Class Division Exam (2): Plunder
Seong Hyun-jin’s chosen method for this exam was plunder. It was far easier and simpler to hunt down students than to painstakingly track assistant instructors. Chasing instructors carried the risk of ending up with red ribbons yourself, but hunting students avoided that entirely. No risk, all reward. Others might call it cowardly, but it was an incredibly efficient approach.
That’s why Seong Hyun-jin had appeared in the rift that formed among these cooperating students. The man who’d snatched their ribbons, figuring they’d just keep getting sacrificed otherwise.
Edgar, who’d proudly claimed 88th place in the 35th entrance exam rankings, was utterly flustered now. 88th might sound middling, but with over 400 freshmen in the 35th class, it was a solid rank. That’s what gave him the skill to take down three cooperating students in one go.
But the opponent before him now was far too much to handle.
“Hand over the ribbons nicely, and I won’t bite.”
Seong Hyun-jin had been the runner-up in the entrance exam. Alongside Serena Eldark, he was expected to breeze into the top class this time too. Of all places, to run into him here… Edgar cursed his rotten luck but didn’t give up easily.
“…You think I’ll just hand them over?”
“Nah, didn’t think you would. Just…”
Seong Hyun-jin shrugged.
“Figured I’m stronger than you, so I could take ’em.”
“How dare you underestimate me…!”
Edgar summoned the power of wind. In an instant, a fierce vortex whipped up, lunging toward Seong Hyun-jin.
“Take ’em if you can!!”
Kwah-gah-gah-gah-gak!!
The vortex barreled in at tremendous speed. But Seong Hyun-jin didn’t flinch. If anything, he expressed pity at Edgar’s choice.
“Fighting back with spirit power… not the smartest move.”
“Spirit Manifestation.”
From the tip of Seong Hyun-jin’s sword, a pitch-black spirit power rippled into view, coiling up his blade to his forearm.
Spirits were the root of all supernatural abilities, and the art of wielding them was called spirit arts. The vortex Edgar had summoned was spirit arts, and so was the power Seong Hyun-jin wrapped around his sword.
Typically, spirit arts involved channeling a contracted spirit’s power. But those of exceptional skill could manifest the spirit’s form as well. This was called Spirit Manifestation.
When a spirit manifested, the contractor could wield even greater power. Thus, being capable of Spirit Manifestation meant handling spirit power far beyond ordinary spirit arts.
The moment he heard those words, Edgar flinched in shock.
Spirit Manifestation…? Bluffing?
Manifesting a spirit was far harder than it sounded. Without innate vast spirit affinity, it was impossible no matter how hard one trained their whole life.
If it was just Seong Hyun-jin bluffing, as Edgar hoped, he’d be relieved. But Seong Hyun-jin was a reincarnator, born with spirit affinity far surpassing ordinary folk.
“King of Chaos.”
Seong Hyun-jin murmured the spirit’s name softly. The power coiled around his right arm shimmered, gathering in the air. It coalesced into a form, and soon a knight in black armor appeared.
Its frame seemed small compared to the bulky armor, but the ferocious aura it exuded was no joke.
“Y-you… actually manifested a spirit…?”
The instant the spirit appeared, Seong Hyun-jin swung his sword lightly, intoning a brief command.
“Devour it.”
The King of Chaos—that’s what the spirit was called—swelled massively, scattering along the sword’s path. Then something astonishing happened.
“…Huh?”
The pitch-black energy swallowed the vortex whole, and the fierce whirlwind vanished without a trace.
It wasn’t mutual cancellation between spirit powers. If they’d clashed, there should’ve been friction sounds. But it was as if the vortex had never existed—like it was erased clean.
Edgar stared blankly at the scene before realizing what Seong Hyun-jin had done. There was only one attribute with the power to return spirit energy to nothingness.
“You… wield a chaos-attribute spirit…”
But realization came too late. Seong Hyun-jin’s sword was already at Edgar’s nape.
“Ribbons. Hand ’em over.”
# Plunder was actually one of the directions Instructor Hayes had intended. Battlefields feature all sorts of people: those who cooperate, those who act alone, and those who exploit chaos for foul deeds without hesitation. Allowing plunder was meant to expose students to this human spectrum in the class division exam, giving them a glimpse of what Combat Department training would entail.
In a way, Seong Hyun-jin was performing Hayes’s intended role to perfection.
Too perfectly, perhaps.
