Originally, Theo’s greatest gripe with the exam was all about balancing his answers.

Even though this was the first of the two written exams, and one that was only supposed to check whether the cadets possessed the absolute minimum of knowledge and ability to actually study at the royal academy…

Maxing out its score was bound to bring more attention upon Theo than he was willing to endure. That, in turn, greatly raised the test’s difficulty, for Theo now not only had to be able to answer every question perfectly… but then cut down on his answers so that his score wouldn’t lead to too many eyebrows being raised.

‘That was what I thought this test would be all about, but to think I would be too distracted to even raise my eyes…’

The reason for Theo’s foul mood was simple.

One of the two perverts that spent several hours doing nothing but just watching him pretend to sleep was the exam’s proctor!

“This exam, while not as heavy in terms of the score tokens you can gain from it, is decisive for those who want to advance to the royal academy. What’s more…”

Theo hardly paid any attention to the camp’s intendent as he walked through the huge class filled with nothing but simple stools paired with single desks. Or rather, he did his absolute best not to pay attention to the man, worried his momentary expression of disgust, if noticed, could reveal how he was aware of that man’s weird preferences.

‘If I learned anything about how the world works, it’s that sometimes it’s better to pretend not to know than try to make the best use of what you know.’

And so, Theo sat down on his stool, leaning heavily over his desk while waiting for the camp’s intendent to finish his round, stop enjoying the sound of his own voice, and finally distribute the papers to all the cadets.

Finally, after what felt like well over an hour, the exam’s proctor finished his overly long speech and placed a stack of papers on the front desk of each row, only to then instruct the cadets to help themselves to one packet of the papers before passing the rest of them to the back.

“I hereby announce the start of the exam!”

This was the first sentence of the man that Theo paid any real attention to. And as he raised his eyes, he did so just in time to see the man flip a huge hourglass sitting on the lecturer’s desk before retreating to the back of the room from where he had a good view of the entire classroom.

‘Now, let’s see…’

Leaning down over the paper, Theo opened up its first page while already grabbing his feather and dipping its sharpened tip into a small bottle of ink sitting in a special slot on his otherwise perfectly ordinary slab of wood of a desk.

[Write your full name and registry number]

‘Right, what did I even expect?’ Theo thought, stopping himself from rolling his eyes as he quickly scribed a total of four letters and then seven numbers.

[What’s the name of the kingdom you are a part of?]

Theo took a deep breath.

‘Now I know why I couldn’t remember even a single detail of what this test was all about,’ he thought as he dipped his feather in the ink again.

[Carean Kingdom]

There was another name, an official name that the royal scribes would put on the royal-stamped documents and all the diplomatic papers. But on this test, writing something like “The Federation of Carro and Lerean of House Helran, sanctified by the union of His Majesty Tyrol the Great and Her Holiness Ester the Pure”…

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‘Yeah, I better not do that,’ Theo thought, his lips curving up a tiny little bit as he imagined the wild scenario where he would forgo all caution and go all in on this simple test, giving out answers some of the royal scribes would struggle to come up with on the spot.

Thankfully, after a few more questions regarding local noble houses, basic laws all had to follow, differences between peasants and the nobles, and the likes, the test finally reached the one and only part Theo could remember.

For it was one of the sourest memories of his original timeline he still retained in his mind, even all those years later.

[Explain the standardized system of ranks]

Seeing this string of letters that converged to make up words and then pass on the examiners’ meaning, Theo let out a heavy sigh before dipping his feather a bit deeper into the ink vial than before.

[A standardized system of ranks aims to split up every field that one can progress through to grow their skill and ability, reflected by the improvements to the results of his crafts. The standard dictates a total of three realms of mastery, each consisting of three ranks depicting the degree of growth within the realm, and a realm of true mastery. Those realms are that of a rookie, adept, and professional, each divided into early, advanced, and late rank.]

So far, this was Theo’s longest answer. Yet, he didn’t need to fear anyone suspecting him because of how formal it was.

Just like the ranking system itself, the formula describing it was also standardized and was something that every cadet had to be able to recite at any point of the day, even if woken up in the middle of the night, beaten to the verge of consciousness, and then tasked to recite it.

When it came to understanding what any of the words within that formula meant, however…

‘I’m willing to bet not a single fellow in this room could explain what it actually means,’ Theo thought, happy to move on from the question as soon as he could.

Back in his original lifetime, this exact formula was what kept him depressed for years as his lacking talent meant all of his efforts and results would never be rated in a just way.

Then, Theo’s heart dropped a little when he saw the next question.

[If someone obtains seventh rank as a swordsman, eighth rank as an attack mage, and fifth rank as a cook, what will be his corresponding social rank?]

Theo took a deep breath before inking his pen and getting to writing while trying to ignore the stifling feeling in his heart.

[Eighth rank]

This standardized system of ranks had no concept of mixing ranks. And while it wasn’t as bad as to take an average out of all the ranks one obtained… it only ever accounted for the highest rank within one’s arsenal.

It was exactly for this reason why Theo had to endure the mental torture of his friends holding themselves back from accepting their rightfully earned quasi-noble title that all those who stepped into the realm of a professional could attain with just a little bit of bureaucratic effort. A grief he then went through again, when his friends held back—just for his sake—from becoming fully-fledged nobles when they all reached the tenth and final rank in each of their respective fields of expertise.

Thankfully, with this question, the examiners moved on to much broader stuff like listing out the most popular fields, highlighting benefits of joining the academy, or outlining the duties of all those born in the common status.

At that stage, however, Theo had to intentionally drag his hand down, pretending to put a lot more effort into the writing than he actually needed, all to avoid the scenario where he would be the first to finish the exam and grow perfectly still.

In the end, just like during the marathon exam, Theo waited for four other cadets to close their tests first before submitting his own and escaping the pervert-overseen classroom.

“Haaah…” Stepping out from the building, Theo took a deep breath before relaxing his slightly sore muscles.

The pain of what he went through in the forest was still there, constantly reminding the young man of the perils of what awaited him in the times and adventures to come. But, for the short moment of breathing out, he managed to calm down, shut his thoughts, and relax.

‘Just one more test to go,’ Theo thought, reverting for but a moment to his past self from his first lifetime, a time where he actually took those exams seriously. ‘Just one more, and I will be all done and ready to enter the academy!’

Theo rejoiced, trying to ignore the nagging feeling of his reason trying to remind him that, according to his very own plans, his time at the academy was going to be much, MUCH worse than anything this knightling camp could throw at him.

Only for Gracian to emerge from behind the corner of a nearby dining hall, with his huge, vicious smile forcing Theo right back to reality.

“How did you do?” Gracian shouted over the distance, a dark mist preceding every step of his as if he was some sort of a legendary boss monster for Theo to defeat.

“I think…”

“I don’t care.” Before Theo could even attempt to reply, Gracian cut him off only to reach to his belt, pull out a wooden sword, and toss it in Theo’s general direction. “Now, stop slacking like all those idiots around and get your arse back to the dueling grounds. On the double!”