Before going to sleep, Kane undid the seal, opened the spell book, and tried to comprehend the spell. Unfortunately, it didn’t go as smoothly as planned.
“Hm, why is this book filled with gibberish? Did I get tricked?” Kane scratched his head. It only contained strange symbols. They were vaguely familiar but still, he had no idea what to do with the spell book.
“If it’s like this then… whatever. I’ll bring it with me tomorrow and ask someone how to read this.” He threw the book away.
The next morning, Kane woke up. He wore his other piece of traditional oni clothing. He hid the book underneath the tribal wear.
“You’re also going with me now,” he told his trusty weapon: a peak rank 2, single-edged tomahawk.
The ax head was made of high-quality steel, cast by Kane himself. A complex pattern was inscribed on each side with perfect symmetry. They resembled a large gaping bear when seen sideways. The handle was made of polished Black Bloodwood, the tree that grew near Kane’s home. When the ax was placed on the wooden floor, the red-brownish color stood out.
It could slice a log in half by just dropping it casually. Mostly due to its sharpness.
Kane wrapped the weapon with a thick fabric, then hid it behind his back, inside the tribal wear. Finished with the preparation, he went to the academy.
Entering the hall, Kane saw plenty of people crowding the whole room. It was noisy. Somehow the temperature was the same as yesterday, neither too cold nor too hot. He knew it was because some sort of magic controlled it, which was a common thing in his previous living place before his reincarnation. Nobody noticed Kane’s arrival.
The bald man from yesterday descended from upstairs. “All special test participants, please follow me and show your identity card,” he announced.
“Good luck, my princess.”
“Don’t embarrass our family, son.”
“Let’s pray before you go.”
The parents bid farewell to their children. Some of the participants didn’t have any guardians so they and Kane directly ascended the stairway. From the second floor, he saw quite a lot of people were carrying a staff or a wand.
All children followed the butler through a large corridor. After a while, they arrived at an open double door and entered the room as they were instructed to by the butler.
---
“Good morning, children! Niflenia Academy welcomes you!” A white-haired middle-aged man greeted them with a sonorous voice. He wore a black robe with an intricate golden stripe pattern. The Niflenia emblem was stitched on his left upper arm.
Kane sat just like everyone else in this room. The ballroom which was occupied by about a thousand children had a much greater space than the main hall. A majority of them were humans, while only a handful were either beast-kin or elves, but no oni could be seen other than Kane, at least from where he was standing.
“I am known as Reynar Mistfarer, the vice headmaster of Niflenia Academy.” After the introduction, Reynar carried his welcoming speech on the stage.
Bored of sitting and hearing him talk, Kane took time to observe the other participants. With just one look, he could easily tell their social class, race, and their general attitude. More than half of them were high-class nobles, and the rest were either low ranking aristocrats or commoners.
“...Now, I shall begin the first test. Observers, please pass the papers so everyone gets one. Don’t flip the paper yet or else there will be a punishment.” He creased his mouth on his gentle face.
“Yes, vice headmaster Reynar,” the people from the back of the seats shouted in unison. All of them wore the same mage robe.
“Papers?” Kane’s heart skipped a beat. A written test was the last thing on his mind. There was no time to learn any theory since Kane had arrived just a day before the briefing began.
Each observer carried a stack of papers and handed them to Kane and the children who were sitting.
Suddenly, one of the male observers spoke, “You there, table number 177! Get out of this room!”
Everyone turned their heads toward number 177, a tall boy quivering on his seat. He put his hands in the air.
“I didn’t do anything!” He stood up and shook his head.
“Peeking the paper even if it’s only a little is a violation of the rules. Now leave!” The observer chanted some magic that summoned ethereal chains from his right hand.
The boy ran in the direction of the door while crying.
Silence descended over the room. Nobody dared to utter a sound or make a movement.
