A Prayer for Righteous Noob-Stomping
A week had passed since the midterms were abruptly canceled thanks to the magic-nullifying wyvern the black mages had sent. No matter how much the academy loved to preach about realistic, combat-focused testing, they couldn’t exactly continue an exam that had a creature specifically designed to shut down magic. A retest was inevitable. So this time the headmaster pulled out a massive trump card—he borrowed an entire forest under direct imperial control.
The original testing ground had already been breached by the black mages once, so there was no telling what kind of insane traps might be lurking there. Still, they couldn’t put off the retest forever. That was how the headmaster somehow managed to secure the imperial forest.
“So you may rest easy! That forest has been under direct imperial management this whole time! The black mages won’t even be able to get close!”
And so, under rules almost identical to the previous exam, we ended up taking the midterms again.
“…You sure you’re okay with this?”
“Yeah. I’m fine now.”
“Well, if you say so.”
There had been a minor incident during the process where Rui, whose condition had improved over time, declared he wouldn’t team up with me… but if the guy himself said he was fine, what could I do?
“Then make sure you don’t cross paths with me. If I see you, I’m turning you into points on the spot.”
“Whoa… that’s cold…”
“Gotta do what I gotta do.”
I grinned and raised my gauntlet in front of Rui. He laughed awkwardly and took a cautious step back. Good, so even you understand how serious I am.
Of course, Rui might be my best friend, but public and private matters had to stay separate. The reason we spoke casually and messed around in private but acted as young master and personal servant in public was exactly this.
“Still… I kinda figured you’d say that. Honestly, it’s more reassuring this way.”
“Love can’t hold me back.”
“I know. How many years have I been watching you?”
“Yeah, yeah.”
See? Rui accepted it without getting hurt, like he was used to it. The moment he suggested canceling our team-up, he’d already accepted the risk of me taking him out.
After hearing that the exam would be held in the imperial forest, another week passed. Once again, I found myself taking the midterm.
“Then… begin the exam!”
Just like before, we were instantly transported into the forest. When I opened my eyes, I was standing in the middle of an unfamiliar woodland.
“No need to look after Rui this time… so shall we go full power?”
Last time I’d gone a bit loose, both to find Rui and to accommodate his poor condition. But now that I was alone, I planned to pour my heart into every single action.
“First things first…”
The people I had to watch out for were exactly four: Estel Blade and Leona Blade from the Knight Department, and Loxia Astra and Revia Gloria from the Magic Department.
…Looking at it now, that feels like a lot. In most novels, you only had to be careful of one or two people. But what can you do? I’m not a Swordmaster, so I can’t beat Estel or Leona. And since I can’t use the Mental Imagery Realm, I can’t beat Loxia or Revia either.
If I ran into any of them, I’d be reduced to ashes in an instant. The aura I squeezed out with everything I had would be torn apart with a single snap, and even my full-powered magic would scatter into sparkles and vanish the moment they clicked their fingers.
So the plan was simple: avoid those four and stomp everyone else. Who knows? Maybe while I’m out here farming noobs, my aura will grow enough to reach Swordmaster level. Or maybe I’ll achieve some enlightenment and awaken the Mental Imagery Realm.
Therefore—
After offering a short prayer to the goddess—who definitely existed in this fantasy world—I got seriously to work.
“Uwaaaaagh! Spare me!”
“This guy’s insane! The crazy bastard showed up—kraaagh!”
“I surrender! I surrenderrrrr!”
“Hik…! C-can’t you just let me go once…? I really need good grades—kyaaaaah!”
“Don’t you have a heart…?! How can you be so one-sided—uwaaagh!”
“Total of forty-two…”
Forty-two. That was the number of students I’d taken down in the thirty minutes since the midterm began.
“As expected, there’s no sign of growth from this.”
Even in games, once your level got high enough, killing trash mobs stopped raising your level. After one-sided fights like this, it felt less like growth and more like I was actually regressing.
“That won’t do.”
I still had four people I needed to surpass. And if you added the Magic Engineering and Economics Departments, there were four more on top of that. So I needed opponents who could actually put up a fight…
I was sitting on a random boulder thinking about it when—
“Hm?”
Even while resting, my magic-enhanced hearing picked up the sound of a fairly large-scale battle.
