As I told Sith, the 'main mission' is coming up.
Every new academic year, first-year students from all the universities and academies in the kingdom gather together to compete.
There are all sorts of categories. Auctions, duels, even chess... So there are really a lot of competitions, and of course, there is a preliminary for those competitions that are related to general power. I mean, battle power.
The 'preliminary', which will take place about a week after the upcoming exams, is the first main mission of the second part of the story.
Of course, this 'preliminary' is interrupted by some guys, and that's exactly the point of the main mission. That's why I have to prepare... because I have to participate in the competition no matter what.
The prizes, the connections I can make there... they are very important. Actually, more important than the competition itself.
I closed my eyes and tried to sleep, but then I got a notification on my watch. When I checked it, I saw Clara's name, just as I had expected, and a smile appeared on my face.
It had taken her a long time to fully recover from the attack at the cemetery. Yet in that one month, she had already moved into a new house and changed schools. I expected her to squander the money a bit, but surprisingly she turned out to be quite thrifty.
She used only twenty-five thousand of the forty thousand wels I sent her in the first month to take care of all her needs, debts I didn't even know she had, and set aside the remaining fifteen thousand for later.
I told her to buy new clothes, the latest smartwatches, and stuff, but she still bought slightly above-average stuff and said that was enough for her.
Well, I won't say much. At least now she looks much more 'rich' and 'modern' than before. That should be enough to make people with bad intentions hesitate to approach her.
I talked to Clara for about half an hour. Then we wished each other good night and closed the messaging app, but this time Sith's voice echoed in my head.
"Hey... When you said we'd have fun soon... you weren't lying, were you?'
"I never lied to you."
Hmm... I mean, as long as he doesn't know I'm lying, I'm not lying from his point of view. He couldn't find out the truth if he tried anyway, so I don't really care.
Sith giggled excitedly inside my body and then fell silent. I let myself fall asleep, wondering how much longer I could enjoy my new life.
*******
I woke up to the sound of the alarm, which I hated. But unlike normal, I got up quickly. After doing everything I could to wake up properly, I got ready and went to class. After a while, it was finally time.
The whole class was present and no one was making a sound. Because we were starting the marathon.
"You have half an hour for each exam and there will be a fifteen-minute break between each exam. You will take a total of seven exams and I don't think I need to tell you about the rules and things like that. We start with math first..."
After telling us this, our history professor handed out the exam papers to all of us.
Everyone jumped at the questions with great excitement and enthusiasm. I, on the other hand, examined the whole paper before solving them and a smile appeared on my face.
To be honest, the exam is exactly as I expected... The questions are definitely easier than in my old life and that means I can do quite well.
And actually... I was expecting to get everything right and get full marks. But there were some questions that I wasn't sure about because of some confusing things.
I guess even if I knew everything, it was necessary to repeat it once in a while...
We took exam after exam. I saw different expressions on the students' faces, many of them similar to the ones I had seen in my old life. Still, I didn't care about any of them.
After seven exams in total, when we finished the last one, our professor collected all the papers in a file.
"Your exams are over."
After saying these four words, he left the classroom with the files. As soon as this happened, the whole class fell silent for a few seconds, and then an extremely intense noise filled the class.
Everyone started asking each other exam questions and making comments. I ignored them and looked at Adrian. As usual, he was standing in his corner.
"How was it?"
I went up to him and asked him specifically, smiling. I need to be around him all the time so he trusts me even more.
"I think I'll get around eighty in almost all of them... Maybe one or two subjects that fall below, but that's it."
Hmm... Not too bad for someone who has learned nothing but reading, writing, and four operations his whole life and only started studying in the last month. Apparently, his mind is working...
"Then you will definitely get into the first hundred. As for the top fifty... I honestly don't know. It depends on the majority of the students."
Adrian nodded, then raised his eyebrows and looked at me. It wasn't hard to understand what he meant.
"I'm not sure about a few questions... It depends, but I'm definitely in the top five."
