The Written Exam
The Sirius Academy entrance examination was divided into four stages in total.
The first was the document screening.
It was less a true test than a simple review of which schools an applicant had attended, what their grades had been, and whether they had any criminal record. Unless someone carried a particularly serious history of crime, the academy merely applied a minor penalty rather than disqualifying them outright, which made this the easiest of the four stages. It counted for only ten percent of the overall score—not a particularly heavy weight—but for anyone whose abilities sat right on the edge, it could still become a stumbling block.
For reference, during this process the faculty of Sirius Academy themselves conferred and granted special admission to students who seemed especially useful or full of growth potential. The number of such slots fluctuated anywhere from five to thirty, and there were applicants who deliberately built their résumés solely to aim for this track.
The second stage was the written examination.
It tested the students’ knowledge and was little different from the modern college entrance exam. The only real distinction was that the examinees had studied not for a better university, but solely for admission to Sirius Academy. It carried a thirty-percent weight; anyone who ranked in the top five on the written test received a written-track admission ticket that guaranteed acceptance no matter how they scored on the remaining stages.
The third stage was the practical examination, the true centerpiece of the entrance process.
Its content changed every year, ranging from battle-royale free-for-alls that used innate abilities, to one-on-one duels, to monster subjugation. Of course Sirius Academy had four departments—Hero, Assist, General, and Military—so evaluating everyone the same way would have given the Hero Department an overwhelming advantage. Therefore the General Department was exempted from the practical evaluation entirely, while the Assist and Military Departments were either given methods that let them contend with the Hero students or assessed by completely different criteria. The practical also counted for thirty percent, and ranking in the top five likewise granted a practical-track admission ticket.
The final stage was the interview; little about it had been publicly revealed. From what I had heard, it consisted of a simple ideological screening together with time for the applicant to make their case. It, too, was worth thirty percent. There were five interviewers in total, and each of them held the authority to grant special admission to one person of their choosing.
And so I found myself standing at the address I had received by email, ready for the second stage.
These facilities are insane…
The building labeled “Sirius Academy Entrance Examination Hall” gleamed as if it had been finished only yesterday. I showed the guard at the entrance my document-screening pass and stepped inside.
Good thing they don’t filter out unawakened applicants at the document stage.
I had worried about that when I submitted the application, but they had waved me straight through. Apparently, as long as you had no criminal record, they simply docked a few points and let everyone pass.
Document screening’s done and no one’s said a word, so special admission is out of the question. Still, the written-track ticket might be within reach…
Among the tens of thousands who came to take the Sirius Academy entrance exam, finishing in the top five was a brutal requirement. In Korea, anyone who managed it under that clause was treated like a perfect-score student on the national exam—reporters swarmed them. The difficulty was extreme, yet it still felt doable.
If it doesn’t work out, I can just crush the practical.
By the third stage the weak would already have been weeded out and only elites would remain, but with nothing more than the physical enhancements Darwin gave me I was confident I could half-kill most of them. Those same attacks had worked reasonably well even against demons; unfinished kids were not going to endure them.
…Then again, monsters like that did appear from time to time. The Frost Empress herself had once frozen the entire examination hall during the practical, forcing the schedule to be canceled one after another.
Anyway, enough of that.
I entered the classroom and waited. Before long students began filing in one by one. None of them particularly stood out—just bodies a little more trained than ordinary civilians. Not a single callus marked their palms; most of them had never even held a sword.
Then the classroom door opened and a black-haired figure strode in, hair streaming.
Huh…?
No—I had misread. Not a man. A woman.
Her disguise was flawless, yet the senses Darwin had sharpened to an extreme could distinguish male from female by the mere movement of muscle.
She walked into the exam hall in male clothing? Why?
I could not understand her at all. The moment I tilted my head while looking at her, she—yes, she—caught sight of me and her expression flickered with something like agitation. She started to walk toward me.
At that exact instant the proctor entered and ordered everyone to take their seats.
“The examination begins! All examinees, sit down and receive the distributed papers!”
The written exam covered five subjects in total: mathematics, English, science, world history, and—what could be called the main event, taken only by those aiming for the Assist or Hero Departments—magic studies.
Though it was lumped under the name “magic studies,” the field was broad, covering the operating principles of innate abilities, the properties of mana, and knowledge of magical beasts and villains. When I first heard the term I had imagined that actual magic existed in this world and that anyone who mastered magic studies could drop a meteor if they felt like it. It had not taken long to realize the truth: the subject simply dealt with superpowers. Magitech and innate abilities existed here, but magic itself did not. Mana refused to move according to human will; it could be handled only through electrical stimulation or through an innate ability etched into the body from birth.
That did not make mana useless. The more of it one possessed, the stronger the body became, and it served as the fuel for activating innate abilities, so those with abundant mana were treated well. Even if real magic had existed I would never have been able to use it anyway, thanks to my mana insensitivity.
Or would I? With Darwin’s power I could observe mana far more finely than others; if magic had been real I might already have been raining meteors on people.
In any case I finished the first four subjects without trouble and remained in the hall to prepare for the last.
“The final subject is magic studies! General and Military Department applicants may leave; remaining examinees, take your seats and prepare!”
The proctor’s voice had grown noticeably louder, as though the thought of finishing and going home had improved his mood. He seemed unconcerned that this “last little thing” was a three-hour exam.
The moment the papers were distributed I picked up my mechanical pencil and set my brain spinning.
Let’s see… the questions…
My first impression upon looking at the distributed sheet was that it was manageable. I had left behind the earring that let me contact Laplace, yet even on my own I could solve problems of this level with room to spare.
Unexpectedly not that hard. No idea how the others are doing, though.
I kept working steadily until, past question thirty, the difficulty spiked. I had entered the so-called killer-question zone. Unlike other exams, there were fifteen of them, and five of those were exceptionally vicious.
So that’s why the average score sits in the fifties…
Kids with zero interest in studying would never even apply to Sirius Academy, yet somehow the average still ended up like that. Looking at the level of these questions, though, the numbers made perfect sense.
The only consolations were that we had three full hours and that every relevant piece of knowledge already lived inside my head.
I tore through the killer questions at high speed.
A mantis-type magical beast that moves at high velocity while spraying volatile high-temperature liquid for propulsion? Killer Mantis. Countermeasures are…
A magitech question? Among mana particles, using linear regression… yeah, good…
An innate-ability problem… find the manifestation type… ah, it’s a trap. Cleverly laid. Interesting.
After cutting down countless problems I finally reached the last one and could not help swallowing hard.
…This is the one that appeared during the Seoul air raid.
The creature that had seized base stations, fed false information to everyone remaining in Seoul, and manipulated communications themselves. Despite possessing almost no actual combat power it had been ranked A-class the moment it was discovered. According to the Association’s announcement its name was… Cracker, I think.
It was pretty famous overseas too—did they put it on as a special problem?
I read the rest of the question and let out a silent exclamation of admiration.
“Describe the method by which the creature conducts its attacks, and the appropriate countermeasures…”
No one else would get this right. But I had faced the thing personally and had even succeeded in neutralizing its ability with my own methods. I could probably claim to know more about this magical beast than anyone else on the planet.
I wrote the answer to the final question, then performed one last review. Not long after I finished, the bell signaling the end of the examination rang.