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“And now, it’s time to begin this exciting test for all the young Skyrangers!” the announcer declared, raising his hand. “Count down with me, people! Three…”

Together, the crowd chanted the countdown in unison, further amplifying the exam’s already-high energy. “Two… One…”

The applicants braced themselves, each locking their eyes on different trophies.

“Begin!” the announcer shouted, bringing his hand down. A thirty-minute timer appeared on the digital screen above him, accompanied by a loud beep signaling the start of the test.

Instantly, the applicants scattered across the arena ground. The crowd’s cheers roared in the background.

Aelio didn’t waste a second. He weaved his way through the obstacles toward the wooden tower and Golon, dodging, striking, and slashing his way past smaller monsters.

Despite his fluid movements, his sword barely scratched the monsters, as he had expected. Only Mana-infused weapons could harm their Mana-enhanced bodies—a lesson he had learned from Mavin at the smithy.

Because Golon stood at the center of the arena, anyone who wanted to claim the trophies at the back would have to dodge its massive, sweeping hands. Fortunately, Golon’s slow movements made the task possible. Still, something about it unnerved Aelio.

Since the test began, Golon’s small yellow eyes had been tracking Aelio’s every move, following him like a predator stalking its prey. This was not behavior Aelio had anticipated from a supposedly well-trained monster.

Across the arena, amidst the chaos and the screams of other applicants being chased by monsters, Melfie strolled casually, glancing around and even stretching her arms. Meanwhile, Nino happily smashed the monsters coming her way with precise swings of her hammer.

“This is fun!” Nino exclaimed cheerfully, whacking another monster out of her path. She turned to Melfie with a grin. “You should try, Melfie!”

Dodging a monster lunging at her from the side, Melfie stared back at Nino with disinterest. “Do you still remember our plan in this test?”

Nino tilted her head, casually smashing another monster’s head. “What plan?”

“Of course, you forgot,” Melfie muttered, shaking her head with a sigh. She began reminding Nino of their earlier conversation with Ronnie and Jesska before the practical test.

———

In the hallway near the arena, the four gathered in a small circle to discuss Ronnie’s Operation Rescue Moneymaker.

“Moneymaker?” Melfie repeated, raising an eyebrow.

Ronnie nodded. “That’s right. Apparently, someone is bribing a judge to sabotage the practical test and make a boy fail using monsters. Whoever this boy is, he’ll be a great addition to our crew.”

“Oooh, new member!” Nino bounced on her feet. “What’s his name?”

“That’s the issue here.” Ronnie scratched his head, glancing away. “I didn’t catch the boy’s name during their conversation.”

“Wow. What a great job from our captain.” Melfie scoffed, rolling her eyes.

Ronnie’s shoulders slumped but quickly recovered as he forced a hopeful smile. “W-we have a lead on how to find him, though!”

———

Melfie turned her attention to the chaos erupting across the arena. “If they’re using monsters to sabotage someone, then we’ll just have to find the person who’s being targeted by the monsters more than the others.”

Nino’s face lit up. “Ah! I see! Then let’s go check on everyone!”

“Yeah, you do that,” Melfie replied, turning right. “I’ll go check the other side.”

Despite the attention being divided among the applicants, the majority of the crowd was watching Melfie with intrigue—not just because she was unarmed, but because she was so utterly calm, walking among the monsters running around her.

Now separated from Nino, there was no one to clear out the monsters for her anymore. Soon enough, monsters began to come at her again. One monster, with a wolf-like appearance, lunged at her with its fangs bared.

Melfie remained unfazed, continuing her steady pace forward as she raised her hand toward the wolf. A small orb of translucent purple liquid started to form inches from her palm before abruptly firing at the monster’s face like a water cannon at point-blank range, knocking the poor thing to the ground.

The display of magic from someone so youthful stunned the crowd—even the announcer himself. “Whoa, we’ve got a young and promising mage over there!”

From the bleachers, Jesska acknowledged their surprise. Because magic typically manifested when one was at least twenty, most applicants were too young to harness it. Not to mention, talented mages tended to apply to more suitable organizations for their abilities rather than skyranger.

Melfie was only there because of her circumstances.

