Chapter 8 - Gate

Sometimes, time goes as fast as a snail.

It was already the end of the year.

Unlike last year, today, the cold is in full force.

Snow was falling on the academy, covering the surroundings.

In front of a large gate, a row of children were waiting for it open.

One could see students talking amongst each other, cold air emanating from their breath.

Today is the yearly international exam amongst the [Null] academies.

The purpose of the exam is clear, decide the global academy rankings.

One might ask a valid question, why would the students care?

Aside from the exam's competitive aspect, Prizes are another motivating factor.

From guidance on martial arts to money, there are all sorts of prizes for a good result.

There are two parts to the exam: the theoretical and the practical.

The theoretical exam checks your understanding of the supernatural, and the practical exam requires you to hunt the supernatural.

So that people won't get exhausted, the exam takes place over two days, and the practical exam goes first.

The difficulty of the exam depends on the year and standard curriculum decided by the [Null] group.

However, some students don't get tested based on their year.

Usually, there is no problem with who gets tested on what.

However, what happens when your program differs from the standard curriculum?

In that case, the teacher can decide on the exam out of the options.

A person was standing in front of a gate at the end of the line.

He had black hair and orange-colored eyes, and he was wearing a coat.

Zed took a small piece of paper out of his pocket, and on it were coordinates.

Suddenly, everyone stopped talking and moved their head toward the gate.

At that moment, the gate made cranking sounds and slowly opened.

Behind the gate, a massive hole in the ground appeared.

Only when the gate opened in full they all began to react.

Everyone jumped one by one into the hole.

A few minutes passed, and everyone had already entered, well, almost everyone.

There was only one person left in front of the gate: Zed.

After letting out a sigh, he began walking.

Looking at the energetic children running, Zed wanted to go home.

'... I guess I have to pass, so let's start.'

The children he takes the exam with are the first years this time.

Unlike the proper students, the academy does not expect anything special from them, only that they try their best.

However, there is still a possible prize that interests Zed: to become a proper student.

If you were to talk to him a year ago, he would not care at all. However, today is a different story.

Name: Zed

Titles[1/3]:

[Hidden From The Stars]

Body Condition:

Physical Age: 7

Level: 0(53)

Cultivation Realm: None(Body Formation, 9th stage)

Magic Realm: Master, 1st [92%]

Rating Standards: [Middle Realm]

Magic Power:120 (37% beings better than you)

Conjuring Speed: 121 (41% beings better than you)

Knowledge: 122 (42% beings better than you)

Skills:

Active:

[Basic Sword Technique] – [Complete]

[Basic Mana Blast][Garbage]-[Complete]

[Twins Cultivation Manual][Superior] –[Complete]

[Twins Magic Meteor][Superior] –[Complete]

Passive:

Immune to Self-Harm

Immunity to Fall Damage

Automagic Skill Training

Automatic Cultivation

Automatic Experience Gain

[Self Defence][Complete]:

Description: Your body automatically reacts to danger.

Effect:

Using 100% of host ability.

[Estimated Time to Unlock: 154 years][Unlocking Process: 31%]Locked Abilities:

...

Zed did not bother to read about all the official stages, but he knew about [Master].

He knew that the youngest [Master] ever was around eighteen years old.

That youngest [Master] title was never seriously challenged; at this point, it's a challenge that no one thinks can be beaten.

According to legend, [Weirser] was a human that not only came from a famous lineage of magicians but also had terrific memory and talent.

However, Zed is an [Master] at the age of seven.

Zed knew very well that the rules of that world did not apply to him, so he was worried.

That is why he didn't bother to understand the requirements to advance through each realm, but it was apparent that his situation was not supposed to happen.

He feared that he was so good that everyone would start to protect him, which was unacceptable.

Luckily, Zed knew only one spell he hoped was not too helpful.

While he was walking towards the hole, Zed clenched his fists.

'These goddamn demons, unforgivable. I'll kill you if you dare come before me again.'

One year ago, he made the mistake of asking for death from the demons.

However, they suddenly implanted their techniques in Zed.

As Zed was wondering what was going on, he heard their laughter.

"I bet... that he can learn our techniques."

Immediately, the brother replied positively, expecting no human to learn them without dying.

In fact, from both of the demons' perspectives, they were making Zed's wish come true.

After all, [Two] didn't believe as well that a human could learn their techniques.

At that time, Zed wanted to explain that he had a system and that he won't experience any death threats, but it was already too late.

Now, he was stuck with insane techniques that he didn't dare to know how much stronger they made him.

Looking at the deep hole in front of him, Zed marveled at their weirdness.

According to the knowledge he acquired in the past year, these holes lead to the demon world.

The origin of the hole is none other than the demon invasions.

With a bit of tinkering, the one-way gate to the human world can become a gate to the demon world.

Of course, there are few reasons to invade the demon world besides training and maybe some dubious scientific ventures.

Zed jumped into the hole.

As he went deeper and deeper, darkness overwhelmed his vision.

And then finally, light.

When Zed landed, he was surprised.

The ground was as soft as a marshmallow.

The ground was colored a strange hue of orange.

Looking at the sky, one could see three different stars emanating light, all of which had similar sizes.

Zen observed his surroundings.

Immediately, he noticed five humans wearing the school logo, a five-headed lizard.

They were all sitting far from each other and were adults.

Furthermore, the golden necklace around their necks indicated their position; they were the professors.

Four of them were busy, listening to some radio-like device.

The last is his professor: Dira.

Dira was sitting on a green chair while wearing sunglasses and drinking something with a straw.

Zed was impressed at how relaxed he looked.

'...I guess I'll finish it quickly.'