“Ehem.” Reynar’s cough broke the stillness. “That is the result of disobeying. Do not be afraid, the rules are not harsh—simply the penalties are. I shall remind you all once more, but do not touch the paper yet. Ah, one more thing: I disallow any form of cheating.”
He paused to take a breath, then continued, “While the papers are being distributed, allow me to explain the test. There are two papers, each of them containing fifty questions. The time limit is two hours—and whether you are finished or not—the paper must be submitted. Any questions?”
Nobody had any questions. A minute later, a dark-green-haired girl shouted, “Everyone got the paper, sir!” She waved her hand toward Reynar.
“Excellent job. Now, the test shall begin in 3… Nevermind, start writing.”
Sounds of paper being flipped filled the theater. While everyone was immersed in solving the test, the observers were observing them. Reynar left the room through the theater’s back door.
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Every child moved their pen as soon as Reynar concluded his speech... except Kane, who was frozen and kept staring at the paper after he wrote his name. “Steps to conjure any unranked monster? Draw the basic fire elemental magic rune for a scroll? These seem to be just very standard questions for children but I still don’t know the answer.” He smiled wryly as he was nostalgic about not knowing something just because he forgot to study.
Kane skimmed through the questions, seeking for the easier problems. The questions about alchemy problems were easily solved by him because he knew. He wrote the answers and continued looking for other less difficult questions.
Two hours had passed. A dark-green-haired girl was staring at her hourglass. After the final grain dropped, she immediately shouted, “Time’s up. Submit your paper to the nearest observer! And talking is still not permitted.”
Every participant gave their paper to the observers without a sound.
“Out of 100 questions, I could confidently answer 45 of them, the rest were either random or left blank. Yep, I’m screwed.” Kane rubbed his eyes while thinking of a plan in case he failed.
“Everyone, please look over here!” A hoarse but feminine voice was heard from the door. There, a wavy-haired ginger woman stood. Her freckles blemished the nose area, yet they were enchanting-- a part of her charm. She wore a light jade mage robe with the school emblem and a white dress underneath it.
“Come with me for the second test.” She walked towards the double door.
Every participant stood up and followed her.
“Second test? Phew, I still have a chance! Unless it’s a written test again... or anything related to magic.” His expression brightened.
Chatter and bickering noises filled the room. The participants had been talking since they left the ballroom. After traversing through several corridors, they arrived at a huge steel door.
There were two men in a plain black vestment. Both of them had a scepter on their hip. They guarded the door with an empty expression.
The woman who was leading Kane and the other children stopped then said, “Open the gate.”
“Yes, miss Teresa.” The guards spoke in unison as they opened the gate.
Passing through the gate, Kane and the group followed Teresa along the straight dirt path. Pine trees were everywhere. Kane looked behind him. The entrance was built on the city wall, which was connected with the academy building. Fresh and chilly air entered his nose as he breathed.
The time was almost noon when Teresa halted her feet at the center of an open grassy area. The group imitated her action while looking around.
“This place is good enough. My name is Teresa, the examiner for this phase.” She introduced herself while facing the crowd. “First, all of you will be divided into groups consisting of 3 members.”
She touched her neck before speaking again, “The test is simple: collect enough mana cores. Each rank will be given a score. Petty is 3 points, lesser is 10 points, and normal or better is 50 points. A group must gather at least 100 points within six hours. Any questions?”
“That’s insane! Monsters are hard to beat, and I have to kill more than 30 of them?”
“I don’t want to go inside the forest!”
Despite the protests, Teresa ignored them and continued her explanation. “Take a look at your identity card. There’s a series number. Now, go find the others that have the same number as you. I give you... 20 minutes.”
The crowd began to ask around and checked each other’s cards. It was chaotic. Many of them were actively searching for their group, others were just patiently waiting. Kane was the latter but still asked occasionally.
A lot of children commented on his horns and his outfit, be it good or bad. Kane just thanked them and kept looking for the member. After more than half of the children have gotten their members, Kane became more actively asking around.
