The Knight Promotion Exam
"So? You failed the written exam? Puhaha! Oh man, my stomach!"
Rimei clutched her belly and burst into loud, pealing laughter at my story.
Ugh, I seriously want to smack her one.
My fist was practically crying as I looked at her. But another thought crossed my mind at the same time. Just how easy had that test been, for both the receptionist and Rimei to react like this?
"Haah, stop laughing and tell me what to do next. I can't pass that exam."
I heaved a deep sigh as I said it, and she replied as if it were nothing at all.
"Just study, then."
"How am I supposed to study when I don't even know what the questions are?"
"Doesn't matter. I know them."
"What? How would you know that?"
She smiled sweetly and said,
"Didn't I tell you? I've taken it myself."
"Taken what? W-wait, you don't mean—?"
At my reaction, Rimei casually pushed up her glasses and pulled a silver necklace engraved with a wizard's hat from her cleavage.
"That's right. I'm a current High Magic Knight of Magnos who passed the knight exam."
I stared blankly into empty air for a long while, repeating the same words over and over.
"No way. There's no way."
The debtor, crybaby, scatterbrain standing in front of me—and younger than me, no less—was my senior? My pride shattered into pieces.
"Ki-seok. Ki-seok! Kim Ki-seok!"
As I continued to space out, she must have gotten tired of calling my name, because she spread both hands and slapped my cheeks hard.
"Ow! Are you crazy?! Why'd you hit me!"
Red handprints remained on my cheeks.
"Because you were completely out of it! Anyway, you can do it, so don't worry."
It wasn't worry. It was just the massive shock of learning she was a High Knight.
"But will the questions be the same? Won't they be different from when you took it?"
"It's fine. I'll drill the other common knowledge into you too. Stay here for a while. But you're sleeping on the floor!"
The words But you're a girl—are you really okay with that? rose all the way to my throat, but I swallowed them. Because if I said that, she'd definitely tease me about looking at her that way.
That night, we talked a little more before falling asleep.
The first day on the 11th floor passed like that, and we dove into full-scale preparation for the written exam.
Her lessons ran more than ten hours every day. More than half of what she drilled into me was knowledge anyone born in this world would pick up through fairy tales, songs, and rumors. In other words, I knew less about this world than a little kid.
"Were you raised by monsters? How do you not know any of this?"
She marveled and threw a low blow, so I flicked her forehead.
"Ow!"
We also talked about the compensation she'd give me once I obtained the Azure Spirit Stone. That was only natural. An Azure Spirit Stone worth thirty gold coins—I couldn't just hand it over for free.
What she could offer boiled down to three things. First, she would mentor me all the way to High Knight. Second, she would provide room and board through the tournament. Third, she would help craft my new weapon. Those three.
"No matter how I look at it, I feel like I'm getting the short end of the stick."
Was this really worth thirty gold coins? When I said so with a dissatisfied look, she explained her own value one more time.
"Do you have any idea how brilliant an alchemist I am? I graduated top of my class from Magnos's finest university! With me around, we can definitely make a weapon you'll love!"
She planted her hands on her hips and made the bold claim.
Sigh. Nothing for it, I supposed. I'd just have to trust her.
At least let it turn out as good as a mithril dagger.
With that thought, I opened the book she had made for me by hand once more.
Time passed, and I scraped by the written exam with a score of 82. Before I knew it, the day had arrived.
"Finally, the day I get to wear this."
I equipped the Basilisk Scale Armor I'd been keeping in my inventory. A hologram appeared, and the gear fitted itself perfectly to my body.
Rimei's eyes went wide as she asked,
"That's drop gear, isn't it?"
"Yeah. Got it on the 10th floor."
Hearing that, Rimei grilled me relentlessly—on the 10th floor you only got Shadow Fang and leather armor, so how had I obtained something like this? I hadn't planned on telling her, but her endless questions wore me down, so I just told her the truth.
"I killed a basilisk."