Actually, I wanted to be first... But there are people who are especially talented at this kind of thing and it's hard to even for me to beat them. After all, I'm not the only person in the world who is good at studies. There's always someone higher than you...
"Okay..."
Adrian sighed.
I don't think so, but I hope he's not jealous of me...
"Hah, Aiden!"
When I heard Julian calling me, I slowly turned around, but then, startled, quickly stepped back, because Julian was right under my nose.
Julian didn't give a damn about me and started counting all the questions he remembered and wasn't sure of the outcome one by one. He was so excited that he didn't care how people looked at him.
"Calm down..."
First I calmed him down, then tried to answer all his questions as best as I could remember.
"If the last one was-"
I was answering the last question he asked me, but then the watches of the whole class beeped at the same time and everyone looked at their wrists.
When I saw the incoming message, I was both amazed and smiled involuntarily, because even though the exam had ended only a few minutes ago, the results had already been sent.
<<------------------------------
Name: Aiden Tenebra
Class: 1-C
Overall Score: 98.7142/100
Overall Rank: 3
Class Rank: 1
[Click here for details]
------------------------------>>
So I came third at school... Surprisingly, it came better than I thought, but I am more curious about the overall ranking.
<<------------------------------
1-) Alexander Callidas
2-) Lucia Quie
3-) Aiden Tenebra
...
------------------------------>>
As I predicted, Alexander and Lucia are in the top two.
I haven't seen Alexander since I came to this world, but he is a character I know well. Because he's a person who is out of this world in terms of intelligence and he has his own side mission in the game.
I remember that mission rewards were good, so maybe I'll try to do it, but I'll have to prepare for it separately. And with the main story right in front of us, I don't have time for that right now.
I turned to Julian and Adrian, curious. Julian was looking at his watch in disbelief.
"I'm fucking forty-eighth! Forty-eight... Forty-eight!"
He shrieked with joy without a care in the world, and I had a good laugh at this reaction.
"You came third. Congratulations."
Adrian spoke with a smile that he tried to keep on his face. I returned it sincerely.
"Thanks."
After Adrian, Julian was quick to congratulate me, but apart from those two, no one else in my class approached me. The way they looked at me was nothing but jealousy, they are such brats...
I turned away, ignoring them, but my gaze returned to the digital board when I heard the sound of someone's footsteps entering the classroom. Then I found the history professor in front of the lectern.
"Listen carefully!"
Her booming voice echoed throughout the room and soon the noisy classroom fell silent.
I was just wondering when she was coming...
While everyone else looked puzzled and curious, I listened to the professor's words with a smile I couldn't keep off my face.
"There will be a competition between universities and academies later this year. We have ideas about most of the competitions, but for the most prominent one, we need to see who has the most talent."
At this point, everyone understood what was going on.
"There will be competitions in many categories, but of course, there is one very important one, and we will be holding a preliminary for it in exactly one week."
Yes, here it comes.
"You'll be dropped into one of the school's dungeons, the Ashga Forests, and you'll try to survive while eliminating each other."
The smile on my face suddenly fell. My eyes widened in disbelief at what I had just heard.
What?
The class started whispering amongst themselves. Some had anxiety on their faces, others excited.
I didn't care about any of them.
Why is the preliminary different from the game? I didn't do anything to directly affect the story... And even if I did, how could that change it?
I thought so much, I put so much pressure on my own mind that I ended up with a headache.
What the fuck is going on?!
~beep
The professor continued to say something, and the class continued to talk amongst themselves, but I ignored them again and looked at my watch with a blank stare.
The moment I saw the message from an unknown person, my whole body trembled and goosebumps ran down my spine.
The message in front of me was a smiling photo of Clara, and more frighteningly, details of people hiding in the shadows. Underneath this photo was all her personal information, including where she lived, and a note...
<<------------------------------
Crush Adrian Caleo in the preliminary and don't tell anyone about this message. Or who knows what will happen to your sister?
------------------------------>>