From the other side of Golon, across from Melfie, Aelio was getting closer to the wooden tower, carefully circling around to ensure he didn’t trap himself between the monsters.

As focused as he was on the special trophy at the top of the tower, he still managed to spare time to help other applicants struggling against the monsters along his path, giving them another chance.

The black-haired judge clenched his jaw as he glanced at the other judges writing down Aelio’s score on their papers. As he had thought, Aelio was performing better than last year, his performance already surpassing more than half of all the applicants.

But Aelio hadn’t used his trump card yet.

As per the test’s rules, each applicant was allowed to bring one tool into the test to aid them. This rule was hidden and could only be found in the very room where applicants chose their weapons before being sent into the arena. This meant that only those with good connections and people who had failed the test before knew about it.

As Golon began to close in on him, Aelio pointed his left arm at the nearby wooden structures and triggered the gadget on his forearm. With a click, a dark rope with a claw-like tip launched from the gadget, securing a tight grip on the structure. Aelio used it to pull himself past Golon’s massive hand.

The crowd roared with excitement as the announcer exclaimed, “Ooh! We’ve got a grappling hook in play as well! This year’s test is so much better than the last!”

Mael kept his eyes on Aelio from his seat, barely blinking. He had spoken with Aelio about the gadget before the exam began. Aelio had admitted that he had only been practicing with the grappling hook for two months, yet he insisted on using it to maximize his chances of passing.

What worried Mael was that Aelio’s unrefined mastery of the gadget might backfire.

And soon enough, Mael’s fears came true.

Aiming again at the wooden tower, Aelio shot the rope and hooked it onto one of the pillars, pulling himself across the arena. Since there were other applicants near the tower base, he expected Golon to target them first. Even if Golon came after him, Aelio believed the rope would pull him fast enough to avoid the attack.

But Golon’s hand struck him mid-air, fast and hard, right in his side. The force of the blow sent his entire body flying in an arc, slamming him straight into a stack of wooden crates below. The crates shattered into pieces, kicking up a cloud of dust.

Aelio’s steel sword flew from his grip, spinning through the air before landing on the dusty ground nearby.

“Aelio!” Mael shouted as he raised from his seat and rushed to the edge of the arena.

Gasps filled the dome, mixed with a few screams of terror. The sound of Aelio crashing into the crates was loud enough to draw the attention of everyone in the arena as well.

The black-haired judge stared at the scene with wide eyes. ‘Crap, that was too much force!’ His heart pounded in his chest as he and the other judges remained frozen in their seats, mirroring the rest of the dome.

All eyes were on the shattered pile of wood as the dust began to settle. Depending on Aelio’s condition, the test might need to be paused to ensure his safety—and his score would inevitably be affected in the process.

A drop of crimson blood dripped from his head onto the ground as Aelio struggled to stand back up, his shaking hands pressing against the ground for support.

“A-are you okay?!” the announcer immediately asked with concern, the cheering momentarily silenced.

Aelio’s breathing was raspy as he slowly lifted himself up. The ringing in his head made it difficult to hear anything, yet he knew he had to show them he was alright.

He retracted the rope back into the gadget, its bent tip now stuck in the opening, before raising his left hand high above his head—a forced show of his willingness to continue the test.

The announcer hesitated for a moment but then made up his mind. Despite the injury, Aelio wanted to keep going, and he respected that. “He’s alright and still kicking ass!”

His reassuring declaration stirred the dome’s mood back to its earlier thrill and excitement. Luckily, the crowd seemed to interpret the scene as part of the surprises the exam brought, along with Golon.

Seeing Aelio still standing, Mael let out a sigh of relief, but his worry hadn’t faded away completely just yet.

A low, guttural groan escaped Ronnie’s O-shaped lips. “That was a direct hit. Seems like it hurts—a lot.”

“But at least we can now move on to our plan’s next step,” Jesska responded, sipping her drink.

“Next step?” Ronnie turned to her before realizing what she meant. “Ooh, you’re right!”

In the arena, Melfie stood still as she looked at Golon. ‘That hit was faster than any other attacks so far,’ she analyzed, shifting her gaze to Aelio. ‘Gotta be that guy.’

