The final blow from the knights had seemingly launched me to a room on the other side of the wall, one which seemed to have no role in the test. Though my body was still completely broken and beaten from the very one sided slaughter I had just been thrown into, an effort was made on my part to seem presentable.

It was pretty easy to land on the conclusion that the people that now surrounded me were not normal, and should they have no real influence over the test, there was no harm in maintaining a respectful attitude.

Taking note of my struggle to rise to my feet, one of the men standing to the left of me, raised his hand and my body began to float upwards. I drifted across the room before being dropped onto a nearby chair.

Now that vision was no longer restricted to only the ceiling, the differences in the current room and the last were apparent. The décor and make of the room was one that seemed much more natural, all carrying the same air as all the other establishments I’d been to. Which obviously weren’t a lot but certainly enough to compare.

The five people, three men and two women, continued to observe me for a few moments. It was as if they couldn’t decide if they wanted to kill me or keep me as a pet. This awkward tension that built up, quickly became the second most uncomfortable situation I’d ever been in.

The first being one I shall never talk about again.

Finally, the man who moved me spoke up.

“What happened?”

I’d expected my ability to speak had ceased to function after my beat down, but apparently blood was just as good as spit.

“Knights. Wall. Fight. Test.” Every word was more strenuous than the last. It felt as though my vocal chords were being rubbed against shards of glass.

They all turned to look at the hole, two even going up to inspect it. Once they’d all confirmed the truth of my words, a round of questioning began.

“What is your name?” The same man asked.

“Cyrus.”

“How old?” This time one of the women spoke up.

“18.”

A few of them clicked their tongues in disappointment, which I couldn’t quite understand if it meant they expected me to be younger or older.

“And just to clarify, are you taking the preliminary examinations for The Terrakis Academy of Academis Heartile?” The first man questioned.

At this point, I chose it better to let my throat take a moment to heal. So my response came in the form of a simple head nod, which hurt just as much.

The mans’ eyebrow shot up in confusion, and his nose crinkled.

“Son. you are aware that the test of the armoured knights is not the site for the preliminary examinations, right? In fact it’s not a part of our entrance examination at all. It is a testing ground for only our most experienced and advanced students.”

My expression grew sour, but from all the bruises and blood on my face it probably seemed like a muscles spasm or some kind of pain reaction.

‘How the hell was I supposed to know that?’ I wanted to cry out, but naturally couldn’t. For various reasons.

‘Infra can my throat be healed through meditation?’

‘It’s been four weeks since I awakened my Heartile!’

Slowly, I allowed for my eyes to close as five middle aged onlookers watched, waiting for me to speak. It was difficult to not try and lose consciousness once my eyes closed, but as the Tecz flowed through me once more, I could instantly feel the alertness of my body return.

‘That’s never going to get old.’

My eyes opened once more, and I let out a small ‘hmph’ to clear my throat. Though it was still sore, it was no longer strained when I spoke.

“I just clicked on the button on your website like my chip told me, next thing I know, I’m in a room with two murderous gigantic suits of armour.” I put it bluntly, hoping they let it slide under the thought process of me being in great pain.

My original plan of maintaining a respectful attitude was thrown out the window when I found I’d been thrown into a life threatening battle due to some kind of slip up.

“Interesting.” They all murmured in unison.

“Could it have been a distance malfunction?”

“The dean wouldn’t do something that stupid! The maze must’ve switched at the moment he was transported!”

“That’s more improbable and stupid than what I said!”

“Who are you calling stupid, you hag!”

“Enough!” The oldest of the four cried out. She approached me slowly, her gaze piercing through me. Her stare remained on me, observing me like some kind of lab rat.

Finally her expression softened.

“I do apologize my dear for the mishap, but unfortunately you’ve already missed the real preliminary exams, and we know that it wasn’t your fault, but we cannot make any exceptions. So what we can do is get you healed up, compensate you for the mishap and send you on your way.” She smiled, as if it was supposed to make everything better.

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Though this setback wasn’t a complete roadblock to my life's roadmap, it did significantly disrupt the timeline I hoped to abide by. According to Infra, the exams only happen once every five years.

And even if in five years my growth is exceptional, and I become some kind of unrivalled hotshot, a lot can happen in five years. What if I don’t survive for five years? Or if my uncle doesn’t survive? Or if he quits his job?

There was definitely a better order to list those things in, but my point stands.

However, no matter how much I wanted to protest, I didn’t. Or more specifically, I couldn’t. I was tired. My body and mind were a mess, and I couldn’t look any more pathetic than I already did.

So I let my head nod in defeat and began to stand.

Clunk!

