A few hours after the written exams, inside a dark hall, four imposing silhouettes sat around a large circular table, facing each other. They were here to discuss the written exam score of a particular candidate.

"Did they already cross-check everything correctly?" The first silhouette with the outline of a beastman asked.

"Yea. I verified it myself, but I still can't believe it." The second silhouette with the outline of a dwarf answered.

"For the first time, since the foundation of this academy, a real genius has appeared. I'm sad that he isn't an elf, but if we nurture him well, he will become a trump card against any future threat our alliance may face." A third silhouette with the outline of an elf said.

"…" The fourth and last silhouette, with the outline of a human, remained completely silent.

"I thought this time you would be more talkative since a human accomplished something amazing, human director."

"If he really was that amazing, then he should have used his brain to focus on something more important instead of a few exam questions. And I don't judge people based on their race, unlike you, elf director."

Before the elf could argue back, a device in the middle of the circular table started ringing and caught everyone by surprise.

"Who dares interrupt this important meeting?" The beastman said after activating the device.

"I'm sorry to disturb you, directors, but there's a huge commotion happening at the Alliance Research Building right now." A female voice coming from the device was heard.

"Shouldn't you have sent us a report instead? What's so urgent that you had to interrupt this meeting?"The elf angrily replied.

"Actually, the commotion was created by the candidate, Alex Fawn. He submitted a theory that's been seen as a major breakthrough by all the researchers present there. He just finished his presentation in front of a dozen researchers, and they all want to support him. The news has already been leaked to the media, and they will arrive in front of the academy in a few minutes."

The meeting room became completely silent. No one was able to predict that something like this would happen. They still haven't finished discussing the achievement of Alex Fawn on his written exam, but after only a few hours, he achieved another one.

"Hahahahahahah" The sudden laughter of the human brought everyone back from their inner thoughts.

"Can you summarize the breakthrough that was presented?" The dwarf, curious, asked.

"Yes, from what I understood, he introduced a special magic array that can be used on any type of weapon. This magic array can supply an infinite amount of mana to a weapon continuously. The mana that will be provided will come directly from the atmosphere and will be automatically refined by the magic array itself."

This explanation left the room once again completely silent. Even the human's laughter completely disappeared. Everyone understood exactly the weight of this breakthrough.

It wasn't hard to supply mana to a weapon to enhance its performance. The difficulty was to continuously supply that mana while fighting. Everyone has a limited amount of mana in their heart that they can freely use. When they completely use every mana from their heart, they will need to meditate and refine the atmosphere mana before absorbing it. If someone tries to absorb unrefined mana from the atmosphere, their heart will explode. This is why it's impractical to continuously supply mana to your weapon during a long fight. Most people only enhance their weapon for the decisive blow, but everything will now change with the introduction of this magic array.

Hearing no reply from the directors, the female voice continued. "The media will be here at any moment. What are your instructions?"

"We shouldn't let anyone from the media enter the academy. The physical exam will be held soon, and we can't let anything disrupt it. As for Alex, I suggest escorting him to our meeting room in the Alliance Research Building. We can properly decide what to do after we speak to him directly. Does everyone here agree?"

"Agree."

"Agree."

The dwarf and beastmen answered synchronously to the elf's suggestion.

"Agree, but I will lead the conversation this time." The human added to the surprise of everyone.

***

After my presentation, I found myself being escorted by two heavily armoured guards. They brought me into a room in the basement of the Alliance Research Building and told me to wait there.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

The room was dark with minimal light. Except for the door behind me, I couldn't see anything else clearly. Soon, four silhouettes materialized in front of me.

Each of them had a different characteristic that helped me guess who they were. The short silhouette was that of the dwarf director. The large silhouette was the Beastman director. The silhouette, who had a long, pointy ear, was the elf director. And the normal silhouette was the human director.

Before they had the chance to talk, I respectfully bowed. "It's an honour to meet the directors of the Academy."

"Oh, I'm surprised you already guess who we were. How much exactly do you know about us?"The human director asked with a voice that made it impossible to guess its gender.

'I know everything about you guys from the game. Your personality, your strength, and also your weakness.'

"I know as much as everyone knows. The four directors control not only the academy but also the whole region of the Garden of Talents. You are appointed directly by the ruler of your respective race, and only they know your real identity. You always appeared as a silhouette in front of everyone else."

"Good. Now tell me, what is the reason we hide our real identity even between the four of us?"

"It makes the four directors perfectly equal. Since the four of you don't know the real identity of each other, it will be impossible for two or three of you to join forces separately. To meet in this state, all four directors need to be present. It also helps you have a personal life without any risk. Without…."

"Stop." The human director cut me off in the middle of my explanation. "Those are facts everyone knows. I want you to tell me the most important reason you think we hide our identity."

I was a little angry that she didn't allow me to finish my perfect explanation, but I couldn't show it on my face. So I thought a little about her personality and what type of answer she wanted to hear. "There are rumours that the four directors are also instructors at the academy. I'm sure that those rumours were intentionally spread by you. It doesn't matter if they are true, but the reason I think you spread those rumours was to make everyone respect and fear all the instructors of the academy equally."

The human director didn't say anything this time after my explanation. I couldn't see her face, but I was sure she was both shocked and impressed. Seeing her completely silent, the elf director decided to step in.

"Since you perfectly know who we are, tell us a little about yourself."

"I'm Alex Fawn. I'm sure you already have a lot of information about me, so allow me to just tell you about my goal. Since I was little, I have been really curious about how the world works. I'm not talking about politics, but the system. Everyone has a system, but where did it come from? That's my goal. To know the origin of the system and the world."

This time, it was easy to impress the elf director. The goal that I just explained was actually her dream. Now she will have no other choice but to support me, thinking that we share the same dream.

The human director, having recovered from her shock, took the lead back. "We wanted to meet you to judge for ourselves who exactly you were. And you have successfully impressed all of us. You should receive the news later, but congratulations on archiving a perfect score on your written exam. From now on, you are a first-year student at the academy, so you don't have to take the physical exams later. You will be automatically ranked first."

"I don't think it is fair if I rank first when I didn't even take the physical exams. Can't I take first place together with the student who will finish first in the physical exams?"

The room fell back into silence at my suggestion. The human director, being used to this, was the first one to regain her sense.

"Alright, this can be done. You can leave now. Just make sure you stay inside the academy if you don't want to be crushed by the media waiting for you outside. You have already been assigned a special dorm room where you can stay starting today. An advisor will contact you tomorrow to discuss the reward for the theory you presented earlier."

"Thank you for everything." I respectfully bowed and left the room.

***

After the meeting, the elf director started contemplating Alex's goal.

'I never thought someone would have the same dream as me. If it's him, maybe he will be able to accomplish it. Alex Fawn, from today onwards, I promise to support you as much as I can on your arduous journey.'