She looked over her shoulder. “Nino! Come here—”

Across the arena ground, on top of some wooden structures, Nino was already waving a trophy cheerfully with her hand, her expression as happy as ever. “Melfie, look! I got the trophy~!”

Melfie blinked her half-closed eyes a few times before letting out a sigh and muttering something to herself. “You dummy.”

“We got our first trophy claimed after ten minutes!” the announcer declared, prompting a roaring cheer from the crowd.

The arena’s focus on Aelio slowly faded as other applicants resumed their tasks to secure a trophy for themselves.

Swiftly, a staff member came in through the nearby door to take the trophy from Nino. “You can leave now, miss.”

“Oh? Leave?” Nino stared back at him innocently, turning back to Melfie. “But I want to stay for a while longer, though.”

The staff chuckled. “I’m sorry, but that’s not possible. Once you claim a trophy, you’re automatically out of the arena.”

Nino froze in place for a moment before slowly realizing it. “…Oh.”

Ronnie’s jaw dropped in disbelief as he watched the staff escort Nino out of the arena ground. Meanwhile, Jesska watched with wide eyes, but there was less surprise in her expression compared to Ronnie’s.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

“Hah… Oh well.” Melfie shook her head softly, turning her attention back to Golon and Aelio. “Guess I’ll just do this myself.”

For the first time since the test started, Melfie began sprinting, her capelet fluttering behind her as she grabbed onto her beret to prevent it from falling.

Aelio brought his left arm down to inspect the gadget’s condition. After confirming that the tip had indeed bent beyond usability, he focused on finding his sword.

However, the monsters had already begun swarming him. Luckily, Golon seemed to be targeting other applicants for the time being.

His body ached all over, but he gritted his teeth as he took a heavy step forward, then another, before turning it into a full-on sprint.

Monsters lunged at him from all directions. He jumped and ducked, weaving his way through while scanning for his sword. Finally, he spotted it, but another monster slammed him further away, sending him rolling across the ground.

Just as another monster was about to lunge at him again, it was sent flying by a burst of purple water that materialized out of thin air.

Aelio stared at the soaked ground in front of him as the water quickly dissipated, leaving the earth dry once again in mere seconds. He got up, trying to piece things together. ‘Was that magic?’

“Hey!” Melfie’s voice snapped Aelio’s attention back to the direction of his sword, where he saw her picking it up before tossing it in front of him. “If you want to pass the test, then hurry up!”

Slightly panting, Aelio grabbed the sword and rose to his feet. As he looked over, he recognized her from before the test. “I don’t know who you are, but thanks!”

With that, the two sprinted toward the wooden tower, attracting both Golon and the crowd’s attention in the process.

Clearing out monsters with her magic, Melfie shouted to Aelio, “You’ll need to climb the tower if you want that trophy!”

“I know!” Aelio shouted back, leaping and hacking his way through the monsters. At times, he crossed paths with Melfie as they moved like a synchronized whirlwind through the horde, heading in the same direction.

The cheering grew even louder when the two confronted Golon. Its sweeping hands had returned to their previous speed, making them easier to dodge.

Although Melfie was quite deft, her stamina and strength weren’t nearly as high as Aelio’s. To compensate, she formed larger orbs in the shape of spheroids, using them as bouncing platforms to maneuver around the arena while keeping a fair distance from her threats.

Meanwhile, Aelio slid past the hands from underneath and through Golon’s short legs before reaching the base of the wooden tower, swarmed by insect-like monsters. The buzzing sound filled the air as their wings fluttered at high speed.

Aelio paused to catch his breath, but Golon’s pursuit forced him into action prematurely, leaving him barely any time to prepare mentally or physically.

He glanced at the timer high up on the wall, just above the announcer. Only fourteen minutes remained before the test ended.

In the background, amidst the crowd’s cheering, the announcer reported a few more trophies being claimed by other applicants, adding to the sense of urgency as Aelio ascended the spiral stairs.

One monster darted in—he ducked. Another came—he smashed it with the sword’s hilt. Step by step, he climbed while Golon was busy with other applicants.

Sweat ran down the black-haired judge’s face as he watched Aelio getting closer and closer to the trophy. The cheering grew louder by the second. He wanted to stop him, but destroying the tower would be going too far.