"A basilisk on the 10th floor? I've never even seen one."
"How'd you know it was drop gear, though?"
She kindly explained. There was a major difference between crafted gear and drop gear: automatic size adjustment. Crafted gear had to be bought or made to fit your build, but drop gear changed itself to match the wearer's body. That was why drop gear always traded for higher prices than crafted gear.
Listening to her explanation, I thought,
Looking at her face alone, she's every bit the immature kid—but moments like this, you really feel she's a genius.
She knew a lot and explained things well. That was undeniably one of her strengths.
"A basilisk, though... I've heard of one before. A story about an adventurer who encountered a basilisk on the 10th floor."
"What? Where? Who was it!"
Another adventurer who'd met a basilisk on the 10th floor? Then that person might also have the Boss Difficulty Increase trait. I urgently grabbed both of Rimei's shoulders and leaned in close to ask. Her eyes went round and her face flushed red.
"G-get back!!"
She shouted and shoved hard against my chest.
"Sorry. It's really important information to me. But... you've done way worse to me before, so why are you blushing all of a sudden? Embarrassed?"
"W-what? It's because the room is hot, okay? Purely the heat—it has absolutely nothing to do with you!"
The red heat had climbed all the way to Rimei's ears, and she avoided my gaze as she spoke.
"Anyway! I... I'm pretty sure I saw it in a book about the Empire's emperor and his adventures as an adventurer. I don't remember exactly."
The Empire's emperor... It could just be a story made up to elevate the emperor's prestige. But for someone like me who'd never found even a small clue, this information was deeply welcome.
I'm getting more out of this than I thought.
At first I couldn't shake the feeling I'd been played for a sucker, but the things I'd learned from her over the past few days had been surprisingly useful. Maybe not thirty gold coins' worth, but ten gold coins' worth already?
"Are you sure you have time to dawdle like that? It's almost time."
At her words, I hurriedly checked the clock in the room. The test started at 13:00. It was currently 12:56.
"Crap—I'll be back!"
"Come back safe."
I gave a quick goodbye and opened the door. From her house to the guild building was a fifteen-minute walk.
"Plenty of time."
An ordinary person would be gasping for breath after a thirty-second full sprint. But I was different. A professional runner, and my current stats already surpassed human limits. Even wearing the heavy scale armor, it was no problem.
I set my stance, pushed off with my rear foot, and ran.
"Hah—safe."
A short while later, I arrived at the building. Elapsed time: just one minute and forty seconds. A record set on pure physical ability alone, without using Acceleration.
Today I had run faster than the fastest man on Earth. And over a distance of about 1.5 kilometers, no less.
I grabbed the guild door.
"Wonder if there'll be a lot of people."
With that thought, I opened it.
Creeeak.
The guild interior came into view. Dozens of adventurers stood along both sides—people with a completely different atmosphere from when I'd first entered an adventurer guild.
A human man draped in expensive gear. A beastkin woman covered in large and small scars. A dwarven man wearing a Viking helmet and carrying a massive axe. A short woman with a robe pulled deep over her head. And various other adventurers.
They all look strong.
Well, they were adventurers who'd crossed the line between life and death alone. Of course they wouldn't be weak.
"Kim Ki-seok."
I confirmed my arrival with the receptionist and stood waiting beside them.
A short while later, heavy footsteps echoed from the second-floor corridor. Instantly, the guild interior packed with dozens of powerhouses fell silent, every gaze turning toward the second floor.
Five people descended the stairs. They weren't guild staff.
Crossed axe and hammer. A wide-brimmed wizard's hat. A great cat's paw pad. A greatsword standing upright amid flames. And one I'd seen often in Tebe: a shield painted with two moons and one sun.
Cloaked figures bearing those emblems, radiating an aura entirely different from the adventurers on the lower floor.
These must be the people Rimei mentioned.
They were the national examiners who had come representing each country to administer and supervise this knight exam—and to recruit talented individuals.