The key fell from my pockets as I stood.

The woman immediately went to grab it. Her eyes pierced through me as a suppressive aura spread over me.

“How did you get this?”

I was already in a critical state, and the current suppression I’ve been placed under was in no way helpful.

Clearly the women took note of my expression and ease the suppression by just enough to allow me to speak.

“It was under the big desk in the other room. I thought it was how I could pass the test so I snatched it.” My mind drifted as I wondered if they sold good tea in The Underground.

Her tone and reaction were a bit surprising, but it was probably because she assumed I was trying to steal it.

The aura completely dispersed from my body, and the women's expression flickered back to one of a sweet old lady.

It was frightening.

“You know what, we had two less participants pass the preliminary exams this year than our average quota. Why don’t we see what you’re capable of.”

My eyes lit up.

“Yes, definitely! You won’t regret this.”

“You’d better hope so.” She smiled.

‘Creepy, but still. Mood unaffected.’

“Now run along through that door, it’ll take you back to where you were originally transported from. The process will be the same when the main exam commences, except you’ll be directly sent the invitation. The main exam will be held in three months, so do not waste your time.”

I nodded my head, shook the hands of all who were present and walked through the door.

⥁

The four others turned to stare at the older women.

“Why’d you let him through?” The man who first questioned Cyrus spoke up.

“I found him interesting.” The woman shrugged her shoulders.

“And what about the key? That’s just the-”

“Cleaners, I know.” The woman interrupted. “Just think about it as my own way of testing him. In that state he was able to hold himself together against my suppression. Even though he’s weak, his willpower makes up for it ten fold.” She smiled.

“But-”

“That's enough!” The woman shouted, aura flowed through her words, instantly suppressing the others. “I am the Dean of this academy, and as Dean I make whatever decision I want. And you forget that I’ve only allowed him to participate in the main exam, I haven’t given him a free entry.”

The women sneered and left the room.

“Do not make me regret this, Fortis.” She mumbled.

⥁

I was over the moon. So what if my condition was terrible? So what if they brought me to the wrong place and I almost died. I was still alive, and most importantly, I passed. Now of course there was still the confusion on why that old woman suddenly changed her mind, but I could care less.

A pass was a pass, and that was all the reasoning I needed.

⥁

“Say what you want to say, Infra. Stop beating around the bush.” I grunted, the excess talking was messing up my concentration.

The wooden Weaver dropped from my hand as I finally allowed myself to take a break. It had already been six days since that sorry excuse of a test, but I’d made little to no progress. Though I had so much time left, and my Heartile felt tremendously close to breaking through once more, it felt as though I’d hit another wall.

And of course the Heartile pain could just be chest pain from the severe lack of sleep that I’d mistaken for a breakthrough. But I tried to not allow pessimism to consume me.

Since returning to The Underground after the test, my reputation of being a free win to others records did not falter in the slightest. Despite putting close to half of my day into training both my body and Heartile, my combat prowess and ability seemed to be improving far too slowly.

The book Goblin left behind was a great help in teaching me the fundamentals of fighting, but there was only so much I could learn from a book. But to get real experience I needed to be able to last longer than five seconds in a real fight. Which I could do if my only sparring partners weren’t bags on sand shaped like people.

I reached for my Weaver once more just as Infra spoke up.

It felt weird to have Infra ask me a question, and not the other way around. Of course there was also the strange aspect of Infra just being a chip in my head, which wasn’t something I liked to think about very often.

However, I didn’t need more than a second to think, to answer the question, as it was already something I thought about.

“Sure, it was all terrifying to me at first. I mean those first few hours in the hospital, after hearing everything from you, I wanted nothing more than to wake up once more and find that the world hadn’t changed. I desperately wanted to be woken up by a familiar face, and cry tears of relief knowing that the nightmare was truly over.

But when that first night came and went, I knew that this was all very real. And I knew that no amount of second-guessing, questioning, doubting or even giving up would change anything. So I pushed it all to the back of my head, and I have no intention of wasting time thinking about any of it till I have the power to do something about it.

Then of course, when you told me about my Uncle, I wanted to instantly run to the nearest phone and give him a call. The sheer thought of recognizing someone's voice was unreal to me, and then you told me it was impossible, that the Academy was so shut off from the rest of the world that nothing got in or out.

Naturally, that had to be suppressed as well. So it’s not that I’m without doubts, or without confusion but I can’t afford to let anything drag me down right now.”

…

“You’re right, Infra.”

There was a small moment of anger, but it would have felt far too weird if Infra said something sappy or comforting.

And though it did feel odd to share something so personal with a robot, it did feel good to finally get it off my chest.