Yet, knowing Mavin—his foolish friend—he would most likely try something even more reckless to stop the boy from succeeding if this plan failed. And his mistake would inevitably lead the guardians straight back to him.

Right now, no matter how selfish it seemed, the judge chose his friend over a random boy he didn’t even know. Injecting his thoughts into Golon, he gave it the next command.

Its hand swept in an arc through the top part of the tower, utterly obliterating the structure into small pieces as debris flew in all directions. The sound of wood cracking and breaking echoed throughout the arena, drawing everyone’s attention.

Once again, the sudden destruction shocked the dome, but this time, part of the crowd continued to cheer, oblivious to what was really happening.

The entire tower shook violently as Aelio grabbed hold of a nearby pillar, looking up to see that the top—and the trophy—were completely gone.

“What the heck?!” he exclaimed, urgently scanning the surroundings for the tower’s remains. Yellow dust from shattered wood began to engulf him, filling his nose with its sharp, earthy scent.

But what he found wasn’t just the tower’s remains; it was Melfie on her knees with her beret on the ground. A piece of wooden debris lay nearby, smaller than the other pieces but still large compared to her petite form.

Aelio’s eyes widened as he processed the scene ahead of him. ‘She got hit?’ His eyes flickered to the timer: nine minutes and ticking down. ‘There’s still time!’

He jumped out of the tower and sprinted toward her, sword in hand, managing to pick up her beret on the way.

“Hey, are you okay?” he asked, crouching down to help her up and noticing dusty spots on her clothes.

Her face remained as stiff as usual. “Worry about yourself; you’re the target.”

“What?”

Before he could say anything else, the vibrations of Golon’s stomping steps approached, its shadow looming over them.

Locking eyes with it, Aelio swallowed hard. “So it’s really just going for me in particular, huh?”

“If you understand, then hurry up and get that trophy before someone else does,” Melfie ordered firmly as she stood up with him, snatching her beret back and tucking it into her belt.

Aelio quickly looked over at the remains of the tower’s top further away before turning back to the approaching Golon. “I don’t know where it is. Do you?”

She paused, frowning. “No.”

“Then there’s no point running around while this guy’s chasing my tail—which I don’t even have.”

“So what do you want to do?” She turned to him.

“We’re gonna fight.”

“Are you dumb? We only have seven minutes left,” she said, glancing at the timer. “Less than seven.”

“Relax. I’m not saying we should actually defeat it—just fight instead of running around blindly. If we get higher up, it’ll be easier to spot the trophy.” Aelio began stepping back as Golon closed in, prompting Melfie to do the same.

“Another claimed a trophy!” the announcer suddenly reported, drawing their attention. “Don’t worry—the special one’s still available!”

Nodding, Aelio turned back to Golon. “You ready?”

“Who are you talking to?” Melfie replied with a smirk. “I’ve wanted to beat that thing up since the beginning.”

Without further warning, the duo dashed forward, charging head-on at Golon as the entire dome erupted in cheers.

Melfie formed multiple purple spheroids, creating platforms that led upward for both of them. At this point, their only obstacle was Golon; the other monsters couldn’t reach or keep up.

Golon swung its hand down, narrowly missing as Aelio leaped onto its arm and ran up its length instead. Despite its smooth skin, it wasn’t slippery and provided a stable surface to stand on.

Mael couldn’t stay seated anymore; his grip on the arena’s edge tightened. ‘Only five minutes left, Aelio. Hurry up.’

On his way upward, Aelio sliced along Golon’s arms but only managed to leave faint marks, which might as well have been caused by the dust the sword picked up earlier. The blade did absolutely nothing.

“The head!” Melfie shouted from the other side of Golon, blasting her magic at its body as a distraction. “That’s its weak spot!”

Aelio shifted his gaze back to Golon’s triangular head, which was rather small compared to the rest of its body. “Give me a boost!”

Without hesitation, a few spheroids of purple liquid formed ahead of him, lifting him up toward the head as Melfie flanked from the other side, already preparing a fair-sized orb for a point-blank attack.

