A Shift in Standing

"With this, the third exam is officially over," Herion declared, bringing the third exam to a close.

The results of the third exam: Group rankings, Group 17 in an overwhelming first place. Individual rankings, Sillon in an overwhelming first place. The exam concluded without a single change to the scores that everyone had so fiercely protested.

"..."

"..."

The participants, who had been so worked up they looked ready to riot over those scores, quietly accepted Herion's decision.

Adela Espien was no exception. She still couldn't accept the current reality of having the top group rank snatched away by Aidrin—that incredibly obnoxious girl.

But what could she do? Adela looked over at her insufferable childhood friend, Agion Morci.

The Agion Morci she knew was a man of excessive pride. But he was also a man whose excessive pride was justified. His talent was the real deal, easily holding its own against the likes of Drin Libringer and Kasha Hanahan.

Will the day ever come when that guy's nose is put out of joint? She had assumed, regrettably, that such a day would never come. But had that been nothing more than a delusion?

"..."

Right now, Agion Morci didn't just look like his pride had been wounded; it looked as if his very will had been shattered. His eyes, which she thought would never lose their spark until the day he died, were completely hollow. Who on earth could have reduced Agion to such a state?

Sillon.

Adela stared at him, standing like an isolated island as the other participants kept their distance.

He was grinning foolishly, looking utterly carefree.

How annoying.

Hypothetically speaking, if that man had suddenly undergone a complete shift in demeanor and exuded an aura befitting his monstrous skill, Adela might have been able to accept this situation. Yet, despite having just pulled off such an unbelievable feat, he maintained his usual attitude. There wasn't a shred of gravity to him; he carried an air so light he looked ready to drift away with the next gust of wind.

That guy beat Agion? That spacing-out idiot? A commoner like him? A rootless nobody wielding something like Baurer's Sword? Adela still couldn't bring herself to believe it.

But whether she believed it or not didn't really matter. She scanned her surroundings. The duel was over, yet the participants still stood far away from Sillon, keeping a wide berth. Even as they glared at him with disgruntled eyes, the moment his head nudged even slightly, they scrambled to look away, terrified of making eye contact. It was a stark reflection of Sillon's current standing and how people perceived him.

"..."

Adela shifted her gaze from Sillon to Aidrin standing beside him. To Adela's eyes, Aidrin looked like she was practically bursting with smugness.

Ugh... that infuriating wench...!

Just then, Aidrin said something to Sillon. Sillon shrugged, and Aidrin shook her head with a wry smile. She looked incredibly happy.

...

Adela watched the two of them with a calculating gaze.

"The exam results will be announced the day before the entrance ceremony, which takes place in one week. Your pass/fail status will be delivered via the Mana Patterns engraved on your chests."

Teach Herion pointed to his own chest. The group numbers were still visible on the participants' chests.

"The numbers will disappear the moment you leave the exam grounds. However, the trace of mana will remain, and we will trigger a mana reaction through it to notify you of your results. Any questions?"

Silence fell. Glancing around, I could see that everyone else was completely exhausted, practically begging with their eyes to leave this place as soon as possible.

"Sillon, speak."

Which, of course, made me want to drag things out. The moment I raised my hand, zap! I felt the sharp sting of everyone's eyes locking onto me.

"Huh?"

I looked around, playing dumb. Instantly, they all whipped their heads away as if they hadn't been staring at all.

Wait a minute—

Are these guys actually walking on eggshells around me now? They still find me annoying, but they find ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠me even more intimidating?

Well, isn't this fun...?

The noble brats, who had been so full of rage and utterly devoid of charm or entertainment just moments ago, had suddenly transformed into perfect, reactive playthings—er, I mean, fun and cute friends to get close to. There was only one reason for this. In their minds, my level had just shot up. It was the direct result of my swordsmanship.

To be honest, I didn't originally care about the academy, swordsmanship, magic, or any of that crap. I had only chosen this path because I thought, If I keep going like this, I'll end up a dark mage or an assassin and ruin my life! It felt like desperately learning a trade and trying to get a job just to survive. But seeing this now, I was starting to have second thoughts.

The academy. Swordsmanship and magic.

It seemed I had finally found my true calling. If I entered the academy and raised my swordsmanship and magic levels, I could duplicate friends that I could legally play with—no, I mean, get close to.

Infinite Friend Duplication Glitch discovered.

Me, Sillon. I felt like I finally understood the meaning of the phrase "school is a fun place." My body was practically itching with the desire to enter the academy as soon as possible.

But why hasn't this cleared yet?

My passing the academy entrance exam was basically a done deal, wasn't it? Are they seriously going to wait until the entrance ceremony is over to officially count the quest as cleared?

How cold.

I wanted to clear the quest quickly, unlock the System Shop, and see what was inside.

I hope there's something to help raise my swordsmanship or magic levels, or at least my swordsmanship. Even to my own eyes, my growth in swordsmanship made absolutely no sense. I had literally just started, yet I was already establishing a hierarchy against someone like Agion Morci. But this was only because I had acquired Baurer's Sword, and strictly speaking, it was hard to even call it proper swordsmanship. Its essence was merely a stroke of luck—disguising my assassination talents within a pseudo-assassination style. It was nothing more than a temporary fix. I would undoubtedly hit a wall sooner rather than later. Therefore, I had to elevate this temporary fix into the realm of proper technique. I needed to find or create a definitive technique that could blend my assassination talents into swordsmanship. That was impossible with just assassination talent alone. What I needed was talent in swordsmanship. Yet, my talent in swordsmanship was absolutely zero.

Screw this roleplaying crap. I should have just dumped points into swordsmanship, archery, magic, and shamanism, everything I could get my hands on.

