"Now, let's go straight to the important part. Following the tradition, let's start your first evaluation." I heard the voice of the principal.
*Gasp!*
I opened my eyes and gasped heavily.
My hand instinctively grabbed my chest, still shuddering from the painful feeling of my heart exploding.
For a few seconds, I could only heave, trying to take deep breaths to calm down.
"Young master, are you alright?" Vanessa asked worried. Lina was also looking at me with a worried expression. "Brother, what is wrong? Vanessa, hurry up. Call for a medic!"
"No need, I'm alright." I extended a hand and forced out a smile to calm them down. "It was a light pain in the chest, nothing to worry about."
"Are you sure, young master? It does not look that simple. You are even sweating."
"Vanessa is right. It's better if we call a doctor."
"I told you, I'm alright. I know my body the best. Plus, we are in the middle of the entrance ceremony. We don't want to ruin it."
Lina and Vanessa did not seem convinced, but they eventually relented.
Even so, they were still looking at me worriedly.
And they were not the only ones looking at me.
Our small commotion had attracted the attention of the entire auditorium, who were looking at us curiously.
"Are you alright, student? If you are feeling unwell, I can ask someone to check on you."
"It's fine, I'm sorry for the disturbance." I apologized to the principal.
The principal looked at me deeply before smiling.
"There is nothing to be sorry about. Let's continue the ceremony. Student Sila Dune, please come forward."
The petite girl with pale gray hair stood up and walked toward the principal.
Most people immediately stopped paying attention to me, although I could still feel some gazes still lingering.
I was not in the mood to pay attention to that though.
There is something much more urgent I need to deal with.
I must find out how and why I died.
Otherwise, what my precognition showed me just now is going to become reality.
My precognition manifests mainly in three ways, the first being passive precognition.
The second is what happened just now. I call it, [Death Precognition].
In a nutshell, it shows me how I'm going to die.
Unlike passive precognition, though, this kind of precognition is not that simple.
First, it can only show me a nearby future. According to my experience, it can show me at most a future in the next six hours.
Furthermore, I must pay a heavy price every time Death Precognition is activated, including the fact that I get to experience in detail the way I died.
'Shit…' I cursed in my mind, still feeling the lingering pain of my chest exploding.
Honestly, I hate this part of my ability.
However, it has helped me escape death on several occasions.
Of course, it also means that I got to experience death several times.
'Just thinking about that makes me depressed.'
I stopped myself from sighing and started to think.
The first student just entered the illusion, and the time is 09:25 am.
I died at 10:45, so I had a bit over one hour to figure out the reason for my death.
Firstly, I closed my eyes and checked my body. I circulated my mana carefully to find any anomaly, but even after several attempts, I found nothing.
I also used discretely the techniques I used to defeat the bull, but they failed to show any adverse reaction.
'It means I can discard natural causes or illness.'
That made me breathe a sigh of relief. If the reason for my death was due to natural causes, it would be much harder to avoid it.
'Maybe it was due to the illusion?' I examined the magic circle in the auditorium carefully. 'Should I find an excuse to avoid participating?'
I thought for a moment before shaking my head.
This magic circle was made personally by the principal, and he didn't have any reason to harm me. Avoiding participating in the test won't solve anything.
There is something I'm missing.
Think.
Judging from the way I died, it should be some kind of curse or poisoning. No, not a curse. I'm experienced with curses, and it did not seem like one.
Poisoning then?
But when? And how?
I held my forehead and increased my focus.
Think, think. Remember. Analyze every detail of the vision I just got.
The direct cause of my death should be some kind of heart failure. Did I come into contact with anything that could cause heart failure after arriving at the academy?
Nothing? Then increase the range of the search. Retrace every movement I have made today. Find an anomaly. Something. There must be something.
An opportunity to poison me.
Something I overlooked.
'… I found it.'
My eyes narrowed.
"So it was that, huh," I muttered to myself.
There was only one opportunity to poison me today.
A moment when I lowered my guard and could have ingested a foreign substance.
When I rescued the puppy.
That was when I was poisoned.