The Entrance Exam (3)
Florean Empire.
Over the course of hundreds of years, the only nation that had never relinquished its claim to continental dominance.
People often attributed the reason to its enormous treasury, its formidable military might, and its vast territory.
Of course, that was not entirely wrong. But beneath all of it lay one inescapable truth: people.
No matter how much gold you had, if you could not find anyone to spend it on, it was useless. No matter how strong your army was, without the talent to lead it, you could not hold on for long.
The reason the Florean Empire earned the title of empire was simple: it could produce the continent’s very best talents.
And at the heart of that ability stood the undisputed pinnacle of education in the known world: Astel Imperial Academy.
The founding emperor of the empire made talent cultivation the number-one priority from the day of its birth. Even back then, when Astel Academy was already famous, he showered it with imperial support.
He gathered the continent’s finest professors, knights, and mages. He funneled every technique and scrap of knowledge accumulated over centuries into that one place.
The result was Astel Imperial Academy, now the dream institution that any noble family would send their child to, and the single golden opportunity that could lift a commoner’s entire life.
Generals who ruled the empire, heads of knight orders, continent-shaking archmagi and scholars—every influential talent in the world had passed through Astel’s halls at some point.
And now.
The entrance exams at Astel Imperial Academy were finally over.
“Heh! What a perfect day for a test!”
I flopped onto a park bench near the exam hall and gazed up at the sky.
Written and practical sections were both finished, and the tension that had been strangling me for weeks simply vanished.
It was an entrance-exam day, so the park buzzed with boys and girls around my age—Isabelle’s age—gossiping in clusters. Nobles accompanying their children also dotted the paths.
“They really do look different…”
Results would be announced tomorrow, so most of the people strolling around were nobles.
Jeweled accessories, clothes cut from fabrics that cost more than a year’s wages for a commoner, outfits so flashy they belonged in a light novel. Every passerby reeked of “I have so much money.”
And I?
Wore a plain commoner’s outfit.
Extreme King lady-!!!!
She even handled tuition, dorms, and admission. I was genuinely grateful.
But…
I could have bought one new set of clothes!
Oh my gosh, I’m so embarrassed right now~
Hand shoved deep into my pocket, I trailed behind the glittering nobles like a poor kid, glancing around with nervous eyes as I strolled through the park.
While trudging along with that mix of embarrassment and self-loathing, a massive informational sign the size of a building suddenly loomed right in the center of the plaza.
“Oh…”
Just as I thought—Astel Imperial Academy lived up to its reputation.
The scale was insane.
It looked like someone had glued together three university campuses from my old world and called it a day.
Just the lecture halls numbered in the dozens, and there were training grounds, labs, dorms, and even dueling arenas. It felt like someone had moved an entire small city into the countryside.
Astel Imperial Academy was divided into two main faculties.
The General Faculty.
And the Combat Faculty.
The General Faculty taught things like accounting, administration, cooking, and alchemy—skills that had nothing to do with fighting.
The Combat Faculty, as the name suggested, was where you learned how to fight. How to wield a sword, master magic, and battle monsters. Most of the original novel’s action took place here.
The Crown Prince.
Heir to the Northern Dukedom.
Disciple of the Tower of Original Sin.
And my sister Isabelle.
All the major characters from the original story would be here together.
Of course.
I was going to the Combat Faculty.
“Hehe…”
My mouth curved into a grin.
Finally. I was joining the main story of the original novel.
Academy life had always felt like pure fantasy to me—someone who had never even finished high school and been yanked straight into the Tower.
Wearing the uniform, eating lunch with friends, going back to the dorm when the sun went down…
…wait.
Thinking about it, I didn’t even know how to make friends.
“Eh, I’ll figure it out somehow.”
I mentally shrugged off reality.
Come to think of it, the original main characters would also have taken today’s exams. The hall had been divided into groups of a hundred because so many people were taking it, but my group hadn’t included any of them. If it had, I would have spotted them immediately—the protagonists had an unmistakable presence.
“I wonder what my sister is doing right now.”