Aelio realized his attack wouldn’t do as much damage if he just used the sword to slice. However, he could try knocking Golon instead. With all his might, he threw his sword straight at its head, hilt pointing forward.

At the same time, Melfie fired her magic. Her short burst of power synchronized perfectly with the moment Aelio’s sword hit its head, amplifying the damage enough to leave Golon momentarily stunned.

The dome roared with excitement as Golon staggered back and fell onto its butt, while the two landed on new spheroids forming beneath them.

Panting, Aelio’s gaze lingered on Golon for a moment before shifting to the timer. “Just over three minutes. Where’s the trophy?”

They both looked around as the crowd’s cheering filled their ears. At last, Melfie spotted it hiding behind some obstacles below. “Over there.”

She formed a staircase leading down for him as he hopped down, both of them feeling exhausted. However, as she turned back to Golon, she noticed something.

The monsters below, watching their combined force temporarily take out Golon, stood still—too afraid to interfere.

Aelio approached the beautiful trophy lying on the ground among broken structures, his steps slow but steady.

His tired senses focused so much on the trophy that he didn’t notice the change in atmosphere as the cheering slowly faded, replaced with gasps.

A hand picked up the trophy—but it wasn’t Aelio’s. Watching the trophy being lifted slowly, his eyes followed the movement to see another applicant, a boy about his age with blackish-purple hair, pulling the trophy into his arms.

Ronnie’s jaw dropped once again at the scene below, turning to Jesska. “Where did he come from?!”

“He was hiding among the structures there the whole time,” she replied, sipping the last bit of her drink. “Then the trophy just came knocking on his door.”

“I-I…” the boy stammered, taking a couple of steps back from Aelio as he stared at him with his ebony-black eyes, hugging the trophy tightly. “I… w-want to pass too.”

Aelio’s emerald eyes met the boy’s, his mouth slightly ajar as he struggled to process the situation. “But… huh?” he whispered, heartbroken.

The announcer was as speechless as the rest of the dome, but he had no choice but to report. “Th-the special trophy… worth three times the points of a regular one… h-has been claimed!”

There was no cheering after that—just suffocating silence and murmurs from the bleachers, with some even shouting at the boy for stealing the trophy.

After a few moments, a loud beep echoed as the timer hit zero, signaling the end of the skyranger exam’s practical test.

Melfie, who had managed to find herself a trophy just in time before the test ended, looked back at Aelio’s seemingly frozen form. “Welp, too bad.”

Afterward, the staff escorted the applicants out of the arena, cleaned up the space, and took care of the monsters. The crowds left the exam dome with mixed reactions—some thought it was unfair, while others argued that Aelio was simply careless and responsible for his mistake.

Walking out into the hallway with his gaze glued to the ground, Aelio quickly reunited with Mael, who came running toward him.

“Aelio!” Mael called out, slowing his steps as he reached him. “You already did great. I’m sure you’ll pass.”

Aelio’s eyes remained fixed downward. “You think so?”

“Of course I do!” Mael raised his voice, pulling Aelio’s attention to him. “So don’t feel so bad about it.”

Aelio stared back quietly before looking down again as people passed by. He clenched his right fist, raising it slightly. “I had it. It was right there. If I had just gone for it—”

He started to raise his voice but stopped himself, letting his fist fall limply to his side. “Oh well. Let’s go back. Elric’s probably waiting at the school.”

Seeing his forced smile, Mael’s words caught in his throat. But then, someone joined their conversation.

“Excuse me,” a staff member approached them, her tone steady as she looked at Aelio. “Can you come with me to the office?”

Blinking, Aelio pointed at himself. “Me?”

“Yes.” She nodded, turning to Mael. “Everyone else will have to wait outside. This is about the practical test.”

Aelio and Mael exchanged glances briefly before they both followed the staff deeper into the facility, away from the crowd leaving the dome.

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Arriving at their destination, the staff gestured for Mael to wait outside before opening the door and leading Aelio into the room.

Inside, Aelio was met with several faces, some familiar. Among the staff were the exam judges, with Melfie, Nino, and two other adults he didn’t recognize standing on the other side of the room.

But there was something else in the room that caught his attention. The black-haired judge, out of all four judges, was the only one surrounded by staff, while the others stood nearby.