This was why the System Shop was so crucial. Who knew? Maybe the shop would conveniently sell something like [Insane God-Tier Swordsmanship Lv.1].

"...lon. Sillon?"

"Huh? Ah."

Teach Herion's voice wiped the cluttered blackboard of my mind clean. I had raised my hand to ask a question, only to go off playing in my own little fantasy land. What a rude bastard I was, showing such disrespect to Teach.

"Ah—hahaha, my apologies. I was just lost in thought for a moment—" I offered Teach a sincere apology, scratched the back of my head, and brought up the question I had prepared. "Well, it's nothing major, but I was just wondering... what if someone fails to sense the mana reaction and misses the entrance ceremony?"

“An excellent question. That is precisely what I was about to explain.”

“Hahaha, well, as expected of the first-place finisher of the third exam... praising me like that makes me quite shy, you know~?"

I never praised you. Teach Herion was kind, but he was also firm.

"The mana reaction will trigger every hour starting the day before the entrance ceremony to periodically notify you of your status, so the issue you worry about will not occur. By no means should you erase the trace of mana just because it is bothersome. Doing so may cause difficulties in verifying your identity. Sillon, do you have any other questions?"

"Ah, then by any chance—" As I went to raise my hand again, I felt a barrage of stinging glares. Sensing them, I pretended to be flustered and lowered my hand. "Ah, never mind. My curiosity has been completely satisfied!"

"Any other participants?"

Silence fell. Soon, Teach Herion nodded and spoke. “With this, I officially declare the Ein Academy Swordsmanship Department entrance exam closed. Thank you all for your hard work. Whatever the results may be, may blessings follow you on your path.”

The Ein Academy Swordsmanship Department entrance exam had successfully come to an end.

The moment the exam ended, I got swept up in the crowd and made my way out of the testing grounds. Once outside, two starkly contrasting scenes unfolded among the participants.

”Sigh, how am I supposed to look my father in the eye…”

“Should I just camp out here and prepare for the next academy exam…”

"Haha, my life is over..."

"Damn it! Because of you in the third exam—!"

"What? Are you blaming me right now?!"

This was the work of those who had already failed or sensed their impending failure, presenting: [This is the Academy Entrance Exam (Despair Edition)].

"Sir, I heard the news. I heard you achieved excellent results in the third exam as well?"

"Haha, is the same not true for you, Sir?"

"Everyone did a wonderful job. Thanks to meeting such great teammates, we got a great result."

"No, not at all! It is I who should be thankful for meeting such wonderful teammates—"

And this was the work of those who were confident in their passing, presenting: [This is the Academy Entrance Exam (Hope Edition)].

"Oh..."

People despairing as if their lives were already over. People rejoicing as if they had already cleared life itself.

It felt surreal.

Oh yeah. Passed one major hurdle. Feeling good?

Originally, that was about the extent of how I viewed entering the academy. Thanks to my experience and knowledge as a player, I knew in my head how incredible it was to pass the Ein Academy entrance exam in this world. But because I still lacked a sense of reality, my heart hadn't quite caught up yet.

But seeing the reactions of the locals, it was finally starting to sink in. Just how monumental of an achievement this ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was. Ein Academy was the most prestigious educational and academic institution in this world.

To put it in perspective, did I just pass the exam for the number one university in the world? And as the top scorer, no less? Oh...

Thinking about it that way, my heart actually started to race. The fact that I had achieved this without a single shred of effort did bug me a little, but the sheer rush of euphoria was more than enough to drown out any guilt.

Is game transmigration actually a cheat code?

I definitely needed to grab a drink to celebrate. But wait, are academy students allowed to drink?

No, wait.

Just as I was pondering how to keep this good mood going, a massive, highly realistic problem knocked on my brain's door.

Excuse me?

That massive, highly realistic problem was...

I don't have any money.

It was the simple fact that I was currently flat broke. Forget money for drinks; I didn't even have enough to buy a meal or rent a room at an inn for the night.

Son of a—

"Haha, well. This is quite a predicament."

To think I hadn't given a single thought to how I would feed, clothe, and shelter myself. No matter how thoughtless and reckless I could be, I wasn't usually this bad.

But there was a reason for this. In the game, the moment you pass the academy entrance exam, the entrance ceremony begins and you get assigned a dormitory. In short, the moment you enter the academy, your basic living needs are completely taken care of. That was why I had rushed to Arien and taken the entrance exam without looking back.

And it wasn't like my logic was entirely flawed. It was an undeniable fact that entering the academy would solve all my living problems.

The issue was that, unlike the game, reality had a one-week gap between the end of the exams and the start of the entrance ceremony.

As some wise sage once said: Life is real, you little punk.

It was the moment I, having brought my gaming common sense straight into reality, became a little punk once again.

So what do I do now? For a whole week?

Just as my pea-sized brain recognized the state of emergency and went into overdrive...

"Excuse me, Sillon...?"

Someone called out to me very softly.

"Huh?"

I was quite surprised. An accent and movement so excessively elegant and dignified, even for a noble. Blonde hair styled in unique, tight ringlets at the ends.

The ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠person who had approached me was none other than Adela Aspien—our dear Aidrin's rival.

Grab.

Adela stepped close to Sillon, gently wrapping both of her hands around his. She lifted them up between them and looked up at him with upturned, pleading eyes.

"I wanted to apologize for what happened today... Would you happen to have some time to spare right now...?"

Her eyes and voice were moist with emotion. When Adela, wrapped in aristocratic elegance and grace, put on such a display, who on earth could possibly turn her away?

"You crazy wench!!! Let go of him right now?!!!!"

It was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Aidrin. Having searched for Sillon after losing him in the crowd, she spotted the two of them and came charging over in a towering rage. Her voluminous orange hair bounced like a ball hitting the ground with every furious stride.