Isabelle was a special-enrollment student. The dean had personally scouted her, so she hadn’t had to take the exams either.
Probably settling into the dorm and starting her basic training by now.
Meaning she wouldn’t be able to preview tomorrow’s list of new students.
Blood Sky Demon King, top student of the Combat Faculty.
If I was exposed too early, it would be boring! I needed to stand on that stage during the opening ceremony and give everyone a proper scare.
All right.
The original story was about to begin.
In the original novel, the opening ceremony was kicked off with a representative speech from the top new student.
Originally, that slot belonged to the Crown Prince.
But this time…
“…I’ll do it?”
Just imagining it made me laugh out loud.
Myself on the podium.
And below, Isabelle’s eyes wide open as she stared up at me.
…
Whoa… that’s going to be fun~
Oh right, I changed my tone again.
***
Extreme King had been seriously overthinking lately.
Maybe her hair was falling out?
Of course not. The name “Sovereign” hadn’t been attached to her lightly. Her body, forged over decades at the absolute peak of martial arts, was stronger than any normal human. Even if her hair fell out, she could heal it with her own power.
But the real problem was the cause.
There was someone who had made the strongest being in the continent worry like this.
And that someone was none other than…
“Rowoon……”
Nine months ago, during a hunt for a mysterious group trying to summon a demon, she had accidentally encountered a little boy.
When she first saw the child, Extreme King had felt a flicker of hope.
Honestly, she had been pretty interested. The aura coming off that tiny body was far too familiar.
Rejuvenation.
In the eastern continent, there was a realm where martial artists could reverse their age and regain youth after reaching the pinnacle of martial arts. It was a level no one knew if anyone could ever touch, even after a lifetime of training. Extreme King herself only knew of a handful of warriors who had approached it.
Yet the boy in front of her looked like an ordinary child… but inside him slept an indescribable power.
“Could it be…?”
At that moment, the thought crossed her mind.
“Is he someone at the same level as me?”
But that hope shattered almost immediately.
The aura rolling off the boy was too powerful to be explained by “special talent.”
Killing intent. Malice. Cataclysm.
Extreme King had fought countless strong opponents her entire life. She had faced warriors who surpassed human limits and monsters that threatened the world.
Yet none of them felt like the boy standing in front of her.
It was as if the very existence of the child was a catastrophe.
So she had wondered… could he be a demon from the Demon Realm?
But she couldn’t make that conclusion so easily.
If he really was a demon, she would have to kill him on the spot.
On the other hand, what if he was just a human born with terrifying talent?
She could end up killing an innocent child with her own hands.
Therefore, Extreme King decided to watch.
At first, for days.
Then weeks.
And now, months had passed.
Yet something felt off.
The boy helped with the villagers’ fields, chopped firewood, ran around with the neighborhood kids, then got scolded by his sister.
At sunset he sat at the family dinner table, eyes sparkling when delicious food appeared.
He was nothing but an ordinary rural boy.
Extreme King had thought about it many times.
Maybe she was overthinking?
The aura she felt from him was just unusual talent, and she had reacted too sensitively.
That was when the boy released that same aura again.
Without a second thought, Extreme King decided to investigate.
If he really was a demon… she would end it right there.
But the first words that came out of the boy’s mouth were nothing like what she expected.
“I’m a regressor.”
The moment she heard it, Extreme King had simply not believed him.
Regressors—people who returned to the past with memories of the future.
That was a fairy tale that only appeared in books.
The real problem came after that.
The boy started spilling out stories he shouldn’t know.
The realm he had reached, the martial arts roots no one had ever heard of in his life.
And…
“That is something you must never tell anyone!”
Even the little quirk she had never shared with anyone else.
At that instant, Extreme King had no choice but to admit the truth.
This was not a lie.
This little boy really knew the future.
Of course, he could not tell her everything.
He had glossed over parts about restrictions on interfering with the future.
The existence of the demon worshippers and the coming end of the world.
And…
Their plans hidden inside the academy.
The boy had asked her to send him to that place.
To save the world.
The seriousness in the child’s eyes was almost scary.