“Ah, welcome, Aelio Godfoot,” one of the judges, a tall, brown-haired woman, said, extending her hand. “Please, come closer.”

Nodding, Aelio stepped forward, glancing at Melfie, who stood with her eyes closed and arms crossed. “Can I help you, ma’am?”

She gestured towards Melfie’s group. “Oh, no. But perhaps these people will be able to help you.”

Aelio glancing back to see Nino waving cheerfully beside Melfie, despite her efforts to appear composed. The other two—a stout man and a red-haired woman—were strangers to him.

“We’ve finished scoring all twenty-four applicants,” another judge chimed in, adjusting his glasses. “Only nine of them passed. And because another applicant did most of the hard work, you’re not one of them despite being the test’s highlight.”

Aelio’s heart sank at the judge’s confirmation. His eyes widened briefly before returning to normal as he lowered his head. “I see…”

“However,” the judge continued, pulling Aelio’s attention back up, “we’ve discovered that the test was sabotaged, thanks to that same applicant.”

Melfie stepped forward, raising her hand to display a blue square object, its tiny size barely visible to Aelio despite his close proximity. “I found this on Golon’s head.”

“It’s a special chip used to prevent monsters from going on a rampage,” the brown-haired judge explained. “But we don’t normally use it on trained monsters, as they’re already raised to be peaceful. Using it might actually make them more aggressive.”

Aelio listened closely, giving his full attention, though he only understood part of the explanation.

The judge continued, adjusting his glasses. “We were informed that the chip might have been installed on Golon by one of our judges, so we searched his head carefully and…”

He walked up to the black-haired judge, pulling his bangs apart to reveal the matching chip stuck on the right side of his forehead. “We found the culprit.”

Aelio stared at the black-haired judge, who remained silent and avoided eye contact. He was sure he didn’t know him from anywhere. “But why?”

“We’ll get him to answer that later. But for now,” the brown-haired judge replied before turning back to Melfie’s group, “I want to introduce your saviors: Ronnie Holver, Jesska Norman, Melfie Ashton, and Nino Golock.”

Unable to keep quiet any longer, Nino threw her arms in the air. “Yaaay! We did it!”

“I think it’s more like Melfie did it,” Jesska pointed out.

“They’re a skyranger unit, known as ‘The Horizon,’” the judge with glasses added. “It was actually their idea to bring you here and let you know about the situation. We personally preferred keeping things confidential.”

Aelio froze in place as he looked over at Melfie’s group, then back at the judges. “So, does that mean I… pass?”

The brown-haired judge nodded. “Congratulations, you’re the tenth applicant to pass the skyranger exam this year.”

Aelio’s face lit up instantly, his smile returning as all the exhaustion seemed to fade away. “Thank you!” He then turned to Melfie and the gang. “Thank you so much for helping me!”

“About that, Aelio,” Ronnie finally spoke up, clearing his throat and squeezing himself between Jesska and Nino to stand in front. “How about joining our crew? You know, since we helped you and all.” He glanced at Aelio with a hopeful look.

Without hesitation, Aelio accepted the offer. “Of course! I’m glad to be part of your team, Mr. Ronnie!”

Ronnie’s smile widened, feeling both happy and proud that his plan had worked. “Welcome to The Horizon’s crew.”

Then Aelio realized something, quickly looking at the door and back at them. “I—I gotta tell my brother. Can I?”

“You can leave now. Have a good day,” the judge nodded as she turned to Ronnie. “You too, sir. We’ll take care of the chip and our judge.”

After handing over the chip, the group exited the room. Loud chatter echoed from outside before fading away as the door closed shut again.

The brown-haired judge looked over at the black-haired judge. “Anyone else with you on this?”

Silence filled the room as he remained silent, his eyes on the floor. After a moment, he looked up to meet her gaze. “No, just me.”

She stared back, skeptical of his answer but didn’t press further. “We’ve got a lot to discuss after this.”

Later, the exam results were posted on the noticeboard for all to see. Out of twenty-four applicants, only ten passed, with Aelio’s name at the bottom of the list.

And so, the skyranger exam of Nelma officially came to an end, with skyrangers beginning to scout the applicants who passed to add them to their crews.

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