“Hand over the ribbons!!”
“Kyaaack!”
“Uwaaaack!!!”
After snatching three black ribbons from his first victims, Seong Hyun-jin kept on hunting students. He’d lurk near assistant instructors, watch others claim ribbons, then pop out and steal them all. Or track student trails instead of instructors’, plundering their hard-earned hauls.
“You gathered these all for me. Touching.”
“Y-you… bastard…”
“I’ll put ’em to good use.”
A sleazy third-rate villain, just like Serena had likened him to. His skill wasn’t third-rate, though.
“Where to next?”
“You… could just hunt assistant instructors with your strength. Why attack us…?”
“Huh?”
To the baffled student, Seong Hyun-jin gave a simple answer.
“’Cause this is easier.”
“……”
The student couldn’t argue. Convenience was human nature, after all—even wanting to eat without effort.
“Don’t run into me next time.”
“You’re the one who found me…”
While Seong Hyun-jin was up to his antics, Serena Eldark took the textbook approach. Battlefields had those who exploited chaos shamelessly like him, but also rare types who drew lines even amid flying flesh and blood.
“…Serena Eldark?”
“……”
“D-don’t take ’em! I worked so hard for these!”
Some called them hypocrites, but they might be the most conscientious of all. Serena was one such person.
“I have no intention of doing so.”
“…Huh?”
Serena spoke plainly to the frightened girl and walked past.
“I’ll just get mine from the assistant instructors.”
“Y-you’re really letting me go?”
It wouldn’t hurt Serena to snatch the girl’s ribbons, but she had no desire or reason to.
“Yes.”
“Thank you…!”
Just as she said—get them from the assistants, and that was that. With Serena’s tacit approval, the girl clutching one black and one white ribbon hurried off.
Serena soon encountered an assistant instructor—with a white ribbon, no less.
“Assistant Instructor.”
“!”
Serena’s voice echoed strangely. Or rather, only to the assistant’s ears. As he startled at the odd tone, she commanded:
“Stop.”
⟨ Stasis ⟩
Serena Eldark, daughter of the Dragon Star Ahajaka Eldark. As a dragonkin princess, her specialty wasn’t spirits but Useon (Dragon Word).
Imprinting intent into language to manifest desires as law—that was the essence of dragon words.
Only fellow dragons, those with equivalent mental fortitude, or beings shielded by special blessings could resist. Even assistant instructors were helpless before Serena’s Useon.
Half-dragon or not, the blood of the current era’s strongest flowed in her veins. Few could defy her words.
At her command to stop, the assistant’s body halted against his will.
“Hah…”
As the novice-to-dragon-words instructor gaped in disbelief, Serena gripped his shoulder.
“One ribbon, please.”
“…Fine. Mind releasing me now?”
“Yes.”
She claimed the white ribbon effortlessly, then freed him. The assistant sighed hollowly.
“You’ll always get what you want, huh.”
“……”
Serena didn’t reply. He tied the white ribbon to her wrist and left. But she stood rooted for a long while.
Then, with a touch of melancholy, she muttered to herself.
“…Not everything I truly want.”
She sighed deeply. As she refocused on the exam, a rustle came from behind. Turning, she faced a familiar face.
“Oh? Serena.”
“Seong Hyun-jin…?”
It was Seong Hyun-jin. His wrist bore a hefty bundle of ribbons too. Remarkably, not a single red one.
“Whoa, you’ve racked up a lot.”
“…You as well. But I never spotted you while hunting assistants. Where were you?”
“Me? Yeah, makes sense you didn’t. Normal, really.”
He said casually:
“Didn’t bother hunting assistants at all.”
“…Pardon?”
Serena blinked, but she grasped his meaning. He’d been disrupting rivals and plundering, just as Instructor Hayes described.
Come to think of it, the footsteps of that girl she’d spared had cut off awfully soon.
“…Seong Hyun-jin, did you just run into that girl student?”
“Yeah, did.”
“What did you do?”
Her tone sharpened slightly. Seong Hyun-jin blinked, then explained simply.
“Gave her a fair fight. Got this white one and black one from her just now.”
He’d quickly grasped his role in this exam.
“…So, you’ll take mine too?”
“…Gotta, right?”
If he was the villain of this class division exam.
“It’s a competition. Can’t go easy on you specially.”
“…Is that so?”
Serena was surely cast as the hero.
“Try taking them, then.”