I woke up early, on the day that I was supposed to take the academy’s exam for hopeful teachers. I had a feeling that it wasn’t just a simple ‘sit down and take a test’ type of exam, but one designed to explore our actual capabilities.
That said, Headmaster Flavius had said to bring durable clothing and our weapons of choice. I ended up going in my ever trustworthy long-coat, and brought along my bag, which had the crossbow and my boomstick in it. I slung that over one shoulder, the strap crossing over to the other side of my body, and hung Twilight from the opposite shoulder.
It was a short walk from the inn Niten and I had rented a room from, to the place the exam would begin.
When I arrived at the practice room I had been directed to, there were five other people there. They were also here for the exam, to try and become teachers at the academy. I could understand why. My own reasons aside, the pay is among the best one could find in a school.
Three of these people looked like warriors, with strong bodies and large weapons lying by their sides. Two of them were human, and the last one an elf. The other two people were either mages or scholars of some kind, though I leaned towards them being mages. One human and an elf. The two elves in the room could sense my elven blood, though it must have felt faint to them. As soon as they saw my demon features, their noses turned upwards in disgust. The humans seemed to just dislike me for the fact that I look demonic.
Suffice to say, they didn’t greet me. I wonder if they even registered my age before ignoring me.
If they had, they would be wondering why a young girl was in the room meant for those taking the teachers exam.
About ten minutes later, five others walked into the room—One of them being Headmaster Flavius.
(Flavius) “So, some of you should have figured out by now that this isn’t going to be a normal sort of test. Basically, what we look for in teachers is leadership abilities, to be able to show students how things are done from the front, to be good examples. Unfortunately, if the teacher cannot gain the respect of their students, they fail. Our test involves you six demonstrating to us, the judges, that you can successfully lead, and take control of the students.”
He pointed at a series of transportation runes chalked into the floor on the other side of the room, obviously newly drawn.
(Flavius) “Each one of you stand on a rune, and you’ll be brought to the testing area. Once there, you have to show us, your judges, that you can take charge, and lead.”
I stood on the rune to the far right, and everyone else calmly stood on their own. The judges stepped forward, and squatted down, placing a hand on the runes, which glowed with a blinding blue light, before the people standing on them disappeared to the testing area. However, there were six people needing transport, and only five judges. While the other five were transported out, I watched curiously.
After the light from their transport faded, Headmaster Flavius walked over to me.
(Flavius) “I figured I would give you this last chance to back out of this—everyone else participating is at least three times your physical age.”
I smiled at him, every slightly touched by his concern.
(Kai) “Thanks. I’ll be fine, though I do have one question.”
(Flavius) “What is it?”
(Kai) “If I get into a difficult situation, am I allowed to kill?”
He pondered this for a moment, his hand stroking the magnificent beard he had.
(Flavius) “Mh. Try not to. Of course, if you feel that your life is threatened, go for it, but otherwise, I’d rather not lose anyone.”
I nodded. I was fairly sure I would be able to subdue any of the would-be teachers that had shown up with me, but I had very little confidence in holding myself back in a truly deadly situation.
The headmaster places his hand on the rune I stood upon, and the world disintegrated into bright light.
Ah, there’s the nausea I was missing from the gate travel…
----------------------------------------
(POV Headmaster Flavius)
I wasn’t expecting that.
Though, I should have.
Honestly, it seems like Kai is a little too strong for her age. No, much too strong.
Let me explain.
To activate translocational runes like the ones we have used to transport those hopeful teachers, a few things are required.
For the rune to be able to move things in the first place, it needs to have a target to go to. That’s no problem, since we had arranged for the targets to be set up nicely. To designate a target, all someone needs is an object keyed into the specific transport rune. In this case, it was a stick with some runes carved into it.
That’s not what had surprised me, though.
You see, after the target is set up, there’s another requirement to transport someone. The rune must contain at least as much mana in it as the person being transported.
I was pleased by the other person I had transported before Kai, since he had an above average mana pool. I could judge this by how much mana I had to pour into the rune before it begun the transport.
As it turns out, Kai’s mana pool is absolutely monstrous for anyone under one hundred to have, and terrifying considering that she’s only thirteen years old.
Even considering that she’d been reincarnated five times already, she already has nearly one hundred thousand units of mana. It should be nearly impossible to have such a high growth rate. No, it’s nearly god-like.
Unless her level is higher than I thought it was.
Though, if it is, she really does deserve some recognition. I had thought that level fifty was the upper limit that someone her age could reach, and if she’s gone beyond that, then I’d like to see what she accomplishes in her lifetime.
I’ll ask her when she comes back, what her level is.
I have no doubt that she’ll do well in the exam, with that mana pool. And if her other stats are in any way comparable to her mana pool, I fear for the others at the exam site.
----------------------------------------
Immediately after the rune was activated, nausea hit me like that ever so infamous Truck-san.
I felt disorientated, paralyzed and afraid all at the same time. I couldn't move my body, mostly because it temporarily didn’t exist during the transport. Due to the loss of control, I felt afraid—and because the sensation of transporting in some ways resembled another terrible sensation I’d felt a few times before.
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
The transport could have taken a few seconds, or hours. Time didn’t seem to hold the same meaning while it was happening.