“…Oho.”
It wasn’t a fight between the 1st and 2nd ranks. If those monsters were going at it, the scale wouldn’t stay this contained. And that meant it was a fight I could actually participate in.
“Shall we?”
I gathered magic at the tips of my toes for propulsion, then kicked off the ground with everything I had.
BOOM!
I leapt over the tall trees and soared into the sky. How nice would it be if I could fly around with magic like the top ranks?
Man, falling from the sky looking cool as hell…
That was the best I could manage. I still had no idea how the others flew around like it was nothing. Anyway, after rising high, I used a high-firepower spell to quickly head toward the direction of the noise.
It didn’t take long before I reached the scene of a large-scale battle.
“Lightning Bolt!!”
“Hup…!”
The main players were a blond male magic student using lightning magic and a black-haired male knight student wielding a greatsword.
“I’m fine…!”
“Haha! Too slow!”
The lightning mage moved so fast while scattering sparks that it was hard to believe he was a wizard, while the greatsword guy blocked every incoming lightning bolt with both his sword and his body. As a result, the area around them was scorched black with sword scars everywhere.
“Target acquired.”
Objectively speaking, they were excellent experience points.
“Hah! Looks like we can’t settle this at this rate. If we keep going it’ll just get boring!”
“…I agree.”
“Then how about this! We settle it with our strongest ultimate techniques! Of course, I won’t dodge either—I’ll take it head-on! What do you say?”
“…I agree.”
Apparently they both wanted to end it quickly. They stopped moving and began preparing their final full-power strikes.
“O lightning that pierces all things! In response to my call…”
“Hoo… hup…!”
The lightning mage chanted a long incantation while the greatsword guy seemed to be gathering every ounce of aura he had. Both were sweating coldly as they poured everything into the attack.
“Rock Blast.”
I dropped from above their heads and fired a barrage of boulders.
“What?! W-what the—?!”
“!! That’s…!”
Caught off guard by the aerial ambush, the two immediately redirected their attacks upward.
“The rocks…!”
“Hup…!”
The lightning mage frantically fired off bolts to deflect the boulders while the greatsword guy raised his blade in a guard to protect himself.
“Damn it! Ashen Serdis, it’s you!!”
“This… is underhanded…”
The moment I landed safely, they recognized me instantly and, for some reason, burned with even greater determination than before. But the next words they spoke revealed exactly why.
“I am Kyle Tempest, fourth rank of the Magic Department! You won’t say you don’t know me, right?!”
“…Likewise, I am Leon Great, fourth rank of the Knight Department. I will give it my all to surpass you.”
“Ah.”
These two were the ones right below me in the Magic and Knight Departments—the rank 4 scrubs.
No wonder they felt different.
Their fighting style, the scale of the battle—compared to the forty-two students I’d crushed so far, these two were on another level. If they were right below me, I could accept that.
“Yeah, yeah, rank 4.”
Seeing them made me realize something. I’d complained about Loxia not remembering my rank 3 status, yet here I was, unable to remember the rank 4s right beneath me. Just how contradictory was I?
“Sorry about that.”
I’d asked others to remember me, yet I couldn’t even remember them myself.
“So I’ll show you the proper courtesy.”
And that courtesy was—
“Come at me with everything you’ve got! I, Ashen Serdis, will remember your final moments!”
Obviously, that meant going all-out.
“Bring it!”
“…Lightning Bolt!”
“I won’t hold back!!”
And so, with the two rank 4s charging at me, our battle began in earnest.
Meanwhile, in another part of the forest.
“…”
“…”
Two female students stood silently, staring at each other.
One was a white-haired girl carrying a long staff on her back. The other was a blonde girl with an ordinary sword at her waist.
“I’ll ask just one thing.”
After a long stretch of silence, the white-haired girl—Loxia—finally spoke.
“We shouldn’t fight, right? The two of us.”
Her question carried the hidden meaning of, If we fight here, the surrounding area will be completely destroyed and any students caught in the crossfire will fail en masse. You agree we shouldn’t fight, yes?
In response to Loxia’s question, the blonde girl—Estel, first rank of the Knight Department—silently nodded.
And so, in a place no one knew about, peace was quietly established.