---
“H-hello... Err, what’s your serial number?” an elf said with a low voice, but there was no response from anyone. After slightly raising her slender hand a bit, she retracted it immediately and then scratched the back of her long flowing blonde hair. Although she didn't wear a dress like most of the girls who were here, her long jade-green robe was lavish enough for her to be considered someone from a rich family.
Brushing the lengthy side fringe that covered her sky blue eyes, the elf strayed away from the crowd. She bowed while staring at the ground. Suddenly, the elf heard a shout.
“Hey, what’s your serial number?” A boy with twin horns approached her. He seemed to be a mixed-race of oni and humans. His clothing was odd and an uncommon sight but she didn’t mind it.
Is he talking to me? But nobody is behind me.
---
“Can you hear me?” Kane waved his hand toward the elf.
“M-me?” She pointed at herself.
“That’s right. What’s your serial number?” Kane asked again. He didn’t hear her, but he understood her body language.
“Ehh, it’s… 333!” She tried to shout but failed. Her face became red.
“Good, we have the same number,” said Kane. “Let’s go find the last one.”
The elf responded with a nod.
The two, or rather Kane began to ask around. The elf looked behind while following Kane and mumbled, “Someone is alone right there.”
“Where?” Kane’s hearing was sensitive due to his oni trait. There was almost no lone person after quite a while.
“He can hear my voice?” The elf was surprised, then pointed to a spruce tree.
A girl was leaning on a large trunk, isolated from the crowds. Her light grey tank-top was partially shaded by the tall spruce tree's shadow, revealing her tanned skin, opposite of the girls here. Her brown ponytail fluttered.
“Sigh, I haven’t gotten any group and I’m getting tired of asking and being asked,” complained the girl. “I’ll just wait for them to finish. I hope I got an all-girls group. Hm?”
She noticed two people coming towards her. A boy with horns and an elf girl. As they got close enough, he asked, “What’s your serial number?”
“I don’t know.” The tanned girl gave a half-smile.
“I see. We’ll be off, then.” Kane immediately turned around.
“Wait, wait. I’m just joking, geez,” said the girl. “It’s 333.”
“We’re 333 too...” said the elf meekly.
The tanned girl smiled when she saw the elf. “Mn. At least there's a cute one in my team.”
“C-cute?” The elf blushed and stared at the ground.
“So you hate it when there’s a boy in your group?” asked Kane.
As she pinched the elf’s cheek, she replied, “No, not really. I’m just more comfortable with girls. Because, you know, for girl’s talk. I bet you too feel the same but with boys, am I right?”
“Eh, I don’t care whichever gender my members are as long as they’re capable.” Kane shrugged.
“Hmph, whatever,” said the girl, folded her lip.
A moment later, all of the participants finished forming their groups. One of the groups had only two members because of the previous incident.
“That was faster than I thought. For those who have only two members, you both are welcome to join any group. However, the group you join will have to collect 20 more points.”
She then pointed behind the crowds. “As you can see behind you, those are my assistants. They have the two items that you must carry during the test: an escape shard and a bag for collecting the cores. Each group must take no more than one. Use them if you’re in a pinch, but you’ll fail the test.”
The groups formed a row of lines to take the shards. Five minutes later, every group had one.
“When you have gathered enough mana cores, come meet me here again. A beacon will be activated after four hours of the test.”
“Now, I will explain the rules. First, your team must be whole when you submit the mana cores. Second, you’re forbidden to damage our observing devices. Last but not least, do not commit murder. If you broke any of these rules, you’ll fail the test immediately on the spot. The rules may be added or changed throughout the test. Do you all understand?”
“Yes!” the crowd shouted.
“And for the final note, any group that has the highest point shall receive a special reward!”
The crowd cheered. Many of them wanted to be number one. On the other hand, Kane was silent, pondering what Teresa had said.
“This is problematic,” he muttered.
Teresa spoke again after the noise died down. “Very well. I hereby commence the last special test in 3… 2… 1…”
“Go!”