It did end, though. A small concussive blast emanated from the spot I had been taken to, and I immediately fell to my knees, vomiting my breakfast out.
I resolved to never use transport runes again.
After I regained my bearings somewhat, I picked up my head, and looked around me. Unfortunately, it seemed that there were quite a few witnesses to see my appearance as I materialized in what seemed to be an expansive forest.
There was a group of people surrounding me, clad in forest green outfits and wearing black armbands. They all held blunted weapons or staffs, and seemed to be looking at me with different levels of disappointment. Curiously, they only seemed to be a few years older than me, with the youngest being around my age, and the oldest around twenty.
The one who looked the oldest had a scraggly beard—the type that told the world that he wasn’t ready to grow one in yet, and pale blue eyes. His hair was blond, and he had the extended ears of an elf. In fact, a quarter of the people around me seemed to me elves, judging from the bloodline response. The blond one seemed to have the strongest bloodline among them, though.
(???) “Are you supposed to be the backup? Shit, guys, looks like we’re boned.”
(Kai) “Egh. Hold on a second. What do you mean, backup?”
I was still fighting off a little residual nausea when the blond-haired elf spoke.
(???) “What, you mean to say that they transported you here without any information, damn half-breed kid?”
(Kai) “My name is Kai, not ‘damn half-breed kid’. And no, they told me very little about this.”
I could hear others speaking in the background, cursing their luck, that they had gotten a small demon child. At least, that was what the humans were doing, until the elves oh-so-helpfully pointed out that I’m mixed race.
(???) “Well, you should at least know how you’ve just screwed us over. This is the fifth year combat training course. We have seven teams of twenty or so in these forests, with certain objectives to completely. We had been told that we would be getting a powerful ally at some point, not some half-demon little girl!”
Wow. He was genuinely angry that his team seemed to get the short end of the stick. Not that they did—I’m almost overkill in this situation. Looks like this exam will be a walk in the park.
Wait, didn’t the headmaster say something about leadership skill?
Ah, so that’s the exam. I need to lead this group through whatever objectives they have. I need to get them to do well— and I can’t do it for them. That’s the point of a teacher, and what they want to judge me on.
First, I need a better idea of what’s going on, then.
Turning to look at the blondey, I stared straight into his eyes.
(Kai) “What’s your name?”
(???) “Wait...What?”
(Kai) “Your name. What is it?”
I put a little regal bearing into my voice, compelling him to answer me.
(???) “It’s...Font Lechamp. Why does that matter?”
Oh, a Lechamp. They’re one of the elven royal families, explaining why his bloodline felt so pure.
(Font) “Never mind. I guess you should just follow us and try not to get hurt, kid.”
How rude, still calling me kid when I had already told him my name. I guess that’s the arrogance of the elven nobility for you. Actually, considering that I’m the paradigm of what they should despise, he’s being kinda nice to me.
Must be chivalry or something.
I was a little pissed at the weakness he thought he saw in me, though.
Actually, that’s an understatement.
I cocked my head to the side in feigned confusion.
(Kai) “Why should I follow weak people like you?”
Font froze, and everyone else seemed to hold their breaths for a second.
Abruptly, someone started laughing.
(???) “Ha! She has a temper, no?”
I looked toward where the voice was coming from, and saw a guy around three years older than me, with pale skin and a two horns arching up from his forehead in front of bright red hair.
He walked over to me energetically, and looked closely at my face.
(???) “Oh! Give her a few years, and she’ll be a top class beauty, no? My name is Azul Gelbonte, son of General Gelbonte. Most just call me Az, though.”
(Kai) “Could you not stand so close?”
(Az) “Why not? Most ladies would love to get this close to me.”
(Kai) “Sorry. Not interested.”
(Az) “You wound me, little lady! Never before has someone not been interested! What would it take for you to see my charm?”
(Kai) “I really don’t want to see any part of you. However, if you must insist on continuing this idiodicy, then a good place to start would be to beat me in a spar.”
I figured I would kill two birds with one stone—By sparing this idiot, he would stop bothering me, and I would be able to demonstrate that I am, indeed, the strongest one present.
Az got a strange look in his eye when I mentioned sparing. Was it eagerness? A little trepidation?
He simply nodded, and got into position ten feet from me, grabbing a blunted longsword.
I dropped the bag still hanging on my shoulder, and held Twilight with the scabbard still on.
(Az) “What, aren’t you going to unsheathe your sword?”
I smiled cheerfully.
(Kai) “No. I’d rather not deal with the clean up afterwards.”
I charged him, crossing the distance between us in a single step, and angling Twilight downwards, sweeping up at his stomach. Surprisingly, he was able to get his sword in a guard position, attempting to block the blow. His eyes grew wide in the next moment, though, when my sheathed sword didn’t stop like he was expecting, instead continuing on and flinging him away from me in a concussive blast. I slipped Twilight back over my shoulder, and turned to the students standing dumbstruck behind me.
(Kai) “Once again, my name is Katariah Nadine Silver, and I was sent here to complete the teacher's exam by guiding you as best I can. Any questions?”
There were none.
----------------------------------------
Author's Note:
For those confused, Nadine comes from Kai's father. Jasper also has this name.