Aptitude Evaluation (2)

The thing was far too massive to call it a gun...

“W-what the hell is that...!”

Camilla’s horrified gasp and the way every student sitting in the waiting room had their eyes bulging out ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of their heads. Yeah... I get it. Anyone seeing this for the first time would react exactly like that.

“Never seen a minigun before?”

My first personal weapon — a mana-powered, extra-large minigun. A monstrous autocannon that stood at one meter and thirty centimeters tall, practically the same height as me. A crazy piece of hardware boasting an overwhelming six hundred rounds per minute. I smirked and leveled the minigun straight at Camilla.

“Ugh...!”

Even though the sight of my weapon had already shattered any confidence she had of winning, Camilla still raised her rifle toward me. It was just a tiny little thing barely over fifty centimeters long, but honestly, her gun had exceeded my expectations.

In the game, Camilla’s personal weapon had been one of the top-tier firearms from the early stages, but it definitely hadn’t packed this much raw output. At this level, it was practically endgame-grade gear. An alloy forged through alchemy and layered with every enchantment imaginable, a masterpiece crafted with painstaking care by a true artisan. On top of that, her unique ability Magic Bullet allowed her to fire mana in the form of projectiles that fused with her alchemical rounds, unleashing all kinds of magic as bullets. Since the effect changed depending on which alchemical round she loaded, dealing with it was bound to be a nightmare.

“Nice gun.”

Yeah, it really was a nice gun. As far as I knew, there wasn’t a single firearm in the entire game that could beat it.

“But the gap between owners is just too big.”

I let out a soft, mocking laugh.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

Compared to Camilla’s sleek rifle, what about the minigun I was holding? The only things inside it were a massive magazine that dumped enormous amounts of mana to load mana bullets, and a trigger that fired them when pressed. That was it. No amplifiers, no fancy systems — nothing. Even an A-rank hero would probably only manage about thirty shots before running dry. That’s how much mana this thing devoured.

But to me? That meant absolutely nothing.

I smiled brightly and pulled the trigger. Camilla, seeing my movement, frantically squeezed her own trigger too, but I was just a fraction faster.

RATATATATATAT!

The minigun’s bullets poured out in a storm. The recoil and noise were no joke, but the layer of mana wrapped around my body made it bearable. How many rounds had I unloaded? It couldn’t have been more than a few seconds, nowhere near a full minute, but that was more than enough.

The moment I released the trigger, the thick cloud of dust that had billowed up began to slowly dissipate. As the view inside cleared, the referee standing beside me raised one hand high and shouted.

Through the swirling dust cloud, I could see Camilla sprawled on the ground with both arms stretched out. Her once-brilliant golden hair was now coated in dirt, turned nearly brown. It was honestly a pitiful sight, but I figured this was exactly the kind of judgment a girl who loved playing dirty tricks deserved.

She’s not a fundamentally bad person, but still… karma’s a thing.

The medical team that arrived shortly after quickly loaded the collapsed Camilla onto a stretcher and rushed her out of the arena. Hmm… it didn’t look like a life-threatening situation, but she’d probably need several days of recovery, right?

Feeling a little guilty for no real reason, I waved lightly at Camilla as she was carried away, silently wishing her a speedy recovery. That’s when I felt countless eyes glancing at me from every direction.

Corporations always do flashy good deeds like this to bury scandals, don’t they? Maybe this little act would help quiet down some of the corruption rumors about me?

The academy students gathered in the dueling arena felt a certain kind of terror as they watched the final match of the aptitude assessment.

Most of the academy students had spent their time gossiping and badmouthing that girl named Plea behind her back. She hadn’t even taken the entrance exam, disappeared somewhere during the placement test, and yet somehow still got weirdly good grades. It was only natural for the students to feel resentment.

But expressing that resentment openly was another matter entirely. You don’t go around trash-talking the school bully right in front of them, do you? Normally, you only openly badmouth the weak, harmless kids who won’t cause you any trouble…

And that was where the students made their one fatal mistake. They had assumed Plea wasn’t one of the bullies — they thought she was just a harmless, easy target. A spoiled idiot who only acted out because she had powerful parents backing her. That was the general consensus about Plea.

After all, she had good grades despite never showing any actual achievements. It made sense they’d think that way.

That’s why the students had openly ripped into her whether she was around or not.

But then the twist came.

The kid they had been casually tearing apart wasn’t some powerless pushover relying on mommy and daddy. She was actually a monster who could wipe the floor with most heroes — someone who had been hiding her power and cosplaying as a loser the entire time.

The person they had been mocking for fun every time they got bored was actually the strongest student in the entire school?

