena — while utterly spent.
The minimum requirement is probably just finishing the whole track.
Someone who failed could still get in if their later scores were exceptional, but the point deductions would likely be brutal. Mages and buffers could afford to flub the stamina test without consequence, but as I recalled, excelling at it earned bonus points.
"Haaah… I'm… I'm gonna die…"
"Quit the theatrics and take the device off already."
After a short wait, the running wrapped up quickly. The examinees completed the track at wildly different speeds depending on their agility. Every single one had passed — with exactly one exception.
In the game you couldn't pass if your stamina dropped below a certain threshold, but this is reality, so maybe it works differently here.
Watching the man collapse just short of the track's finish line dredged up a memory of high school gym class — shuttle runs. In my mind's eye, inevitably, appeared the face of a friend who'd given up with the passing mark of 70 reps right in front of him.
Back then, I'd been so bitter about having run that far even with my strength utterly gone that I'd scraped out the full 70. That guy had energy to spare and quit anyway. The real-world me was frail enough to spend the next period sleeping in the nurse's office, but still. Couldn't he have pushed just a little harder?
— Next, examinees 41 through 45, please step onto the arena floor.
— Next, examinees 76 through 80, please step onto the…
While I reminisced and spectated, the exam hurtled forward at a blistering pace.
— Next, examinees 121 through 125, please step onto the arena floor.
"This is taking longer than I expected."
"It is. I figured the 170s would be fairly early — apparently not."
There were well over a thousand examinees, so we weren't exactly at the back of the line, but the exam wasn't moving at any breakneck speed either, and the wait stretched longer than anticipated.
"Kieeek—!"
"Die!"
Shff—!
Above all, the final segment of the practical exam was the biggest time sink: hunting monsters calibrated to each examinee's level.
"Still, after sitting this long, I think my nerves have settled a bit."
"Same here. If anything, my body's itching to get moving."
"Just a little longer now. Hang in there."
"Yes. That's the spirit."
Having Celia beside me, at least, made the boredom far more bearable. I was idly reflecting on my good luck and killing time when—
— Next, examinees 136 through 140, please step onto the arena floor.
Thud, thud—
"Hm?"
A single girl stepped onto the stage.
The number 137 pinned to her chest. Hair of pristine, dust-free white, a sleek fitted outfit, and a dagger strapped at her waist.
Wait — that's…
A face I knew all too well.
Nia Mist.
A standard 5-star character released in the early days of Union Academy. Early-game characters tend to suffer creeping undervaluation as time goes on, but Nia was one of the rare exceptions.
Part of it was her adorably well-crafted illustration, but the real reason was, of course, her kit. True to her 5-star birthright, she boasted solid base stats and carried an ability tailor-made for her assassin concept — Stealth — making her the quintessential mass-producer of what gamers call a "backline sniper."
I was a fan of hers too, come to think of it.
High agility, hard-hitting damage skills, and that glorious rush of vanishing into stealth and detonating the enemy's rear line. That feeling — anyone who'd tasted it even once could never forget it.
I found myself fidgeting with my hands, my gaze locked on the familiar face, and Celia, sitting beside me, took notice.
"Hm? Someone you know?"
"Ah, no. Just… that girl looks strong, is all."
I fudged an answer, and her eyes drifted over to Nia as well.
"Hmm. She does carry herself better than anyone we've seen so far, that's true."
Maybe the real heavyweights had simply drawn unlucky numbers, because up to this point only mediocrities had taken the stage. In that context, Nia's entrance was more than enough to draw the attention of every skilled fighter watching from the stands.
"…Equip the device. Using mana will count as cheating and disqualify you — keep that in mind."
"Yes!"
Soon enough, Nia had finished equipping her bracelet and stood atop the track.
Bang!
Fwash!
The instant the starting signal sounded, she launched forward. She tore through the entire track at a speed so absurd it made you question whether she was truly exhausted at all.
"…16.4 seconds…"
At the sight of her clearing a track hundreds of meters long in the blink of an eye, the recording proctor muttered dumbly under his breath.
Wow. She's a monster.
Even I was a little awed by that time. Usain Bolt needed over nine seconds to run 100 meters — and this girl covered a 300-meter track in sixteen? Sure, I could probably manage something like that myself now, but it still struck me as insanely impressive.
Is this what fantasy-tier really means?
"Hooooh…"
Meanwhile, her stamina, it seemed, had fallen a bit short — Nia stood there panting hard, on the verge of keeling over, until she removed the device and quickly recovered her composure.
A murmur of awe spread through every corner of the arena at the sight of her.
"Whoa, she's crazy fast…"
"Is it because she's small? Really light on her feet."
"She looks completely gassed, though. Might want to hold judgment a bit longer."
"After the quality of examinees so far, she's a guaranteed admit. Probably takes a top rank, too."
Just as someone had said, Nia went on to clear the rest of the practical exam with solid marks.
And then came the final trial.
"Grrrrrr…"
Monster subjugation, calibrated to each examinee's level. The murmur of the arena died in an instant, and every eye in the hall converged on the girl standing before the orc.
"An orc? First one we've seen today, no? Can that little thing really handle an orc?"
"Hmm… she does have that assassin look about her, so the matchup favors her. But she'll struggle if she can't use her ability well."
"I wonder what her ability even is?"
The whole hall held its breath as it watched the standoff. Then—
Fwish—
"…Grulk?"
For a heartbeat it seemed as though a breeze had swept past — and the girl facing down the orc simply vanished. Gone, quite literally, like the wind.
"Wh-what? Where'd she go?"
"N-no idea?"
"Is that her ability?"
The orc panicked, the spectators gasped, and even Celia let out a small, "Hmmm…," of admiration. And in that moment—
Pa-pak—
Thud!
"SQWEEEEEEAK!!"
Bursting out from behind the orc, Nia drove the dagger she'd already drawn straight into the back of its neck. Whether she'd channeled mana into it or not, the blade sank in clean.
"Kuek! Kweek! KWUEEEEEK!!"
Struck dead in its most vital spot, the orc thrashed and flailed — but not for long. It toppled over and breathed its last.
"…"
"…"
Silence fell over the exam hall. For a brief moment, an awkward stillness hung in the air. And then—
"WHOOOOAAAAAAAHHH!!"
A thunderous roar erupted, shaking the arena to its foundations.
For the first time all day, the bored-out-of-their-minds crowd finally had a show worth watching.