It was not a joke. Not a hero’s game. He truly believed that was what he had to do.
In the end, Extreme King nodded.
After that day, until the entrance exams, she had spent almost every day with Rowoon.
And she had learned two things.
First: This kid was ridiculously strong.
Right now his body was not yet complete, so he wasn’t on her level. But once he grew up, everything would change. She could no longer dismiss the story he had told about standing shoulder to shoulder with the him from before the regression.
Second: He was a massive scatterbrain~
Extreme King let out a deep sigh.
The problem was exactly that.
He had been told multiple times before entering the exam hall—keep it simple.
Really, just that one thing.
Yet the result was…
0.1 seconds.
“…Is that something a person can actually record?”
Extreme King clutched her head.
Astel was already in chaos. A child had casually broken a record unbroken for decades—how could the professors sit still?
But what about the culprit himself?
He was probably somewhere in the park right now, staring at the sky without a clue.
“Truly…”
Extreme King laughed in disbelief.
At first he had been someone to monitor.
Then he became someone to protect.
And now he had become her disciple in need of aftercare.
“This won’t do~”
If she left it like this, strange rumors would spread about Rowoon.
The dean would definitely suspect something when he saw the 0.1-second record.
So there was only one way.
“I’ll say he’s the Sovereign’s disciple.”
One sentence would solve almost everything.
Why a child had such impossible talent.
Why he had set a record no one could break.
All of it could be explained by the single title of “Sovereign’s disciple.”
Of course, the dean might not believe it easily.
But that didn’t matter.
She would just keep insisting until the end.
Extreme King nodded confidently.
After all, she had actually trained him. It wasn’t a complete lie.
“Speaking of which…”
Extreme King slowly smiled.
“Rowoon.”
The thought of his cute face paired with a ruthless expression flashed through her mind.
“One million honey hits reserved~”
With that resolution, the Extreme King slammed open the dean’s office door.
***
Even Astel Imperial Academy was finally seeing the end of the day.
A blood-red sunset hung over the vast campus, painting the light that spilled through the windows a soft amber inside the girls’ dorm room.
One of the private rooms reserved for special-enrollment students.
Isabelle sat straight in her chair after finishing her last foundational class.
“Come to think of it… today was the entrance-exam day, wasn’t it?”
“Yes.”
The tutor smiled gently and nodded.
“All exams are finished, so the results will be announced tomorrow. From tomorrow onward, new students will begin arriving one by one at the dorms, and it will become far more lively than now.”
“Wow…”
Isabelle’s eyes sparkled.
“Until just a little while ago, I was only digging in the fields of a rural village. Now I get to live in the same dorm as noble children… It still feels like a dream.”
The tutor chuckled softly and set her teacup down.
“You should be proud. Isabelle-nim possesses an affinity for spirits at a level that would be called the best ever. Moreover, at Astel Academy, the word ‘student’ comes before any distinction of status.”
Noble. Royal. Commoner.
Inside the academy, no one could flaunt their background.
Everyone was treated as the same student.
Still… I’m a little nervous.
Isabelle smiled shyly and looked out the window.
The sunset had already begun to fade, and one by one the stars were beginning to appear in the sky.
“I really only have a little left…”
The entrance ceremony, new friends, new life—everything still felt unreal.
The girl who had only known how to live in the countryside for her whole life was now entering the empire’s greatest academy.
Was it really okay to be this happy?
Isabelle clasped her hands tightly.
‘I’ll become the greatest spirit mage and make Papa and Rowoon happy.’
Just as she was making that quiet vow, a thought suddenly crossed her mind.
“Oh, come to think of it.”
She lifted her head as if remembering.
“They said the top new student gives the representative speech at the entrance ceremony, right?”
“That’s correct.”
“Wow…”
The top student of the Combat Faculty.
The top student of the General Faculty.
The two most outstanding among thousands of new students.
“He must be really cool, right?”
Refined. Confident. Smart!
Somehow, she imagined the Crown Prince giving the speech.
Isabelle couldn’t help but giggle at the thought and kicked her legs playfully under the table.
“Hehe…”