Now they had to worry about how they were going to survive school life starting tomorrow.

The crazy girl standing in the arena, waving casually at the opponent she had just beaten into the ground, was someone who could actually make the phrase It’s not that the world is ostracizing me — I’m the one ostracizing the world into reality.

The students who had spoken badly about Plea before were now sweating bullets, terrified she might take revenge on them.

Even students like Siwoo and Aria, who had never badmouthed her, felt a faint sense of dread. They hadn’t done anything wrong to her, but… that scene was terrifying no matter how you looked at it. She had taken a minigun and practically shredded a student in half… and then the way she waved at her opponent while the girl was being carried out on a stretcher? That was the real masterpiece.

No one knew exactly why she had done that, but most of the students felt pure terror at the incomprehensible action.

The person in question, Plea, had no idea what was going through their minds and was just grinning like an idiot.

In the end, Plea remained completely oblivious to the students’ feelings all the way until the aptitude assessment winner’s award ceremony. It wasn’t until a full week later that she finally sensed something was off.

Another energetic and powerful morning, just like always!

I woke up bathed in the morning sunlight, quickly freshened up, and stepped out of the dormitory. That’s when I saw a familiar face.

“You got discharged?”

I walked straight up to Camilla, whom I hadn’t seen in a while. She let out a startled shriek and stumbled backward.

“Kyaa! Y-yes… I was discharged.”

“Why are you so surprised?”

Did she do something wrong to me…? Well, there was that time she sent the guide after me. Was she feeling guilty about that? Yeah, if that wasn’t the case, there’d be ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠no reason for her to be shaking like this.

Being the merciful person I am, I decided to forgive her. I placed a hand on Plea’s shoulder and said,

“Don’t worry about what happened back then. People make mistakes sometimes, right?”

“Back then? What do you mean by… Ah.”

Camilla, who had been tilting her head in confusion, suddenly turned deathly pale before her face went dark and ashen. Hadn’t she finished her treatment yet?

“Are you sick? Did you get discharged early before your treatment was finished or something?”

“N-no! I’m perfectly fine! I’m really sorry about last time I’ll see you later!”

Camilla suddenly started spitting out words like a rapper, then dashed away at full speed until she disappeared from my sight.

“Was she always like that…?”

In the game, Camilla hadn’t been this kind of scatterbrained, tomboyish character. She was supposed to be more like an elegant noble lady… The Camilla I just saw felt more like… a total airhead.

Even though she had radiated the overwhelming presence of the strongest character in Part 1 during the early stages.

“Well, not my problem.”

Whatever happened to Camilla’s personality had nothing to do with the story anyway.

“Now that I think about it, today’s the day they announce the aptitude assessment results, isn’t it?”

The aptitude assessment was a test where they observed the students’ battles to determine which classes would be most efficient for them and recommend appropriate courses. While rankings and evaluations were given, those were ultimately secondary. The real purpose of the aptitude assessment was simply to identify each student’s aptitudes and inform them of the results.

“The mailbox… it was in the dormitory lobby, right?”

I opened the communal mailbox in the dormitory lobby. Sure enough, there was an envelope labeled Aptitude Assessment Results inside the box with my room number on it.

“Let’s see… Basic Combat Studies, Basic Firearms, The Mindset of a Hero, Fundamentals of Unique Abilities, Basic Mathematics… Wait, why is everything except the required combat courses all personality development and liberal arts classes?!”

The two combat subjects at the top were mandatory courses that every student had to take — general combat theory and personal weapon techniques divided by individual armament. Aside from those and the required character education courses, everything else was boring liberal arts stuff like math and literature!

Since these were subjects I had built a wall against since my previous life, it was only natural that my face crumpled the moment I saw them.

“Ugh… this is gonna suck…”

Still, if they assigned them, I had no choice but to take them. They said you could refuse certain courses, but there must be a reason they recommended these. The professors weren’t idiots — they wouldn’t assign pointless classes.

I clicked my tongue and continued reading the list of courses, their lecture rooms, and the professors’ names. That’s when I saw a name I hadn’t expected.

“Basic Combat Studies — Guest Instructor… Dana?”

Dana? Why is she here?

At this point in time, shouldn’t she be out with the other members of the Five Greats chasing that demon? Since Dana turns into a demon during her second year, this should be the period where she’s fully focused on external activities…

“Hmm… I don’t get it, but I guess it’s fine if it’s fine.”

I had only managed to make one friend since coming to the academy — Siwoo. If Dana, who was practically the only other person I could call a friend, was teaching the class, at least it wouldn’t be boring.